2011 Brisbane Crit Race Report

Feb 5th 2011
Brisbane Rhonde whatever, whatever Crit
Teammates: Devon Joos, Chris Scheetz, Christian Parker and John Tsamasfyros

You have heard of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"? Well how about, "if you can't beat 'em, have them join you?".

I arrive at 7:20 for a nine o'clock race. Beautiful day: Sun and temps in the high 40's. Nice. Before the 5's started at 8am I got on the course and did a lap. Uh oh. The course is narrow and has lots of turns in it's .6 mile loop. It also has a 180 degree turn. This turn comes right off a bit of a straight away, so you have some speed coming into it. I have to admit, first race of 2011 and confidence in the course was shaky!

Devon and Chris Scheetz show up and I introduce them to John T. This was John's very first race. What a course to have as your inauguration to racing. He started at 8am and we watched him while we warmed up on the rollers. He did great. Good positioning in the first few laps. Stayed in the top 10. Then the pace got to him and he slowly drifted off pace. For a very first race, it was a good showing. Congrats John.

Next up was our race. It was old man 3/4 cat. Total in race is about 30 to 35 guys. With my course preview fresh in mind, I did not want to ride mid pack. Way too scary taking those tight turns in a group. Instead I went out to the fourth spot from the gun. We were taking turns fast! Honestly it had me considering what the F… am I doing here. Still though, I felt good and I was racing, so I wanted to make the best of it.

First preem came up and Devon rolls by me into 4th position. On the finishing straight he goes and no one challenges his quick acceleration. He wins the preem. Nice. We keep rolling and on the next lap I hear a crash behind me. Not sure what happened, but it woke me up a bit. I move into second position. While following the leader through the 180 turn, he cant hold his line and crashes right in front of me. One of those slow motion things. I could see him going down and knew it may not be good for me. I drift to the far side and his wheels hit me. I have to come unclipped and ride the top tube, but I stay up right. I watch the group go speeding by. I get back in the pedals and catch back on. Unfortunately, the incident takes out my front derailleur. I now can not use my big ring and I am at the back of the pack. At this point I mentally checked out a bit. Was thinking about just riding it in but since I was still with the group figured I would play it out and see what happened.

We get the countdown to five laps to go. I am at the back. This kind of sucks. Two laps to go and I am pissed. Felt good, first race of the year and here I am at the back. Well, what the hell. I come out of the pack on the finishing straight going into the last lap and move back up to third position. I feel like a hamster on a wheel with my legs spinning out (no big ring). Two SJ Bike club guys start hammering. I recognize the second in line from the noon ride. Anyway, it is obvious his buddy is trying to lead him out. We hit the final straight away and a black blur goes flying by…Devon. Kid is moving. I have to say, Devon has a hell of a kick. This is Devon's fifth race and first crit and he WON… every race he has entered. This was a Cat 3/4 race and he hammered all the 3's. If he was 25 years younger, I would say kid had a future making money on a bike. Of course, he is 47, so instead, he just gets to beat up on the likes of us. As I mentioned above, if you can't beat 'em, have them join you. Good thing my year of begging and pleading for him to join us worked. I spun my hamster legs to a 4th, so I was able to stand on the podium with Devon. Made sure to have a pic taken to prove it. When D moves on Radioshack, I will say I knew him at the start.

Things learned from this race; Tight turns…be near the front. Get out of Devon's way during a sprint, he will just blow by you anyway and finally, I don’t make a good hamster. Last thing, the booty was not bad. D Money (his new name) won a set of $300 bike shoes, $25 in cash and some other junk. I got a warm smile and a hearty handshake.

Finally, I stayed for the next race and watched Christian tear up a 3rd place in the 35+ Cat 4 race. Not sure what happened to him over the winter, but whatever Christian is eating, I want some. He is kicking ass. We had a few guys come up to us after each race asking about the team. Seems we are starting to get some notice, and this year not just for our ample girth.

Keep riding.

Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com