I thought I’d check in with a brief Masters 35+ report of the Out Like a Lion RR and City Park Criterium for the weekend of 3/21-3/22.
Saturday’s race can be summed up pretty quick. Jim C. Rodney, Paul, Steve, Rick and I all took part in the event. It was fast from the gun, with lots of attacks in the first 3 laps, we were represented in all of them. When the winning break went I was there…..briefly. Unfortunately, I just didn’t quite have the legs to stay in the break and off they went into the sunset. With all of the money up the road, Jim C., Rodney and I went to the front on laps 4 and 5 and kept the tempo high enough to hold of any further attacks from the field. When the final lap came Rodney jumped off the front giving Steve just the right amount of time to led Rick out to take the field sprint. So, not the greatest finish, but we worked well together as a team and many of us are not quite on form yet.
Sunday at the City Park Criterium we were all aware that it was going to be a slug-fest from the start, it was…Rick and Steve were coming off off good finishes in the 45+ race an hour before. Rodney, Jim C., Derek, Paul and myself were fresh and ready to go. As soon as the whistle blew the attacks started. A crash early on gapped several of us and Paul did a great job of getting us back to the main group. Jim C., Derek and Rodney were covering attacks early on and making some moves themselves. I covered a couple of moves and soon found myself in a group of 4 off the front. Each time I came by the start finish I could hear Josh cheering for me and Steve telling me to ride smart. This really helped me out… it help me dig deep when I was hurting and not do too much work in the break. Let me tell ya, when the attacks came toward the end of the race I really needed this encouragement. I don’t have a very good poker face and when I was diggin’ deep to stay attached I know my face was showing the pain my legs were feeling. That pain was minimal compared to the pain I was about to experience. On the last lap all four of us were still together. I was fourth wheel as we went through the first turn at about 30 mph. The guy in front of me rolled a tubular and went down hard, I had no where to go… by all accounts I hit the curb and flew into a 4 foot chain link fence, and from the scrapes and bruises I have from my shoulder to my feet I bounced off the sidewalk a time or two. As I write this, I don’t think anything is broken, but my hip has seen better days. Back in the race, Rodney easily took the field sprint for 4th. I want to thank all of my team mates for looking after me after the crash….we really have a great bunch of guys on this team and I’m proud to be a part of it. Until next time…
Jim Taylor
