August 1, 2004, Washington State Masters Criterium Championships
Volunteer Park, Seattle, WA   12.6 miles

I was in the Masters D race (50+ age group) which was supposed to be 30 minutes plus 3 laps (0.66 miles per lap). We did a total of 19 laps. The weather was beautiful, about 82 degrees, sunny and calm. We started at 1:09 pm. The course immediately does a quick 270 degree loop around a fountain, then down a slope with some mild curves, up a slightly steeper hill to a 90 degree right corner and then about 220 meters on a half degree upslope to the finish with a slight bend to the left.

I had been planning on making this race one of my prime races to do well in this season. During the last couple of weeks, my legs had felt a bit tight. I had reduced my hard workouts (more rest days) to try to allow them to recover. My interval and TT workouts had been more strained and not as quick as earlier in the season, so I concentrated on just improving my sprint. I'm not sure if the problems I had at Mt Washington in June were still lingering or if I was just in need of a major rest, but I did not feel at my peak.

In today's criterium, we had 16 starters. I did my usual first off the line, gained about 4 lengths and coasted along the back stretch to rejoin the pack.

The first couple of laps were at a moderate pace. On lap 3, there was a mild solo attack. On the next lap, Alastair Lockett (winner of the stage race state championships last June), went out front and I joined him. The two of us were not able to create a large lead on the pack and we were absorbed on the next lap. A couple laps later, a prime was available (a sprint for a small prize), which was not hotly contested and we slowed down a bit for the next lap. I happened to be at the lead the next time across the line and Mike Burdo came flying from behind at an amazing speed. The pack picked up speed and he seemed to ease on his effort. Before we caught up to him, Alastair took off and caught up to Mike. The pack increased it's speed and we started to close in on the two. As we went around the fountain, we came into contact with two riders who eased up considerably, but they were two lapped riders and Mike and Alastair were already out of sight. Soon they had 30 seconds on us and the pack had slowed by 3 to 4 mph. I tried to solo on lap 15 in hopes to join the two leaders (a difficult task at best), but I just didn't feel my wheaties today and the pack easily brought my back within a lap. I tried again 3 laps later, but the results were no better and by now we had only 2:42 left of our original 30 minutes, so I thought it best to conserve my strength for the sprint and consign myself to having lost the first two places.

The next lap should have been the announcement of 3 laps to go, but the 2 leaders were right on our tail and the officials were undecided if they should give us 3 or 2 laps until the finish. On the next lap, they announced BELL lap (final lap) and that we'd all be finishing together. Now I was in a quandary; I knew Alastair was a pretty good sprinter and that he was in our group. So should I fall back and get on his wheel in expectation that he would fly through all the others or stay near the front to be in a good position for the final sprint as if the leaders would have some sprinting skills, but not knowing any of the other riders abilities. I decided to stay near the front and was about 4th or 5th coming up the hill for the final time. I was on the inside and while we still had some of the climb remaining, I swung through the other riders to the outside and did my jump on the hill. This put me first through the final corner and I was greatly concerned that someone was on my wheel and could pass me before the line. I shifted up to a 53 x 14 and kept it out of the saddle and as I looked down and behind me with 15 meters to go I saw that I had two and a half lengths on the next rider. This gave me third place, the bronze medal. Alastair won the gold behind me.

I probably should have altered my tactics and kept a close eye on Alastair for the first half of the race. I had feared that if I just stayed behind him, that I'd psychologically relegate myself to second place and that I might be better off to hope to get off the front with some others while he got left in the pack; unfortunately the table turned the other way. Possibly if I had gone with Alastair in the break, I may have been able to take him in the sprint. However, I wasn't feeling at my best and I may have lacked the strength to maintain the break's pace.

The next race planned is in BC in three weeks and has a pretty steep climb on the 5 mile course. My sprint seems to be coming along, so I'll have to do my best to make sure I can make the climb each lap (there may be up to 10 laps) to be with the leaders at the finish.

Place Name
1 Alastair Lockett
2 Mike Burdo
3 Lionel Space
4 John Root
5 Tom Hackleman
6 Paul Rodriguez
7 Pete Banko
8 Don Perry
9 Steve Clark
10 Garth Decocq
11 Bob Crawford
12 Peter Hoagland

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