Posted by Dan on 1. March 2010 06:40
Celerity Cycling p/b Fitness Together got a taste of how the rich and famous NASCAR crowd lives courtesy of Team Nature's Path/3 Sports. For those brave enough to endure the cold and winds, the Richmond International Raceway Crit gave us a beautifully banked, variable radius circuit to abuse for a few hours, both with most expensive carbon goodies and in some cases, our faces.
Both Frank and Justin were able to squeak into the Cat 5 race. Employing a novel technique once described to me by the triathlon-biased Tim, a rider rumored to be a triathlete went off the front and time trialed his way to the finish. Whoda thunk it? Justin tried to bridge up and expended quite a bit of energy in his valiant attempt. He eventually drifted back into the pack and finished mid-pack. Frank raced more conservatively and clung to the front, coming in 6th in the bunch sprint, 7th overall.
I did the Cat 3/4 and Masters 35+ races. The first one was fairly fast and didn’t let anyone get away, culminating in a bunch sprint. I came in somewhere around 20th. Riding with the more experienced and upper-categories in the second race was a lot different. They all seemed more confident and relaxed. No yelling at one another, very little bumping. A group of 10 or so went off the front from "go", later splitting into 3 and a chase group of 7 that shelled a riders off every so often. Everyone else was comfortably protected from the wind in the main field. A few tried to bridge attempts were quickly caught. Not wanting to drive all the way from Norfolk only to sit-in and not work, I did a little more in this second race, spending a little too much time on the front in the headwind. With 4.5 laps to go, I got a severe hamstring cramp. I sat up made for pit row. The main field kept the momentum up and managed to catch the chase group, but the three leaders kept their lead with Chuck Hutcheson taking a solid 1st place.
I have mixed feelings about the track. It was cool to race on Richmond International Raceway, passing through a tunnel to get to the infield, surrounded by spectator seating and registering in the “drivers’ lounge”. The course was a D shaped track with a pretty serious bank that only track riders would be familiar with. You learn quickly to the unique features to your advantage, such as using excess speed to drift to the outside, then letting gravity advance you a few places when dropping back in. On the downside, the bank caused crowding near the inner edge of the course. There was an epic crash on the bell lap of the Cat 5 race which. Fortunately, neither of our guys went down. There was another crash in our 3/4 race that happened in the same place, just off to my left. All I saw was someone’s rear carbon wheel coming up over their head. I didn’t hang around long enough to see the result, but I heard the familiar crunch and for some reason, the image of Happy Gilmore pulling the sweater over a heckler's head got stuck in my mind.
The lessons learned from this race were easy ones: If you’re racing Cat 5, 4, or even 3, chances are no one is getting away. In that case, there is no reason on earth why you should be anywhere near the front. There is no accordion affect going around corners or mini-sprints to catch up. It’s just motorpacing, as Wick would say (and has). In the Masters 35+ race, where talent and experience are more plentiful, you WANT to be near the front and prepared to cover any moves. The two upcoming Langley Speedway Crits will give us ample opportunity to test these theories.
Lydia's pictures will be posted to Flickr once the camera thaws.