Tolero Criterium Race Reports

Michael Hast

The Tolero crits were on a tough course for me. There were a lot of awkward corners and a little incline towards the finish. I loved the fact that the crit was in the Casa Adobes Church parking lot. Our team set up in the race course parking lot and it was great to see so many Cat 5 riders that are new to crit racing. My first race of the day was Cat 4/5 which was 30 minutes long. I had a very good start and was in the top 5. After a few laps Kyle made an attack, a prime was announced and I attempted to bridge to Kyle. I was not able to catch him to contend for the prime, but was in a great spot for the next couple of laps. Being up front meant for me to take the corners the way I wanted to take them, but tired me out immensely. For the last 5 minutes of the race I was in the back barely hanging on.

Michael working hard in the Cat 3/4 race

My goal for the next race, Cat 3/4, was to stay in the middle of the pack and get comfortable there. Between the Cat 4/5 and Cat 3/4 race was only 20 minutes of rest and the next race was 40 minutes. Those 40 minutes were a race of perseverance. Gary's Valley of the Sun road race came to mind which reminded me of Romans 5:4,5 "knowing that racing produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." I was in the back of the pack, catching up to the pack after most of the corners. Buzz attacked to bridge to Kyle which tore the pack to pieces. At that point I lost the connection to the pack and was riding for about 12 minutes solo, working hard to not get lapped and pulled from the race. I succeeded, and had a sprint finish with an ASU rider, praises be to our Heavenly Father!

Michael sprinting for the line

Buzz Wright

My legs weren't feeling great for these crits but I was excited to be racing with so many friends. It was awesome to see so many guys and gals showing up and a handful of them were from our Wednesday night Crit Training Series, which was fantastic. I stayed up near the front for most of the race and could feel residual fatigue in my legs on the slight climb every lap. A little over halfway through the race the group bunched up a bit before heading into the "dumpster corner" and I saw a guy two wheels in front of me looking pretty nervous. Just as I was thinking about it sure enough, there was a bit of contact and he ended up going down. Unfortunately I was not able to get away from him and ended up going down too. I hopped up, checked the bike (it was fine), and went back to the start/finish to get my free lap.

After re-joining the group I was able to stay near the front again. I marked Kyle and Erik and noticed that Ryan was working to get on Erik's wheel. I figured that Kyle would be leading Erik out and Ryan would probably release them on the final lap. Turned out to be a good guess and even though I knew what was happening I just didn't have the legs to get on Erik's wheel once they went for it. It was a great move but unfortunately they took the dumpster corner a little too fast and both ended up in the hay bails. I was so bummed for them I sat up a bit and finished somewhere in the top 10 I think.

The Robold brothers: Evan, Ryan, and Buzz (adopted)

My legs were pretty sore and the slight climb on every lap was definitely hurting me. With some 3's in the field I expected the race to be hard and it was. I again stayed near the front and did my best to hold wheels and conserve energy. Kyle went off the front and had a decent gap and I mentioned it to Evan saying, "Kyle's up the road a bit." A moment later I decided to try to bridge up to him so I jumped on the climb section and pushed hard to reach him. I was able to get on his wheel but was pretty gassed. A third rider also bridged up to us and he was super strong. He and Kyle continued but I looked back a the group and decided that I needed to recover and re-integrate. Just not enough strength to make that work yet. I think I stayed away for two laps.

Buzz bridging up to Kyle

Near the end of the race a couple guys went down on the dumpster corner. Luckily I was able to stay up but had to scrub so much speed to avoid the crash that I lost contact with the lead group. I didn't have the legs to work hard enough to get back up there but I had Evan with me so I was happy. We worked together along with two other guys but then Evan fell off after taking a big pull. When I saw him dropping off I let the other two riders go and waited for him. Once he was back on my wheel I put in a decent pull to get us back up to the other two riders. That worked but then on the next lap I cramped up really, really good -- both calves and both hamstrings just locked up. It was excrutiatingly fun! Evan looked back and saw that I was dropped back and so he sat up. I yelled at him to "get up there and sprint it out" but he wasn't listening. We sat up and rode the last lap together and the cramps faded. On the final climb there was one rider coming up on us so for funzies I did a half-hearted sprint to the line. Not sure what I placed but I didn't care -- it was a really fun day of racing!

Evan and Buzz chatting on the last lap