Race Report: 2024 Littleton Twilight Criterium - Pro Men
Race: 2024 Littleton Twilight Criterium - Pro Men
Date: August 3, 2024
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 50th of 96
Course: 0.78 mile loop through downtown Littleton, CO, a southern Denver suburb. The 6 corner L shaped lap starts on the towns main street for the longest straight and then winds through some tight neighborhood roads. It has a reputation of being a very challenging and poorly lit course.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12056987636
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 60g flow bottle during the race
Race Recap:
Watch my race recap here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKDNIdPJy1s
Littleton Twilight is the 2nd to last stop on the ACC calendar so it brings out all the big national level teams plus Colorado has one of the strongest local scenes in the entire country so the field is absolutely stacked. I traveled to this race solo since I went to school and picked up cycling in Colorado so I had lots of old friends I wanted to see. It still felt very much like a local race with all the friendly faces out. The vibes at this race are absolutely immaculate, as they turn the entire inside of the course into a giant beer garden and there is even a stage with live music. It is one of the better attended races of the year in terms of crowds and was definitely a good reminder about what I love so much about these twilight crits!
The race starts at 9pm (!!!) so part one of my race plan was to stay awake late enough to make it to the race start. Part two was to just hang in the pack and not die. And there was no part 3 because I know exactly how hard hanging in at these races is. I was really just looking for redemption for the one pro race I did in Chicago where I barely made it 30 minutes, which I was hopeful for since this course suits me a lot better.
I lined up pretty much right in the middle of the field, which is really the first race of the night. We got off to an interesting start when a generator on the light in corner 2 went out right as our race was starting. I thought everyone would be an idiot and still try to go full tilt through it but it was the most sane I’ve ever seen a pro mens field act as we slowed down to corner in the dark. Some cars shined their headlights on the corner for subsequent laps and eventually the light was brought back on. Despite this, the course was still a little bit darker than I would have preferred.
Just as I was starting to feel in the flow of the race, there was a huge crash on the entrance to the last corner in which maybe half the field took a free lap, myself included. It was such a large group they put us back in over multiple laps. After this, the race was pretty uneventful for me. The entire field was strung out single file after the bubble of the first 20 guys, who were actually having a dynamic race. I would try to find spots while it was single file to sneak past in corners but it was hard to get more than a spot or two at a time, which doesn’t go very far in a 100 person field.
Eventually, with 7 to go, I found my only significant opportunity to get spots when a crash occurred on the outside of corner 5. I snuck through on the inside and made up a good 20 spots, finding myself on Ama Nsek’s wheel, which gave me a false sense of security. I thought that I must be back in a good spot if I was on his wheel but turns out he was just having a bad night. We were still like 50th or so as the big teams took to the front to up the pace. My position never really changed again after that as the pace kept getting faster. The race absolutely exploded into a bunch of small groups the last lap as the lap long sprint unfolded and I rolled across the line in 50th. I finished with the group and didn’t crash, accomplishing all of my pre race goals!
-Jon
