Avondale Criterium #2 Race Report (Michael)

by Michael Hast

When we arrived at 8 am in Avondale it was cold and I was shivering. But while getting ready the sun came out and it warmed up nicely. The first race was the Cat 4/5 40+. I was a marked man because I won the last Cat 4/5 40+ race in the first Avondale Crit. Any of my moves where carefully observed and any breakaways right away caught. I even won 2 primes without contention, because nobody wanted to expend extra energy, but they saved it all for the finish. So my strategy was easy, let me do a lot of work and try to protect my teammates Gary and Jimmy. Keep the pace high and the group stretched out. I won my last prime with 2 laps to go, but was passed shortly after that and let Gary and Jimmy go at it in the sprint.

The Cat 4 race had again a very strong field. Breakaways were right away caught. There were 2 primes and I made it my mission to fight for both of them. But my legs did not provide the needed sprinting power.