Waterloo Criterium

I showed up a little late to the course and the racing was already underway. This was something less than ideal as the expo area was inside the course and they wouldn’t let me drive the van over, even though it was between races. So I had to lug the whole display a block and a half to the expo area. I’m not as strong as I used to be and that left me pretty tuckered. They also told me I couldn’t set the display up on level ground because we were in a police lot and they needed the parking. Well, sure enough, no more than an hour after I got everything put together some guys drives up across the course and sets up his display on the flat ground. Dammit! So I suppose he had some pull because he was the Wisconsin Cheese Display and they’re the title sponsor. Eh, whaddyagonnado?

The course was a sweet and reminded me a lot of a Belgian Kermis. 1.6 miles with 3 long straights and then a back stretch that wound slightly uphill through a park as it narrowed to one lane before heading into a technical left, right, left that spit you back onto the finishing straight: 600 meters into a headwind.

As we lined up the announcers told us to look behind us. A huge wall of dark threatening clouds was towering into the sky and slowly creeping towards us. There was a prolonged hiss as almost all the riders let some air out of their tires. Although the course was still dry, everyone knew the rain was coming, and with the possibility of having the race called early everyone was itching to get off the front. One break after another would jump away only to be brought back. I was riding near the front trying to be aggressive despite having pretty bad legs. I managed to get into a move or two and then made a really bad choice. Something got away that looked threatening and I tried to jump across by myself. I had it pinned for almost a full lap and never could get across. It didn’t matter, as the field never let me get that far and pulled them back before too long. I was pretty shot and ended up being the caboose for a few laps.

I finally managed to recover and get back into the thick of things. With about 30 minutes left of the 90 minute race the skies finally opened up and the course got really, really slick. There was a lot of pain in the turns and when that stuff gets wet its like riding on ice. Don’t believe me? Ask Denis Menchov, who crashed in the final TT of the Giro on flat straight road when he hit some paint. One other thing that happens in the rain is that anyone riding carbon rims loses almost all their braking ability. I’d say you’re looking at like 1/5th to 1/10th of the braking you’d have under normal conditions. Yikes. Things were rippin pretty fast, but staying safe through the corners as the pack slowly reeled in a two man break as the laps ticked down. With 2 to go people started to get aggressive through the corners which is just a recipe for disaster. I hung back a little bit, unwilling to put too much on the line with things so dicey.

Sure enough there was a big crash in the second corner of the last lap. I could see it coming a mile away and managed to ride around it and sprint back onto the back of the field. I should have charged straight up to the front and pinned it, but I hesitated and that sunk me. When things pinched down before the technical section I was too far back and after being spit out onto the final straight strung out single file I could only make up a few spots in the sprint. I’m certainly not feeling my best, but I had the legs to go top ten easily, had I not hesitated on that last lap. Oh well. I was in the money and if I just get a little better every day I’ll be rolling well before long.