Barrio Logan Criterum

As I've said before "I hate criteruims" and today's race was no exception. The course was a bit sketchy, which made the other riders a bit sketchy, which made me a bit sketchy, which all together made the whole race Way Sketchy.

I rode to the race from Clairemont, starting around 5 am, and made it to Barrio Logan just in time to grab the 49th race number! Lucked out since they were only letting 50 race. Getting there early let me warm up on the course for twenty minutes or so. The race was setup as a figure eight; the upper section surrounding an elementary school, the bottom section surrounding auto junkyards and new construction. Broken pavement, gravel, and dirt made it seem like a race more suited for a mountain bike.

The race began as soon as the Police finished towing the illegally parked cars from the course. The course's main features were rutted and gravel filled straight-a-ways, tight 90 degree corners, and a fairly long and steep uphill section a few turns before the finish. The first 15 minutes were pretty similar, sprinting out the corners and slowly moving forward in the pack. The pace settled down, but there were several riders that continually tried to pass on the inside of corners, squeeze each other out, not hold their lines... sketchfest.

With about 7 laps to go I put a pretty hard dig on the uphill to put a little sense of urgency into the race and wound up gaping the front by 40 or 50 meters. I looked back and saw no one following me, I had hoped to start a little break, and so sat up and waited for the pack. In retrospect I should have kept going, but...

With 5 laps to go things got really gnarly. The pace had picked up and we were stretched out single file for the better part of half a lap. Someone hit my rear wheel and threw my bike to the side, somehow I remained upright. With 3 laps to go two riders didn't hold their line and almost ran me into the curb; I only kept my self from crashing by slamming on the brakes and had to sprint back on. With one lap to go I moved up to 3rd position on the climb and tried to ready for the sprint. On the back stretch I looked down at my computer and saw my Heart Rate was pegged at 194, not to good, need to get some recovery before the uphill sprint.

Into the last run up the climb, two riders touched wheels and took out several riders right in front of me. I had to come to a complete stop and watched the race steam up the hill without me. I soft pedaled to the finish. Not the results I had hoped for, but just happy to make it out without touching the floor.