Gainesville Downtown Crit

Not all race reports are about the joys of racing and not all reports are made by the victor. This past weekend I headed to Florida to spend a little time with friends and family; soak up some cosmic rays; and race a little crit in my college town of Gainesville.

We had delicious breakfast (including fresh Florida strawberries, mmmmmh my favorite!) which was made for us by my good friend Mike (of Arena Baggage fame). I built my bike, watched Average Homeboy Rap, and headed over to the race site in downtown G’ville.



I was very familiar with the course from having lived in the city for 6 years, but had never raced it. It was a typical 4 90 degree turn, standard .8 mile course--- with just one wonderful twist: COBBLESTONES! The combination of the pave and the raised manholes make it a particularly fun, yet dangerous, route. The weather has been wet in the past, so I was happy to see 70 degrees of Florida sunshine and dry roads.

My legs were feeling rather weak on a warm up ride with Mike. Since the end of cross season I spent 3 weeks off the bike, eased back onto my trainer and started some weight training. I thought training was progressing, despite my lack of consistency in commitment--- something I’m ashamed to admit. To add to my weak legs, I wasn’t breathing well. I have asthma and allergies and the blooming south wasn’t helping me this particular morning.

Finally, the race report (I’ll make this quick): After a slow start (I got stuck behind a guy that was struggling to clip in) I found myself next to two training buddies from my days down there. The accordion effect was getting to me because we were at the back of the field. I made a couple of attempts to move up, but the field was moving quickly. After 6 or 7 laps I thought I had notice a rhythm in the accordion effect and let a wheel get away from me expecting that I would be jamming on the brakes again in the next corner (like I had done for all of the prior laps). I was surprised to see that this coincided with the field picking up the pace. I noticed my mistake right as two riders wizzed around me to catch the wheel I had lost. That’s pretty much where my race ended. I rode it out until 4 laps to go when I saw the break away moving up behind me.

I would love to report an early victory. Instead, I’ll try to put a positive, perhaps motivating, spin on this my experience.

• Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your training will be enough despite your lack of commitment. Your competition is training every time you consider having a beer rather than jumping on your bike.
• Don’t think that you’ve discovered the fields rhythm and that you can rely on it to stay the same. Packs are not predictable. Everyone else is sensing the same rhythm lap after lap and will use that to their advantage.
• Just because you’ve ridden in over 20 crits and never been lapped, doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
• Showing up to a race like this might seem like enough. Don’t forget your there to represent everything you’ve been working towards. If you feel like you don’t have “the love” for what you’re doing, push yourself anyways. Falling off the pack can, and will, ruin your day.