Capitol Crit: Proof of the Consistency of The Universe.

By Ian Mensher,


There aren't many things that remain constant as the years go by. This is especially true of bodies, fitness, weather, hairlines. Cycling seems to have its share of anomalous paradigms, usually with regard to pavement. Sure, some courses have potholes that get huge, swallow riders, and then get filled the next year. But the Capital Crit, which I've done about 7 years defies entropy. The course is a hillier crit than most, but it features and great little chicane and some fun, fast turns. Those, obviously, stay the same. But the cracks, potholes and raised lights have been and continue to be the same. At first, I was surprised to see that our state capital building's streets are in sad disrepair. But I've become more fascinated by my belief that the holes haven't really even changed. The lines down the descent are all the same--the same crack that grabs your wheel, the same pothole in turn one that throws you off your line or tests your wheels' durability, and the same craters up on the top straight away.

The capital crit is always spottily attended, even when it was the state champs. But it usually just makes it harder. This was the case today. It was essentially a face off between Gin O and Herriot's team, as other big guns were out of town. We had a small crew: Colin, Galen and me. Beardsley from the Lovers was also in attendance. We set about to make the race hard, try to get someone in the break and avoid Richter taking top 6, so as to preserve Jamie's Washington Cup lead. This was a long shot, as it would have taken a big break to make it happen. Nonetheless, we attacked and attacked.

Galen got up there in some great moves, but the chemistry never quite worked out. Instead, he took a couple of primes, cash and some video production services (uhhhhh). Colin launched himself into a nice move with two other guys and they stayed away for a few laps. I took one prime in a solo effort that lasted a few laps with about 20 minutes to go. G bridged up with Herriot and we got chased down. Herriot punched it with Galen flagging and that was the end of the race. He rode the last 8 laps by himself, despite our efforts to reign him in. When the money prime got announced, G throttled himself to make it up there, but the gap and the hill were too much. With 1 to go G had gotten me at the front for a lap and it looked good until Herriot's team surged up the left on the hill and caught us out. I had to jump to get back in the top 10 and failed to execute a few dicey maneuvers to get up to top spots. 7th in the sprint was a bit of a disappointment, but a good race to learn from. G and Colin cruised in close behind and we were primed for some Sunday Fury.