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.