Old Town Criterium - 4th Place

The weather cooperated somewhat for my race but the roads were saturated which made an already technical course as it pertains to the last two turns before the finish even more difficult. I decided to swap out the trusty Continental GP4000's for a new set of Vittoria Open Corsa's and this proved to be a mistake.

The field had about 30 riders for the 15 lap race and things started out rather slow for crits. The pace did pick up for the first prime and then leveled off for the rest of the race. A guy attacked just as we crossed the start/finish after the second prime and he ended up staying away for the remainder of the race. He benefited from having 4 other teammates in the race that slowed the pace and blocked.

With less than a 1/4 mile to go, I attacked up the right side and passed 10 riders just before a hard 90 degree right turn. I took the corner at 30mph on wet pavement and my rear tire started to slide. I managed to right the ship only to have it do it again on the last right turn towards the up hill finish line. These two slides cost me my gap and as I started sprinting for the line (in too high of a gear I might add), I got passed by two riders less than 20' before the finish line. 2nd place was mine to lose and I did it with the help of Vittoria and the burn in my quads!!

45 mile road race tomorrow starting from historic Brattonsville, the site where the movie The Patriot was filmed.