Martinez Criterium April 5, 2008 Masters 45's
Peter Allen
Gregg Betonte
Martinez Criterium is a classic downtown crit with six turns, rough road surface and some pretty good money for a Nor Cal race. I had donet his race before as some others have also, and we all know, that ifyou attack this course early, things can break up. As Greg and I were commuting down to the race, we had discussed our strategy and had a plan in mind. That was to be aggressive, challenge every move off the front, but not be overly aggressive and not be able to cover attacks.First lap of the race a VOS rider, Rich V., goes on the gun, and opens up a 15 second lead. Not to worried both Greg and I just stayed close to the front wasprepared to jump when the first move goes down. On lap 4 or 5, Dan Smith of Morgan attacks hard and I just followed his wheel to cover this move. We both jumped across to the "Rich the VOS Rider" and Bob Parker of Webcor was also in tow. We went around for 1 lap pretty hard, and I looked back and saw Gregg smiling as he was sitting right on Kevin Metcalf's "Team Specialized" wheel. At that point I know this was our chance to I put the foot to the pedal, applied that"Diesel" and off we went. The nice thing about this course and most tight cornered crits, as soon as you get clear and out of site, youcan put on a lot of time real quickly. We went up 25 seconds very fast, and a one point some one had yelled that we could lap the field. I was not so anxious to lap the field, that would have made things more confusing and put the advantage on Morgan had we done that. Mean time, Gregg was in the field, playing the "Soldier", as he called it and carried out the plan for the day. According to Gregg, Metcalf, gave him a great work out, but couldn't get clear and some frustration began to show.As for the finish, it really was not a classic dog fight at the end,my breakaway group attempted to attack on the last lap, with Rich going on the bell and then Dan Smith attacking the back side, and BobParker not doing any thing, and, me getting the lead and holding it onthe last stretch for the win! As for Gregg, he put down a, "in your face", double dare ya, good ole'd fashioned ass whoopin sprint on two of the areas 45's masters sprinters, Steve Gregarious and "Former National Champion", Don "The Langster" Langley. For what I heard, Gregg accelerated once, and then twice to really show his quickness, and let the others know that Old Guys can be fast!Great race teammate! As for the Masters 35's, I'll let others contribute there witnessing of a "Crash Fest", or as Gregg and I described, a mine field explosion!
Peter
Peter Allen
Gregg Betonte
Martinez Criterium is a classic downtown crit with six turns, rough road surface and some pretty good money for a Nor Cal race. I had donet his race before as some others have also, and we all know, that ifyou attack this course early, things can break up. As Greg and I were commuting down to the race, we had discussed our strategy and had a plan in mind. That was to be aggressive, challenge every move off the front, but not be overly aggressive and not be able to cover attacks.First lap of the race a VOS rider, Rich V., goes on the gun, and opens up a 15 second lead. Not to worried both Greg and I just stayed close to the front wasprepared to jump when the first move goes down. On lap 4 or 5, Dan Smith of Morgan attacks hard and I just followed his wheel to cover this move. We both jumped across to the "Rich the VOS Rider" and Bob Parker of Webcor was also in tow. We went around for 1 lap pretty hard, and I looked back and saw Gregg smiling as he was sitting right on Kevin Metcalf's "Team Specialized" wheel. At that point I know this was our chance to I put the foot to the pedal, applied that"Diesel" and off we went. The nice thing about this course and most tight cornered crits, as soon as you get clear and out of site, youcan put on a lot of time real quickly. We went up 25 seconds very fast, and a one point some one had yelled that we could lap the field. I was not so anxious to lap the field, that would have made things more confusing and put the advantage on Morgan had we done that. Mean time, Gregg was in the field, playing the "Soldier", as he called it and carried out the plan for the day. According to Gregg, Metcalf, gave him a great work out, but couldn't get clear and some frustration began to show.As for the finish, it really was not a classic dog fight at the end,my breakaway group attempted to attack on the last lap, with Rich going on the bell and then Dan Smith attacking the back side, and BobParker not doing any thing, and, me getting the lead and holding it onthe last stretch for the win! As for Gregg, he put down a, "in your face", double dare ya, good ole'd fashioned ass whoopin sprint on two of the areas 45's masters sprinters, Steve Gregarious and "Former National Champion", Don "The Langster" Langley. For what I heard, Gregg accelerated once, and then twice to really show his quickness, and let the others know that Old Guys can be fast!Great race teammate! As for the Masters 35's, I'll let others contribute there witnessing of a "Crash Fest", or as Gregg and I described, a mine field explosion!
Peter
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