xXx Crit - Lincoln Park

After marinating in frustration most of Saturday (due to a puncture early in the Leland RR) I was relieved to have another opportunity to redeem my weekend since I tend to have the “only as good as your last showing” mentality. 

The Lincoln Park Criterium is new to the calendar this year after pulling the plug on the historical Sherman Park course due to worsening road conditions. I had no doubt that xXx Racing would host another great event and that this new course would be well thought out and executed.

After arriving on Sunday and walking the course I was confident it would play to my strengths and with fresh legs I stood a good chance of redemption. Certainly two major factors would play a role in today’s race, the wind, and a well-placed (if that’s possible) 180 degree turn on the back side.

After call ups for the IL-Cup Series (of which I was 3rd and now hopefully 1st) the race was off and running. Immediately two riders went off the front, and not having much patience for such behavior I shot off the front in lap two as we headed into the hard head wind. I spent two laps in no man’s land and was then joined by 4-5 other riders all looking pretty strong and ready to pull back the leaders. Our chase group was holding a 20 second lead on the peloton and steadily closing the gap to the leaders.

Couple more laps and our chase brought back the leaders to create a 7-8 man break with a 30+ second lead. Approaching midway in the 75min race a friendly voice came from nowhere with instructions to “sit in” (meaning to stop working and rest). Dustin Morici (teammate and strong man) had executed a text book bridge to the break. Now Sammy’s bike had the upper hand in the break. After catching his breath Dusting got on the front of the group and buried himself to insure the break was not going to be caught. All the while I got the royal treatment sitting on the back of the pack soft pedaling. It didn’t take long for the break to realize that I had stopped working completely and that they were outnumbered.

As obvious as our team tactic was to the break, frankly there was nothing they could do about it. With 10 laps left the announcers called out a $40 cash prime and Dustin decided it was going in his pocket. He attacked on the back side heading into the 180 and established a 10-15 gap very quickly. I was expecting Dustin to recede back into the group but he had jumped so well and obviously had the legs so he kept the gas on and was now soloing away from the break. 

Two other riders noticed that he was still putting in the effort and jumped off the front of the group, I was hoping the group would respond and I could stay on easy street but they didn’t and got away as well headed up to Dustin. This left 3 up the road and 5 with me chasing. I realized now it was my responsibility to make sure no one else got up to Dustin so I sat on the front of the group and put in the most pathetic pulls imaginable until the group got irritated and began to chase.  One at a time members of my chase group would try and attack solo and I would pull them back into the fold one after the other.

Eventually with 3 laps left a rider got away from me and up the road but with little chance of catching Dustin and the two others in the remaining time. Heading into the bell lap it was clear my chase group was roasted and I managed to sit back and ride wheels until 250 meters left and sprinted unchallenged for 5th place.

Up the road, Dustin and his break had put in such an effort that they lapped the peloton and ended up sprinting for the finish with the peloton. Not sure exactly what happened besides confusion but Dustin ended up 3rd and very pleased with his effort.

Moral of the story, unselfish teams make for good results, FACT.

Next up… Cobb Park.