Two Race Weekend
This weekend was a 2 race weekend. Saturday was the Lemmon Hill Criterium around the Lemmon Hill area of Fairmount Park, Philadelphia PA I raced, as normal, in the 50+ category. The race was 25 laps of this 0.8 mile course. The temperature was a nearly idea 75 with bright sunshine though much of the course is shaded. The course is pretty technical with high speed down hill curves and a very short power hill into the start/finish. “Technical” is a racer’s term for a winding or twisting course that requires significant bike handling to ride at race speed. Technical down hills in European road races usually involve tight hairpin switchbacks. The Lemmon Hill course just had some above average tight high speed turns for American criterium packs. The road surface was excellent and race organization was good.
Our race averaged 23.5 mph with peak speeds of 34 mph by my cycle computer. On such a twisting course these are excellent speeds. I finished in the pack sprint and got 15th by 3/4 of a bike length. This should get me a handful of points toward PA BAR (Best All-around Rider)….wow!
Today’s race was Cargas Criterium held in the Greenfield Industrial Park just off of Rt 30 in Lancaster PA. Again I raced the 50+ category. This race is the Pennsylvania Masters Criterium Championship and consisted of 20 laps of the course. This is an excellent course with only 1 90 degree left turn. The remaindeer of 1 mile course is wide sweeping turns with a slight uphill to the start/finish. The temperature today is a very cool 65 degrees with heavy overcast and a 10 mph wind.
The race itself was quite up and down in speed and consequently, my efforts. After yesterday’s race, I haven’t fully recovered and rode this race in the back of the pack. I almost lost touch with 6 to go but knew the pack would slow slightly and got back on. The average speed 23.9 mph with a peak of almost 31 mph. I finished somewhere in the final third of the pack in the twenties.
Posted: June 19th, 2005 under Bicycle Racing.