From the Archives: Red Cliffs Mall Criterium, 1997

There we were, all lined up with somewhere to go. I had a strong dislike for that cone-delineated parking lot criterium course, the third and final stage of that years' Tour of Hurricane, always had, and probably still would if the race were around today. Still, we had a job to do and, cones and all, it was one we enjoyed doing.

It was unlikely that I would be able to make up any significant amount of time, certainly not enough to make any difference in the standings, so all seemed aligned for another tenth place finish, maybe ninth. Teammate Andrzej, on the other hand was poised with one foot already on the podium. We just didn't know which step the other foot would ultimately be raised to. The plan we devised was one straight from the directeur sportif's playbook - we would mark his nearest competitors, and go where ever they went, soft-pedaling as necessary to slow things up, or spiking the h.r. to heat up the pace. 

Gabriel DeLeon was in first place, Michael Ernst was second, only four seconds behind, while Andrzej was in third, an additional forty-one second back. Andrzej would keep tabs of Ernst while looking for an opportunity to attack and make up his deficit time. Meanwhile, I would watch DeLeon who, with his lead over everyone else, really did not need to do anything other than make sure no one (particularly Ernst) got away with enough gap to cut into his significant lead. All was set and the whistle about to sound...