Mabra Champs Weekend

MABRA Senior Criterium Championship
Saturday May 4, 2024
Hagerstown, Maryland
Frank Tiburzi

This year's criterium championships at Hagerstown offered a challenge both from the competitors and the weather: the early May race day came with persistent cold rain up until and through the race. The field was relatively small, around 30, with only a handful of teams represented. Still, the field had plenty of firepower and several people that could get away solo and create a headache for us.

Speaking of us, we lined up with myself, Alex, and Flo, and came in with a plan to either try to get myself away from the other threatening riders, forcing them to chase, and if it was all together at the end, the plan was to light it up on the front with 1.5 to go with Alex behind me and send him flying into the final half of the course for a hopefully easy victory, and Flo to try and take the field.

There was a small riser on the backside, but really the most decisive part of the course was the final turn into the finish, where a deep puddle combined with road grime created a super slick patch of pavement that wanted to throw you to the ground if you tried to lean the bike over at all.

Wet roads, and rail road crossings...not a fun combination

The pace was aggressive, as racers tried to take advantage of the dicey conditions. However, nothing really stuck due to the lack of true team coordination. The most threatening move of the day came when an Espresso rider got a 20s gap after attacking from the front. He pushed his luck too far and slid out in the slippery final corner. Just like that, the field was all back together.

With a few laps left, it was clear the race was gonna stay together to the finish so Alex made his way up to me and I confirmed he was behind me with 3 to go. Going into 2 to go I kept looking back and could not find Alex at all. I was coming down the main straight as Jonathan yells at me that Alex is out(I learned after the race it was a mechanical DNF) so I immediately went into high alert - it was game time; on my shoulders alone for a result.

Coming into the final lap, I was further back than I’d have wanted. Total’s Zach Raccine sent his signature attack early in the final lap, causing gaps to form throughout the field. I dug deep on the hill, and coming out of the corner I launched a last ditch effort to close on the leader. I came up to 3rd wheel into the final turn. I had safely navigated the tricky turn the entire race and I wasn’t going to mess it up now. I took it nearly straight up, as the rider in front of me slid out. I narrowly eked by, while three racers closing on my wheel weren’t so fortunate and succumbed to the water trap. I pulled out a decent sprint to pass a fading Racine, and with daylight behind I posted-up in celebration, taking a very hectic edition of the MABRA Criterium Champs.

MABRA Senior Road Race Championships
Sunday, May 5
Greencastle, PA

Back up to the greater Hagerstown Area! Just across the Mason Dixon line in Greencastle PA it was time for a road race on a brand new course. On deck was almost 80 miles of light rolling terrain with a few long straights and a hilly section in each of the 5.5 mile course for 14 laps. My first impression was that this course is awesome. It flowed well and appreciated how the first half of the lap had long stretches where team tactics could play out and then could further develop in the more challenging, flowy back section.

Now, on to the race. There were a lot more people signed up for this one, nearly 50, and much more team presence, most notably Total Civil Construction and Project 412, both with 4 or more riders. Representing META it was just myself and Alex and we knew we would have to play games with the bigger teams and try to make the break.

Still early-on, the peloton all together comes through the start/finish line. The bottom of the hill was ~150m from the finish line.

Like all road races, people want to get away from the group, and attacks were launched over and over from the beginning but nothing with the right composition was forming for the first few laps. 

Around 25 miles in, with the pace hot and the field strung out, a small group was starting to form off the front with 3 Total riders, 2 P412, 1 Bike Doctor, and 1 CVC. We were about to enter the rolling section of the course and alarm bells starting going off in my head that this could be the break that finally sticks. As we rode by Jonathan on the sidelines, he gave me a shout telling me what I had just come to realize: this was gonna be the split.

I made my way to the front of the field and put in a 30 second dig to accelerate across the gap, and got to the front of the developing break and put in another short pull to convey my motivation to make this stick.

We rolled turns for two laps while the gap stayed less than 20 seconds and groups tried to bridge across, but the strong makeup of the break meant some of the strongest riders left in the peloton wouldn’t do any work and none of the efforts made it up to us.

Frankie making sure everyone's contributing to keep away from the peloton

We continued rolling until we had opened up over a 4 minute gap. During this time I had considered trying to get away solo, but I was confident in my sprint against everyone else in the break except for P412’s Shawn Litster, who has stood on the top step after many dominant sprints in local races, so I figured I might as well take my chance in the reduced field sprint than potentially get countered while trying to attack the break, since I was alone with two teams of 2+.

Going into the final lap, one of the P412 riders sent a flyer and quickly gained ground on us as the non P412 riders and myself looked at each other deciding who was going to chase. Fortunately for me, Total had 3 riders and one of them took to the front and put in the biggest digs to bring back this promising attack.

Greencastle living up to its name. Beautiful pastures on this overcast Sunday.

With half a lap to go, a few efforts went but nothing that really had to gusto to stick, as soon as they saw we were accelerating they turned it off. It was going to be a field sprint.

Coming into 400m to go there is a downhill, an uphill, then a downhill drag to the line. Not wanting to be caught off guard and stuck trying to catch a fast accelerating rider on the downhill drag, I went for it at the start of the uphill. This turned out to be a bit longer than I remembered it from the previous lap, and even worse, at the top of the hill, about 250m to go I see both Shawn and Zach on my wheel. Nothing to do now but sprint as hard as I can despite my legs already feeling like I went too early. As we get within 100m of the line I see shawn come to my side and gaining on me. We both throw for the line and he nabs it by a few inches. We fist bump for a great finish and make our way to the side of the road and wait for the rest of the field to roll in, where Alex takes the field sprint.

All smiles after a successful weekend.