I went to the Sonny Hutchins crit in Richmond, VA with a few teammates: Cole, Matt Cage and Matt Lester on Sunday, March 2nd. We enjoyed nice weather and fast racing.

The first race I participated in was the 3/4 race. The race was full with 50 riders that were ready to go. A number of small attacks went early one but none stuck. My legs were feeling good so when I saw a break that looked promising I went. Matt Lester went with me, but given that our break was about 10 people large the field was anxious to pull us back and they did in a hurry. I then saw a break of two riders go, they looked strong and I was feeling antsy so I bridged. We were making time on the field, but one rider blew. He wasn’t pulling through and since we still had half the race left, I wasn’t about to pull through for him. We gave up and got sucked back by the field. At that point I realized that I should conserve for the bunch sprint finish. When the laps started getting into the single digits I kept myself in fifthish wheel. On the last lap to go I was in third position when the two riders in front of me pulled off. We had about 300 or so meters to the finish line and I was in a tricky position. I knew I didn’t want to maintain position and lead some joker out for the sprint, but I also knew that if I slowed up I would get swarmed, so I jumped as hard as I could and luckily no one got on my wheel. I crossed the line with my arms in the air. Number of crits entered at that point in the season: two, number of wins: two.

I also entered the Pro/1/2/3 field and despite trying to make the break, I was pack filler. Those boys have some power.

Thanks to demoncats.com for the excellent photos.