6/27/10 Burlingame Crit Race Report-written by Andrew

6/27/10
Burlingame Crit- 40 minutes
Race: 35+ Cat 4
65 Riders
Course: Flat, through downtown Burlingame. Multiple turns with wide roads and mostly good pavement
CoreTechs Team: Just me…Andrew (Christian raced the Open Cat 4 race, so would love to read a race report Christian!)

I was a bit nervous about this race for a day or two before. The last three races I was in all involved a crash (not by me, but within the race). I like Crits, but they can be a bit scary (or possibly I am getting a bit soft. Probably this is the case). Anyway, I wanted to stay upright this race and assuming that, then see what happened.

Race starts promptly at 9:30am. We have the largest field in the Burlingame Crit series with 65 guys. I would say there were four or five Wells Fargo riders and four or five Talleo riders. Other than that, I did not see a lot from any one team. I recognize a few guys from the Noon ride and say hello to a few. Seems everyone is fairly relaxed.

Race starts reasonably fast. Since I have already mentioned above the onset of being a bit soft, I did not want to ride in the pack, so I opted to ride within the top four or five as long as I could. Come the fourth lap, they ring the bell for a Preem. Did not catch what they were offering, but since I was up front, figured I would give it a go. I was on a Los Gatos riders wheel (Alan from the noon ride) and we took off. I get to about mid bike of Alan but can not catch him so finish second on the preem (which means you get absolutely nothing. Well, you get out of breath, so that is something). Anyway, he and I fist bump and let the pack catch us.

Sometime mid race, two guys get off the front. I am third wheel in the pack and another rider shoots out to catch the two. I jump on his wheel and he and I work together and catch the front two. The four of us now have a gap of about 10 seconds. I start acting all stupid and telling the guys what to do. I am urging them to work together and take a hard pull at the front each so we can stay away. We do this for a lap. On my pull I go hard for 15 or 20 seconds. I turn to look and it is only two of us. The other two opted to slink back to the pack…wimps. With that, myself and the other guy sit up and get back in the group.

With two laps to go I have been riding in the front five all race. Suddenly I find myself leading the pack through the start finish line with two laps to go. Not where I want to be. So I ease up. Unfortunately, I guess I ease up too much. I get swamped. About 15 riders go by me on each side. Great, one lap to go and now I am in 15th to 20th position. Crap! I almost give in and say f… it. After a few beats though I figure I might as well go down in a steaming heap of lactic acid, so I get to the side of the pack and sprint for the front into the wind, by myself. I get back to the front five with about half a lap to go. As we enter the straight away, two riders sprint hard. Darn, they have a decent gap. I jump and come close to catching the second place guy when I notice another rider catching me on my right. He and I cross the line together neck and neck. After the announcer says it is a "photo finish for third", they give it to him…I get fourth. Ah well, such is racing.

With fourth place I won a fantastic prize package. Well, not so much. I won a pair of bike gloves, pair of socks and a box of Girl Scout Cookies (not kidding, really). I also earned another 7 points and can now upgrade to a Cat 3 if I want (you need 20 points in one calendar year to upgrade. If you get 30 points, you have to upgrade. So far this year I have 24 points.) For all of you just starting out, it is very possible to upgrade fairly quickly. In January I was a Cat 5, so not that hard to do if you are into it. Oh, and most importantly, I stayed up right and had no close calls this race! There was however a crash in the race I learned later. I did not hear it, but a few guys went down in one of the turns…got to stay away from those big group turns!

Looking forward to riding again soon. If you have not picked up your hats, feel free to drop by or ask Gordon if he has any left (I left a bunch with him).

Andrew