March Practice Crits #3

Two for three isn’t bad for Colorado crit racing in March.

Race report and images by Eddie Clark

NIWOT, Colo.—Front Range road racers lucked out with a mostly warm sunny day of criterium racing just days after old man winter gave his last hurrah. That last hurrah was a strong upslope storm which dropped 10-12 inches of new snow across Boulder County on Friday, and had race officials out on a Saturday evening doing course work with shovels and brooms.

DBC Events race promoter Chris Grealish, whom few may know was the first to host a UCI cyclocross race in the United States, was up for the challenge and assembled a great crew to bring us some Sunday bike racing. “For the first race of the series we had a street sweeper out to clean up the sand from the winter’s storms, so that really helped. Last night we were able to get it cleaned up with just a couple hours of shoveling and sweeping” said Grealish.

Junior racers got their race on first thing in the morning at 9am with three different age brackets racing on a smaller oval course around the Thule (as in Swedish bike racks) building at Dry Creek Office Park. Next up were the Senior 4 Women whom raced on the full figure 8 course that offered up plenty of turns.

Racers started on a flat section, and then into a gentle left turn which would be the center of a figure 8. The lower half of the course featured a sweeping downhill right into a sharper uphill right turn that was a common point for racers to attack. Senior 4 Woman, Nicole Sulzen, used the slight rise in grade to launch an attack which split the field. Sulzen rode to a strong second place in the sprint, but was beaten to the line by Joan Meiners from Boulder.

The C race was easily the largest field since many juniors and senior 4 women doubled up for the extra racing and training. With such a large field breakaways weren’t a factor, and Micheal Greaves of Boulder was able to sprint ahead of the field for the win.

The slightly smaller but definitely faster B class was won with another field crushing sprint by William Campie, also from Boulder. Interestingly, a couple pro ladies from the Colavita team and former US National Time Trial National Champion Alison Powers of the Specialized sponsored Team Vera Bradley Foundation jumped into this group for some high intensity racing.

“I came out for one more day of speedwork to get that race intensity, it’s my last tune up before the Redlands Classic, and it went really well. It’s pretty cool getting to ride your bike for a good cause... the Vera Bradley Foundation raises money for breast cancer research”, said Powers.

The main event was the A Class which started just after noon under warm sunny skies. From the first lap out, the attacks were hot and heavy. There were plenty of heavy hitters in the A Class with names like Colby Pearce, Jonathan Baker, Clark Sheehan, Chuck Coyle, Mike Friedman, the Eckmann brothers Robin and Yanick, and J Kyer from the U23 Livestrong Team. All took part in dishing out heaping amounts of blistering attacks. Notably at the front of affairs throughout the race were teams Groov Subaru, Jelly Belly, Mix 1, and Natural Grocers with team plans of covering almost every break.

Half way into the race the winning break finally broke free, and worked together to seal the top 6 places over the peloton. Race winner Chuck Coyle noted the benefits of having a solid team to cover the breaks, “We had a plan to have two guys in every break since we had been riding strong lately. There was plenty of horsepower out there today… I was just able to get around an on-form Colby Pearce (who’s primed for the World Track Championships this week) in the last 50 meters.”

For complete results, please visit March Practice Crits #3

For additional photos, please visit Photo Cycle

Juniors raced on a smaller oval course that featured an excellent view of the Flatirons above Boulder.	A Class racers lighting it up in the first few laps.	One of the days many attacks in the A Class.	Senior 4 Women sorting out the first few laps on the backside of the course.
Pinned and strung out at the front of the A race while a selection is being made.	The winning breakaway... Chuck Coyle sitting 4th wheel and playing his cards correctly for the winning sprint with one lap to go.	The C race featured the biggest field, and commonly was strung out corner to corner.	B class racers get under way for a 45 minute sufferfest.
Flatiron Flyers Junior 13-14 racer Cade Bickmore claims his victory after a solid sprint despite being solo and out-numbered by two other teams in the breakaway.	Mid-pack and getting treated like the tail end of a slinky. There's a good reason for racing at the front in criteriums.	Alison Powers gets in some high intensity racing by working over the B Class with a pace that strung the entire field out single file.	This small hill was the launchpad for several attacks throughout the day.