Alan Butler Crit & The Freak

Drove up to lovely downtown Idaho Falls last Saturday solo. It seemed crazy but it was worth it in the end. It was a great course, great crowd, and fun crit. Thanks to Rob Van Kirk for putting this on. Six corner course over about a 1k but it was smooth on the turns. Few bumps in the straights but a fun course. My first Pro/1/2/3 race as a Category 2. I feel like I belong since I was able to nab a podium finish.

I knew on the drive up that the Park City Jeep-Global Knee Clinic Team would be there in force and laying it down hard for their teammate. I figured a podium was the best I could do and that was the goal.

I looked at the start line and saw about 20 riders with 8 from one team. The attacks started early as Turbo and Sam Krieg took off from the gun. Needless to say 10 seconds into the race I'm at 29 and 15 seconds in i'm at 32mph. There were only two other small teams to chase and me it seemed like. We caught them after a few laps then of course Global Knee sent two more guys up the road. In the 1/2s guys are smart. Their teammates didn't chase and waited for someone else to. It was like a poker game as we are riding at 20mph and the break is going up the road. Finally I rode tempo for a few laps to keep things going. Then more attack of course. I felt like I was doing the DMV course and there was no hill. It was hard.

Kris Lunning from Fitzgerald's was super strong. I heard that he pulled the break back then when they caught two more Global guys took off. That was to be expected. Sam Krieg and Ryan Barrett were off after the 2nd break was caught and they were at 35 seconds for a while eventually they lapped the field at about 40-45 minutes. Global kept sending guys up the road in 2s trying to get 3rd and 4th.

I remember seeing 13 to go. At that point I was hanging on by a thread. One turn Kris Lunning had a problem with his tire i heard and stopped in the turn. Sam, me and David Bergart were gapped. Sam "The Freak" Krieg immediately bridged up. I struggled as I lost his wheel. I pulled for two laps not knowing Dave was behind me. I caught Sandy Perrins coming up to 2 to go. He heard me breathing like a blowfish. I was crosseyed.

There were 2 or 3 up the road when i got dropped and i couldn't tell what was going on. It slowed a bit for a lap. I caught my breath. Coming to the bell lap I was thinking I need to move up then a crash happened to my left or an issue not sure but they slowed. I picked it up to 32 and moved to about 5th on Turbo's wheel. Sandy was riding tempo at the front keeping it fast. We came to the 2nd to last turn. I was right on Turbo's wheel when he jumped. He led me thru the last two turns and I finish behind him as he celebrated. I knew I was lapped so I didn't want to get in the way. I looked back to make sure I got the field sprint for what I thought was 5th. I felt like an uninvited guest to the team's celebration as last year I think they got places 1-6. I figured i got 5th or 6th. After slowing down Bob Walker excitedly said to me that I got 3rd. I was pumped. Wow.

The story of the day though was Sam. I told my skating coach Mike Kooreman what Sam did and he said "that's Freakish". Sam "The Freak" Krieg raced Chalk Creek in the morning. Not sure if he drove up in the morning but bet he did. I remember rolling out of bed at 10:30 thinking they are 30 minutes into the RR at Chalk Creek. He placed fifth in a strong field. He drove back to Pocatello maybe rested for an hour then drove to the crit in Idaho Falls. Took off from the gun and lapped the field. Wow he should be racing the Tour of Utah he is killing it right now. He rides a bike with which I'm unfamiliar with.

I talked to him after the race and he said he was going to either lap the field or blow up. I love his attitude. He said he couldn't do accelerations which we did in the pack. Makes sense but he could ride hard tempo. We avg'd 26.9 so he had to TT with Turbo at 27+ for a bit. They did get 20 or 30 seconds easy as everyone looked at everyone else to chase. We didn't really work together. It was a 11 or 12 man non cooperative Team Time Trial with 6 Global guys either sitting on or attacking. I expected that and that's the way to race as a team. That is how I spend my Saturday nights and that's what I call a stress relieving night???? It was fun and I got to see Idaho Falls. Missed seeing the new Mormon temple though.

Overall this was one of the most friendly crits I have done. There wasn't the usual bitching a moaning although there was some grumbling about the Global team. What did you expect a team with 30% of the field. Sandy was cool as he told me I was riding strong. I remember seeing him in 2004 just killing it when i couldn't even pull thru in the B group. The cool thing is that I probably lapped myself from 2 or 3 years ago. In the end is the race with yourself.