Memorial Hall

This past Saturday I was in Philly for the PA state criterium championships. The course was about a 0.6 mile 4 corner standard course. The interesting thing was the fact that you could see the entire course from the center, and the large puddles on the outside or inside of the turns. Right from the gun the rain was pouring down, and there was even a clap of thunder or two. For a moment I thought it might be called, but the weather cleared a bit, and we were able to do the 40 laps.

It was extremely easy to move around in the field, being that the roads were extremely wide and the field wasn't too large (no more than 75 I would say). I stayed up in the top 1/3 for the whole race. About 5 or so laps in I found myself right at the front when a lone dude who had been off the front was caught. I figured now is as good a time as ever, and took a little dig for myself. I was only out for about 3/4 of a lap, but it served as a decent warmup. I didn't let myself slide back more than 5 or 10 spots when I got caught. I've had the habit of letting myself get thrown right to the back of the field when getting caught back in, and I was happy with staying up front this time. The last lap proved a bit more difficult to move up than any of the others (who would have figured) and I ended up getting boxed out going into turn 3. Coming out of turn 3 the guy I was following through, a Cornell kid (who had been pretty sketchy all race) decided to go off into a large puddle and into the field next to the course. I had to ease up for a moment to get around his ass, and that little bit was enough to kick me out of contention. Still very happy with the effort though. Kyle C. was up there and got 15th while Jeff S. flatted with 5 corners to go and wasn't able to get up for the sprint.

I'm looking forward to a hard week of training. My next stint at a paid training ride , or racing as you may know it as, should be at Pieffer. Maybe here I can finally do the 4/5 ; 3/4 combo. Look out.