Mark F's Morgan Hill Crit report (with some ed notes) 5-28-12

Memorial Day Crit, 5-28-12

Morgan Hill
45+ cat 3 & 45+ cat 1,2,3
Team Mates: Devon Joos & John Wilde
Written by Mark Foster

I wasn’t planning on doing these crits, but changed my mind at the last minute and bombed down to Morgan Hill for a 10:45 Start.

The three of us (Ed Note: John Wilde, Devon and Mark) warmed up together and Devon admitted he hadn’t been feeling great and had been on meds. (ed note: He claims the meds are for a physical condition-though some of us have asked him to investiage some for mental as well :) We both knew he could still sprint, he just didn’t have the same mojo he normally has.

I felt great and didn’t really care how I did (Ed Note: Sure, if you know Mark, he is the most competitve dude out there. Him "not caring" means he will not throw a total fit if he does not have the day he wants :), I was just glad to be out riding on such a beautiful day. The race was packed with tons of riders. The results haven’t been posted so I’m not sure how many were in the first race, but my second race had over 70 riders. At any rate, the whistle blows and we’re off. It didn’t feel that fast, but it was. The average speed was over 26 mph. I was messing around up front along with John. He asked me if I wanted a lead out for a “preem”, I declined. I saw big Rick Morgan off of the front with another guy (Ed Note: Rick has a big backside, so I am surprised anyone could see there was someone with him) for about five laps, but we reeled them back.

At one point with about five laps to go an Alto Velo rider said to me, “let’s go for a break!”. I agreed and off he went with me on his wheel. He gave me the “elbow flick” and I came around him and hammered hard for over a minute. When I gave him the flick….nothing. I look back and I’m all alone, but about 50 yards off the front….nice. Five miles to go was too far for me to try to be a hero. I obviously agreed to break with the wrong guy. He said after the race that I rode him off of my wheel. At any rate, I soft pedaled until the peloton caught me. I blended into the group and hid for the last few laps. With a lap to go, I’m about twentieth heading into the wind. I hear Devon’s voice behind me, “Dude, you gotta go”. So “go” I did. With Devon on my wheel, I went into the wind and up to the front guys. I stayed in the wind the entire last lap, but was at the front, to the side of the other leaders. As I came into the final corner, before the sprint, the “check engine” light came on. There was nothing left. Devon did his job and took second and I limped in to 16th. I had completely tapped myself out. My pulse hit it’s highest number this year at 189….ouch. It would barely go under 100 in the next hour and a half before the next race….I was toast. (Ed Note: Awesome teamwork. Would have been hard for Devon to get up front without using up his sprint if Mark did not help-This was great team racing and a well earned Second place for both Mark and Devon)

The next race was the 45+ Cat 1,2,3 race. It started and I hung on to last place for a few laps. Then I started feeling better. I moved up a bit, but was careful never to stick my nose into the wind. I hid the entire race. As the laps wound down I slowly moved up. My heart was still suffering from the previous effort. It’s hard to move up in a pack of over 70 riders and never get into the wind; but I did it. By the time we crossed the finish line I had worked my way up to 19th place. I haven’t seen the results(other than where I finished), but I beat most of the 3’s who had beaten me the previous race (Ed Note: See? Not competitive at all, just out for a fun day. Except that he takes notes during a race and if you beat him, watch out, he will get you the next time out! Mark is a bull, we are just hoping he does not realize it for a while so we can still ride his wheel from time to time - unlike that AV guy in the first race.)  No glory (Ed note: Leading your teammate out to a 2nd place is glory my friend!), tons of fun! Thanks for reading. –Mark F.