Carcassonne Crit.

As most of you know crits are NOT my strong point, and they are about as far from my favorite type of event as you can get. But never the less there I was on the start line of the Carcassonne crit. 70km was the distance, and that should have spoken volumes to me about the event. Crits here are usually 80km minimum, so for an Elite crit, 70k was short. And here's why... it's hard!

2.2km loops, through this tiny town built on a hill side just outside the main town of Carcassonne. 12 corners per lap, tiny little streets with big walls and buildings on either side, a steep climb up to and past the finish line, and some of the worst roads I have ever seen.

80 riders stood at the start line, including the AG2R development team, 2 guys from the Asian Bridgestone Anchor Pro team, and a field of mainly french riders from all over France. Now although we have had a bad summer and a week of rain, the weather for this crit was a blisteringly hot 35 degrees, which after the past couple weeks was quite a shock to the system.

But the weather wasn't the only thing that was blisteringly hot. From the gun the pace was hideously high. I was a late registration for the event, and so I started right at the end of the pack. Starting positions aren't something you normally care about on the road, but with such a narrow course, it made a big big difference. The first 5-8 laps were SO fast and painful I thought I was going to drop out after only a few laps. Riders started dropping out from lap 1, and at least 2 or 3 dropped out every lap.

After a while things settled in a little bit as a group of 4 or 5 got off the front, including 1 or maybe 2 AG2R development guys, and 1 Bridgestone Anchor guy. I was sitting in the second group on the road. Already by this stage there were riders absolutely everywhere on the course. At about the half-way point I attacked off the 2nd group on the road and 3 of us went away, but only for 2 or 3 laps, then we were caught again. Even though we were caught there were still gaps in the group that consisted of about 20 riders... so I kept the pace high on the front and attacked round a couple corners, hoping to take a couple riders with me. I was alone. I quickly opened a considerable gap and was off towards the leaders. At first the crowds was cheering me on, but with the race in pieces all over the course, and with me frequently passing dropped riders, it wasn't long before the crowd obviously started to think I was just another dropped rider.

Sim went it alone... While Bridgestone Anchor had one guy off the front.

(click on pic for larger image)

After 12 or 15k off the front alone, and thankfully more recognition from the commentator than the crowd, I was suddenly caught again. I was caught by about 6 or 7 guys from the group I had attacked, everyone else was dropped in ones and twos all over the road. It was absolute carnage. My 15k off the front had been a little easier than in the group, because I was able to keep a steady pace and not deal with the stop start accelerations of a group, but that said I was maxed the whole time, way above my threshold. As the group caught me on the steep climb they attacked me directly. I held onto them for a few laps but was soon gapped. My efforts from earlier were taking their toll. So after a few more laps and a couple quick calculations which told me I was no longer going to be able to score any national ranking points, and that I was out of the money, it was time to pull over and get off the bike. By the time I stopped I think there were as many riders along the side of the road as there were crowds. I don't know how many people finished but it wasn't many. The winner lapped everyone at least once, except for 3 guys, and he lapped all but the top 10 riders twice. The guy was unbelievable. Bridgestone Anchor only had 1 guy left in the race, AG2R had maybe 3 out of 6 or 7 starters...

Well there, you go. Crits are crits. I actually enjoyed this one a little more, and thought the high HR workout was probably good training for the upcoming TTs.

Monday is an early start as I need to get in some intervals and pack my bags. We are headed up to northern France to find an apartment for my girlfriend. We only have 2 days to find it before she has to start work. It's going to be a crazy week. Sadly not the best preparation for the TT on Saturday. I'm not even sure I'll have time to ride this week (hence the intervals Monday morning).

Next week is TT and a northern road race on sunday, followed by the Pic de Nore hill climb the next weekend with a 1 day, 2 stage stage race on the sunday.