Smoketown Airport Criterium

5/15/10 - I raced in the Smoketown Airport Criterium, in Lancaster County, PA. I entered the Cat 4/5 field, and it was the first time that I hadn't raced strictly Cat 5. We started out on a neutral lap around the runways, being paced by a nice, shiny red corvette. For the lap being "neutral", I can say that it's the closest I've ever been to being taken out by another rider. Some idiot came across 3 other riders, and basically "body checked" me in the middle of the turn. I have no idea how we managed to stay upright. I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but that's why you're supposed to "hold your line" in a turn...
Once the neutral lap was finished, the racing was underway, and was fast! There was an "S" turn at the beginning of the back side of the runway, on the fast side of the loop, then we went all the way to the end of the runway into a sharp, 180 degree curve, then back up the other side to the other 180 degree turn, completing the loop. On the backside of the runway, we'd get up to about 30-35 mph, then slow for the turn. The bike that I'm currently riding (Kestrel Talon) handled the corner's better than I'd expected, so I was usually able to hold a decent amount of speed into, and coming out of the turns. Coming up the front straight away was WINDY (15mph winds), so as long as I could come out of the turn well, we'd bunch up into a tight pack and head up to the top turn. The racing was fast and fun, and as usual there were small attacks here and there, and jocky-ing for position. My only rule for myself, was to not get caught moving backwards through the field, like I felt in my last crit (at RIR), when I found myself off the back, and in the wind by myself. Everything worked well, and I feel like I conserved energy where I could. Towards the end of the race, with about 5 laps to go, the field started to split apart. I found myself strung out, somewhere behind the main group, but with about 7 other bikes around me. I took it upon myself to talk it up a bit with the other riders, and organized a chase group to reel the peloton back in. This worked extremely well, and within 3 laps, we had latched back on, passing several riders along the way and finished just behind the main group. The picture above is me leading the chase group, going out to catch the main field.
Overall, I finished 36th (out of 75) in the mixed field, but took 9th place for Cat 5. I'm very pleased with that performance. Each race this year has gone a little better each time. My next race is the Tour of Tucker County in 2 weeks, which is billed as one of the top 10 hardest races in the country. It has several sustained climbs over several miles. I'll make sure to blog about it after the race.