After a couple of frustrating races today I think Heather and I are glad the season is finally over. Heather didn’t have such a great criterium today, despite riding aggressively. She missed two big-money primes by only half a wheel and then didn’t have the finishing speed for the finish so it moved her overall omnium placing down to around 10th.

Racing with the masters today was a smart move for me seeing that I was at my limit quite a bit, even with a smallish field. I was active at the front and made a few breaks but none of them stuck — it looked like it was going to come down to a field sprint. Since I knew I’d have a better chance going early, I attacked with three and a half laps to go and gave it all I had. Problem was, at this altitude, “all I had” was not enough. I wish the other riders knew I wasn’t in the omnium competition and maybe they would have let me go, but after going solo for 2 1/2 laps, they came barrelling down on me and caught me right at the line with one lap to go. At that point, I was toast and just managed to hold on to the back of the pack for the finish.

On the bright side, neither of us crashed today and there were plenty of crashes. Personally, I think it was due to the sweeping turns on the backside of the course. I think sweeping turns are more dangerous than sharp turns. Intuitively you’d think a tight, 90° turn would be more dangerous, but they’re not. That’s because there’s really only one good line to take through a tight turn, whereas sweeping turns, allow riders to meander all over the place through the turn, usually causing other riders to over-react..and then the havoc ensues.

Anyway, Heather and I are calling the season officially over. At one point Heather had the desire to go to Track Nationals in October, but after today’s performance, she came to the realization that it would be a waste. She doesn’t have the top-end VO2 type power she would need to ride well in the pursuit which would be the only event she would enter. So tomorrow we return to Boise looking forward to some mountain biking and cross-training.