Bethel Wednesday Night Summer Criterium Series

Last night was my 7^th Crit race at Bethel and my 1^st top ten finish.  The Bethel races are held on a roughly .8 mile loop in the Francis Clarke industrial complex off Route 53.  The road is closed to traffic so it’s a great way for a triathlete to get in a good interval workout. The loop is mainly flat with a short hill at the end of each lap.

Last night was extra special because my son Jake was planning to do the kids race.  There are 2 adult races (A race for USAC Cat 1-4 riders and B race for USAC Cat 4-5 riders – so if you are Cat 4 you can do both races for double the pain!).  There are 2 kids races sandwiched between the adult races.  Nine and under do 2 laps and 9 and over do 4 laps.  Jake was anxiously awaiting the race all day and finally got a number pinned on his shirt.

After a small equipment snafu I finally jumped into the 5:45 B race with no warm up. Thankfully the group took it easy in the first couple of laps and I was able to get into a nice rhythm.  Since Timberman is Sunday my plan was to simply ride in the bunch and finish the race – this would be my 10^th road race and now I’m eligible to upgrade to Cat 4.  Feeling good from solid training I stayed close to the front for most of the race.  With 2 laps to go the speed picked up a notch and with one lap to go I moved up some more to see if I could finish strong in the final sprint.

A few of the stronger riders who always challenge for the finish picked it up in the middle of the last lap and I managed to jump on the wheel of the 5^th guy in the train.  I held on for dear life at 35mph and much to my surprise made it to the finish in 6^th place! 

Jake was next up in the kids race and I tagged along to watch him and give him some motivation to make it up the finishing hill.  It’s not easy riding that hill especially when you are on a kid’s mountain bike with only one gear!  Jake climbed hard and made it up the hill and through the first lap.  He cruised back around and the dreaded hill was back.  He jammed hard on the pedal but halfway up slipped off. Dad was there, dropped his bike and gave Jake push back in the middle of the hill and he plugged has way over the finish line.   He wisely decided to skip the second kids’ race!

Burgers and ice cream capped off the post race celebration for the Panzers.