A New England Masters Cycling Team

So, you may ask, how many times CAN one race at Ningret in one season? Can it possibly be enough? Well, given the opportunity to race one more time at my favorite local crit track, I had to go today. Besides, since this was a charity event, I could better justify racing one more time to Lauren. Unlike my second race at Ninigret this year, I arrived with plenty of time to pick up my number, get changed and get well warmed up for the race.

2:30 PM found me at the line in the cat 4/5 race with a field of about 40+ racers. There was a pretty strong wind (at Ninigret? Who'd've thought?) from the ssw, so the finish was going to be a mostly tailwind sprint. The start was fairly slow with obligatory and gratuitous braking at every corner. After a couple of laps, we settled into a semblance of a rhythm. I don't typically expect a break to get away in a cat 4 race and I wasn't disappointed today. I watched as a series of breaks of 1-3 riders would go off the front and dangle for a few laps before getting reabsorbed by the pack. I played it safe and kept myself sheltered in mid pack, close enough to the front that I could respond if anything really looked threatening.

With 4 to go, I moved up to assert position for the expected sprint. A late race prime was thrown in at 3 to go and I considered the possibility of attacking post sprint, but didn't like the chances and figured for once I should actually be patient and wait for the sprint (happy now Matt?). Two other riders did choose that exact tactic and went clear going into the two sharp left handers. I quickly got myself into the first 5 wheels in the chase and started monitoring the gap. It stabilized at only 10 sec max so I was pretty sanguine about the pack catching the two. I kept cycling through the lead group while avoiding taking a pull. Coming into the second to last left turn on the back stretch, I was third wheel in the pack and we had the two riders down to less than 5 sec.

Well before the last sweeping left hander, I found myself becoming 1st wheel. Even with the expected tailwind on the home stretch, this was still too far out for me to go. Besides, even I know enough not to try and launch an attack from the front. I pulled off right and let the eager riders behind me continue the chase and managed to insinuate myself back in the lead group at about 10th wheel or so.

Presently, the two break riders were caught and we headed into the sweeping left hander. I got momentarily boxed in on the inside just before the sprint opened up. I was forced to wait a beat before I could find daylight to the right. I worked off 1 wheel to get to the right side and opened up to try and recover a bit of lost ground. I nearly got hooked by a slow wheel veering hard right as I passed him, but pushed through the bump and let loose, grabbing one more place and holding off a late surge up the left side. In the end I managed to pull myself into a respectable 5th place.