Savitt Crashes Out at Nationals
Saturday, July 4th was the US Masters National Criterium Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. I was competing in the 35-39 age group and decided to just focus on the Criterium Championships (the TT and Road Race were earlier in the week).
For the last month, my former teammate and friend, Robbie Ventura (Vision Quest Coaching) has been coaching me. After having a successful Tour of America’s Dairyland and following my coaches training regimen implicitly, I knew I was ready for the showdown in L’ville. The course was actually in the infield of Churchill Downs on some service roads. It was roughly 1K, flat with four corners and a slight bend on the back-stretch.
I rode from the hotel down to the course for my warm-up. As I neared Churchill Downs, I felt a few rain drops coming down but remained optimistic that it would hold off. I was hoping to use the set of Zipp deep-dish carbon wheels for the criterium and since they were loaned to me, wouldn’t want to risk using them in the rain. Things looked good until they called us to the line for staging and the sky pretty much, opened up. No thunder or lightening but a heavy, steady rain and I had already committed to the Zipps. No turn back now!
Amgen Masters, Texas Roadhouse and Panther Cycling were three of the top squads there; each having at least 2 riders in the field. In typical National Championship fashion, we started out fast and furious. Too fast for many riders, either from a pure speed perspective and/or bike handling perspective. There were crashes on the first lap and guys were getting spit out the back almost immediately. A couple of moves went and then came back to the field. John Puffer (Texas Roadhouse), Chris DeMarchi (Amgen/GIANT Masters) and Andrew Clarke (Panther/RGF p/b FELT) rolled off early and never looked back. Their teammates shut down the field and the rain prevented anyone from making serious efforts to join them. I decided to key off of Mike Heagney (Vision Quest) and hopefully have a run at 4th or 5th which would put Hollander on the podium. Aside from not being able to see (we definitely need a glasses sponsor next year), I felt great. I made a choice to jump the field with few to go since I knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty field sprint. I attacked on the back stretch and came through the S/F area at 2 to go with a small gap. The course was so wet and slick that I slid out a bit in turn one and it was hard to hold my normal attacking speed and power (very frustrating).
I was caught by the field with 1 to go which was lead by the chasing Texas Roadhouse and Amgen posse. I quickly positioned myself near the front for the field sprint and right past the S/F, a rider lost control and took a bunch of us out. I hit the ground hard enough to think I definitely broke something. Had it been dry, I would probably be in pretty bad shape right now. Our former teammate, Hans Higdon (Rainbow Jersey) was right there getting ready for the 30-34 race. He scooped up my bike and the rest of the carnage of riders made if off of the course just in time for the breakaway to finish. Puffer nipped DeMarchi for the Stars & Stripes.
I’ve got some minor road rash but a fair amount of deep bruises. One of the wheels is slightly out of wack but won’t be an issue to true up. I guess I’m most disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to have a run at the title under perfect conditions; but, I guess that’s bike racing! Time to regain my composure and get ready for the next races. Hopefully I can hold my form and deliver some big results in the upcoming 2 months.
Kent