Golden State Criterium

Last Sunday...ahh it seems so long ago.

I have never been to Rancho Cordova before...uh, yeah nice place. Whatever, Its ALL ABOUT RACING!

Darren and I are the only Mice on hand this day. We make our way out to do this crit and what a fine crit it was. Complete with 5 turns, finely paved roads and great weather.

We sign up and get on the line and then we are off for 50 min of racing. After last weeks brain fart I was looking for some redemption Right off the bat, I notice that Team Spine is here in force and throughout the race they showed it. I also noticed a few other guys who I know are fast and strong. 1 guy in particular (Team Clover) won the first 2 preems and I think that really affected how some of us raced. Basically after the 2nd preem, he was marked. I for one never let him get too far off the front without responding.

During all this, Team Spine was launching attack after attack and the pace stayed pretty high. Meanwhile Darren and I exchanged pleasantries and made sure to find each other with 5 laps to go. With about 6 laps to go, a break of about 10 guys got up the road and it looked dangerous. After I chased (and brought the field with me..dope) the break kind of sat up with no one willing to put in the effort. Then I found Darren and we were good.

Again, a few Spine led attacks kept happening that kept the field on thier toes but nothing too dangerous. Then with 1 to go I found Darrens wheel and we hit the 2nd and 3rd turns. Needing to let him know I was there but without announcing it to the field, I let out a "hold your line" and D Leva knew I was on him. He pulled me up near the top ten when out for the left I saw an attack and moved to cover with a few others. As we hit the last 2 turns, the pace was hot and we screamed thru the last few turns before the sprint for the line. As I came around the last turn in about 10th I found myself blocked in and shot to
the right. Then motored to the finish catching 3 other guys and we hit the line. 5th thru 8th all hit the line at the same time but I ended up getting the short end of the call finishing 8th.

But I will take it...my first single digit finish in a CAT 3 race but sadly no points and payout was only for top 6. Oh well...better luck next week. It was also the first race D Leva and I did together as 3's and it was awesome having a teammate to race with. Thanks for the help!

btw...a Team Spine rider won the race....a great display of team work and I hate them.