Avondale Criterium Race Report (Buzz)

by Buzz Wright

I raced in both the 4's and in the 3/4's. These were my first races as a Cat 4 so I was a little unsure as to how I would do (especially with the 3/4's). The weather was absolutely perfect and the course was awesome. No wind, good pavement, nice and fast!

The plan for the 4's race was to do an attack and see what happened, go for a prime, and then position myself to put in a good pull for Michael with a couple laps to go, hopefully setting him up for an attack 1-2 laps from the finish. When the opportunity came I decided to attack right at the end of the long sweeping turn heading towards the start/finish. As I crossed the start/finish I heard them announce that it was a prime lap so I figured I could take down two birds here (attack, get a prime, then see what happened).

Buzz attacking during the Cat 4 race

​I was able to sang the prime and continued pushing hard for a bit. I took a quick self-assessment to decide whether to continue the breakaway or slow up to re-join the group. I decided that since I was solo and still wanted to work for Michael later in the race that I shouldn't put too much effort into the break. I sat up and waited for the group.

Once back in the group I didn't do much till the call for 5 laps to go. Michael was near the front so I went up to join him and get ready to launch his attack. Kyle with TriSports went out solo and had a little gap so as I was heading by Michael I yelled for him to jump on my wheel and we would try to break away with Kyle. Things didn't quite work out as I had hoped and after pulling at max effort for two laps I was hurting pretty bad and had to peel off. Michael still had 2 laps to go and with the group on him had no chance of getting free. I should have let Kyle stay solo and had Michael get behind me for a leadout attack as we had originally planned. Next time.

Buzz leading out Michael with 3 laps to go

​My good friend Evan threw down a fantastic sprint at the finish, grabbing a podium spot. Congrats Evan!

The plan for the 3/4's was to not get dropped. I'm very happy to report that I was able to hang on all the way to the finish, with just enough left in the legs to get 5th. A great day of racing for IC3! A guy went down during the last lap of the race and it sounded pretty gnarly. I hope to see him back racing very soon.