NCNCA Masters State (District) Criterium Championships, 9/6/2015

My lower back spasmed while I was cleaning up after breakfast. That's not what I wanted for the morning of my big race, so I quickly used my foam roller to massage the spasm out. Strangely, my back was fine during the race and it was my feet that were sore. 

My preparation for this race was very brief to say the least. The last two years I have prioritized track sprinting, where my longest race is no more than about 1 minute. So my coach, Jeff Solt, had a tough job trying to prepare me in just 4 weeks for this 50-minute race. It was the same course as last year, about 1-mile laps in a Pleasanton business area, The end of the race would tell how successful this training was.

I warned up on my trainer, after borrowing an appropriate quick release skewer from Mike (thanks Mike!). I also used the foam roller again, to be sure. There were 34 racers this year, similar to last year. The course was also the same, with a 1-mile four-corner course on smooth pavement in Pleasanton.

The first several laps were pretty easy, but soon after that there were continuous attacks by solo riders and two or three man groups. I tried very hard to heed my coach's advice to stay protected and not try to go with breakaways, but sometimes that's easier said than done. Because I also try to stay near the front of the field I sometimes ended up being the point of the peloton and thus was in the wind. In those cases I always tried hard to soft-pedal, and even stopped pedaling and took a drink, so as to force those behind me to pick up the pace instead of me. Sometimes this worked, sometimes I ended up perhaps working a little harder than I intended without really wanting to. But in general I felt great and only occasionally was I anywhere near my limit, so I was looking forward to the final sprint. 

With three laps to go the pace definitely picked up and people were trying to get into position. This is tricky because everybody wants to be in the same spot at once. I was near the front and had a perfect view of Daniel Shore (last year's winner) attacking us off the front, with another guy. But again, I had to hold back and just watch them extend their lead as I waited for the others to pick up the chase. Directly behind me was Eric Saltzman, who yelled at me to close the gap to them. As much as I wanted to I could only take a very short pull before I had to pull aside and let him or somebody else take up the chase. 

After their lead was big enough, sure enough, others started to leap ahead to catch them. Then to Eric's credit, with about one and a half laps to go, he took a huge dig to bridge up to the break. I was right behind him but again could not afford to try to go with him. I just had to hope we would catch them both or else I'd risk completely blowing up (as happened to Eric, who finished last). I sat up and waited for the others to chase. 

Once the rest of the field took up the chase I was able to slot in behind some of them and maintain a decent position from which I could hopefully sprint. But I was getting tired and the very fast pace made it hard for me to be fresh for the finish. It is always difficult for me to position myself yet not blow up. I was probably a bit too far back going into the last two turns, but we did catch the break, and Eric's teammate Jerome Nadel was able to leap ahead and win the race, while I sprinted hard just to get 14th. I felt Jerome deserved it as he had been working hard throughout the race. Congratulations! 

Our race was pretty clean, and I was very happy about that especially after last year's erratic team tactics. One guy did go down, but it was supposedly self-inflicted by his own tendency to overlap his front wheel with other people's rear wheels. This same guy, incidentally seems to have gotten away with getting two free laps before rejoining us; the rules only allow one.

So, what does this all mean? For me it was amazing that such a short preparation could yield a result so similar to what I would have likely achieved in past years where I did many months of workouts geared toward such races. It also reminded me that even flat crits at this high level of competition are very challenging for me. I had a lot of fun, the race was clean, and I am looking forward to next season! 

Salinas Criterium, 35+3/4, 5/3/2015

By Dennis Pedersen

This is one of the most grassroots-level races in the area, which suits me because I don't train specifically for crits anymore. The 4-1/2 turn, flat course helps me too. But the field of just nine 35+3/4 riders, combined with the windy conditions, meant it would be a real challenge for me.

After they blew the whistle, Jeremy Loader, (Cycles Fanatic), immediately took a dig and went off the front. I was not ready to commit that early in this one-hour-long race, so I waited for the rest of the pack to help. Three other guys took up the chase, and soon we were hard at work and a few laps later we caught Jeremy.

The other four guys were dropped, I think after the first lap, so it quickly became a race between just five guys.Soon we were taking turns pace-lining to maintain a high speed that would prevent the other guys from catching back on. This worked so well that we started to lap them. We even lapped some of them twice. I was very surprised to find that I was one of the guys doing the lapping and not being lapped! It was hard work for me, though, so I tried to save energy where I could.

As the race progressed I noticed that the only two guys making attacks out of our lead group were Dave Porter (Bicycle Blue Book) and Jeremy. I know Dave from other races so I knew to respect him. Jeremy I don't really know, but clearly he has a very strong aerobic engine. About halfway into the race Dave put in a very hard jump coming out of turn 4 that opened up a gap behind me which cut out two of our group. They were soon well off the pace and in about a lap or two we had almost a full straight-away lead on them.

We started to drop our pace a little bit after that and that is when Dave and Jeremy started to increase their attacks. I was weakest of the three of us so I am pretty sure they were doing their best to drop me. I will not say it was easy but every time they tried to drop me I was able to grab onto their wheels and stay with them. I couldn't afford to take a hard pull in our little paceline without fear of going too hard and leaving myself vulnerable to another attack by them. So sometimes my pace was a bit slow.

The last two laps of this race were totally fun to me, because they were very much like a match sprint at the track, something I am intimately familiar with and plays well to my strengths. I was smiling openly and enjoying myself immensely as we played cat and mouse, attacking, swerving from one curb all the way across the course to the other, sometimes slow, sometimes all-out. I was keeping an eye on them, constantly looking under my elbows, at their shadows, over my shoulder... anything to give me warning of their next attack. Attacks that I knew I would be coming.

On the last lap, Dave jumped into the second-to-last turn, and I jumped immediately on to Jeremy's wheel. This was perfect, and I was confident that I would be able to position myself well in the sprint. And so that proved, as Dave led Jeremy and me out for the sprint, I was able to come around both of them and cross the finish line with a nice gap.

On the top step of the Salinas Criterium podium.

I had considered racing in the 35+1/2/3 or 45+ race and the dynamics of that race would have been very different. The fields were larger, and the talent level higher. The larger field would have helped me in the wind, but the higher talent level would have made it more challenging in that way. Interesting to consider, and I may try that next time.

I won $30 and two T-shirts. Erik Petersen does a great job of keeping the entry fee low, so I made a $5 profit!

NCNCA Masters State (District) Criterium Championships, 8/31/2014

By Dennis Pedersen

Though I had not even finished the championship road race at San Ardo, two weeks earlier, I had done quite well in the first lap. So I was confident I'd be able to do well in the championship criterium, in the 50-54 age group.

The crit was just 50 minutes long, on the usual flat, four-corner course in a business area of Pleasanton, so about the same as one lap at San Ardo, minus the  hills. Plus, I had an extra two weeks of training to target it (still not nearly enough). My coach, Jeff Solt, did his best to accommodate my crazy plan to line up against 35 guys who train for this stuff.

Margaret went with me to the race; what a cool woman! She cheered from the side on every lap, whether I was off the front or drafting at the back. And I did a lot of both. I was alone in the race so it was really up to me to make sure no breaks got away. We did chase down all the early breaks, but it was draining. I was happy with how I felt, though I had to be careful not to work too hard, as I'd need some reserves for the finish. 

With a few laps to go two guys broke away, but I kept an eye on them and later saw that one of the guys drifted back into the pack; I think it was Dan Smith or Don Langley (Morgan Stanley). I couldn't tell if anyone else was still ahead, but when our pace slowed I thought we'd caught them. 

It turned out Daniel Shore was still off the front, and he won, solo. In the meantime, on the last lap, I was stuck behind some wildly gyrating riders on the back straight who almost took out several guys. As a result I could only safely move forward on the straight before the last turn. I did that, but as I tried to sprint to the finish line I was forced up against the curb by a rider from SJBC. I had to slow, and had to settle for 12th place. 

My biggest mistake was to not be further forward before the back straight, though, again, I had to be careful to keep some reserves and doing that might have drained them. It's hard to judge how hard to work while still being fresh enough for a final sprint. You have to trade off some energy for a good position.

Drafting a bit, in my blue aero helmet (photo by Mike).

Oh well, I really wanted to win a State Championship jersey. Though I got one already it's a very humble one in track team sprints... nowhere near as prestigious. At least I rode pretty well, and had a really nice lunch afterward, with our friend, Carole, joining us! 

Next year I will still be focused on track sprints. Ciao!