Photos by Matt Hawkesworth
Photo by Danny Munson
Cat 4 Race Report by Jorge Palamara
Racers: Jorge Palamara, Juan Lopez
Field: 100, 75 finished
This was my first time on this course. It has a very short but pronounced up/down hill sections, unlike other crits courses, and the finish line is on a slight uphill with a narrow section.
The race was in the afternoon, the weather was sunny (a little hot for my taste) but at least I got to sleep late.
Cat4 was scheduled for 1:20pm, but there were so many accidents on previous cats, that we started 20 min late and they cut the time to 35 min.
Juan and I started somewhere in the middle of the pack, but after a lap we moved to the first 1/3 of the group and stay there for most of the race. The pace was fast on average, but too much braking on the downhill, before the s-shape section. This caused a lot of close calls, but gladly nothing happened there.
The paces picked up 3 laps to go, and all brake always were caught by then. On the last lap, Juan and I moved to the front, within the first 20 riders and as soon as we enter the last hill, Juan took the inside and I took the outside, gaining a few extra spots. With only 20 meters to go, a crash among the first guys took at least 5 people out (one of them was taken to the hospital). I was right there, but I managed to clear the crash and sprint for 10th place (and grabbing 3 point towards the SCNCA Cup). Juan was not that lucky, the crash slowed him down and he finished 17th.
The good: This a great and challenging race, different from any other crit I have done.
The Bad: It's a crash fest
Photos by Matt Hawkesworth
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