So Maryland Criterium

The First Annual Southern Maryland Criterium is a nice addition to the MABRA calendar. It has many elements that will set this one apart from other MABRA events for many years to come. The 11 turn course, one of which is a slightly off camber 90 degree turn, combined with a short climb splits the field apart pretty quickly. Lots of out of the saddle time on this course, especially for the first 10 laps.

In my cat 4 race, the field got widdled down fairly quickly and I payed close attention to gaps opening up and bridged when I needed to and stayed with the pack fairly easily. I did a pretty good job of conserving my energy and minimizing bursty efforts thru good cornering.

Not much to talk about in this race. Aside from watching my teammate Terry run over crashed rider and remain upright, only to have to put out an intense effort to catch the field again...it was otherwise fairly uneventful. I found myself drafting behind Jose...thinking that Jose would be the guy to beat today ... Drafting behind Jose, I noticed that he was working very hard out of the corners. I passed him on the hill as a gap opened up and that was the last that I saw of Jose.

The field was widdled down by the end to 10-15 riders. I was feeling great at the end of the race and ready to sprint. The finish line was about 150 meters past the last 90 degree turn. I moved up into perfect position and came around the corner 3rd wheel. Either I wasn't paying close enough attention or came into the corner too hot because I overshot the pavement and ended up sprinting on the wet muddy grass, which totally caused me to lose any momentum that I had going into the turn....not good.

I ended up 6th today...1 pt closer to upgrading (assuming 50+ starters)


A few miscellaneous items to note:

My darling and beautiful wife stayed home with sick children today. I owe you one, Suz.
Matt Decanio and Chris Hayes did some solid work in the 1/2/3 bridging several gaps to finally catch the leaders on the last lap.
Kyle finished well today - top 10 I think, congrats...
John N finished with the pack in both the 30/40 race as well as the cat 4 race. Lots of intense miles for John today.
Yesterday - at the Union Grove Road Race, Terry placed 5th in the cat 4 event and John Parks placed 3rd in the pro/1/2/3. Way to go John!

It was fun to stick around and watch the pro/1/2/3 race. The team had a good showing today and aside from missing the winning break...did an awesome job with great teamwork. The 5 man break maintained a 30 to 40 second gap for much of the race. With 1 lap to go, 2 riders broke, 3 riders ...including Ramon... were playing a bit of cat and mouse that chase group caught them just before the 90 degree turn before the finish...game on! Expect an update from Jared on that one.