Lower Providence crit

Remember what I said last week about loving crits? I take it all back. I hate crits. I especially hate all the fat hangers on who show up for the 10 seconds of racing they do. I was having a good week on the bike but had to take a few days off due to being a normal person with a job and family. So that sucked. But I was hoping that feeling would carry over into Sunday's race. It didn't really. I mean I felt as I was one of the stronger guys in the pack (at least one of the stronger guys who was actually dong any real racing) but I didn't have that "unstoppable" feeling in the legs.

Let me start from the beginning. I signed up for the Cat. 4thinking it would be an easy win. Wrong! I totally forgot about all the guys who ride around in circles for 40 mins saving it all or the sprint. ANYWAY... The whistle goes off and some old dude (pretty strong too. Gave me some hope for my future old self) takes off and gets away pretty easy. No one chases, he stays out for a few laps finally pops and comes back in. He tries a few more times to his credit but never gets away. Another guy goes off and some due starts yelling about "he's a Cat 1 cyclocross!" repeatedly. So what the hell I rarely hear the word cyclocross so I chase him down. This dude tries to get away about 10 more times every time the same way. I'm not sure what he was doing. He seemed pretty strong I was actually hoping he would get away but he seemed to sit up after he came to he finishing straight. Weird... So we are racing and Jamie comes to the front and does some work but kind of seems like he is just playing around having fun. He felt good so he tried to get in some breaks. I tried putting on a one man block every time Jamie went out but Obviously that didn't work. Cole was tucked safely in the pack saving it for the sprint or for if I got away. I tried several times to go off in a break and every time I'd catch the break only to urn around and see 40 riders stung out on my wheel right behind me. SO with 4 laps to go I said "fuck it" and gave it a real dig and got clear. I got a nice gap and held it for a lap before it started dwindling. I was hoping someone would come up and join me but no one did. Actually some dude did come up right before I got caught and said "let's go man!" so I let him get in front to give me a break and as I did I noticed my speed was slower then when I was alone. I yelled at the guy o go faster but he pulled off and I took off again. This time feeling tired as I'd been alone for 2 laps and with 2 laps to go the pace was much faster. I was caught by the first corner. So I sat up and went straight to the back where I almost got spit out. Took a deep breath tried to recover for a lap. Went back the front. Some douche dives into the corner in front of me slams hard on the brakes because I guess he got scared and sends the rest of the race scrambling not to eat shit. Asshole... This screws over Jamie and Jason as they get pushed to the back. They never recover from that and they finis behind me. Sucks too because I could have led someone out. I was able to get around said dipshit and sprint up the back straight to get near the front. I'm about 10th wheel coming into the sprint and I got nothing. I'm still beat from the pitiful solo break and the back straight away sprint. My goal quickly becomes not to crack before the line or get passed. I think 1-2 dudes inched passed me and about 10 guys I hadn't seen all day are in front of me sprinting their ass off.
SO this is why I hate crits. If you're reading this and you are one f those guys who just sits in I'm not ragging on you. That's the nature of this style racing. And sitting in and letting guys like me put the pace on because we think we can crack the field or get away only serves you better. You're smarter then me for sure. I don't fault you one bit, if I was a sprinter, and I'm so not, I'd do the same thing.
So bring on the road races! I'm going to miss Tour De Ephrata but I should get into every other road race or long circuit race. And then it's payback.