MetLife p/b groSolar Shines in the Blazing Fast (and Hot!) Third Installment of the USACrits Series.

CINCINNATI, OH: 90 degrees at 8:30pm is probably one of the hottest nights in June  we’ll race in all season.  Tack that onto a humidity toping  90%, and you’ve got some seriously stickiness to contend with.  Such was the backdrop for round #3 of the USACrits series, run as the main event of the annual Hyde Park BLAST! festival.  With 90minutes of full-gas criterium racing on tap over a course laden with one U-turn, a short wall of an ascent, and less-than idyllic pavement, the MetLife p/b groSolar crew was sure we were in for a tough outing, particularly given the past full week of Racing.

Fortunately, we rolled out from our unbelievably amazing host housing, all of 2 blocks from the center of the action, to discover well over 10,000 spectators lining the course 3-5 deep in the middle of a full-on, beer-equipped festival.  Though we thoroughly enjoyed the small ‘burgs that played host during the Tour of America’s Dairyland, this throbbing metropolis was was a welcome site and powerful fuel to make a serious impression during the evening’s event.

As USA Crits event, we were additionally amped to impress, and though we had secured an invite to the Capital Criterium with solid results at Grafton the week prior, we dead-set to pad our ”elite amateur” status.  It was clear from Dairyland that we possessed the fitness as individuals to compete at this level – A top 10 here was required to demonstrate our capability as a team to deliver the goods at this caliber of racing.  Having really started to gel this season, we were confident we could accomplish this – but a top 10 at any  professional level event is never easy, regardless of how speedy your
sprinter is.  To really get there, a team needs to ride as a unit the entire race, and deliver their finisher to the final straightaway in good position and with a clear shot at the tape.

The five of us – Austin, Ryan, Gabe, Alex and myself (Nick) were pretty relaxed, confident that
we had the legs for a tough course well-suited for our strengths.  Long stretches between tight turn arounds on either end of the circuit would make for a fitness-determining event, wherein moving up would require legs as opposed to a lack of fear. What we didn’t expect was a blazing pace right from the gun set by Mountain Kakis and Aerocat – both of whom seemed
highly intent on culling the chaff from the field, which commenced immediately.  As weaker riders detonated, the team knifed their way through the flak and all made the front *split* of 50 riders –  thats right; of the 109 starters, 59 of them were retired a third of the way into the 90 minute event.

Attacks flurried off the front, covered predominately by Gabe in an effort to keep MetLife represented in a breakaway, should one roll clear, which would take the pressure off Nick, the designated sprinter, for field control.  With 15 laps to go, Gabe – a.k.a “Crit Monkey”, made it into a move that  snapped off the front of the demolished field.  Mountain Kakis and Aerocat were represented, with only Kenda Pro Cycling missing the move.  The Kakis rider  had to sit on, as they were supporting their sprinter, Isaac Howe, current holder of the USA Crits overall jersey, as well as omnium leader for the weekend.  Nevertheless, the move quickly put nearly 30 seconds into the field.  Meanwhile, in back, Alex suffered an untimely flat on the questionable pavement and Ryan succumbed to the oppressive heat, leaving Austin and Nick to float around the field behind the Kenda-led chase.  Atop the climb on the back slide of the course, where the low light and ample booze had fueled the crowd enthusiasm, $1 and $5 primes were dangled over the barriers for the field.  Eager to please the spectators, I used employed a few ninja skills from a previous life to expertly nab two of the monetary awards.  From the auditory response, it was clear the crowd enjoyed these mid-race antics.

Up front, the brutal pace and unrelenting heat began to wear at Gabe, with cold chills and dehydration pushing him to the edge of heat exhaustion.  Out of water (2  full bottles in a crit!) and fading hard, Crit Monkey skipped pulls to stay in the move, though the lack of cooperation up front spelled an end for the break, with both him and Mountain Kakis rider Neil Bezdek sitting on.  The catch was made with 3 laps to go, as Austin led Nick promptly up to Gabe, tapped his shoulder, and indicated without words “it’s time to finish this”.

The original lead out did not have a sweeper in place to keep riders from hiding in my significant draft, and as only Austin and the myself were left in the elite final selection of the race, Gabe elected to put his thoroughly dead legs to use,  swapped places with Nick in the lead out train with 2 to go and taking over the sweeper position.  Meanwhile, Austin expertly guided the trio through the field, never putting his tandem in tow in trouble, yet unrelentingly pushing towards the front of the field. The top, narrow portion of the course, where the field was riding single file all night, exited onto a fast, somewhat harrowing, and now thoroughly unlit descent onto an off-camber and pockmarked corner.  Using this dicey element, Gabe slowly ”pulled the parachute” on his own race, allowing a 10 bike gap to open and condemning those behind Austin & myself to surging desperately should they have any hope at getting back on.  15 riders remained in the front group as Austin and I entered the final lap.  Big Tex, as Austin is now widely known, pulled our duo into the top 10 into the final climb.  Unfortunately, he was unaware of Gabe’s perfect sweeper maneuver, and, expecting Crit Monkey to tow me up the last ascent and onto the finishing straight, pulled off.  I responded immediately, though the rider in front had already allowed a small gap to the front 6 to open, one which, despite my best efforts in the final 500m,  I could not close.

Looking up in a haze of exhausting and strain, it finally became clear – 7th place!  Top 10!  While it might not have been the prettiest execution, nor was our last-lap communication ideal, we finished off one of the hardest, fastest crits this season as planned and got one step closer to a USACrits podium, a seminal goal for our team this season.

Onto USACrits #4, The Iron Hill Twilight, on Saturday July 10th!