Sunday, August 21, 2016

East Atlanta Village Crit

Last night I raced the East Atlanta Village Crit on a short and fast course. There were a lot of hitters at the race including Oscar Clark, Miguel Bryon, and a few other Holowesko-Citadel riders, Ty Magner of UHC, Emile Abraham of 706, and Phil O'Donnell of Axeon. My plan was to key off those riders to make decisions throughout the race. I didn't get a good starting position, so I had to fight through the field as the pace started off fast from the gun. Shortly after I made it to the front Oscar was off the front alone, and Miguel was blocking. After Miguel covered a move from Phil, I just went for it. I quickly had a gap, so I bridged up to Oscar within a couple laps. As soon as I caught Oscar I went to the front and drove the pace. I'd drive the pace for 2-3 laps, and he would drive the pace for one lap or so. If he wouldn't pull through after a lap I wouldn't stop driving because you have to keep the pace high if you want to stay away from a charging peloton. Our gap was remained at 15 seconds for a while, so I knew I could not get off the gas. After 6-10 laps with the gap at 15 seconds we finally crushed the spirits of the peloton, and our advantage ballooned to 22 seconds. Shortly after this we could see the back of the field, so we knew we would take a lap. As soon as we lapped up we went straight to the front of the group, but there was a group of 6 riders at 10-15 seconds. I did not want them to take a lap too. Miguel Bryon and Ty Magner were sometimes setting pace to keep that group in check. However, they were not going fast enough, so I would work often to keep the group closer. If the group had more than 15 seconds they would be out of sight and would have potentially lapped up. I did not want to contest with 6 more riders for a placing, so I just kept setting a hard pace on the front. I think I pulled for the final 30 laps of that race. I knew I was shooting myself in the foot to contest the win, but to me 2nd was a better option than sprinting with 6 more riders. To add to the chaos rain began in the final 10-15 laps. With a few laps to go Oscar and Ty came around me to set up a leadout, and I couldn't pass them due to the heavy pace I was setting all race. I was aware this would happen when I was setting that pace, but like I said earlier I kept those 6 riders in check, and they were caught by the lead riders in the peloton in the finale. Oscar ended up taking the win with me taking second, and Miguel Bryon won the sprint for third.

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