Criterium Cross

The final race of the NC cross series was over near Winston-Salem in Clemmons. Like I've heard the Flemish commentators decribe some of the Euro courses, this was pure "Criterium" Cross. Very fast and relatively easy if you sat in the wheels. But it was still a good course, not just riding around a grass field. The fast sections were split by turns that required you to scrub speed and just enough of interest not to ever get boring. There was one section that went up and down a bit with a steep short climb and super fast flat out descent.

I didn't have a good race. Although again working on my sprint and anaerobic capacity seems to have paid off as I had another good start and was well placed in the top few riders when the course narrowed for the first couple of times. Really fast set of barriers hurt me, and just too many little bobbles, etc. saw me fall back throughout the first lap. Eventually ended up off the back of the front group and couldn't get back to it. Then 4 of use got together and just rode around for the last 3 or 4 laps. I felt trapped in the group. It was easy to ride in the wheels but didn't seem to make any sense to just go to the front and pound it to try to catch the next riders who were well up the road. I think one of the guys was near me in the standings, so I tried to attack the group several times but couldn't get away. Then I totally botched the finish, not trusting in my sprint I tried an attack about half-way thru the final lap. It didn't drop anybody and left me spent for the finish. I should have saved the big effort to make it into the final section that went back and forth thru a couple of trees and then led out the sprint, the finish was only about 50-75 meters once you came thru this section. Oh well, on to Nationals. I think I finished somewhere just outside of the top-10. Weather should be good and it will be a great time to see the mid-Atlantic folks.