Spectating at the Volunteer Park Criterium 2009

One of these days, I'm gonna bight the bullet and jump into one of these local races. In fact I found a NW race calendar I had back in 2004, and even back then I had the same thoughts. So it's been years that I've wanted to give it a shot..

But you see, years ago I started "training" to race by riding a fixed gear. That time period was a lot of fun, and I learned how to do backwards circles in the process. Then I got side-tracked a little, as my fixed-riding friend said "Hey let's do STP!" (on the fixed bikes)

We did the STP on fixed gears back in 2005 (two day option, mind you), and my knees never forgave me. Too much skidding kills the knees! If I do that again, I need to remember to actually use the front brake..

So that big "fixed gear training" diversion somehow led to me becoming a long-distance fanatic. Maybe it's the fact that on some level it's a little easier to slog through a long ride (at your own pace) than it is to hang onto the back of a 20+ mph peloton.. Or the fact that I'm a 1/2 pack day smoker, and that doesn't mix well with high-intensity riding like races.

Anyway, point is that really soon I'm gonna make the leap over the fence, and turn from a spectactor to a participator. In fact, I had such plans on Saturday, knowing the race was happening so close to home at Volunteer Park.

But jumping into to something like that course, in the rain (so that would be a winding downhill, in the rain), unattached, is quite daunting. So, I wussed out (again!) and didn't race, but I at least strolled down to the park and took some shots.

The Cat 4 Women's race was well under way when I got there:

Rachel, a friend of mine who rides for Group Health, was in the Women's Cat 4 race, putting on a strong show as usual. I think that's her on 2nd wheel going into this turn (there had just been a wreck seconds before this shot too):

After that race, I stuck around for a few more minutes to take in some more action. Got to see an interesting award ceremony for the Men's 4/5 race; only 2nd place showed up to claim his prize:

Then it was time for the Masters (35+) C/D race:

The pack was pretty big, but of course strung out. There were a lot of stragglers just struggling to hang on to something, or at least not be pulled from the race. You could just see the pain emanating from this guy, for instance, and there were many more like him:

(I'm having a flash-forward to me in a similar photo, suffering; so I shouldn't laugh too much at this poor soul!)

But the front of the pack doesn't concern themselves with what's going on behind! It's all about what's ahead of you.. and in this case it was a prime sprint for a water bottle and some Nuun tablets:

Coming from the rando-world of full Honjo fenders and luggage, this is a different sight indeed. I don't even think you're allowed to run RaceBlades for these races, so you have to just eat up the road grime like everyone else. That'll take some getting used to for sure..

You can find a couple more shots, and some vids, on my flickr page.

After Rachel's race I was telling her about how I might do the Brad Lewis Memorial Crit (aka Boat Street) the next day, but she advised me that it might not be a good idea to do my first crit on a technical three-turn course, in the rain no less...

I'm usually really bad about taking advice (read: I generally ignore it) but this was one time I figured she was right. So Volunteer Park didn't happen this year for me, nor Boat Street, but there's always the Seward Park Crits, which thankfully happen weekly. (And they have a 20-minute "first timer's" clinic, just for people like me)

Although this Friday is our 24-hour fleche, I might do the Seward Park race this Thursday. After all, it's only 25 minutes long, so how bad could it hurt me? Well, there is that crashing part of it (sounds like it's one of those "it's a matter of when, not if" things), so maybe this isn't the best week to take that dive. But soon, dammit! Soon.