Dilworth Criterium

So, spur of the moment I decided to head up to Charlotte for the 36th annual Dilworth Criterium. The Cat 3/4 race was set to go off at 12:30 which is great because this is the time the Austin Continental Cup is going off. I figured it would be the perfect tuneup to race in the heat of the day and throw a quick run in afterwards. Unfortunately, I had to make the trip solo, but I still had a great time.

On to the race. I showed up around 11:45 and had to immediately go register and get set up. By the time I was all suited up though, the maters race was almost done, and I had no time to warm up. After the masters finished, I was able to get in one lap of the course and then we were called to the line. It was a big field (about 50 or so) and unfortunately I had to line up at the back of it.

As is customary in crit racing, we got off to a fast start. There was on tight 90 degree turn at the bottom of a hill on the course which proved to be quite interesting in the first few laps. After about 4 laps, I had moved up to the front about 10 wheels back, and was sitting in good position. However, just as soon as I got there, some one decided to launch a move off the front on the downhill section of the course. I followed the move, thinking it would be nice to hit the turn at the bottom of the hill in the lead. Though, much to my surprise, the move had caused quite a bit of separation from the group as we headed up the one climb on the course. Eventually it was me a three other guys of the front increasing our lead with each lap. We were pushing a very hard tempo for the first 10 minutes, and there were a couple of times when I thought I was going to get dropped. The field was trying to pull us back in, but they could not get organised enough to finish off the job. So we just kept cranking away and eventually made it to about 8 laps to go and we still had a 30 second lead. We pretty much had it wrapped up at that point, but we still had to keep the pressure on.

Then, with just over 2 laps to go, one of my fellow escapees decides to attack when I'm on the front heading up the climb. I tried to follow his wheel, but he had sand bagged the last few laps and made a very powerful move. Eventually with one lap to go, my other two break partners and myself regrouped. We kept working trying to bring him in, but he had made quite a dent. My final desperate move for a win came at the downhill 90 degree bend. I lead into the corner and attacked with everything I had coming out of it. Unfortunately, it was still a ways to go, and I simply ran out of gas. The other two passed me with 200 meters to go and I ended up fourth.

All in all, this was a great race for me. I trained very hard all week, and was far from fresh for this race. I had to really work hard to stick with my breakaway group. I went for a short run immediately after finishing to see how the legs felt. It hurt, but when I'm rested I should be able to hop off the bike and run hard even after an intense effort like this. This was a great day of training and it was made sweeter by the fact that I won back my entry fee and some cash to cover gas money.

Next stop on the list is White Lake Sprint II next weekend. I decided to enter this race at the last minute figuring it would be a good tune up race for Austin on the 25th.