Whitnall Park Criterium

Wind and hills, hills and a crap load of racers.
There were approximately 75++ racers lined up, I got situated at the back. I wasn't too worried because most races start slow on the first few laps and I usually sneak up to the front right away.

The race started and everyone took off, the front line really took off the middle group sat there like a bunch of stumblebums. I could tell right away that this wasn't going to go well, it was going to be really easy to fall off the back and a lot of people were already starting too and it was only the first half of the first lap. It was mayhem, I tried to fight through everyone but the front group was already 200 yards out. I caught Matt and Jason on a hill climb but they weren't feeling too hot and I jumped passed them. I ended up riding by myself for quite awhile chasing down as many riders as I could. I passed more than 30 riders and finally caught a guy from Cuttin' Crew. We worked together for the rest of the race taking turns pulling and chasing down other stragglers. We ended up getting lapped by the pack on the 2nd to last lap. We caught another Cuttin' Crew guy and I thought I was in for trouble that they were going to work together and pass me up, I decided to drop the hammer and start my sprint early up the final hill. It was worth it, I got the jump on them and held them off barely to the line. Overall it wasn't a good day, tactically I made bad decisions by starting towards the end. This assumption made me lose, I was feeling physically strong otherwise.

Never again.

P.S.

Jason and Matt eventually revealed to me that they were worried about my pre-race training tactics the night before. They thought that since I was drinking from a bucket and dancing at Mad Planet until all hours of the morning that this would some how effect my racing abilities. Boy were they wrong. They are both now going to incorporate Mad Planet training into their regiments as well