Sonic Boom Criterium - June 8, 2014

On June 8, the day after my 5k with my kids, I raced in the Sonic Boom Criterium in Louisville, Colorado.  Basically over many of the same streets as the 5k the day before.  This is a cool crit that actually uses downtown city streets, so it has a whole different atmosphere than some of the other ones.

This was also the state Master's criterium championship, so I hoped to do well.  I got there early in the morning and started warming up.  My family showed up a little later, just before my race.  I would be racing in the Cat 4 35+ race again.

A number of races occurred before mine, so I got to see some of them.  It was a little crazy.  Everyone was crashing on the final turn before the finish.  And some of the crashes looked pretty bad.  It was a fast turn, with a couple bumps in the road.  The medics were very busy.

Peg

Craig, who ended up getting 3rd in the Cat 5 40+ race.

After the race before mine was completed, I was able to take a practice lap.  There was a long straight uphill on one side of the course, and the rest seemed flat or downhill for the most part.  It seemed pretty easy, and given how I felt at the City Park Crit the weekend before, I figured I could expect the same type of race.  I was wrong.  This race was just plain hard.  It was very fast, and the racers seemed a lot tougher than City Park.  Maybe it was because this was the state championship, it brought out a higher caliber of racer.

It was a 40-minute crit, and I think I hung with the group for about 20 minutes or so.  Then, I got blown off the back during the uphill section of one lap.  I tried to catch back up, but just didn't have the legs for it.  After that, I was on my own for quite a while.  There were a few other stragglers I could see in front of me and behind me.  But we were all kind of in no-man's land.

After about 10-15 minutes of riding alone, I could hear the lead motorcycle coming up behind me.  The guy pulled up and told me I could keep racing but had to stay to the right to let the group pass me.  I'm happy they didn't pull me.  That would have been really disappointing.  So, over the next minute or so, the field passed me, and I just let them go.  And I watched them disappear again, for the second time in the race.  As I got the bell for the last lap, I ended up meeting up with one of the other stragglers, and we rode the last lap together.

Coming up on the final turn, a bunch of people were out on the course, waving for me to slow down.  A crash.  Again.  I slowed for the turn, and saw a couple riders crashed into the barrier, receiving treatment.  I couldn't believe it.  The amount of crashes in this race was insane.  I crossed the line, said hi to my family on the sidewalk, and took a cool-down lap.  Coming around the last turn on my cool-down lap, the medics were there putting someone onto a backboard and getting ready to load them into the ambulance.

After resting for a bit, we got ready for my son to ride in the kid's race.  I like that they do these at the crits.  Most crits give the officials a lunch break, and let little kids do a lap of the course.  This one was supposed to be age 8 and under, so my daughter didn't race this one.  But I got my son ready and lined up, and he headed out for his lap.  He was rockin'.  At that point, it was pouring down rain, but he was a trooper.  A watched the start, ran up a side street to see him come around the other side of the course, and then sprinted back to the finish to see him cross the line.  Unfortunately, I didn't run fast enough, and missed his finish.  But my wife and daughter were there cheering him on.

Braving the rain in the kid's race.

A pretty disappointing day, race-wise.  But doing a 5k and a crit was fun, and as a bonus, we got to have lunch in Louisville:  Lucky Pie Pizza followed by Sweet Cow ice cream.  Awesome.  After pizza and ice cream, we headed back to the car to go home.  But as we were walking, we heard the ambulance once again.  Getting close to the car, we saw the ambulance pulling onto the course, heading to that final turn.  There were racers sprawled out everywhere.  Once again, the medics were loading people into an ambulance.  I saw a couple teammates on the sidewalk not too far away, so I went over to see what was going on.  Turns out, a former Psimet Zilla racer, Lloyd, was involved in that accident.  He was sitting on a bench, looking disappointed and annoyed.  Sounds like someone took a turn poorly and fell into him.  I found out later that Lloyd ended up in surgery that night with a broken hip.  We'll see if he changes his mind, but he's currently saying he's done racing.  At age 55, you just don't heal like you used to.

I'm not sure what it was about that course that caused so many crashes, but it kind of scared me off crits for a while.  I've had a pretty good season so far, and would hate to ruin it with a nasty crash in a crit.

My end result wasn't very good.  32nd out of 44.  After 33rd place, they gave everyone else a DNF, so I was pretty much right at the end.  Definitely a difference between the Cat 5s and Cat 4s.  Oh well.  Nothing I can do but get ready for the next race.