Kreb race #1

I showed up for the first Kreb race nice and early, since it was my first race out at Riverhead. These go on all summer at the community college campus, so a lot of people have them pretty well figured out. After some convincing from a couple of other racers, I entered the A race (35ish miles), figuring at the very least I'd get a good workout in. The course is round and flat, so the races will be fast, for sure.

A lap in I decided to take a big pull and almost immediately found myself off the front. I was joined by a Carl Hart rider and a fellow East Ender, then a lap later by another Carl Harter. We worked pretty well together, but the pack was right behind us; they weren't going to let the first move of the day get away. Just when I was thinking about dropping off and saving my energy, they rang the bell for a prime. We came around the last turn and Rob from Carl Hart took off. I stuck on his wheel and came around him easily to cross the line first.

That pretty much blew apart the break and we all sat up and waited for the field. They came screaming by and I dug down and grabbed the tail end of the group. Sometime between getting caught and being able to breath normally again, Brian from Carl Hart counterattacked and got a really good gap. I never even saw him go, just that when I looked up he wasn't in the group and I knew he wasn't off the back. Apparently an East Ender went with him (who I didn't see either). The rest of the group put on chase, but from then on Carl Hart made the race a clinic on blocking. It seemed like they were always sitting 2nd and 4th wheel and would only pull through at an easy pace. It totally disrupted the chase and the break stayed out of sight for the rest of the race. I did some work, but I wasn't particularly effective and it was quickly becoming apparent we were racing for third.

Since they had divided the EETC riders into 3 teams, the race came to a four way sprint. The No Arm Band team started leading out with aboug 1 km to go and I grabbed the wheel of their last rider. At 300m I kicked and moved into first. With 50m to go I started fading and felt riders coming up on either side of me. At 5 to go I threw my bike and held them off for the field sprint. Brian won the whole race and Bob from Carl Hart got 4th, so I was part of a Carl Hart sandwich. The sprint worked out really well for me. If I'd needed to go any earlier, I wouldn't have held onto it. It was nice to have a good race after some pretty mediocre races so far this year.

-----------

Today I figured out what pedal washers are for. Whenever I get pedal washers, I usually don't install them in some tiny attempt to reduce q-factor. Well my cranks have been creaking like angry dogs lately and I couldn't figure out why. I finally tried installing the pedal washers and it immediately quieted them up. Now I understand.