World domination at the weekly world championships

The Tuesday night crits at Rocky Mountain Raceway are mockingly referred to as the weekly world championships. And with good reason. A lot of guys take these races very seriously*. A lot of guys who rarely if ever show up for a sanctioned event are at these “practice” crits every week. There’s an ambulance that just sits in the parking lot, because it’s a matter of when, not if, a crash will occur. I’ve even heard tales of fistfights** amongst the racers.

*Including me, but only when I do well and can, with tongue firmly embedded in cheek, talk about “world domination.” As if. The rest of the time, or at least for the interval until I once again do well, I will mock and deride.

**Bike racers getting in fistfights just strikes me as hilarious. For one thing, I’m on the muscular side since I wear a size medium t-shirt instead of a small. And trying to throw a punch while wearing cycling shoes? Like that one’s gonna have something behind it.

Last night, Revolution Cafe Rio had eight guys in the B flight. Despite three crashes, two of them in the same part of the course, we all managed to stay upright, though Cam did have to ride through the dirt to avoid hitting a guy that went down right in front of him.

On the last lap, Nolan from Porcupine took a solo flyer.

Cam moved to the front with the Revolution train (white with blue accents, except me, in last year’s blue MTB kit) behind him, and chased just hard enough to make sure Nolan didn’t sit up, without allowing a gap big enough that we wouldn’t catch him.

We closed the gap just before the final turn, and a few guys came around for an early move, which was perfect, since that would give us wheels to follow before the sprint.

Alex K. and Mike H. were sitting in great position towards the front. Rob B., Scott P., and I were about 20 riders back. With about 200 meters to go, I started my kick, hoping I could get around the group and get to the front. There were two guys ahead that I knew I wouldn’t catch—Alex and Mike.

Cody from FFKR, Rob B., and I were racing for third and all finished within half a wheel of each other, with Cody just edging out Rob and me.

Scott, despite taking a couple flyers earlier in the race to force other teams to chase, finished a solid 10th. So we had four of the top five and five of the top ten from Revolution. Not a bad day’s work, and once again Cam deserves credit for making it all happen. The best thing about racing for Revolution Cafe Rio is that we’re all willing to work for one another and all happy to see the other guys do well, but Cam and Lance take that attitude to a completely different level.