CSP Table Mountain Crit aka PseudoMead aka Wheels of Thunder course

Alright that's it for the CSP Tuesday night race. If I want to go to a weekly practice crit, I can now go to Boulder for DBC's race or go to Meridian to really get with the silliness. As usual I sat on the back of the 4s for about 8 laps. That is the best pre-race warm out there. The pace is moderate and they crank it up for the sprint laps.

I don't know what it is about the counter-clockwise direction but it seems a lot easier for me. That little bit of rest going down the hill every lap is nice to my legs. I stayed in the pack for the first few laps watching a bunch of feeble attacks get sucked up. The top part of the course was a little hard at first with all the fresh legs and guttering on the top of the hill. I like to watch Bob Pinkerton (VC) race. He seems to always find the path of least resistance when there is any wind (there was not much) and always races well.

Eventually I was towards the front when a bunch of guys decided to bridge up to a group with at least one VC guy in it. I sat on the back of that group and had a free ride up there. That break was not going to succeed but being in it for a bit is still an accomplishment for an ex-Cat 4 sprint whore (me). When we were caught, I settled back in and rested a bit. Another break went and looked pretty good; they had a really good gap according to Andy the official (after-party discussion). I was in the pack sitting behind Jason Donald (Garmin-Chipotle) and Dan Schmatz (retired pro). They were talking and it seemed they had some sort of evil plan brewing. I decided to glue my eyes to Jason's ass panel and stay attached to him. Wow....that dude can go fast. He dragged me up to the front along with Schmatz, Carlos Casali (known speedster on the HART team) and Joey Pinkerton (VC), recruiting Jonathan Garcia (BMC) along the way. All I heard from Jason was, "let's bring them back". Oh crap, that is going to hurt the 40 year-old marginal Cat 3 legs.

I was sitting second wheel behind Jason and we were doing 35-36 mph. He flicked his elbow just before the chicane and I came through. Apparently I jumped a little because he told me to ease up a bit. I think if he knew me better he would have known that easing up is my specialty. I stayed out driving the pace for a reasonable amount of time then dropped back about 4 or 5 people. I was back on Jason's wheel for the final push up to the breakaway. Going up the little rise to the chicane he started to gap me at at least 35 mph. (This is the guy who was second in the Prologue at the 2008 Tour of California.) We had pretty much caught the break at that point. I took a little dig to decrease the gap and sat up to go back into the pack and recover. That really good break was caught in less than two laps.

With 3 or 4 laps to go, my legs had sort of recovered and felt pretty good. I was under the impression I might be able to sprint. The last lap came and I found myself sitting second wheel behind a Spine and Sport (Aka: Creamsicles) guy who did not want to be in front.I stayed glued to him and refused to come around. An Aussie kid attacked and I got on his wheel. He sat up. I think I was on Jonathan Garcia's wheel for a bit then Jason Donald attacked and I got on his wheel. All that attack covering deflated my opinion about sprinting. After a few hundred meters of staying on Jason's wheel, I had enough and let the guys who were able to sprint it out come around me. I sat up, rolled in off the back and declared myself done.

This week in doping: Ricco admits to taking EPO. Thanks Riccardo for coming clean. Looking forward to seeing you in a few years. It is a respectable thing to admit to your short-comings. You have gained a lot of credibility. Thanks dude. Oh...and thanks for pointing out how half-assed the testing was by missing 13 out of 15 positives. You still have your douche edge.