State Fair Crit

Photo compliments of Ray

We had planned to skip the first State Fair Crit, in favor of Black Dog on Wednesday. Well, we showed up anyway, and it was great. The rain held off, and it was way cool to race at the fairgrounds. It was my first time racing there. The course was fast, with an L-shape, clean corners, and good pavement. From the S/F, you can see a lot of the course, and easily watch the racing develop.

As a departure from the norm, the Cat 1/2/3 race was the 2nd event, rather than the last. 60+ riders lined up, and it was insane fast right from the start. It took me several laps to work my way up from the back to the front. I took a couple long pulls, and found it fairly easy to recover from the efforts near the front. Then, about 30 minutes in, a group of 3 got a solid gap. GP, Grandstay, and GSCA were represented, limiting the chase to Flanders, and a few others.

I moved up through the S/F, and attempted to bridge the gap. I gapped the field, but didn't get very close to the break, and pretty much blew-up. I went to the back of the field, as the chase heated up. The pace was just high enough were I wasn't quite recovered, and after 3 laps of suffering, I reluctantly gave up the ghost. Just after I sat up, I looked up, and the field had caught the break, and sat up too. Dang, that's how it goes sometimes. No regrets.

GP had their leadout train in front for the last couple laps, and executed to perfection. There intention was to setup Paul Ellis for the win, but Hanna ended up winning, with Ellis 2nd. Teammate P-slim hung tough, and scored 10th. Nice work.

Jordan raced right after me, in the combined Cat 5/Juniors field. They had 30+ riders, including a dozen or so juniors, mostly from MNJRC. Colton Barrett took of right at the start, and pulled a large gap. Jordan was up front quite a bit chasing, and eventually, they brought back Colton. Jordan stayed vigilant at the front, as the field looked like a slinky, stretching, and regrouping several times.

On the final few laps, a group of 5, including Jordan were barely clear of the rest of the field. It more or less came back together during the final lap, and Jordan sprinted to 6th place overall, 2nd in the Juniors. He scored a cool custom medal for his effort.

Props to Cat6 for bringing back an awesome venue.