Fitchburg Day 4- Crit

The last day of Fitchburg.... and I was feeling it. Crits have been my thing this year, and I really wanted to be able to have something positive to remember this race for. Got a descent warmup in, and got to the line at the right time.... second row back behind the callups. This crit is pretty tough... good uphill grade up to a 180 degree turnaround, then back down a screaming (35mph) descent into two hard left hand 90 degree turns, which places you back on the homestretch uphill grade.

Pace was pretty high at the beginning, and I quickly lost my position near the front. I dug in in the middle of the field, and spent most of the race just moving up when the opportunity presented itself to do so easily. My plan for winning this race was to get to the front for the last points sprint with 3 to go, follow the dudes sprinting, and then peg it as hard as I could after their sprint was done to try and hold on solo. I kept feeling better and better as the race went on... as I was able to recover and move up on the descent relatively easily. With 4 to go I moved to the front, but couldn't muscle my way into the top 10 places. The points sprint came and went, and someone else executed my plan.... he stayed away and won. Ben Showman... strong A rider from Army's collegiate team. Had I known it was him off the front, I would have buried myself to try and get up there... but I probably would have just toasted myself anyway.

I sat back and tried to start looking for the leadouts. Most of them came up the left side.... where noone was moving up before. I was stuck on the right side, where I had been able to move up all day. Balls. Coming into the homestretch on the last lap I didn't have great position at all. Way too far back to contest anything. I still uncorked a good sprint, passing probably 20 people from the last two turns up to the line to finish a respectable 37th. I was satisfied with how much better I felt in the race, and the placing is allright. I think I'll be setup allright for Owasco. Bring on the upgrade points.... hopefully.