Keith Berger Criterium

Sunday was one of my favorite criteriums of the season, the Keith Berger criterium in Hartford, CT.  Ralph and I drove down the night before to save an early morning trip - hoping to be rested and end up with a couple of podium finishes.  Ralph raced the mens category 3 field and the mens Pro-3 field.  I decided to race the masters and Pro-3 races.

Chris Worden also showed up on Sunday to represent the juniors field, and Cody Harris arrived mid-morning to race with the womens open field.

My first race went reasonably well.  A good sized field of 70-80 racers lined up for the 40+ race.  The pace was fast, but the race was smooth.  As usual, several attacks went off from the first lap.  Because the course is flat with long straight sections, I decided to gamble on any attack being brought back - so I raced smart and conserved for the final sprint.

That turned out to be the wrong choice, a break of 12 went off the front and although we brought them to within 6 seconds at the finish, we did not catch them.  I was sitting somewhere around the middle of the pack with one lap to go; I was planning on just finishing in the middle of the filed since the money was up the road.  That all changed when I rode by Jurgen and heard him heckling me.  I moved up as quickly as possible and positioned within the top 5 coming in to the last two turns.  Once out of the last turn, I put down a big sprint and was able to take 3rd in the field sprint, only missing 2nd by the width of a tire.  No money, but good confidence builder against a large field with some big names.

The Pro-3 race went well for the first 75% of the race.  The pace was fast, but I was able to position and move to the front whenever I wanted to.  Unfortunately, the effects of the first race of the day and the 90+ degree temperature started to hit me.  Chills, nausea, and a light head were all indications of a pretty good case of dehydration.  I tried to hang in until the end, but had to pull out with a few laps left.  Lesson learned - only do one race when the temps are above 85!

Ralph raced well, Chris crashed in the category 4 race, but ended up top 3 in his junior field, and Cody snagged 6th in the womens open field.  I am sure they will be posting details soon.

The next race weekend coming up is Attelboro and the New England Championships in Hartford on July 11th and 12th.

Thanks for reading.