Race: Columbia University Grant's Tomb Criterium Pro 1,2
Location: NY, NY
Distance:
Racer: J.P. Partland
Finally. Finally racing against guys not totally afraid of
riding hard. Finally racing against guys who really want to break
away. Finally racing against guys who actually want to win a race.
Makes me happy. Grant's Tomb was supposed to be an hour on a 1.25
mile circuit.
I don't think I've ever raced the full course at Grant's Tomb
before. Last time I tried, parked cars blocked the whole circuit, so
we just did the oval around the tomb. It's a shame the only
difficulty in the course comes before wide roads and a gentle
downhill, but there are some real crit turns that call for a modicum
of bike handling skills and room to hide when escaping. Didn't know
what to expect of the short hill, but I was hoping it was going to
break some legs.
The field was small but motivated. Maybe 50 guys started.
Saw the Mengoni squad together for the first time this year. Axis
also came out to play in numbers. Roger Aspholm of Westwood Velo is
always a powerful attacker, and we had two wildcards. Mike Friedman
and Gui Nelessen (Zeb's kid brother) of Northwest Mortgage. These
guys are some of the best trackies in the US (were half of a team
pursuit squad that recently did 4:19 at a world cup), but 4k is
different than an hour crit. Also a number of 2-man teams, like
Champion System, Foundation, Blue Ribbon, ReMax, and a few more.
We started out fast. It felt great. Single file, turning
over the big meat, ah, it put a song in my heart. People weren't
content to ride tempo either. I was looking for guys like Roger,
Mike Norton of Nerac (DIII pro), and John Loehner (axis) to be fixing
for a long break.
THey were. So was I. There were plenty of early attacks.
Unfortunately, Mengoni didn't like that plan. THey were ready to
chase things down, but not get one of their own in the break. Just
when I settled back, thinking the break would go after half distance,
the Northwest Mortgage guys attacked together and hard. They quickly
got 20 seconds. 20 at a race of this length and speed is enough to
mean that anyone wanting to get across will need at least one partner
for the bridge. I was looking for a go. Whenever I saw the horses
attack the field, I waited until they got a little gap and then tried
to jump across. made this maneuver on a number of occasions, but it
never worked because either Mengoni would have one of their riders
infiltrate and wreck the rotation or they'd make an effort to claw it
back. Amazingly, few riders would initiate the counter-attack just
when my split got pulled back. The two escapees stayed between 20
and 30 seconds for a long time.
Eventually, people gave up on the idea of chasing down the
break, and Mengoni seemed satisfied with riding tempo. The lead
started to grow. I wasn't satisfied, so I tried a few solo escapes
in the waning laps. I could do up to a lap solo, but no one would
help me get away. So, with two to go, it was Mengoni's ball. We let
them set the pace that lap. I moved up as the bell rung, so I could
move up a little on the back side and get into position on the slight
downhill leading into the u-turn. Pretty much got where I wanted to
be. We weren't going all-out, but we were definitely moving faster
than the spring series sprints. a guy from Vermont, who probably was
saving his legs for the collegiate A race later in the say, had sat
in all day, and jumped early. He won the sprint for third. I
started my sprint a bit too late, and when I saw I wasn't going to
finish in the top 10, mistakenly eased off a bit. Finished 16th.
The field did 27 laps in 55 minutes. If the promoters were right,
that's around 35mph average speed. I'd guess it closer to 27-28mph
average speed. My dashboard wasn't working, so I don't have the data
to consult.
After the race, went home, had lunch, went for a 40-mile ride.
Sunday was the first race in Central Park this year. A small
field, probably due to the threat of rain, but with Axis and Mengoni
once again bringing some of their tough guys, I knew it wasn't going
to be a negative race. It started drizzling as I arrived at sign in.
A small field and wet roads almost guarantees a breakaway. The
question is always when. Without teammates it often isn't good to
initiate, but follow an attack and then help drive it in the early
going, getting rid of the weak links and letting your fellow escapees
know you mean business.
On the second lap of 5, Axis' Kevin Molloy hammered the
entire 110berg out of the saddle. Roger Aspholm and I followed him
over the top, and a few were behind us. This is what I was looking
for. Another minute or two of hard riding and this could set the
winning break. Unfortunately, Mengoni wasn't represented and a few
of the riders chose to slow down the break, and we were caught by
90th street. Another combination like this, with one Mengoni would
be the race, so I was looking for it.
Never got the opportunity. Pinch-flatted on one of the big
potholes over 110berg the next lap. Sure enough, the winning break
went that lap, and it contained all the right ingredients. And in a
classic bonehead bike racer move, even though all the places were up
the road, guys still refused to ride hard in the remainder of the
field. Saving themselves for the sprint, of course. Meanwhile, up
front, Axis took 1-2.
Zero for two, but as the translations say, the sensations were right.
JP
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