February 21, 2016, Avondale Crit #2, 45+
Avondale AZ
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

The flat, half mile, flat counter-clockwise course had warmed up considerably since my early morning race, but the winds had also increased, with an 8 mph wind hitting us after turn 1 head on.

James Kramer would be the likely favorite and I was sure he would use his two Faster-RPM team mates against me during this 35 minute event. He has had a phenomenal year, both in solo strength and a great sprint. I was certain he would try a solo attack at some time and I'd hope I could latch onto him. However, if I were to just sit on his wheel, his team mates were sure to slip off the front, so I'd have to try to counter attacks from all of them and hope his team would reel in any other riders that tried to escape.

From the gun, a Landis rider took off with a couple of us on his tail right away, myself in third. Seeing that he had not escaped, he sat up just before the first turn and our speed dropped from over 30 to 18 mph. The next lap was very slow, but at the beginning of lap 3, Chris Poole from Faster-RPM did an attack and I had to chase immediately. Seeing me closing the gap, but long before I made contact, he immediately eased up as we entered the straightaway before turn 1. So it seemed their strategy was to primarily wear me out for the time being and if I didn't respond, they'd just ride away for the placing.

The rest of the lap was an easy pace, but then Chris tried to jump away again and then eased up long before I caught him. I knew at some time James would try to escape and I was hoping it would be later in the race. But on the next lap, just before turn 1, he took a flyer from behind the group. I tried to give chase and closed down his gap to about 3 lengths as we crossed the finish line, where he looked over his shoulder and saw my effort. He pressed harder and I was not able to finish the job and eventually had to watch him disappear up the road with his superior time trailing abilities. I had my fastest lap of the race at 56 seconds (averaging 29.2 mph) in this effort and saw I had a half lap advantage on the rest of the pack when I threw in the towel. But I was spent and we were only six and a half minutes into the race. I knew I could not have maintained a fast enough pace to keep this advantage for the next 28 minutes and chances were I would not lap the pack after exhausting myself, so I recovered as I waited for the rest of the group.

We dawdled along until James lapped us, which ensured the win for him. He spoke to Chris, then came up on my left side, with the other teammate on my right, boxing me in, while Chris took a flyer from behind at 14:45 into the race. I had to find a hole very quickly and very soon had caught up with Chris. This time he did not coast, but said that if we worked together, I'd at least get third. I looked back and the pack was letting us go, so I started to work with him, hoping he wouldn't soon attack me after a pull.

We had a few laps together, but this is not where my strength is (constant work) and I was getting a bit taxed and breathing heavily. Soon I saw another shadow behind us and James had bridged to us. He would take very strong pulls, making it even more taxing on me. He complained about my short pulls at the front, but I was barely hanging on. I had to stay behind Chris, because the few times I went onto James' wheel, he'd just let Chris ride away and I'd have to chase him down.

We still had 15 minutes to go and my breathing was getting more labored. I knew the two of them would work me over more and more and I'd most likely lose both of them and risk getting caught by the pack, completely spent. So I told James that I wouldn't try to outsprint Chris and James took the lead for the next several laps, at a 25.5 mph pace. Chris would occasionally take a short pull at the front, but James seemed to enjoy just being a strong engine.

With about 4 laps to go, we caught the pack and the pace eased up. Chris rode off the front on the next lap and at that point it was just a matter of finishing to place third. I let the pack ride away on the last lap so I would not get caught up in any potential crash for the final placings. James strung out the pack with his other teammate on his wheel and it just finished in the order defined with one to go.

So I placed third, which was the lowest I had anticipated under the circumstances. James and his team mates rode as I expected and I was satisfied I was able to do as well as I did, putting another $22 of prize money in my pocket.



Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 Course Length
(Miles)
3:42 pm 13.3 8 33:18 86, W@8 24.8 32.4 0.5

Results

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