Straight Outta Compton

Once again I found myself at the Compton criterium course. It is pretty sad that I know my way around the streets of Compton and Long Beach now. My three-month streak of heading up to this course is hopefully over after this Sunday. I will have the upgrade points I need after next weekend. This non-USAC Sanctioned race has fields packed up to 125 riders and simultaneous races that become a huge clustered mess in the end when they eventually overlap. The race directors there leave much to be desired.

My packed race of 125 kept me fighting for the front most of the race. The corners were tight, but I felt more comfortable than in the past leaning into them at 30 mph two inches from riders on either side. Thank God the roads were dry. I saw a bunch of crazy stuff in this race from people punching each other to people leaning into each other in the corners. I still have a little ways to go before I am gunning it through the turns. The couple of times I pulled to the front, I was passed as soon as we hit the turns. I think I wound up finishing somewhere in the top 1/4 of the field, and surprisingly there were no crashes.

Julie raced her first crit about 45 minutes after me. The women from Moment looked great out there. Julie was strong on the bike, and it was cool to see her racing. Unfortunately for the women's 4, the Cat 1-3 race caught up to them 1 lap before the finish and totally jacked up their finishing race tactics. Once again, poor race directors are to blame.

Heading out to Callville this next weekend for my first three-day stage race. Oh yes, once again with rain in the forecast.

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