Northfield Crit- Bring down the rain!

This is how the day started.

Drove down to Northfield with my neighbor who runs the J&B DC here in the cities. AS we roll out we both say something to the affect that we should bag the race and spend the day with our families--being the 4th and all.

Well we decide to go anyway.

His race is at 9:40 and mine at 11:30. I've got plenty of time to get ready, maybe too much. Anyway Bill gets ready and rolls up to the line. He's been away from racing for 6 years and doesn't have the chain on the big ring for the start. He can't spin it up onto the big ring so he heads over to the neutral support to fix it. Just as he get it in the stand they start the race. Not cool cause by my watch it's 9:38. He finally gets it set and tries to catch up with the group. Not happening. He tries for a lap or two and throws in the towel.

At about the same time Todd Heiser rolls up to me to ask if they already started the race. I had to break the bad news.

This was not a good start to the day...

So Todd and Bill are left with nothing to do but watch the race that got away. :(
Too bad cause it was a good race. Scott Flanders took a flier with several laps to go and held it to the end (foreshadowing). That guy is hardcore.

Normally when I arrive way early for a race I get really nervous. Today was no different.

After a good time warming up I got to the line with my "A" game. I was feeling pretty good and grabbed a spot in the 2nd row. All I could think about was the Gatorade that Bill promised me if I podium'd and that I better do something good here today if I'm going to be away from the fam on the 4th.

I'll get to it.

Before we started I noticed that Sam and Eric Oftedahl and Chris Fisher were on hand and thought that my day was over before it started. Damn!

So were racing and the tempo is pretty good. The attacks didn't seem too threatening so I hung out at the back. Since I didn't really know Eric or Sam, the only other H-WooD riders, there wasn't any plan to work with each other. From what I could see Eric, Sam and Chris were hammering the pace and going for all the primes. Being that these guys are semi-pro mtb'ers, and kick my ass on the dirt, I was just hoping to hang in to the end.

I think it was a little over half way through the race when I realized I was at the back of the field of about 16 or so riders (started with 47). The rest got shelled off. I decided that I had reserved myself enough and wanted to move to the front to show Sam and Eric that I had enough in my legs to do something. At the time I had no idea what that something was. I was thinking that they may try to launch Sam at some point and figured that was cool with me and that I'd help my much faster teammate out. So I move up to the front just as some guy goes off the front. So I decide to kick it up a notch and chase him down. By now we have just over 8 laps to go. As I get up to this guy he just sits up. I coast past him and look back at the group. No response. So I decide to dig a little and see if I can't put some time on them. As I make my way around this technical course I hear someone yell out "you have about 20 seconds on the group". As I'm doing this I can hear Lalla "What are you thinking"? As I continue on my own I hear the time gap drop to 15 seconds then to 10 seconds. OK time to rethink the strategy here. So I sit up and wait for the group hoping that I can drop back into the front with these guys.

I make my way back to the front of the group and realize that I'm recovering quite quickly. NICE! Now all I'm thinking about is positioning for the sprint. With one lap to go I'm in great position and feeling even better. Can't remember what happened on the back side of the course. But as we made our way around the final turn I had a little ground to cover. It think I was in 6th or so position. That's when I went ape. I felt so strong and just went for it. Just then I get boxed in by two dying riders. I could see that Chris was in front with two guys chasing. Once a lane opened between these two I was on the gas again and gaining fast on the third place guy. I knew that I was held up too much to contend for 1st or 2nd but that I had a shot for 3rd. just a couple meters from the line the 3rd place guy popped and I had to throw the bike at the line to get it. I probably got him by half a wheel. man did that feel good. I was so excited to have race so well. I did wonder a little what it would have been like if I hadn't got boxed in. I know I had the legs to make a run at first. But then again, that's racing. In all fairness though, Chris and the brothers Oftedahl were using this as a training workout and if they hadn't been pushing the pace the whole time or going after primes, they would have worked together and probably gotten 1,2,3 on the day. Either way it felt pretty darn cool to be able to race with that caliber of riders.