Tour of St. Louis

The Tour of St. Louis is a bit of a misnomer. In reality, it is two criteriums and a short time trial with an overall classification. Not really an epic stage race, but it's hard to accomplish such things in the States, much less St. Louis

The spring has not been kind to mountain bikers in our city and about the only real off road riding aside from racing can be counted on one hand. That's all year. It's nearly May and the constant rain is growing old for me. Additionally, the newly epic fuel prices make justification for driving ten hours round trip to the only MTB race in the region harder and harder to find. These factors have led me to revisit criterium racing, which is very popular around here and readily accessible. I dipped my toes back in at the local Tuesday night worlds a few weeks ago. Round one had me red lined and somewhat terrified. I pulled out with two laps to go. The following week, my comfort level skyrocketed and I cornered confidently and followed through with my resolution to finish the race in the group. Subsequent weeks saw me attempt bridging, attacking for primes and pulling at the front. These events gave me some confidence in both my ability and fitness level and I decided to sign up for the Tour of St. Louis and give it a proper shot.


There's really very little to tell about the races. Mountain bike races are epic events littered with personal battles and stories aplenty, but crits tend to be a lot of riding around in circles trying to stay safe. I decided to ride conservatively and stay toward the front and work on my positioning. I was successful in staying in the top fifteen for the whole race and managed to move up to the top five for the lap countdown. On day one at Carondelet, I avoided the two massive wrecks and kept myself where I needed to be. That race was simultaneously the easiest and scariest crit I have done. People were squirreling all over the place and multiple attempts at squeezing through gaps led many rider to hit the ground. Going into the last lap, I was sitting fifth wheel, seemingly in perfect positioning. With less than half a lap to go, the surge shot by on either side and I hesitated for a moment and lost about twenty spots. I managed to make it back to 18th, but the race was over. Day two at Forest Park was much the same but without all the crashing. The race played out the same and my result was largely the same. I didn't hesitate this time, but I didn;t have anywhere to go to respond to the surge. I am pleased with how I raced on both days, but I need to work on my finish and the anticipation necessary to go with the surge. Thankfully, there's always the Tuesday night worlds to help me practice and hopefully continue to progress...