Quite of few of us lined up on Saturday for the main event at Monsters - the Pro-1-2-3 criterium. This year, the race organization made a nice change to the course, simply switching the start-finish from one side of the course to the other. The change had no impact on the race, but it made for a much more scenic view of the U of C campus from the start/finish. Nicely done.

Anyway, the people I recall lining up with us included Newt Cole, Chris Reichert, Mike Kirby, Matt Moran, Randy Warren, Ed Amstutz, and some kid named Tom Johnlinson, I think. Man, that kid's fast. I probably missed a few here, and my sincere apologies...I didn't pay as much attention to all the XXXers lining up as I should have. Suffice it to say, we had a strong presence.

The goal was simple: get a break established and make sure at least one of us is in it. We were definitely going for the win. For the first 30 minutes or so, we worked alongside a few other teams to soften the field with a lot of attacks. I don't think there was one member of the squad that was simply sitting in...everyone was attcking and bringing back moves that didn't include us.

I'd been watching Chris Reichert pull the majority of the last half of the 3s race...big big engine on Chris - so when he rolled off the front of the field in the main event with another rider, I was happy to slow the field to a grinding halt in turn three. Instantly there was a good 150 meter gap. Randy, Ed and JT had been spending the previous four laps attacking with fervor to soften things up, which opened the door for this move. From the front, I was easily able to grab the wheel of a rider who jumped to cross the gap.

After an astounding effort by Chris Mosora of Verizon Wireless to cross what had become a 200 meter gap within the first lap of the break being established, we had a solid group of eight with riders representing most of the major teams in the race. I liked our odds, as we were the only team with two riders in the break. With Chris R, Chris M, Andy Daley of Burnham and David Sachs of Vision Quest as members of the break, we had a ton of horsepower and we settled into a good paceline to increase the gap. Clearly that gap was also created by the hard work of our teammates in the field, who patrolled the front and made sure there wasn't any massive surges from the field.

With about four laps remaining I started playing the team card a little. It's something of a psychological game designed to disrupt rhythm, make people work a bit harder, and get their minds focused away from how they're going to in the race. When people are tired, they get frustrated easily and they can end up spending a bit of enregy expressing that frustration. I was simply trying to facilitate that expression. Keep in mind this kind of game can only be played if you are confident that your break is not going to be caught, as the disruption does tend to slow things down now and again.

I had Chris Reichert's wheel, and when he'd hit the front, I'd let him gap a bit. This really frustrated a few of our breakaway partners, which is exactly what I was trying to accomplish. It caused the detente amongst us to disappear, and triggered a flurry of attacks. All I had to do was follow wheels.

In the last lap, we were all together on the back stretch when a rider in the break attacked about 150 meters before the third turn. It was a hard jump and I decided to follow the wheel of the person I was most concerned about - Chris Mosora. We barrelled through the final turn about ten lengths off him and Chris and I sprinted like madmen with that tailwind, closing the gap rapidly. Alas, at the line Chris out-threw me and we missed the guy off the front by a couple bike lengths. So friggin close.

Nonetheless, another podium placing for me - two for two this year in crits! - thanks to outstanding work by Chris Reichert and the rest of the team. I'm pleased with the result, though I certainly would have preferred the win, and I'm looking forward to more of this kind of team racing this season!