The first official cycling race of my "amateur" career was Velocity. This race took place in Josephburg, Alberta for the Time Trial & Road race. The Criterium took place in the Alberta Research Park located on the south end of Edmonton.
My start time for the time trial was 9:50.30 & man it was chilly. I put in an effort which I thought was my best & ended up with a middle of the pack result. I wasn't overall pleased with this because I thought I had more natural speed for a 10km time trial however that isn't yet the case. In all reality I quickly realized that my strength is in the longer time trials & I hope to reveal this later in the season.
The Criterium was awesome. The Juventus team sent two riders off the front at the beginning of the race which we had to chase down majority of the 25 minute + 5 lap criterium. I felt great marking riders & trying a few attacks & was happy I was able to recover in the pack each time. It came down to a sprint finish & I got 10th place.
The Road race was a 3 lap course totalling 68km (approximate) The course was very flat (1 minor incline). Our team briefly discussed what we felt were reasonable tactics for the race. Unfortunately Juventus planned team tactics very well for the race. The race was in a pack for most the the race. A few riders would attack off the front (including myself) to test the group & increase the pace. The first attack I bridged a gap to was my teammate Tom & another competing team rider. We rode hard for about 750m & then went back to the pack & recovered. At the beginning of the 2nd lap I decided to attack & attempt to stretch out the group to increase our ability to launch Rob, Mike & Mark into a top 8 position later in the race. Another rider came with me & we traded pulls for about 1km & then were gobbled up by the pack. These two attacks turned out to be the nail in the coffin for my chance to bridge the gap on the 3rd lap when 3 Juventus riders attacked the front group & got a gap. We tried rallying however it was somewhat frustrating because the main riders trying to chase down the pack consisted of Myself, Mark & Mike. We lost Rob Welch to an unfortunate crash which limited our chances further of attacking on a 4 man Speed theory group to track down Juventus. The peloton raised the intensity sporadically & these attacks followed with too relaxed of a speed to be able to catch the front group. One of the Juventus riders popped off so it would come down to a sprint for 3rd place. We turned the corner & I tried leading Mark out with a last burst of energy & crossed the line between 9th-11th place.
I'm happy with the result because I have proven that my fitness is at a suitable level to win a race. I can take some valuable lessons from this race with the biggest one being to avoid unnecessary attacks which potentially prevented me from making the lead group when Juventus attacked.
Next up, Vegas for my good friend's Bachelor party & then back for the first Midweek Mayhem criterium race! I am looking forward to the Speed theory 40km ITT May 30th If I can get time off work. Enjoy your training!
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