Milford Criterium

The Milford Criterium was one of the events I was really looking forward to this year, I had missed it the previous year because I was camping in Oregon.  I had spent the previous day at the velodrome for the State events.  I showed up too late for the 200m and then the 4k got rained out.  So I spent 5 hours at the track to get a little over an hour of practice.  That aside I was still feeling good to race.  Other then the Hines TT and Kensington Valley road race this is the closest thing to a home race I have out here.

The course was set in downtown Milford with a loop that was near 1 mile.  This course however was somewhat technical with lots of elevation change.  The hardest part was the near 120° corner that lead into an uphill segment to the finish line.  Throughout the day this corner had been the scene of many wrecks.   Including a few in my race. In fact all the photographers seamed to congregate in this corner to capture the crashes.

My race was scheduled for 50 minutes.  I had heard in the parking lot before the race that several teams were going to hammer the pace at the start.  Mostly to try and weed out some sprinters and drop them off the back.   The rumor was true because as soon as we started the pace was harsh.  I had a bit of a slow start, but I settled in and started to work my way from the back to mid pack.  Eventually I was going to go to the front, but as I got nestled in the middle of the pack my rear tire started to feel really funny.  Due to this I went to the back of the pack to look at it.  Riders agreed it looked low.  So I went in the pits to change my rear wheel. 

In most circumstances they will give you a free lap to rejoin the race and be on the lead lap.  Such as a crash or some sort of mechanical.  The referee quickly looked over my wheel and denied my free lap.  The tires pressure was not low enough.  After the race I found a cut in the center of the tread, the sealant I put in though sealed it before it went flat.  Anyhow I rejoined the pack, a lap down.  Since I was no longer in contention I just sat on the back and rode out the rest of the time.  The rest of the race though was filled with several attacks.  Eventually 4 riders slipped off the front to stay clear to the end.  The harsh pace had took its toll on the field, also given the lack of teamwork by the field the gap was never closed.

Overall the race was a bit of a big letdown for me.  Not only had I had a bad day, but almost everyone of my team had.  One of my teammates crashed and hurt his shoulder badly.  However I did the right thing changing my tire, its to bad the referee didn't side with my decision to change tires for precautionary reasons.  Oh well, that's racing.

Milford Full Results