Davis Fourth of July Criterium

Davis Criterium

04 July 2011

Masters 45+ 1-2-3

The Davis Criterium is another perennial race on the Northern California circuit, and is considered another classic downtown criterium. Owing to its location and place on the calendar, you can make some assumptions about how hot it is going to be. This year was no exception. Hot as blazes! I decided to go with unzipped skinsuit ('the Tom Jones look'), that plus two bottles of cold diluted cytomax, (basically hummingbird food), and I was good.

The race is a big "L" shape right thought the heard of the cycling Nirvana that is Davis California. Personally, I have an unfortunate history with this race: In '84, I watched my teammate Norm Gall crash halfway in the race, get back in, and crash again on the final lap. In 1992 I thought I had the suds to mix it up with the big boys, race day in Davis was 107° and I was cut loose from the remainder of the field, a molten mess of mitochondria, suffering from the intense heat (living in the outer Richmond was not adequate preparation, with it's three months of summer drizzle). Three years ago I did the 35+ race and had an outside shot at a place when two guys conducted a bit of argy-bargy ahead of me, dropping to the deck under my front wheel in turn 2 and I ended up somersaulting onto some ladies' lawn, surprisingly unscathed. Friends of mine have gone down on different parts of the course, breaking a wrist here, getting a badly infected road rash there. Though the course doesn't feel scary, it has a legacy.

In the race right before mine, Michael Boehme (Colavita) went down, all scrapes and torn skinsuit, busted rear wheel. He told me the circumstances of his mishap but I zoned out, knowing that the course is cruel and vindictive in general. Even though half of the course had been repaved, the bad juju still lurked.

Seventy guys rolled up to the start. As luck would have it I was at the back. Lots of aero wheels, 'spensive bikes, shaved legs, intensity on the line. This senior circuit does not give up much in competitiveness, let me tell you.

Once again no teammates, flying solo. It's intimidating starting at the very back of a race like this. Moving up implies to yourself and others that you are frankly a better bike rider than those you are passing. So then you just have to swallow the lie and believe you are one of the best blokes out there.

The first few laps were conducted pretty quickly, and I advanced positions as I could find them. Taking the inside of the curve allows you to control the curve, but may not be the fastest line. So it's a game of control and speed with a measure of daring. The straightaway affords a more simple proposition for advancement, but then many guys are thinking the same thing. My technique is to advance when it's easy to do so, and consolidate your gains when the racing gets hard.

Within four laps I had made it to more or less the front, and I had a chance to look around and see what teams were in play. The Gregg Bettonte (Safeway) retinue was present, as were two Specialized riders, Craig Roemer and big Larry Nolan. Patrick Briggs in his Yahoo! pro team kit was looking strong as well as a goodly amount of other solo adventurers like myself (Gregarius, Max [something] and Andy Nevitt (San Jose). 

The bulky Nolan got off the front with one other strong guy but had only a little bit of rope when the course marshals flagged us and began shouting that the race was neutralized. The bunch of us at the front let off on the gas, but noticed Larry and breakmate were still drilling it. It took two laps for word to get to the homestretch (ref and announcer) that the race had been neutralized, to get a FD truck on the course.

Five laps under the caution flag and the race was re-started, with Nolan and other guy back in the fold. The race was lacking aggression but felt quick. It just needed to get crushingly fast for me to have a chance against a full field sprint. I tried working some efforts off the front but nothing was jelling.

Once again the backstretch boys neutralized the race (for what I have no idea), and for another four or five laps the race was under the caution flag. This was starting to feel like a stock car race. I knew that they would be restarting when we hit the S/F so on the last corner I opportunistically jumped pretty hard and got a gap but the ref was having none of it and did not re-start us because of me (I got a deserved earful upon my return to the field).

Now onto the proper restart, Big Bubba Melcher (Clover) with all his silver bracelet ornamentation goes up the road, followed in short order by a rather strong Safeway rider. I took off after those two and we all made contact about   5 sec. off the front. Bubba was tired, as was the Safeway rider. I was freshest so pulled through pretty hard. In breakaways you have to make these sorts of investments. Well sometimes investments go belly up, and such was the case as my breakmates remained to be inspired and we were re-absorbed right as the announcer announced four laps to go. 

Four to go? We haven't barely even been racing properly long enough. No one is tired. A surge right as we were caught put me 30 places back, mired in 45+ anonymity. Everyone became twitchy, bitchy and anxious. Like Walmart on black Friday anxious. Moving up now was going to be a different beast.

It took three laps to haul my body past the other equally deserving fellas into a position of contention. Big bejeweled Bubba had re-taken flight earlier but was being caught right on the line at bell lap. The catch slowed the field enough for me to pick past a bunch of guys and turns 1 and 2 way on the inside, risking some but advancing to 7th or thereabouts, having recovered well and ready for a good sprint. I had even passed Larry Nolan on the inside.

The speed was high at turn 3, a 90° left hander. I chose a more outside line, thinking speed. At this moment (and it's a bit fuzzy for me but this is the best reconstruction I can muster), some streak comes in from the left and ahead of me (Nolan), sliding, and making contact with out the rider in front of me (Nevitt), knocking him over the high side of his bike (think of Beloki's famous crash in the tour). at 30+ mph, the two bodies are sliding in front of me, leaving me nowhere to go. I was able to straighten up the bike, jam on the brakes (may I put in a plug for VeloFlex tyres here?) and stop before I reached the curb, all the while absolutely frightened of being plowed from behind by some Starbuck-double-shotted jacked-up cabrón. But luckily that didn't happen.

The post-mortem? Patrick Briggs (Yahoo) hauls in Bettonte (Safeway) for the win. Meanwhile The Great Larry Nolan washes out on turn three, taking Andy Nevitt down, and me out of the running. soft pedal across for 35th, but Andy is unable to stand on his own. It turns out he broke the head of his right femur in three places, just like Beloki, which sucks.

This Davis is no course for old men!