The Race: Altoona Downtown Criterium
The Course: 30 miles, 30 laps
The Field: Pro 1/2 women
The Finish: Earlier than expected
Prior to the start of the women’s race, I got into a strategic position near staging that would allow me to jump on the course quickly and get a good starting position. It worked, except that the announcer then said the chief referee wanted the women to take a lap of the course before starting (presumably for safety reasons, as the course was fairly technical). By the time I rode the lap, I was behind a number of riders and we all rolled up to the line behind the half of the field that did not take a lap. I started in the last row.
As soon as the whistle blew, the front of the field attacked and a blistering pace was set. By the first corner, I was 100 meters away from the leaders in a strung-out peloton of sprinting women. Each corner’s exit and each straightaway was another opportunity to drive the pace, which meant the tailgunners like me were in the red just trying to hang on. I made a few moves using every ounce of energy I had, but only managed to gain a dozen spots while burning through all of my matches. Once I started sliding off the back, it required constant sprinting to reattach and I started fading fast. A crash in the last corner of the course forced me to break and swerve heavily, and the attempt to chase back on was the death knell. Once I was detached, I circled the course with Monika and a Danbury Audi rider until we were pulled several laps later.
After reading the recap of the race, I understand what happened. The teams with a chance at the GC took control of the field from the beginning, drilled the pace hard, and, upon gapping the rider in the yellow jersey, upped the pace in hopes of gaining enough time to unseat her in the placing. It worked – the lead group lapped her – but the result was a blistering pace that shelled a whole lot of tired riders, myself included. In retrospect, the tactics make sense – of course the pace was going to be brutally fast, because there was no other way to change up the GC standings. A field sprint with 0.2-second time gaps would leave everybody where they were going into the stage.
So that was Toona. Not quite the experience I’d anticipated and certainly not the ending I wanted, but still a good chance to race my bike, spend time with great people, and learn valuable lessons for next time.