These night races can be tough on the body. I didn't get home till just after 2:30am last night. I'm still pretty whooped writing this race report.
Roanoke Twilight Crit
Pro 1/2
Place: 27
The team came into the race with a strong squad, but lacking a true finisher. The course was tough and fast and we were hoping that the race would break up, which it did. Our plan was to be aggressive and we did a great job of that.
Night crits are an interesting phenomenom. Our race didn't start till 9pm. Luckily this wasn't my first circus and I was used to cornering in the dark. The course was super fast and super short. Most likely we were going to be lined out from the gun.
It took me about 3 laps to make it up to the front of the 80man field and soon after I launched off the front. After dangling awhile, I came back to the fold, and teammates Russ and Jared launched off the front as part of a 7man group that wold end up lapping the field.
Once the group lapped, I dropped back searching for Russ, and brought him to the front of the field and rode tempo. My goal wasn't to line out the race, but rather to keep our riders safe at the front and neutralize any attacks. After a few laps on the front, Tim Rugg and Tim Brown joined me and we rotated for the next 15 laps or so. We started getting hit by attacks and were closing them until Phil Gaimon (who had also lapped) hit us hard. I took a super hard pull to close down the gap and Russ jumped across once I pulled with 10meters of him.
Apparently this caused the pack to blow up, and only 16 riders were left in the front group. Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab the tail end of the group after my big effort and slowly went backward. I got pulled a few laps later, slotting in at 27.
Our riders ended up 4th and 7th, which isn't terrible considering that there were some very good pro riders there. It was a good show on XO Communications to take the responsibility in controlling the race and I was glad to see our guys put in a great team effort.
Adam
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