CSP mid-week criterium series finale

Tonight was the last race of the mid-week Criterium series at the Colorado State Patrol course in Golden. This 1.3ish mile loop is maintained by the CSP and has nice wide turns and is a very safe course. I did the first few races in this series and competed for the sprinter's jersey. There are two competitions in this series: The overall/finishers competition, and the Sprinters competition. Every three laps is a prime and points are awarded to the top 5 riders across the line. I was doing well and was in the Sprinter's jersey for week 3, but since then I traveled to Europe and took some time off, so I hadn't raced the series in a couple months.

My teammate, Chris Cummings, was in 2nd place for the overall/finishers competition, so I decided to give it a go one last time and help defend his second place position. This was actually the first time our team had a clear goal in mind for a race, so Chris and I talked before the race. My goal was to stick on the 4th place overall rider's wheel (Drew on the HART team) and keep an eye out for breaks. If nobody threatening was in the break, then I'd let it go. Otherwise, I'd head to the front and help pull it back.

Well, surprisingly, our massive team of two riders (me and Chris) managed to do a good job tonight. I got in a couple breaks and helped pull back the threats. Chris was at the front for much of the race on the lookout. On the last lap, the HART team put together a train of 4 riders to leadout the lap. Drew was on the front, so I got on his wheel and he pulled all the way to the final corner (about 500 meters from the finish). He pulled over to let me through, so I pulled off with him and the pack came through and we were done. I didn't realize they had a train of riders, so I'm assuming Drew never intended to contest the finishing sprint. I'm not sure where Chris finished off, but Drew was the only real threat of the evening, so Chris kept the 2nd overall.