Rocky Mounts-Izze Crit

DISCLAIMER: While the Colorado P/1/2 field is always strong, there are a lot of really fast guys out of town right now at Gila, USA Crits, etc.

That being said, Kevin and I had a fine day of racing Sunday at the Rocky Mounts-Izze Crit. The expectation was that the Al's guys would drill it from the start like they did last year when a group of eight got free and lapped the field. That didn't really happen and the first half of the race ended up being pretty mellow with the expected accelerations here and there, but nothing major. I followed wheels early on and tried to stay close to anything that looked threatening heading up the road.

With about 35 minutes to go, I punched it going over the hill to catch up to a couple riders just off the front and we ended up getting clear of the group. I had to shake my head and laugh as I saw Jon Tarkington in my little group, wearing his grandmother's over the glasses shields. Rumor has it he's getting Lasik this week, personally I think it is an expression of his individuality. I have started using Jon as my worthy effort indicator. He's crafty, so if he's there, it's a good place to be.

A few laps later, a group of 8 or so including Kevin was bridging to us so I quit pulling through until they got there. I had hopes that everybody would pull through smoothly and real friendly like to ensure that we remained well clear of the main group, but there were little attacks here and there. We lost a few people prior to the finish, but the group that remained had some guys with good finishing speed, Gibson, Pearce, Friel . . . Apparently Tarkington missed the "1 lap to go" indicators, both visual (I'd blame the glasses) and the bell and sat up about 1/3rd of the way up the hill the last lap. Instead of waiting to try to match somebody else's effort, I put my head down and went for it.

Think Charlie Brown here, "I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it . . ." When Dirk Friel came flying past with 15m to go I had to switch to "I'm NOT gonna make it." I got caught just short of the line by Dirk and Ang Sheldrake, but held on to 3rd and Kevin took 5th.

Just after our race, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and the rain started coming down. I was happy to pack up and head home, knowing we put in a respectable weekend of racing. Next week could be a different story.