Lexington Downtown Crit

Todd, Jason, Scott, Kyle and I all headed down to Lexington, KY on Saturday to race the Masters and 3/4 races at the Lexington Stage Race. The stage race was a 3 day omnium consisting on a Friday 2 mile prologue, Saturday crits and Sunday circuit races. I was planning to just do the crits while a couple of the other guys were planning to stick around for the Sunday circuit races.

I was able to talk Karma into going along by telling her all the other wives were going. I guess it was nice to have company for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Kentucky horse country. We meet Todd and Julia in Grove City for breakfast and then caravaned to Lexington. When we arrived in Lexington, we had a hard time finding a "legal" place to park near the downtown race course. Luckily, Todd was able to talk a policeman into allowing us to park on a closed street adjacent to the course. By the time we found a place to park, registered and changed, we had all of 15 minutes to warm up...not good.

Todd and I registered for the 45+ race while Scott and Jason were doing the 35+ race. Both masters fields started together so there was really no way to know who was actually racing 35+ or 45+, not that it really mattered anyway. The race was fast from the gun. The lack of a real warm up made the first few laps really hurt. A break of four riders got away right after a prime lap and left the rest of us racing to 5th place. We rolled around the eight turn course at a pretty fast pace for the next 30 minutes, only occasionally catching a glimpse of the four breakaway riders. With a couple of laps to go, I moved to near the front of the field with Scott and Jason on my wheel. As we were coming up to the last turn, Toler jumped to try to be the first to the last corner. I jumped with him and took a wide line, standing and peddling through the turn. I dug my left peddle a bit but kept the legs turning. I came past Toler and saw Scott, on my right, cross the line just in front of me and Jason cross just a half wheel behind me. The team had a 1-2-3 finish in the field sprint. After the results were sorted out, I turned out to be the first 45+ across the line. I guess a win is a win but it would have been nice to actually be the first rider across the line.

I started the 3/4 race but decided to sit up and get out of the way after the halfway point. I'm not sure the last time I saw so many crashes in one race. The course was not that difficult or technical but everyone seemed to have a problem turning their bikes. I'm just glad I didn't lose any skin.