Two day omnium.

Day 1 – The Criterium was 10, 90-degree corners in 1 mile with two blocks up hill. When I rolled to the line, everyone was line up, but I was still able to start front row. This was huge, as people began getting dropped 4 minutes into the race!! I followed the first two moves, but it became painfully obvious that I had to meter out my efforts; otherwise I would become the next to be dropped. I followed the important moves, and stayed near the front, and that’s where I was with 1 lap to go. I had a chance to move up with 6 corners to go, but decided to slot in as opposed to going into a downhill corner 6 wide. I was passed by one other rider between there and the line, and finished up 10th on day and stood 10th overall going into the road race.

Day 2 – Road Race. The flier said (4) 20-mile laps; the laps were actually 27 miles long for a grand total of 108 miles of racing in 40mph winds. As it was the day before, you needed to stay close to the front. The first break of the day started from the word go and lasted the first lap and a half of the race. When this break was being pulled back, I actually ended up in the 3rd group on the road. I thought the top 15-20 was far enough up front, but I was wrong. Two gaps opened in front of me; I was able to close one, but not the other. After a half lap of chasing, we regained contact with what was now the field due to the first group catching the break. Another two laps of hard racing went by with attacks and counter-attack and the next move that went was after the feed zone. The feed zone had a tail wind, so speeds were the highest through there. I held onto some good wheels, and made my way up front. At the end of the straight, I turned the corner and continued to roll. I didn’t attack, I just wanted to get back up to speed, but I ended up helping start the break. It was two of us to start, but we had three others join us within the next few miles. We continued to work for the next 30 miles and made it to the line a few minutes ahead of the field. The three late joiners to the break had a little more in their legs, so ended up fourth out of the break of 5. I was happy with the way it went, and didn’t feel that I could have done anything different to change the outcome of the race.

After the final point standings were figured, I ended up 9th overall. Great weekend of racing, which makes the next few weeks of training all the easier!!

-Brian