Robbie, Nate and John represented Morningside Velo/invivodata for the G20 Prologue and Criterium on a fine Saturday morning in North Park. The event consisted of a short prologue time trial on a 2.4-mile closed circuit, followed by “criteriums” (more like circuit races) for 4/5, women/juniors, and 1/2/3/masters fields.

Despite some mechanical issues on the start line, John did well in the prologue finishing in 3rd place with a time of 5:02 (28.0 mph).

Nate and Robbie did the 4/5 race, with solid finishes in 12th and 15th places. John had bad luck in the 1/2/3 race, getting caught up behind an early crash. He was unable to close the gap the field and withdrew.

It was a great course and a great event. Many thanks to Fred Baldassare and Pro Bikes for putting it on. We hope to see this event next year!

Field: Cat 4/5
Saturday TT: 1st
Saturday Crit: 7th
Sunday RR: 6th
GC: 3rd

I headed up to North East, PA (uh, in northwestern PA, near Erie) for the Wine Country Classic Aug 15-16. This has historically been a one-day road race, but the last couple years they’ve turned it into a stage race weekend. This year was a points race, featuring a time trial, crit, and road race, with lots of bonus points up for grabs.

After some navigational difficulty, I showed up late Saturday morning. I had forgotten my (borrowed) aero helmet, lost a skewer on my (borrowed) TT bike, and had to rush down to the TT with no warm-up. Maybe the adrenaline helped, as I put in the best time in the 4/5 category (7th overall).

The afternoon crit was wide open, more like a circuit race — no technical corners, and a long, rolling loop. There were a lot of GC points available in two primes. I picked up two points in these but had a mediocre finish at 7th place, getting boxed out a bit. I finished the day tied for 2nd in GC.

The Sunday road race was four circuits of an 8-mile loop. Each loop was a long climb followed by a long descent. There were a number of bonus points available for KOM and an intermediate sprint, but these were not marked and I had no idea where they were, so I missed out. (This proved a deciding factor in standings.) A break of three went on the third climb up the hill, but none of the GC contenders were in it. They ultimately stayed away for the top three spots. I took third in the field sprint.

I edged out the guy tied for second in GC in the road race finish, but he had gotten some of the bonus points so he took second in GC; I was third.

I’ve just upgraded to Cat 3, so this will be my last 4/5 race. It was fun!

Field: Cat 4
Friday TT: 7th
Friday Crit: ?? (pack)
Saturday RR: 5th
Sunday Crit: 9th
Overall: 7th

The first annual Tour of the Valley (Mahoning Valley that is, in eastern Ohio)
was this weekend. Four races in three days, and lots of fun. Thanks to Carbon
Racing for putting on a super well-run event.

Friday started with a short 5.5 mi prologe time trial, a mostly flat loop around
a winery. I finished in 12:58, good enough for 7th.

The Friday afternoon criterium was in nearby Canfield, around a park and through
some residential streets. This was definitely one of my favorite crit courses
I’ve done. It was technical enough to inflict some pain but still fast — if
you rode near the front you didn’t need to touch the brakes. I felt pretty good
through the whole race but let my chance to move up in the final laps go by, so
I had to watch the finish from the back of the pack.

The Saturday road race out of Columbiana was the highlight of the weekend for
me. As I arrived, the skies were very threatening, and soon thunderstorms moved
through. Our race was delayed a bit but the storm blew over and as we got
underway the rain let up and it soon turned into a nice day. The course was a
33-mile loop with a decent bit of climbing. The decisive section was a 1.5-mile
climb up Rt 170 near the Pennsylvinia border. The leaders really pushed the
pace here and splintered the field. After the top of thie climb there was only
a small group left and we continued to push hard to make sure we stayed away.
In the next couple miles, a few more dropped off and there were six of us.
(Pittsburgh was well represented with four in this lead group.) We lost one more
of our group when he went over the bars into a ditch. From there we pacelined
uneventfully back into Columbiana. A little after the 1k to go mark the
cat-and-mouse started and I attacked, but was brought back quickly. I didn’t
have anything left for the sprint and finished up 5th.

The Sunday crit was in downtown Youngstown, a long, wide, fast 6-corner circuit
on fair to bad pavement. The race was pretty easy and slow (my hr didn’t get
above 155 bpm until the final lap), with no one really wanting to attack or drive the pace. I should have made a move in the closing
laps, but again let my chance slip away. There was a wreck in the final lap,
and I was caught in the traffic from that. I closed some distance on the
leaders during the remainder of the lap but not enough for any better than 9th.

The general classification for the stage race was based on points accumulated in
the four races. My results put me at 7th overall in GC. Congrats to locals
Jake McCrea and Andrew Seitz who took 1-2 overall in Cat 4.

I found myself in Connecticut this weekend visiting family, so I signed up for the Keith Berger Crit’s category 4 race. The course was a mostly flat, one mile, four corner jobbie, with smooth tarmac. The corners were wide and free of potholes or utility covers. The two longest straights were completely wind-swept, though the start/finish straight was very sheltered.

The field was very full, 60+ in the start grid. Lots of local teams, too, so I was curious to see how things would shake out. My plan was to be as active as possible during the race, maybe get in a break, and see how the finish shook out. The pace was mostly reasonable at the start, with hard accelerations out of the turns, but nothing hard enough to shatter the field. I sat in for about 5 laps, then started to move up. Roughly halfway through, a promising look of five riders went off the front, and I moved to bridge. I made contact in the long headwind straight, and the break lasted about another half a lap. I think I dragged more of the field to the break (though they were hanging back a bit), and no one was willing to work too hard in the wind. Oh well.

I settled back into the field. The pace would climb on the prime laps, but no one really wanted to work in the wind, and the pace would really slow, especially in the waning laps. A few solo efforts went off the front, but I wasn’t in a position to chase on. I worked to get into a better position on the penultimate lap (at least top 20), and found what looked to be a good wheel for the sprint. Heading into the back straight, this wheel was a bad choice, as he sat up a bit, and we slid to the back of the group (which had been pared a bit during the final lap). I worked to pick up a few places in the final corners and managed at least a top 20 finish.

Observations:

• I needed to be more aggressive on the last lap. The sprint wasn’t that fast—I was just too far back to make up ground.
• The race was really quite safe. I elbowed one rider who was drifting a bit in a corner, but otherwise, the group really knew how to ride. I guess real weeknight training crits help your cornering.
• My right shoe broke. The plastic strap doo-dad snapped about one lap into the race. After trying to “tighten” it several times, I realized this and hoped I wouldn’t yank my foot out of the shoe. Clearly, this is why I didn’t win.
• The race was very well organized. Props to the promoters.

One week ago, Morningside Velo, along with Iron City Bikes, the ACA, and JBV Coaching hosted a introduction to racing clinic at the Washington Boulevard Oval. 27(!) riders showed up to learn from local coach Chris Mayhew and local fast guy Stephen Cummings. Despite a short rain storm, we managed to get the riders on the track for a series of pace-lining drills. Everyone enjoyed the clinic, and Chris and Steevo stayed around to answer questions.

Thanks to Chris and Steevo, plus Robbie and John from Morningside Velo, and Jon and Eric from Iron City Bikes. And thanks to Chris and the rest of the ACA for allowing us to use their permit for the track.