Tour D Burg - Miamisburg, Ohio - July 17, 2011

These pics and screen shots should cover my pain from my second race on the day.
First Race
Masters State Crit Championships
I lined up with Doug and Kristian in the masters race with about 30+ dudes.
They went off like a rocket, I struggled. after a 1 min lap and back through the start line, the back of my bike felt funny. through the bricks, tire is low. crap.
Ride through to finish to get air and take a lap. I get air, get a push from the official and get back in, redlining myself to get back into the speed and pace.
3 or 4 laps later - tire goes low again. I head back around off the back of the group through the start finish and into the "pit" - I get it changed and holler at the officials to request permission to get back in - they say, less than five laps to go you are on your own, hit it -> as the speed of the masters race gets faster and I try to get back on in the back straight, sweat beginning to just eek out of my pours, I decide I better pull the plug to save some for my second race.

State of Ohio Crit Championships - CAT 4 race - Me, Brian and Kristian and Doug line up. It's hot as shit. Sweating and sweating. We hold for 2 min as the local police tell the race official they are chasing someone downtown on our course. They caught him, there is applause, a few nervous laughs - we get the whistle and we're off. Lots of guys not pedaling on the brick section, why are they not pedaling - very frustrating. Lots of young guys, with too much air in their tires bouncing around in corners like super balls and again not pedaling. I guess I got spoiled in the masters race?
I lean way over load up the front wheel, pedal and pass 4-8 guys in every corner to rest, soft pedaling to recover. Every lap, while all the other racers are not pedaling on the bricks, I click two gears and push it pass a bunch of guys and then sprint up to get to the front, recover, get passed by guys moving up and start it all over again.
We get the 2 laps to go....the group slows some, I jockey up for position after the bricks, we head into the finish start area for 1 to go, I am mid-field off to the right sucking wheels, there is some crazzy wheel cross and about 10 dudes go down from 27mph into a giant pile, I grab the back brake, slide the back wheel around sideways and keep it upright to pedal around and catch back up to what's left of the field, only for us to roll back around and the race officials neutralize our field for a lap, we sort of slow pedal at 20 mph around to finish again - with about 200 meters before the finish - the officials yell out - race is on go - so, out of the saddle we go, Spencer bolts up the inside for good position, Doug and Kristian move up to good spots I hang on for dear life, hoping to move up after the brick section and pedal up through the corners as I had been...
Spencer is first out of the last turn, where I wanted to be - Doug and Kristian go flying by me and I pass about 10 dudes in my 1000 meter finish. Ass up, head down, power to the

pedals, just like Scotty always used to say.
My team mate, Kristian, got 6th and is a badass. Doug I think, blew up, this race being his 3rd of the weekend in the heat. Doug is also a badass. Brian from my team also raced in this race for his third crit race of the weekend. Cowbells.

These kind of wrecks though are the reasons why I don't care too much for crits anymore. I would prefer to eat sand during a cross race, or even wack my own shoulder into tree on my mountain bike or biff it over a log in the woods from my own lack of skill rather than hit the deck at 25-27 mph on my road bike. Quite a few of these guys don't have a sense of the space around their road bikes - or at least some of them don't, they put too much air in their tires, slow down through the corners, don't pedal when they should be pedaling, take bad lines, overlap wheels, go up front then sit up and get a drink from their bottle, its' just all not consistently smart all the time....

However, it is an amazing rush from an adrenaline standpoint, it requires so much focus and concentration and attention,

Heart Rate and Speed - almost threw up after my sprint

there is a huge sense of accomplishment to know you survived another one of these crit races. I like to not take them so seriously, there are so many of these cat 4 dudes, that might think they are racing for the End-of-The-World-Get-a Million-Dollar-Championships.
Lots of game face, lots of serious faces at

The Course - 'downtown' Miamisburg

the start line >I am so serious looking everyone up and down, lots of elbows, and lots of risk taking for 30 minutes.
Which hey, I get, a majority of them are way younger, well, ok, lets be honest, half my friggin age and they might become the next big thing...so hats off to them for even being out there and giving something like this a whirl - it's hard and not for everyone right?

At least they aren't sitting on their couch being oxygen thieves right?

Props to the organizers for a great event. Go race this if you can. I think Troy will be back next year.


<<  Some of the speeds around this course.

Oddly enough, I think the Troy Ohio Crit Course is faster as a general rule, overall and seems to be a little less dangerous, sans those stupid strawberry's they painted on the road.