Team MotionBased

The Steinbeck Crit course is D-shaped with two long straight-aways, and a tough cross wind on the back straight. The race was rather short at only 60 minutes, and the attacks started on the first lap. Local professional Eric Wohlberg must have attacked half a dozen times before finally getting away with one other rider. Normally, a breakaway with two riders in windy conditions would eventually be brought back to the main group. However, with Wohlberg present in the break the time gap kept growing. When the time gap got to 20 seconds, I knew it was now or never, so I attacked and brought one other with me. We chased for a lap or so before being joined by two other riders, and the four of us were able to bridge up to the original break of two containing Wohlberg. The six of us stayed away for the rest of the race. The cat and mouse games began with about 4 laps to go, but every move was quick to be chased down. One of the best local sprinters was in the break with us, so we knew that if we towed him to the line we would pretty much be giving him the win. With just under 2 laps to go, I attacked and was able to get a small gap. Half a lap later I looked back to see the yellow jersey of Wohlberg gaining on us, but I did not see the other rider Wohlberg had in tow. I still had a good sized gap, so I just put my head down and kept stomping on the pedals as hard as I could. I stayed away until I was caught at about 50 meters from the finish line, and ended up 3rd. This was one of my more memorable races, because I definitely left everything I had out there on the road.