The Most Prestigious: The Great Downer’s Ave Crit....

I took off yesterday to make sure I was fresh for this one. My mother came down to watch me race this one. We got to the course extremely early to get a parking spot. I’m definitely happy that we did that. We walked around for a little while and then sat down at Cafe Hollander and got a cappuccino. Two hours before the race I did my pre-race preparations. Turkey sandwich on a bagel, pin up the jersey, get the water bottles ready. That all went well. Half an hour before I go I take a Starbucks Double Shot drink to give me a little sugar, fat and caffeine. Did that...and started warming up.

The field lined up at 5:30...expecting to go off at 5:45pm. We were far from that we soon found out. The organizers decided it would be a good idea to do about 45 minutes worth of thank yous, good-byes, your the bests, hall of fame shit, etc. The whole field was getting antsy. People were warming up in the back...most of them did not care about the presentations going on...I really didn’t either. I got all my stuff ready when I usually do. And I was ready to go. Then we thought we were ready...NO. We had to do a parade lap for some “movie” they were doing for next year. Ok so they have us go...it was suppose to be neutral at about 20mph....NO. We sped along at about 25mph fighting for position. When we got back to the start line I was 5 rows further back then when we started this “neutralized parade lap”. Then finally at about 6:30/6:45 they started the race.

I noticed something wrong right away. Maybe it was the super long wait to start and I was really cooled down. I don’t know. My water was tasting a little funky too for some odd reason...kinda like soap detergent or something of the sort. But for the first 35 laps of the 70 lap race I was hanging on the back throwing up little particles and fluids here and there. No idea what was going on, but I knew I needed to stay with this pack. I would sprint out of a corner, throw up, sprint out of a corner throw up, etc...for 35 straight laps. These were not easy laps either. We were hauling ass...this is known as the fastest crit of superweek. I think it was laps 20 to 25, but I was on the rivet. We were going amazingly fast. “Who is on the front and why are they going so fast?” At this point I am dying and puking...awesome! Somehow I was able to keep with it. Maybe it was all the friends and family I knew were watching me. I definitely did not want to disappoint.


Probably when I was on the back puking....

After the 35 laps I felt a lot better. And I mean alot. I was a whole different person. I moved from the back of the pack to the middle in one lap easily. I was able to corner better, move up more and more, and had a ton more confidence. All I can say is I was really worried for those first 35 laps.

With about 11 laps left they started a countdown for the “Super Prime” It was growing exponentially. By the end it was 4000$. I definitely wanted it just like everyone else. I was able to move to about 35th position or so by the final lap of it. I moved up pretty well. Maybe next year I can win it next year when I’m stronger!?!

The last 3 laps were pretty intense. Fast and furious. I just kept moving up and trying to hold my position....definitely things I still need to work on. The sprint went well for me, until a Rock guy that did his job up front slow pedaled right in my path. I had to slam on the brakes quick and go around him. I got 70th.

I stayed in the race which was my biggest goal. It was hard in the beginning. If you what it feels like to be going all out and puking during a race then you definitely know what I was going through....and I bet you did not enjoy it either.

Ciao ciao....
Waitey