The Snake Alley Crit is the shortest crit our team will race this year but arguably the hardest.  Only 20 miles but 20 times up the brick paved 5 switchback Snake Alley for a total of 2,460 vertical feet of climbing in 90 degree heat.  Because the race is short and the Snake is super narrow, start position is critical.  I was lucky to get a call up to the front row and several of my teammates had start spots in the 2nd and 3rd rows.  Vince got a great start and attacked early to stretch out the field.  A few laps in, Volodmyr Starchuk, the Ukraine National Champion and 2nd in the road race the day before attacked and I bridged up.  The two of us established a good gap on the field as I gritted my teeth to hang on over the Snake each lap and pull through on the descent.  It was looking promising until I dropped my chain with five laps to go on the climb.  Getting started after a dropped chain on a 12% brick climb is about impossible, so I did the best cyclocross bike run I could muster for the rest of the hill, remounted at the top and chased.  I was caught by 2 chasers and finished 4th, disappointed at missing the podium.  Ryan and Chris both put in strong rides finishing in the top 20.

Muscatine is the stop in between the Burlington races and the Quad Cities Crit.   The race is held in a park on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, with enough of a hill to make it hard and a speed bump at the bottom of the hill where you can catch some major air at 35 to 40 mph.  It was even hotter today, 92 and humid, enough that feeding was allowed for a 40 mile race.   Chris Uberti made his way into a promising break of 8 riders in the first third of the race that built a 45 second gap.  Having our faster finisher in the break we were content to let it ride until we saw Chris on the side of the road, having been crashed out of the break.  With a no free lap rule on the 1 mile course, Chris was out of luck and we were left to chase.  Greg and Ryan both put in huge efforts and brought the gap back to 25 seconds and I attacked to bridge up.  I got within five seconds but ran out of gas.  I rode in the last four laps with a Jamis/Sutter Home rider for 8th place.  Ryan was second in the field sprint for 10th place.

-Paul Martin