Martinez Criterium

Today was the Martinez Criterium. 50 mintues on a fun/technical course. There was wind and bumpy roads to keep us busy throughout the race. All of the turns were great though. For the most part, it was a very safe race (I think there were 3 very small crashes, but nothing too damaging).

Today's plan...sit in and wait for the sprint finish. Our team, Active Athlete / Squadra Ovest had a total of 6 riders in our Cat 3 race (Chris, Dino, Aaron, Murat, Gabe & myself). The team pretty much all mixed it up in the front of the race, establishing breaks and keeping the pace high (except for me)...with 5 to go, I made my way up to the front only to get swarmed again and again, lap after lap. 2 to go and I got up there and stayed. I sat about 10th and was able to contest the sprint.

Here's where things get funny. When you are sprinting at the front of the pack and aiming for the podium, you KNOW where you are and what place you got. It's a bit different than when you are in a pack for 10th. I remember thinking that I needed to pass one more guy to get 3rd place and that didn't happen. I got 4th place. The race officials video camera was not working today, so they asked all the top 15 riders to come over and let them know where they think you were placed. I fought for 4th, but two guys stole 2 spots in front of me and I was officially placed 6th. Complete bummer...I know I was 4th. I accepted 6th, got my upgrade point, my cash and called it a day.

We then grabbed some burritos and watched the Pro/1/2 race, where our teammates Jan and Charlie were racing among a large Rock Racing squad. Rock established a 4 man break with a few of the other big teams and then Bahati bridged up to make it a 5-man breakaway, with 2 Rock Racing teammates. Rock won the race and Bahati took 3rd. Jan and Charlie had thier work cut out for them as this race looked crazy fast. They both did a great job and raced hard. I didn't see the final results, but Jan was near 30th.

I forgot my GPS today (normally I toss it in my back pocket). So instead of a nice fancy Google Map, you get a nice fancy Angelo drawing using Microsoft Paint.