Iowa 2009 State Criterium Championships

The 2009 Iowa State Crit Championships (results) were well attended in Cedar Rapids, Sunday July 5th. The course was a flat 4 corner .6 mile course that featured very wide straightaways and corners. Pictured below is a good shot of me at the front of the Master's 30/40+ race... This race had over 40 entrants, and seemed to be comprised of many cat 1/2's and a handful of cat 3's. This race started fast and stayed fast. However, due to the smoothness of the course, it was a very manageable speed for most of the riders. Due to the talent, fitness and tactical experience of this field, attacks weren't sticking.

It was 25 very quick laps, that only totaled 15 miles. It was smooth and had a sort of 'fun' feel to it. I experimented with joining a gap that was slowly forming about mid race, but relented. All Nine Yards really seemed to have control of the race. Attacking, blocking, bridging... it later became apparent that they had a plan, and it turned out to be sending winner Jared Osterloh towards the end of the race. He maintained a solo gap for many of the final laps. Brian Eppen (who also later won the Cat 1/2 and single speed race) was actually able to attack the field during the last lap to almost catch him for 2nd place. I ended up in 21st out of 42.

CAT 3 State Championships-

This race stayed much slower than the Master's race, which was a relief, because I never feel quite as agressive during the second race of the day. It featured a decent showing of over 30 Category 3 riders, all aiming for a peice of the $1500 payout. The winner got about $400, very nice.

I piddled around at the back, trying to force myself not to waste energy, however I missed a very obvious breakaway. Midway through the 30 lap race, Derek Cassaday, who has been winning almost every Iowa Cat 3 race he enters, could be seen up the road. It seemed too early for a solo move to stick, but more importantly there were plenty of riders to reel it in, so I just kept focusing on even energy expenditure.

Hmm, the field wasn't bridging up... he must have been pedalling just fast enough to discourage the front riders. Eventually, Jerome Rewerts, who has also been rock solid in Cat 3 races this year executes a flawless solo bridge, and that ended up being the winning move.

Below I can be seen putting the hammer down trying to bridge up to the leaders. From the picture, it looks like I was pulling the group with me.

The field wasn't able to get organized to successfuly reel the leaders back in. Ryan Jacobsen (who later earned the bronze medal) of Atlas eventually created a chase group, which meant eventually the field was racing for 6th.

I took another stab at getting up the road, but this was all too little too late. Derek and Jerome should have been marked from the start, based on their past results, but I wasn't up front to even be a factor in the decisive moves of the race. I wonder if racing earlier in the day is spreading me out too thin, as I can't figure out why I was so passive, unless maybe it has to do with my general distaste for criterium racing.

I decided to whip up the pace the 2nd to last lap, and was fortunate that Pete Basso of Rasmussen's had the same idea. He eventually came around me, and I sat on his wheel, in near perfect position for the field sprint. I didn't get swarmed nearly as bad as usual during a sprint of a race that I had already 'used most of my bullets' and hung on for 13th, in the money. Respectable, but man there was a lot of money for the top places, so I was bummed during the drive home.

I have the fitness to race twice per day, but not focusing on a single event did alter my race day disposition. I may or may not have done any better had I focused on the Cat 3 race, but I surely would have been more agressive, which is much more rewarding for me, win or lose.

The Cat 1/2 race was a smaller field where team tactics became obvious. Bikes2You had a large team, and Tim Campbell could be seen early on dangling off the front to keep the tempo up and set things up fo the rest of his team. Like clockwork, one representative of each team ended up in a break, Brian Eppen, Sean Walker, Jared Osterloh, Jim Cochran and Clark Priebe. These guys seem to be their team captains, this selection made sense.

Dave Lippold and Paul Denninger were able to stick solo chase efforts, as the rest of the field tried much of the same, while also keeping tabs on each other. The lead group caught up with the field and they sprinted it out together, and Brain Eppen(Iowa City Cycling Club) edged out the group for the State Championship.

Great race put on by HBA racing and Cedar Rapids. Hopefully they can put that together again next year with the same great payouts to attract large fields. (photos by Moritz Cycling).