Old News

OK, I'm a week late on the sequel to the Bob Beal Omnium saga, but I promised xyz the story. I suspect he was planning to go and then wussed out after waking to rain clouds over Brookline, and now he can't wait to hear about what he missed out on. Loyal readers are our top priority, so here goes.

As mentioned earlier, this year entry to the two criteriums was open to those who chose not to do the omnium. Racers from older age groups were also permitted to enter extra crits if they chose. So even though there were only eighteen entered in the omnium for the 45-54 group, we had around thirty starters in the crit. Paul Curley (Gearworks) and his team mate Bob Bisson were there, and Curley tried to get the official to increase the distance of the race to 25 laps (from 20) but he was denied. Wayne Kirk (Mystic) was also there along with another Mystic guy not in the omnium, bolstering the two riders they already had. With four total, they had the most of any team. I was alone, as was Megdal (NEBC, 4th in the TT). CCB had Pavlov (2nd in the TT) and Karl Hambrecht (no points). Stonebarger (Bike Link, 3rd) Wolfie (Bethel, 5th) were also alone. I think the Mystic guys were 6th and 7th, with Cyclonauts team mates Mike Maloney and race promoter Mike Norton in 8th and 10th. Can't remember who was 9th. So there are all your points holders.

Saturday we raced counter-clockwise, the normal Ninigret course direction. The wind was mild by Ninigret standards, but it was a headwind on the homestretch and especially on the short straight over by the soccer fields. It was warm and humid, but the track was dry and no rain fell during our race, heh-heh. Attacks started early, most containing one of the Gearworks guys. I found out right away that my legs were not that great. I was covering Pavlov, Megdal, and Stonebarger as best as I could, as all are good breakaway riders and they were the most immediate threats for the omnium. Maybe I should have thought this through better. I've done enough omniums to know that each stage counts equally, and just because the TT is sometimes first doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Ninigret sprint specialists Wolfie and Norton were lurking in the field and were going to have two stages to earn big points if nobody got away successfully.

The three guys I was watching all made attacks, so I was jumping on wheels the first half of the race. Rather than take a chance on working with any of them (an risk overextending and leaving myself vulnerable to a counterattack), I stayed defensive. Eventually this caught up to me and Megdal countered hard after I'd just burned a match covering Pavlov and Stonebarger. Since Pete was (on points) the least dangerous in 4th, I had to let that one go. Besides, Hambrecht went with him. I figured he would cover the move for his team mate Pavlov. Karl has a bit of a sprint and is not known to stick his nose in the wind very often, so I was confident that he would either kill the move by sitting on, or at least take the sprint and relegate Pete to 2nd. As it turned out, neither of these things happened.

With four guys in the race, including Kirk, and good field sprinter, I would have thought Mystic would work harder to bring the duo back. I could not do it, as then everyone in the field would have countered me as soon as I was spent from pulling. Mystic did not seem cohesive and just kept attacking one by one. Gearworks did nothing. Nobody did. Pavlov ended up riding the front the rest of the race, with me on his wheel. He could not seem to decide if he should block for his team mate up the road (who had no points) or not. He kept surging and I covered. With two to go the break was a lock, but I got swarmed and lost good position. Then it got pretty crazy, with full contact cycling while the rest of us jockeyed for sprint position. Everyone was trying to get on Norton's train. The last lap was crazy. I was trying to not lose sight of Pavlov or Stonebarger. Pavlov does not corner well at all, so following him was a mistake. At one point he looked across the road at Norton, and then just kept riding straight on to the grass. I was a bit outside of him and so I got pushed off too. Burned a match getting going again, then in the last corner a guy hit his pedal and nearly took me out. A few revs of the cranks later, another guy shut the door on me and pushed me into the grass yet again. Finally I got clear and wound it up but I only got the last points for 10th, edging out Pavlov by a tire. Stonebarger got nothing, but Megdal won, giving him 26 points to my 20, now second overall. Wolfie was up there and now third with 19, Norton 4th with 16. Dave Johnson from Mystic got 9th and now had 15, with Pavlov and Hambrecht splitting the two second places among their team for 13 each.

Sunday another Ninigret crit. Most competitors stayed down there in the luxurious 50's era US Rt 1 motels around the park. Since I'm only an hour away, I drove home and got to see Vinnie out on 95. The weather was perfect on Sunday though, sunny with again not too much wind in the morning for our race. It would shift and pick up during the event though. And as a twist, today we went counter-clockwise, a first for Ninigret as far as I know. On the warmup, one competitor, whose identity will remain a secret to protect his dignity, quipped that this was "like jerking off left handed." Ok, so you know he is a righty.

We had even more starters for this, as a bunch of racers, including Danielle Ruane and Cheryl Wolf elected to do double-duty and enter the crit. I knew that I had to be more aggressive today and try to get up the road, or else face certain defeat at the hands (legs) of the sprinters. But not knowing how the backward race would play out, I sat in at first. And not much happened, least not that I can remember. For a while it got downright slow. Danielle and Cheryl even attacked at one point rather than just ride around with a bunch of grumpy old men. Then Megdal took matters under advisement and strung out the field. I think he knew that Wolfie and Norton were hoping for a bunch gallop where they could trap him deep in the pack, denying him good points. He did not have much to gain but he drilled it for two laps and we went single file, but they weren't going to let him get away this time. We crossed with six or seven to go and he sat up, so I countered hard. The gap grew instantly, and I looked back and Pavlov was on my wheel. With a seven point cushion over him, this was perfect for me. But he did not want to work. WTF? He came through soft and just moved over. I could not understand it, but there was no time for debate, so I kept driving it. Then another guy from Tri-Hard bridged up to us, but I think that killed him. He would try to work but he did not have much. Pavlov still kept coming through soft even though we had at least 20 seconds and a solid chance to stay away.

By now Megdal was back on the front and driving it in an effort to bring us back. I said to Pavlov "Mike, WTF? We can win this" and he muttered back "I can't work with you." I was baffled. He had just as many points as his team mate Hambrecht, and every reason in the world to work. Karl could sit on the chase. But he just kept coming through soft and then pumping the elbow. By now there were 2.5 laps to go and Megdal has us back under ten seconds, but he was cooked. The Tri-Hard guy sat up and went back. Then, bizarrely, Pavlov says "let's go" and attacks me. He was taking the incredibly stupid and inefficient inside lines through the tight turns. I was bullshit. Our gap was mostly evaporated by now, but I had nothing to lose as I'd be toast in the sprint anyhow. I struggled onto his wheel and barely got my breath when he pulled over and started pumping the elbow. The guy had been not working for four laps and now he won't even give me the courtesy of a decent recovery.

We took two to go but the pack was still very close, and Norton had Maloney on the front driving it. I kept going and got another pull out of Pavlov but it was too little too late. At the bell the pack was right on us but I kept riding anyway, nothing to lose. They swarmed me with 3/4 lap to go. I tried to mount a charge but after five laps off the front you know how that goes. Coming into the sprint it wound up and I was in contact, but then Hambrecht swapped wheels (with his own team mate Pavlov, I think, not sure) and went down HARD. I just scooted by but missed the sprint train and finished out of the points.

Norton won the race with Wolfie second, moving them into 3rd and 2nd on the omnium. Pete got 4th in the sprint behind Johnson, thus winning the omnium with Johnson 4th, and me hanging on for 5th despite being shutout today. This was due to Hambrecht's misfortune. He was a mess. I think his pinky toe on one foot was OK but every other bone in his body was broken. The meat wagon came and one of the EMTs was pretty hot too, but they spatula'd him up and off to the hospital. On the cooldown I talked to Megdal and tried to figure out what was up with Pavlov's tactics. At first he said he was confused, but later it sounded like he had a soft deal with Megdal. Oh well. These things happend in omniums. It was fun and I was almost inspired to race the crits this past weekend, but that did not happen. That's another story. Thanks for reading race fans! No proofing. Sue me.