June 5, 2012, The State Fair Affair Criterium
Falcon Heights MN   40 minutes
Report from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

This was a Category 3/4 event lasting 40 minutes run on a Tuesday evening. They use the State Fair grounds where the roads are not generally open to the public, so it is easy to close off a course for the race. Although I am a Cat 4 on the road, I opted to skip the 4/5 race for the more challenging workout in the 3/4 race with riders of all ages. I was surprised by the number of riders in the field, seeing about 50 riders at the line and not sure of any of their abilities. The course went counter-clockwise around a 0.71 mile course with the last turn just under 200 meters from the finish and the penultimate corner another 100 meters before that. At 100 meters before the next to last corner the road dropped slightly in elevation and had a very rough surface, though the rest of the course was extremely smooth. I was a little bothered at times that my training tires were bouncing a bit through some of the corners, especially the final two. The sprint to the line was just slightly uphill, a barely perceptible 11 feet of gain, and wide and smooth.

It seems that all the MN events use timing chips that the racers strap to their ankle. I had received mine during registration and I had been warming up on an inside road (Randall Ave), watching the Cat 4/5 race. When they finished I had hoped to get a few laps on the course for familiarization and the officials announced where the 4/5 racers were to return their chips. Drat, mine was still in the car and I raced back to put it on my ankle, getting back just in time to line up at the start. So my introduction to the course would be during the race.

This race is part of a series and also contains many extra prizes in addition to the gift certificates to the top 3 overall. There were prizes for the leader of the fastest lap, time bonus prime sprints for the overall series, Ninja primes where the prime is announced as you approach the line, leader of most laps, etc. So the race started very aggressively and at first wondered what I had gotten myself into. Also with so many riders, the corners were taken shoulder to shoulder, with little regard to leaving room for those somewhat behind, so a bit dangerous to be caught inside and having to slam on the brakes. This made the first 2 turns tricky as a right/left combination would mean that you would probably get squeezed on one side or the other. I was stuck mid-pack for the first several laps and eventually found it safer to be up about 7th position, as it would tend to be less crowded in the turns. I also discovered that it was best to be on the side of the pack down the back stretch as the riders would mass together and squeeze in, leaving the inside riders scrambling for space.

They brought out the lap board very early and I remember seeing 19 laps to go. Thus I did not need to look at my watch to see how close we were getting to the end, which was good as the sun had set before we finished and it was too dark for me to read it. This also made the race a little shorter than expected as we were often doing 27 mph laps and over 30 mph on the back stretch.

The temperature was in the upper 70s and muggy. My hands felt like they were gripping algae as the tape felt slimey from the humidity. It wasn't affecting me physically, but it was a different environment from dry Arizona.

Often a rider would go off solo, trying to accumulate one of those extra prizes, but they usually would not last for long. By half way through the race I was feeling better, I could move to anywhere within the pack I wanted and had figured out how to pick the best spot through the turns to avoid conflict. If a group of 6 or more ventured off the front, I'd stick to them, but just hang at the back in case they were successful. At 12 to go we had a yellow flag as a rider was laying in the middle of the road just short of the finish line. Others commented how he had been riding very poorly and apparently was not experienced adequately in tight packs. We slowed down, but I drifted way too far back and quickly realized I needed to move back up near the front.

Starting with 10 to go I paid close attention to the laps to go and picked out two riders that seemed to be riding confidently and smoothly, one with a white jersey and the other with a green jersey. I got on the wheel of the green jersey rider and he seemed to pick good lines and had good power. I'd still keep an eye on the position of the other rider in white also. After we pass the line, I chant a mantra, 9 and a half to go, 8 and a half to go, etc.

We crossed the line with 6 to go and I count to myself for the rest of the lap, 5 and a half to go, 5 and a half to go. As we cross the line the next time, they announce three to go. Holy cow, they skipped 5 and 4 to go and my green rider is too far back and I need to make an adjustment. Time to shift to position and not a rider. I move up to about 6th position.

As we come to the line at 2 to go, a rider takes off and about 4 others give chase, so I latch on, happily onto the rider in white that I had been watching. We get a small gap and one of the riders yells to keep it going as we have a break. We keep the gap down the back stretch, but we're not really flying and the pack creeps back up to us, but does not go flying by.

As we get the bell for one to go, another rider takes a solo flyer and nobody reacts. He gets about 8 lengths on us rather quickly and I'm sitting on the white rider's wheel about 10 back. As we head down the back stretch I get concerned that there are way too many riders ahead of me and as we hit the rough patch I start to pass the pack on the inside. There are 3 riders with a bit of a gap ahead of the pack and I catch them just before the penultimate corner and say "inside" as I pass them on the left. I then head to the last turn, trying to catch the solo rider and I'm in second place coming into the home stretch. I hear someone on the left in the spectators yell "Go Lionel", so I had at least one follower out there. I move up into the draft of the lead rider hoping to overtake him at the finish, but I'm in slightly too big a gear and the long sprint effort and slight uphill are getting to me. I should have gotten out of the saddle for a more powerful position, but failed to do so and I could not pass the lead rider as he sees me and gets out of his saddle to stay ahead. Then just before we hit the line, two other riders fly by on the left and the race is won by a rider in white, possibly the same that I had been watching. The last lap average speed was 28.1 mph. We ended up doing 22 laps, where 25 would have given us amost exactly the expected 40 minutes.

So I did better than expected and with 100 meters to go, I thought I had a chance to win.

Summary
Start
Time		 Distance
(Miles)		 Starters Duration Weather
(Deg F, mph)		 Speed avg
(MPH)		 Speed Max
(MPH)		 HR avg
(BPM)		 HR max
(BPM)
8:31 pm 15.5 50 35:15 79, Calm 26.4 33.7 172 190


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