Chris Hinds Memorial Crit - From Ken T

Strong 4th place finish!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris Hinds memorial race is held at Ningret Park in Charlestown, RI. This course is one of my favorites because it favors my style of riding. The course is super flat with multiple turns and a long finishing straight. Last year when I did this race it was 40 degrees and rainy. This year it was 60 degress and sunny so it was already a bonus. Because the course is located next to the ocean you tend also get a off-shore cross wind.

I drove down with my buddy Jay and we met up with Kurt M at the race. We showed up running a little late than I tend to like, so I didn't really have time to go over race strategy to much with Kurt for the race. I needed to pin my race number on and start warming up. Kurt was already spinning the legs a bit getting ready for effort to come.

As we lined up for the start it seemed like we had a good size field for the day, roughly 50+ riders. There wasn't really a dominent team out that really showed their colors so it seemed liked it was going to be a mix bag on who wanted to control the race. Thershold was there again but not as many as at marblehead.

The race started off really slow, no one wanted to be out front and waste energy. There was barely any strong moves in the first 1/4 of the race. The peleton was really twitchy with way to many people riding side by side in the corners. Luckly after a prime lap the pace picked up a little bit and the field started to stretch out.

My strategy was simple, stay out of the wind and then make my move up to the front with 5 laps to go. So lap after lap I essentially was just hanging out trying to stay relaxed and not waste to much energy. Every now and then there was a fast acceleration but nothing to crazy. Just enough to string out the field a bit.

Things got much more interesting with 5 laps to go. I started to make short powerful accelerations to move up threw the peleton coming out of the corners. This is the easiest way to jump up threw the pack. My priority was to be in the top 5-10 guys with 2 laps to go. By then the pace picks up enough that it makes it really tough to get to the front.

With one lap left I was in perfect position. I was sitting 5 riders back from the front and felt really strong. There was a couple of riders that seemed to be content driving the pace hard, and I was more than happy to let them do it. On the back stretch the rider driving the pace decided he had enough and turned off hard left. It was a huge move in a turn that almost took out 4 other riders. Not to mention the whole peleton was right behind us, so it wasnt like we can play mind games at this point. It was a dangerous move that I was able to stay out of, but put me in a position that I was not ready for with 1/2 to go...in front and driving the peleton.

Well, there is nothing much you can do in this situation. I'm out front early, but if I slow down the peleton bunches and the sprint is more dangerous and stronger. So I drive hard, but still try to save something in my legs to fight of the momentum of the boys behind me. I believe a rider in a grean kit jumped out and attacked with 1/4 of the lap left, but this was way to early from my previous experiences. I was hoping that someone was going to counter his move and then I could jump on that riders wheel. But the move never developed.

I was able to get a small draft on the rider that attacked after he started to fade in the straight away. I sprinted all the way in accross the finish line for 4th place holding of a large sprinting field. There was a couple of riders that snuck in on my left at the vary end and I feel if I was in my biggest gear I might have been able to hold them off. I tend to forget about shifting once I'm sprinting but that is something I hopefully will get better with.

All in all 4th place in a large field was awesome. I felt good threwout the whole race and didn't really feel crappy until after that final sprint. Unfortunately Kurt M had a inner ear issue and had to withdraw from race. Its great to have him coming to these races though, I think triathelets can make their bike leg so much stronger by doing more cycling races.

Next weekend is Battenkill and the weather looks wet and cooler. If the weather gets nasty enough I may just do well there. I havent trained for any long mileage racing so far this year, so the nastier the better for me.