My Spin City Classic recap

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Downtown Crit
While race weekends usually take us to some corporate park or out to some country road in the middle of nowhere, the "night-life feel" of the Spin City Classic offers a change to our race scenery. Downtown O-town on Saturday night was the scene for the Spin City Criterium. A four-cornered course that possessed more than a few bumps, manhole covers, cobbled intersections and holes. The atmosphere of this event is always second to none, and as a result, the bike racers show up by the hundreds.

My race featured a field of 80 guys. That's eighty guys going through corners from curb to curb, eighty guys strung out on the straights at 30+ mph and eighty guys capable of laying their bikes down right in front of me. This race, for me, was an exercise in bike handling skills.

I'll be the first to admit that this crit had me at my limit, rendering me unable to do little more than fill space somewhere in the middle of the field. It took me the first 15 minutes to get comfortable with the rhythm of the race (and by comfortable I mean: able to hold on without entertaining the thoughts of an early departure). During that 15 minutes I realized that taking my chances getting run into the hay bails by cornering on the outside was better than slowing so much on the inside that a full sprint was required just to stay in contact.

By the time my heart rate had come back down to a manageable range, I got cut-off in the first corner sending me into the hay and ripping my foot out of the pedal. The remainder of the field was flying by me as I clipped back in and sprinted all out to get back within the comforting draft that I so desperately needed to stay in the race.

My tank was teetering on "empty" but I needed to situate myself closer to the front if I was going to avoid another crit-ending hay bail encounter. I worked hard to advance my position in the field only to be swarmed the next time the pace dropped a couple mph's. I fought for position on every straight, but my efforts just rewarded me with the same mid-pack placement that I was trying to get away from.

With five laps to go the peloton became overly anxious and I used just about all that I had left to force my way to the wheel of my teammates who were located in the top 20. I didn't feel like there was going to be much of a sprint in my legs but I figured my chances of survival were better near the front.

As it turns out, one of the main instigators of this fast paced race was none other than Gainesville’s own Brett Miller. Brett apparently went on to win this race (not that I could see anything from where I was when I rolled up the finish line).

So no, this wasn’t my best performance, but I came out of it on two wheels and I’ve got a little more race experience in the bag. Even though it sounds like this race wasn’t anything more than an exhausting, nervous and painful event, I loved it. I love that nervousness, I love going through the corners handlebar to handlebar with 80 other cyclists. I love being a part of an event that brings out the aggressive, competitive spirit in everyone.
But don’t get me wrong...at the same time I was happy when that race was over.


Southport Circuit Race
Sunday’s race was a 2-mile jaunt around Southport Park, which is next to the Orlando International Airport. My one and only crash last year occurred at this race and I wasn’t looking to see history repeat itself.

Another good sized field of 60+ guys started a race that saw a good percentage of them dropped by the blistering speeds in the first 10 miles. Most of the straights had me on the tip of my saddle, rolling at 30+ mph once again. Even the section with the soothing tail wind was made painful by attacks and counter-attacks at the front.

Half way through, a pile-up occurred right next to me as a result of a sewer drain that was located dangerously in the middle of the third corner. I was once again pleased with my ability to avoid the crash and stay on the bike (even if my heart rate did experience a bit of a spike at that moment).

I got into a good rhythm and was able to navigate the six-corner course without getting caught in the wind too much. I was probably just outside of my comfort zone judging by my face in the pictures I found of myself from the race (#1, #2, #3)

With three laps to go my bike handling skills were once again tested as the rider in front of me experienced a mechanical which completely locked his rear wheel up and sent him skidding sideways through the corner. I jumped on my brakes, which sent me sliding sideways around him. As I came up next to him I let go of the brakes and my rear wheel was whipped back into line and disaster was once again averted. Unfortunately, not everyone behind me was as lucky.

Steadily hammering on the straights and aggressively sprinting out of the corners slowly chipped away at my “finishing sprint ability”. By the last corner of the last lap, I gave a less than powerful attempt at a sprint, which got me nothing more than to the line safely.

Once again, my result wasn’t what I’d hoped for, but I was able to hang tough in one of the fastest races I’ve ever done and I didn’t crash regardless of how much this course was gunning for me.

The clocks are about to go forward an hour which will create enough daylight after work to benefit my weekday training. I anticipate this will also result in better finishes for upcoming races.