Bound Brook Crit

Well, after three months with nothing to write about I had my first decent result, so I figured I'd better say something.

For whatever reason, Memorial Day weekend is synonymous with a big weekend of criteriums. In Iowa, its the Quad Cities. In NYC, its the Tour of Somerville. The Bound Brook Crit is day 3, Sunday, in central New Jersey. A pretty straight forward flat six corner race, just my type!

Actually, there isn't a lot to say about the race. A couple of girls from Team Type 1 started in our 3/4 field and seemed determined to chick the field. They did a pretty good job too, maintaining a presence in just about every breakaway. I sat in the first few laps, watching attacks and waiting for a good one. On lap 5, a move of 3 was dangling, so I made the jump across. I was with them by the back straight and pulled hard for half a lap. We had a decent gap and I felt surprisingly good, but no one was pulling through. Actually, the TT1 girl was pulling through better than the two other guys, which doesn't necessarily speak well for our chances.

The pack ate us up on lap 6 and I started sitting in, figuring my chances were better in a sprint than an uncommitted breakaway. The remaining laps ticked by pretty quickly and before I knew it we had two to go and I needed to move up. Entering the bell lap I was in the top ten and on the back stretch I was in the top five, but the pack was pretty nervous. A big move went up the inside and I hesitated, missing my ticket at the front of the race. Going through the last two corners, I was at least 10 spots back and when the sprint opened up I passed as many people as I could before finishing 3rd.

The race wasn't actually that hard. It definitely wasn't as bad as the hurt Chris put on me the day before at Bear Mountain. I have mixed feelings about the finish. On the one hand I made some silly mistakes that cost me a better chance at the win. The winner, James Joseph, probably would have taken the race anyway, since he's just about the best cat 3 at these types of races. At the same time my legs felt really great, both in the breakaway and the sprint, and its always great to end up on the podium. Next time I want first!