NC State Criterium
Sunday 3/19/06
By Jacob Koenig
The men’s C race was first as normal in weather that seemed cold at the time. Termite stuck out hard in front, pulling a good portion of the race, as Smitty stuck around the middle and end for the first few laps. Sick, out of shape, and still new to these bike race things, I faltered after the first couple laps, sinking back and just going out for a nice Sunday ride, topped off with some vomiting at the end. Meanwhile, Termite lost a wheel going up the hill and had to be helped by teammates. Unfortunately, he would be unable to recover and get back into the race that he was once leading. Left was Smitty, and in only his second criterium he did us proud, staying with the pack and finishing 17th.
The women’s B field was next and, fairly small on numbers, Jess and Lauren lined up on the start line. The girls looked strong for the whole race, staying with the pack with looks of calm, cool, determination on their faces. Lauren held strong mostly all alone out there and managed a 5th place finish. Jess was with a group of three as she pushed hard at the end but couldn’t catch up to her VT girl (who she’d eventually get revenge on), but still finished well in 7th.
At 10:40, the sun now high and the day warming up, Toby, Nate, Brian and Bloomer stepped up to the line. The men looked real strong for most of the race, sticking together pretty well in a tight peleton. I was there talking with Cliff, still recovering when I realized that in the last pack of men I couldn’t find Bloomer’s blue helmet. Cliff and I agreed he wasn’t there and split up in different directions to go find him. As we expected he had crashed, and while his bike and his legs looked pretty banged up, he was thankfully alright. Apparently the guy who told him, “look out for me, I ride pretty recklessly,” before the race managed to lock handlebars and bring him down at the chicane. We cleaned up him and cleared his bike away as the rest of the guys kept going hard. The primes came and went and Nate and Toby stayed cool in the front of the pack, not wanting to spend too much of their energy until the end. Meanwhile, as riders from different teams continued to break away, sometimes to leads of even a half-minute, our guys remained cool headed and the break away guys all were brought back. Brian eventually decided that despite his feeling good he couldn’t catch up with the leaders and dropped out to let the other guys have a good shot at it. Displeased with himself, Brian decided he needed to go on a “punishment ride” after the crit. But, on the last lap, with Toby and Nate sticking tough near the front, the NC state rider broke away from behind. Nate caught a wheel and Toby blocked as they and one other rider sprinted away to the finish. Toby took an 11th and Nate 3rd.
Next the women’s A’s came up. Apparently the announcer isn’t a big fan of these girls. Last year too he criticized them relentlessly as they circled the track. It was no different this time as he chastised them for “going slower than the Women’s B’s” and “racing like a bunch of girls.” To my surprise, in this slow field I saw Katie, seemingly going faster than her opponents, falling further and further behind at each lap. Something must be wrong, I thought to myself. Katie was now with the pack, she was going faster than them. Then she fell behind again…the race ended. Katie comes over to us and asks for help with her cleat. I was right, something was wrong. Her cleat had broken and she was basically peddling with one leg. The grueling effort earned her 11th place and some nice national points. We fixed the shoe and laughed it off as the Men’s A field began.
We didn’t really watch much of the Men’s A field, as Toby and Nathan haven’t yet moved up, but the race was exciting and face-paced. I don’t have anything further to say about the A race really. The Towson guys were there and they did ok. We went with them afterwards to our Boone retreat and had a great time.