Short update. Just finished another wide open flat criterium. It didn’t go so well. A big move got away early. We, TradeWind Energy, had Nick Coil in the move. After a few laps, another group of 5 bridged up. This group had Daniel Holloway in it, plus another Kenda rider. Not good. But, it went away so quickly, that by the time I realized it was gone, it was gone. Brian tried to bridge up to the new bigger move with Josh Carter and Scott Monninger, but they only made it half way before Josh pulled the plug, then Brian and Scott.

Then it got worse. Nick got popped out of the 11 man group along with 3 others. Then there were 7. The field made an effort and took some time out of the move, but it still had 30 seconds with 5 laps to go. Rumor has it that the break split up at the end when Jonathan Jacob, from Nuvo Cycling Team, Indianapolis, took off towards the end. Holloway tried to bridge alone, but blew. Jacob won alone. Dave Hendersen, from Columbia Missouri, Master’s Criterium National Champion, came in alone for 2nd. Then Eric Young, another Nuvo rider was 3rd. Holloway was 4th, followed by two Kenda Pro riders.

The field got moving the last couple laps. I was in pretty good position with 1/2 a lap to go. Brad Huff, Jelly Belly, had taken off alone. On the last stretch before the final corner, I got behind my team mate, Bill Stolte, and told him to go. He jumped to the right from about 10 back. I was on Bill, but our misfortune was that Brad Huff was being swallowed by the field and swung off to the right. I saw that Bill was going to get screwed up, so I tried to punch my way back into the line coming by on the left. Chad Hartley, Kenda was leading out the sprint, much like he did last year. I finally gave up on the punching in plan and just decided to go around the outside in the last corner and hope for the best. The best wasn’t to my liking. I ended up 7th or 8th in the field sprint, which is around 15th for the day.

Tomorrow’s race is on the hill in the Italian section of St. Louis. A much more challenging course, but still usually a field sprint. A better workout for sure. After the race, they have a spaghetti feed at the lawn bowling club. It is usually pretty fun. Kind of an eclectic happening. Weird mixture of athletes and old Italian folks.

Another photo from the startline.

There is a ton of old brick buildings in St. Louis. It is nice riding around the neighborhoods.

This race has been going on for over 25 years in the Italian district of St. Louis. It is a rectangle course up and down a gradual hill. Today was a little weird because the wind was against the field going up the hill and tailwind down the hill. I knew that would make the race different. And it was. It started fast. Aggressive. Early in the race, I was JRA, just riding around, and I ended flipping over the bars because my bicycle stopped when it hit my team mate who was laying on the ground. I have it all on HD video. Obviously, I haven’t had a chance to download it yet, since we only finished racing an hour ago.

Anyway, the race was good today. We can nearly skip to the end, since the break went away after about 1/2 the race and never got caught. The guy that won yesterday, Jonathan Jacobs, won again. He must have the form of his life or maybe I’ve just never ran into the guy. He was pulling 2/3 of a lap with Rob Bush, Kenda, just pulling 1/3 of a lap. And we, the field wasn’t going slow. Au contraire. We were moving along pretty good. I was a bit tweaked from falling. Mainly my wrist, shoulder and ribs, of course. But, that didn’t really slow me down too much.

The last few laps were interesting. At least to me. The break was coming back. Guys were launching off the front. Eventually a small group of maybe 5 got up the road. Brad Huff and a few others. Brian jumped out of the field and bridged to them. And then nearly instantly attacked them again with 1 1/2 laps to go. I think Brad put his head down and chased Brian, but I wasn’t really watching the happening up there. I was kind of too far back, maybe 20 in the field. It was going pretty good up the hill the last lap. I jumped around the right and was “bridging” up to the small group that had caught. I slotting into 3rd position behind Chad Cagle and Brad Huff coming out of the last corner. 500 meters downhill with a 15 mph tailwind. Not close to my forte’. Anyway, I was just planning on staying on Chad, but guys started coming around me, so I made a feeble attempt to go around Chad, but slotted back behind him again. I was 5 or 7th or something in the sprint. So, maybe around 9th, probably on the day. I’m kind of racked from falling again. No skin loss, but racked, none the less. Business as usual it seems.

Tommorow is the final day. A new long course in downtown St. Louis. I don’t think I’m gaining any fitness from this yet. Not really sure why. I’ve been riding an hour in the morning and then racing 40 + miles later. I was never really hurt today, but never felt stellar. Okay, ’til then.