Thursday night Crit

Well, I finally made it out to a Crit night. Saw Peter Watson, Jason, and Greg Merrick all in their BPR kit, ready to race with the A Group. I opted for the very small B Group as Ginny had taken me on a 3-hour trail hike/run earlier in the day, and I had spent the afternoon hammering away at a Kiwi deck in Winfield under the Willett family's supervision.

I chose to ride in support of Scott Harrhy from Fresh Air, who is one of the young riders I was hoping to see competing at Nationals with Joel and Peter O. He looked very strong, and I offered to see if I could help him get some points, and maybe win some money.

I worked really hard, and felt quite confident, though even when I did push the pace, it seemed the entire group had no trouble holding my wheel, or pulling me back in. I think we did drop one rider about half way through, but the rest of the group stayed together. Gord McInnes who is a physician friend was probably the strongest in the group, and was doing some long hard pulls at the front.

On the Prime lap, I instructed Scott to stay on my wheel, and only make his move in the last 200m. I pulled hard the entire lap, stretched everyone out, and Scott made a great move on the final corner, and held off two other riders to win the Prime!

We tried the same again on the bell lap, but an early sprint by another rider, meant Gordy pushed to the front to bring him back, and forced us to chase on. I was able to get to his wheel, but lost Scott in the process. I slowed to allow him a chance to grab my wheel, and tried in vain to pull us back to Gordy who pulled away for the win. Scott finished second in a very strong finish, and I made enough money in third to pay for an icecream at McDonalds for Maddy.

A GREAT night of racing. Hope to see everyone there again next week. Ginny has promised to race with the B Group, and I will be her lieutenant, helping her if she falters, or leading her out if she is riding well.

Jason was fantastic tonight and won his first Prime ever out of a huge A Group with TR guys everywhere. Peter Watson looked strong, as did Greg Merrick. I will look forward to their reviews of the evening for more details on what happened in A Group.

Peter, Joel...if you are planning to race the Crit at Nationals, you need to practice in Winfield...see you there next week.