May 29, 2014

Dynamic Duo Attempt 2! Bound Brook Criterium (Day 2 of 3 of Somerville)

My Italian style coming loose the morning of the race
The second day of the Somerville series would be the Bound Brook Criterium. This would end up being a very fast, very simple 6 corner criterium. Much like the previous day, it was going to be just Brandon and I waving the Astellas flag.

The plan for this race was a simple one. Ride conservatively, stay out of trouble, find each other in the closing laps and try to work together to get one of us in a position for a result in the finishing sprint. We were racing for a sprint today because that was the only way this race was going to finish. 100+ people, wide smooth roads, calm winds… If this race was won by a break I would be very surprised. 

The race started off quick, and I was able to get in a position to cover splits fairly early. With how many guys we had in the race, I felt like it would be a little safer to be more at the front then it would be to chill in the fold for the early part of the race. As the race continued along, many riders put in their bit for the front. Unlike yesterday’s race with only 1 main team to control the race, today there were many teams with enough numbers and firepower to be able to dictate the pace.

Brandon and I rode close to each other, but the very long straight-aways made it hard to stay in position near the front. As we got into the last 5 laps of the race many crashes started to happen. I was able to ride close to Brandon until we went into the final lap of the race. I lost his wheel when we entered the chicane and was left scrambling to get back towards the front. As we were making it down to the final two corners of the race, many racers were coming in hard on the inside hoping to get in front of the bubble before the corner. This started to make things dicey, luckily all the crashes started happening behind me on the final lap. I was able to sprint in across the line in 19th place, and Brandon was able to finish safely in 12th place.

Both of us were frustrated in our own hesitations in the race. Mine for not being more physical to get back to Brandon after the chicane, and Brandon for not jumping earlier to get into the last two corners in a better position.

I have been getting many questions about why these races have been more crash prone and dangerous, so I am going to write about why they have been below.

I will say that racing these two races as part of Somerville have been interesting. Both these two days of racing have had something in common which as made them a bit more dangerous. These last two days have been P/1/2 races, unlike the NCC races that I have been doing for most of this trip, which is P/1 only. This means you are mixing pros with cat 2s which can swing two ways. It can make the races very dangerous and have lots of crashing. Or it will not make any difference at all. For these two races however, things have been very dangerous. What is happening is that these two criteriums have been very easy physically. This makes it so the weaker guys in the races that are usually nowhere to be seen are still in the race where they would normally be off the back. The riders that find themselves in this position are usually not experienced enough to know what to do in terms of bike handling and confidence. At the end of many NCC races I will find myself leaning on racers, head butting guys out of the way, and racers doing the same to me. All while we are still navigating a criterium course at full speed. And you will not hear one person say a word to each other, since that is what is expected of pro level criterium racing. “Rubbing is racing”.


 Most cat 2 racers and many cat 1 racers are not used to this level of physical contact in racing. And when they find themselves mixed with Pro racers who are used to that type of racing, crashes occur. Typically from the inexperienced rider over reacting to the nudge or push from the other riders. This has been very apparent in these last two days of Somerville. Only in smaller regional racers will I hear someone say a word to me for leaning on them or being a tad more physical during the race.

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