Reports by:

• Donn
• Ziggy
• Mike N.

Category: 4
Result: Back of pack

For once an early start was nice since it kept us out of the heat. In fact, it was almost chilly when we raced at 7:45. I'm sure the Cat 1/2 racers had a very different experience with their 3:00 race...it must have been scorching by then. Standard crit for me...I was near the back, I would move up on straight 3 which was slightly uphill, then fall back on the rest of the course and end up at the back again at the hill.

The only thing of interest was during turn 1 when i took it too wide and ended up grinding my front wheel sidewall against the curb for a few feet. In general I had a hard time driving through the turns, though I got a bit better as the race progressed.

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Category: Pro/1/2
Result: Mid-pack

My legs hurt!

The BBC Albany crit was my first race as a Cat. 2 (here's my race report for the FFBC race: I climbed a little, yelled a little, chased an attack or two, and in the end I won). I almost didn't do it because the previous day's heat was unbearable for me and I almost had to spend the day at work. When my boss said I didn't have to come in and it felt like the weather was going to cooperate today and not get above the high 80's, I decided to pack up the car and go racing. The nice part about racing crits in the 2's is that I now have all day to decide on things such as this since my race didn't start until 3pm.

I did my warmup in the median of the road under a tree with a nice breeze blowing by and was very surprised to see how few racers do any sort of warmup for the race. At the line, I believe there were about 80 racers and I was right in the middle of them. I got a slow start, which turned out to be a huge mistake on this short course, and spent much of the race moving up one or two riders at a time.

For the first 20 minutes of this race, the only thought in my head was "Mother of God these punks are fast!" Flat out from the gun and no slowing for about 30 minutes, and when we did slow down, it was only for one small part of one side of the course then it was back to full stick. I think we slowed twice the whole race. by the last quarter of the race I managed to move myself into the front of the race and held my spot there until an ambulance appeared on the course.

I slowed because a referee was telling us to be careful, but as soon as we rounded the first turn, several riders shot up the road and I was caught out, losing a dozen spots. I made them up in the gutter, just as I had every other position gain in this race. Two to go looked promising, but once the cards showed one to go, the real speed got going. On the back of the course, the speed was a bit too much and I lost the wheel and sat up. I think I finished mid pack.

Notes about racing as a two: These dudes are fast. These dudes are strong, all of them. The attacks are relentless, no matter who's up the road. These dudes, for the most part, can handle their bikes, which to my surprise was more comforting than anything else. All the moving up I did in this race, I did on my own. This is very much a departure from the 3/4/5 style of racing. Did I mention that these dudes are fast?

Oh, and I did the race in my new spiffy FFBC Race Team Shoe Covers. So fast.

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Category: 5
Result: Back of pack

The day before I had gone paintballing so I got back home tired. I packed everything and hit the hay pretty early. I woke up and headed off. After getting my number I went to the porta potty. During my time in the seat I was thinking of liquids, and then I just remembered that I forget to bring my water bottles. I knew that if I ran down to a liquor store to get some water I wouldn't have much time to get in a good warmup on the trainer. Thankfully Donn showed up and let me borrow one of his bottles.

The race itself was tough for me. I was pretty much in last of the pack from the gun till finish. I watch riders in front of me begin to gap so I'd have to give an extra push on the uphill and downhill, and then look back to see them flake off. I think the only things that saved me were the downhill and the corners. The course was only .6 miles so there was a lot of cornering. Turn 1 was a little tricky because the exit is off camber and the entry is downhill, so it was a good point to make up ground. On the downhill, people would recover so I would have a chance to try and move up the pack before losing it on straights 2 and 4.

Yeah so the race was tough. It was either because of the incline, combined 4/5 race, not long enough warmup, or me not following Coach Matt's tune-up ride suggestion and instead going paintballing the day before.

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