Treasure Valley Cycling Club

After finishing the Twilight Criterium for the first time as part of the field sprint (I crashed out last year), I expected to be hit with lots of questions. “How did it feel to finish 13th?", “How were you able to survive the heat?”, or even “ How were you able to cover those attacks?” would have been welcome. But, the question most asked was…

“Did you catch Rob's crash on camera?”

I guess that's what you get when you wear a camera on your helmet :-) And, yes, I did! As sad as it was to see him go down, at least we can preserve it in the annals of Team Reel lore. As you'll see in the video, with four laps to go Rob got trimmed in corner #1 by Frank Benzing's wheel and went down taking Charles Stearns, Eric Kafka, and a couple of others with them. Truly sad as Rob was feeling pretty good at that point and would have likely made the podium. In fact, as the last two Team Reel riders left in the field I was preparing to move up to push the pace on the front and try and get some separation for Rob so that he could get away clean in the final sprint. After the crash with four laps to go, the subsequent chase to get back on (because I was behind the crash), a counterattack one lap later that caused a small group of us to get gapped, and the heat of the day I was happy just to finish in the field sprint at all.

While the video is not perfect, I think it paints a good picture of what these types of races can be like. For those who haven't done it before, keep in mind that this is my second Twilight in my second year of racing. If you like it, you should come do it. :-) if I can do it, anyone can do it.

I hope you enjoy it!