Race Report by Colin Gibson
It’s the second weekend of June, which means it’s crit season. The Real Critters head to Tulsa Tough. The second-tier critters go to Ballard Crit. And River City Bikes? We just went 1-2 at the Hammer Velo Crit in Portland, Oregon.
It’s a flat course on wide open roads with a sweeping right-hander leading to the finishing straight. In attendance for River City were Cliff, Harrison, Jeremy, Pat, Timmy and me. The plan was to be aggressive from the gun to try and get a favorable move up the road, and to keep Jeremy and Harrison fresh for the final.
Everyone on the team was initiating and flowing into moves, but nothing ever got more than a handful of seconds, and with five laps to go it was looking like a group finish. Harrison did a good job rounding me and Jeremy up, and we went into the last two laps riding together. With one to go, Kelsey Ramsey from Team Oregon hit the front for his teammate Marek Litinsky. Zak Kovalcik was on Marek’s wheel, I was on Zak’s, and Jeremy was on mine. Kelsey had it strung out on the back stretch. He started to fade just before the start of the sweeper, so I jumped on the inside with Jeremy on my wheel. We came onto the finishing straight in first and second position with momentum, and we were able to hold the field off for first and second.
Colin Gibson (1st), Jeremy Russel (2nd).