Masters Omnium Criterium - 7 seconds can be an eternity

Sunday evening was the final event in the Washington state masters omnium championship. Shortly before 7pm, the masters C field rolled off the start line for a 30 minute long criterium. I managed to have probably the worst start of my career. As can happen occasionally, I had difficulty getting my foot clipped into my pedal quickly. No big deal. I figured I'd pedal a few strokes unclipped to stay near the pack and try again. In the process of doing that, my chain dropped off. With my speed dropping, I urgently tried to shift my chain back on and get my foot in my pedal. Just as I was about to hop off and put the chain back on by hand, it finally shifted on and my foot clipped in and I was off in pursuit of the pack. It seemed at the time like this crisis had taken forever, but in watching video today that my wife shot, I saw that the whole mess transpired in seven seconds. Still, I was left with a pretty good gap to close to the pack. It took half a lap but I managed to rejoin the group and try to settle in for the race. Fortunately, masters tend to ease into their races. If that had been a category 4-5 pack, which usually start full gas, I'm not sure I would have gotten back. As I caught the pack, I took a deep breath and told myself that must have been my bad luck for the race.

The course was basically flat and sort of triangular in shape. Each lap was about a kilometer in length and enclosed a few blocks around city hall. The pace was fairly quick but steady. Only a few attacks tried to get away during the race. Unlike most of my criterium experiences in recent years, I was quite comfortable and was able to focus on positioning and trying to get a result rather than just hanging on. As the race wore on, I tried different pack positions and lines through the last couple corners to see what might work. As the last lap began, the pace elevated as expected and I was only able to hold a mid-pack position. We all got through the last two corners safely and began the sprint down the finishing straight. Although, I didn't manage to move up more than a place after the last corner I also managed not to lose any spots. After crossing the line, I counted the riders in front of me and realized I had finished 13th. With points going 15 deep, I was in a points paying position.

I had been sitting 5th in the omnium standings after my strong time trial result earlier in the day and these few points from the criterium might help me keep a high omnium finish. They did. I slipped one spot, but finished the weekend in 6th place in the omnium standings for the masters C field. It was easily my best complete weekend of racing of my career. Its been a while coming, but it feels really good.