Summary
This was a new course using some of the same roads that were part of the circuit race last year. The course was fast with plenty of opportunities for attack. I thought I was racing well, but ended up missing a split with 18 riders up the road. In the last few laps, 3 riders escaped from the field in pursuit. I ended up 2nd in the field sprint for 23rd in the race. One good thing to take away from the race was that I was happy about the field sprint – hopefully next time it will be for something in the top 20. Here is my lap data:
Labor Day Omnium Criterium Pro/1/2 - 23rd Lap Time Mi. AvgPow MaxPow HR MPH 1 1:45 0.7 263 743 149 22.9 2 1:34 0.7 290 775 160 25.6 3 1:31 0.7 316 873 163 26.3 4 1:29 0.7 297 887 175 26.6 5 1:29 0.7 264 734 172 27.3 6 1:31 0.7 268 949 172 26.4 7 2:55 1.4 301 925 179 28.2 8 1:26 0.7 287 805 176 28.9 9 1:26 0.7 293 752 173 28.8 10 1:27 0.7 312 997 176 28.4 11 1:29 0.7 274 906 185 27.4 12 1:25 0.7 276 788 180 28.4 13 1:33 0.7 258 862 171 25.9 14 1:38 0.7 224 785 173 23.9 15 1:36 0.7 263 780 169 24.9 16 1:27 0.7 237 698 179 27.8 17 1:34 0.7 209 703 170 25.5 18 1:35 0.7 242 785 171 25.4 19 1:31 0.7 268 780 174 26.6 20 1:29 0.7 277 799 179 27.2 21 1:27 0.7 304 975 178 27.6 22 1:26 0.7 277 812 185 27.8 23 1:28 0.7 320 1026 181 27.2 24 1:29 0.7 246 577 183 27.1 25 1:33 0.7 242 817 177 25.5 26 1:39 0.7 256 1062 172 23.9 27 1:33 0.7 305 920 183 25.6 28 1:29 0.7 236 1079 182 26.8 29 1:38 0.7 247 954 180 24.2 30 1:23 0.7 359 957 185 28.5 31 1:30 0.7 281 656 188 26.3 32 1:40 0.7 177 564 175 23.8 33 1:43 0.7 192 547 163 23 34 1:36 0.7 196 651 170 24.9 35 1:32 0.7 268 804 174 26.3 36 1:38 0.7 276 990 176 24.5 37 1:38 0.7 214 838 181 24.7 38 1:33 0.7 243 766 175 25.9 39 1:42 0.7 226 740 171 23.6 40 1:30 0.7 212 635 174 26.8 41 1:36 0.7 231 868 169 25.3 42 1:40 0.7 302 739 176 23.7 43 1:29 0.7 343 843 185 26.7 44 1:35 0.7 240 950 185 25.5 45 1:33 0.7 224 569 173 25.7 46 1:33 0.7 269 694 174 25.9 47 1:30 0.7 247 933 178 26.4 48 1:35 0.7 231 854 178 25.5 49 1:38 0.7 267 690 177 24.3 50 1:21 0.7 447 899 187 29.1
I decided to head out 3 hours before the start of the race to ride some of the roads between Clemson and Anderson that I used to train on. I ended up on part of what we called the “sprint loop” because there were so many sprint signs on it (stop ahead, county line, city limits, etc…). I snapped a few pics along the way, and it was one of the best “warm-up” rides of the year, a stroll down memory lane. I went on a couple new roads as well, and there was some sort of hunting going on in the fields on either side of Fants Grove Rd – it was kinda disconcerting to be riding through all the shotgun blasts.
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- Complete ride stats, part 1
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- Complete ride stats, part 2
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- The awkward spot in the Denver Loop where you have to ride on US76
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- Roads from the Denver Loop
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- Fants Grove!
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- The four-way intersection … I would always approach this intersection from the right.
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- This weekend is named after the small town of La France outside of Anderson … Tour de La France!
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- Chad Andrews calling the last few laps of the Cat 3 race
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- Tour de La France
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- The backside of the Michellin plant that you can see the entrance to off of US 76
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- Looking backwards from a four-way intersection on the sprint loop. I had never approached this intersection from the road I took today – but I can recognize the back of the sprint signs (stop ahead) just down the road in this picture
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- Another sprint sign on the sprint loop
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- Crossing the creek on Fants Grove Rd – the vegetation here has grown quite a bit in the last 15 years.
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- Approaching the hunters on Fants Grove
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- The sprint sign at the end of Fants Grove
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- View looking towards the mountains near the tri-county spot
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- The Pickens County sprint sign
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- View looking towards the mountains
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- A blue heron flew away from the pine tree and swooped in front of me. I already had the phone out to take a picture so I got a picture of him flying in front of me. I never knew that these birds like to roost in pine trees!
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- This is where I proposed to Kristine 11 years ago. My number this weekend is 11. Awesome.
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- Looking south from where I proposed to Kristine – you can see a guy standing on a stand up surfboard – never saw that while I was a student at Clemson, but the crew team would row through here.
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- Two-up 53×11 standing start sprints on this road across the levee
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- Looking north along Lake Hartwell towards Clemson and the mountains.
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- Hunters in the field next to Fants Grove
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- Hunters in the field next to Fants Grove
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- Beautiful sunset sky looking out the IHOP window
Cycling Adventures with Brian Toone 
It’s interesting to look at the lap data from riders in the break versus not in the break. The split was caused by good team tactics being played on a decently slow lap to create that split which seemed to never fully get away very far even though the field wasn’t chasing hard. By the time I saw them blocking and slowing the pace, it was too late as they did it on that slow chicane where it was harder to pass. I didn’t see which team slowed up to create the split. Was it 786, TT1, or a combo?
I think it was a combination of teams since all the teams were represented in the split. At that point everybody was looking to Frank and Bobby to bridge. Given just a few more laps in the race it would have all come back together.