Now.. The moment everyone has been waiting for. Ha! A rundown of the crit I raced Monday...
So. Let me start from the very beginning. The night before, Sunday, Courtney and I were having dinner w/ mi amigo Scott and his wife. Well Scott brings up the idea of me racing the Texas State Crit Champs tommorow. I of course quickly said no way.. thats crazy. Well the further we got into dinner the better and better the idea sounded. PLUS.. I've done what I want to do this season, WHY NOT HAVE some fun now? (of course w/o getting injured) So I told him id probably do it.
Later that night I checked out the website and what not and decided to go for it. I love crit racing and the race was supposed to be 45min. What a fantastic workout that would be if nothing else! So the next day I would register at the race site and do my thing.
I talked to my friend Jeff that co-owns my LBS and he let me know that another rider from the shop would be out there and if I could help him out as much as possible.
So I show up around 3. The race was scheduled to start at 3:45. I purchase my one day license and register for the CAT 5 race.
Said bye to Courtney, John and his friend Alex and went off to WU. The course seemed way fast and had lots of sharp corners (with hay bails of course!!) and a few good straights. During the WU I ended up running into (not literally) the guy from my LBS. We chatted it up and I told him, if we're still together towards the end Im getting him the win at all costs. Me.. I could care less about a road racing anything. Im a triathlete till the day I die.
We line up and we're off. Its UNBELIEVABLY hot. Around the 2nd lap I noticed I was having some issues w/ my rear derailler. Couldnt really tell what it was just yet. well I came out of a corner wayyyy fast and actually came out of the saddle to accelerate and mashed while switching gears. POP. My chain is off. I pull off to the side to fix it as the pack flies by and a ref comes up behind me. He yells at me to go to the mechanical tent. that was my ONLY option. he didnt ask if I wanted to chase. So I quickly ride to the mech tent and the guy asks me what happened and then asks if I was in the chase group. I said yes. he tells me to jump back in the Peleton when they pass by and that that lap will NOT go against me. So when the peleton comes around (after only doing 1/3 of the course or less, becasue it was a figure 8) I jump back in and we're off again.
To make an 18mile race short me and my friend David (the LBS rider) took the 1 and 2 spots. I pulled him the whole time and gave him the gap he needed to win. When I knew we had it I let him go and cruised to 2nd EASILY. (if you want to know about the details of the race my RR will be up soon)
We started celebrating on the CD lap. Congratulated everyone and went to find John and Courtney. Well after the race Im standing around w/ David and this older man comes up to me. (obviously someone in control.. possible RD.. ref... Etc) WithOUT introducing himself or anything and in a rather RUDE tone he asks me if I understand that I did not get 2nd place. I said no. Well apparently they ruled my incident w/ my chain as rider error (for not having my derailler tight enough) and told me I finished the race a lap down... in 11th place. At first I could care less but the longer he talked with his tone the more irritated I got. He came over there with the attitude that i was going to blow up on him and that wasnt the case. So I asked him if I could see a rule book just to get a better understanding of what the ruling was. At this point he got unbelievably defensive and told me there was a rule book online. I said id like to see one now. He walks over to (im assuming) his truck and starts medaling around. at this point I was a bit frustrated so I go over and tell him dont worry about it. I was happy enough that my friend David had won. This guy continues to tell me I won 2 primes (lap wins... they ring a bell... and everyone sprints for the next lap.. you win the lap.. you get a prize) and I told him I could CARE LESS about the primes. I was there to win. I explained to this douche that I was told to jump back into peleton w/o penalty. I also explained to him that if Id been given the option to chase the peleton after putting my chain back on I WOULD HAVE.. and I WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THEM AND STILL DOMINATED. obvously a bit more irritated now. He asked if I wanted to talk w/ the head ref and I said of course. The ref comes over after the douche went and talked to him. I talk with the ref and he lets me know that it was my error. I said they had poor refs out there and that this was all politics. I told them they were un organized, and that I was happy a total NOOB like my friend David could win without penalty.
The politics were and are obvious. They didnt think I could win so they told me to just jump back in the peleton. First off... Im OBVIOUSLY a triathlete.. and I obviously shouldnt be racing CAT 5.. BUT I DONT HAVE A CHOICE. They make you race CAT 5 if you havent started 10 races. That was only my 5th road race start. Secondly I wasnt from some huge local shop that sponsors the event like RBM or Colonels... (not bashing either shop). I came out there with my ghetto bike... MDOT covered calf... on a ONE DAY license and they didnt like it.
I backed down and said fine. There was nothing else I could do and I knew if I kept it up id just get more irritated. I talked with David and we went over to get our prizes. (my primes) When we got over there i was given a big tube of Chamoise butter and $25 cash... David was give $25 cash for his prime and $45 for the overall win. Right there in front of everyone he gave me the $45 first prize. I was speechless. WHAT a nice guy. He said that I saved him out there and that he was thankful. I then gave him my $25 prime so he got $50 and I got $45 in the end.
We headed back to the finish area for the little awards ceremony and the State Champ jersey presentation to David. I stood back as the three "overall" winners stood up there and got their photos taken.
A friend of mine that was taking the photos whispered to me that they were gonna take a few more with me... So as soon as everything was done he told me to get up there and the actual top three got their pictures taken together.
All in all what a fantastic experience, but somewhat discouraging that, that is what future cyclists have to look forward to. Douche bags like that guy. On the other hand hopefully they'll meet someone as nice as David. I wouldnt take that race back for anything. It was awesome.
Best 11th place ive ever had.
_Jacob_
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