PedalMasher

I race Monday night beginner series (cat 5) on a 2 mile flat track and have won the last few weeks.

Last night, however, I was apparently a marked man. This stocky little sprinter dude stayed the whole race (15 miles) on my wheel, and maybe 4 or 5 guys out of 25 pulled at all.

Whenever I got on front and pulled hard to make some guys work, and then pulled off, the whole peleton would slow down in back of me. Then during the final lap, the pace dropped to like 15 mph, so I got out front to pull, and sure enough the whole bunch reacted like I was attacking! Jeez

I literally slowed way back down to 18-19 on the final turn expecting an attack so I could be lead out for the sprint. However, everyone slowed down behind me. Finally I said screw it and started the sprint waay early and sure enough got 4th.

So before you flame me for racing in a low category for my level, keep in mind these are my first races ever and I wanted some finishing sprint experience before upgrading to cat 4, etc., to make it look like I know what I'm doing.

How do you win when marked? Attack on the last lap? Get some teammates?

merlinextraligh

Teammates would help. Solo flier from about a kilometer might work. Sounds like you might be strong enough to pull it off. Personally, fairly early in the race I'd attack. Don't go to the front and just pull, attack and seperate yourself, and see who comes with you. If no one does, then go for it. Probably will fail, but great training and expereince. And if you get caught with a few laps to go you may be able to recover to still sprint. More likely, a handfull of stronger riders will come out to play, and your attack will at least whittle down the number of contenders.

Complete oppossite strategy is do no work at all, just sit on the back and force everyone else to work. When the pace is 15 mph for long enough someone will jump and you can latch on to them.

Just remember attacks have to be 100% efforts. Hard as you can to create seperation. Half hearted attacks just serve to pull the group around faster.

Voodoo76

Pretty good advice, two options:

1. Pull hard early to force selections or splits in the field. Once they form "encourage" others to reinforce them.
2. Attack to gain a gap, hang off the front for a while & see who comes up.

Both pretty standard racing tactics, you want to keep improving your odds. Personally I would just go straight to the back and sit, wait, let the front kind of forget about me.

bigskymacadam

i'd help you out bro! i don't think i could keep up with y'all though. i thought you were on a team? have they been putting hot spots as well?

PedalMasher

No the team races cat 4. I will be joining them at some point, I just want some finishing sprint experience so I don't get flamed for doing something stupid in the higher cats. No hotspots on the beginner monday night race.

EventServices

You can always use the intimidation factor on them: "C'mon ladies! You gonna race? Or are you just gonna follow me around?"
Surprisingly, that WILL work on some of them.
Otherwise, you just need to figure out a way to create a gap between you and them.
Sound like you'll have the strength to stay away from them if you can get a gap.
But if they're on your wheel (in your draft), then remember that they can go the same speed as you while working 30% less than you, so they can stick to you like blood-sucking barnacles.

Voodoo76

It's amazing how often other riders will do your bidding if you ask the right way (eg yell, berate). I beleive barnacles hang on the bottom of boats/ect, leaches suck blood.

PedalMasher

Yeah, I was thinking I should have attacked hard on the last lap. It's weird but when you look back on your first races hindsight is always 20/20, but it's more of a confidence issue when you're actually thinking in a race. I am afraid to blow up and get dropped even though I shouldn't be.

Also, a friend of mine in his first race was there and I wanted to help get him a high placing so that's another reason why I was tenative.

PedalMasher

Yeah I know I'm asking standard questions, but I sat at the back the first race and won. That's no fun and wanted to experiment and work a little bit up front next couple times. Are there gentleman's rules about that sort of stuff in the higher cats? Are stronger riders expected to work up front more or do most try breakaways, etc. The leech who won never left my wheel the whole race.

bitingduck

Mollusk nazi.

And that should be "leeches" anyway...

DannoXYZ 

Nah, no rules about pulling up front. Maybe in a road-race when you've got teammates, but if you're solo, all bets are off.

What kind of a track is this? Some sort of big oval? Or a basic 4-corner city-block type course?

You can just play games with those guys. Do the psychological stuff, break it up in the beginning with some sprints to splinter the back. Then you only have a handful to worry about. And make them pull! You did it right by slowing down. Next time, slow down even more so that the wheel-sucker has no choice but to go around you or else he'll be last! So pull off and wait... somebody will crack and take off. Then hop back in the pack in 5-10th place and sit tight. If it's only 200-300m from the finish, hop in 3-5th place. Make them give you the leadout.

Watch some velodrome racing, they'll slow down to a standstill to make the guy behind come around. Being in the drafting position's always better than having people draft off you... be the leech next time... heh, heh...

Snicklefritz

Another thing you could try is the tactic that Hunter Allen describes in his book. I went to one of his clinics last weekend and he described in detail how it works. PM me for more info.

The basic idea is that you do a massive initial sprint to get away from the pack (or the group you are in), then ride for a few minutes above your threshold to maintain the separation. Afterwards you bring your power down to a level that is either at or just below threshold so you don't blow. Riding hard immediately after the sprint is important so you can make it harder for guys to bridge up and catch you. If you are in a crit where you can't be seen once you are around the corner, then the rest of the guys will lose motivation to chase.

Voodoo76

Take it from a seasoned leech, we are everywhere and very hard to beat.

Pedal Masher, you will not find what you seek in lower category races on simple courses. Nothing to force or aid in selection (eg a hill, crosswind, tight turns, strong team, ect). As Event pointed out you can be clearly stronger and not be able to gap a field on your own. Oh, there are no rules I'm aware of, gentlmen or otherwise.

PedalMasher

It's a 2 mile oval. I think I got a handle on this. Next week I'll do a couple early hard sprints and talk some intimidation trash, then recover mid-race in the pack, and attack with a half kilo to go. I'll let y'all know how I fair.

Only a couple more races and I upgrade to cat 4 anyway where I'll mostly just help the team for a while.

Tommyp

You'd probably get your Cat 4 upgrade now if you wanted it... but if you want more experience with the 5s, I'd make a move early, try to split the group, if a couple of guys try to follow you, make them work. If they won't, let it all regroup. Try it again and see if you can get helpers. If it doesn't work, sit in the pack and save the energy for the finish.
I'd stay away from the trash talking...I get so annoyed when I hear a rider talking negatively, even more angry if the rider is strong. Yeah, it happens in every race with so many riders but the only thing you've got to prove should be with your riding, not with your mouth.

DrWJODonnell

1) Attack hard to get separation
2) Slow down until someone goes around. If you have to get down to 5mph, someone WILL take up the slack
3) Banter. Give other guys hell.
4) My favorite. If you are strong enough and can pace yourself well, slowly ramp up the intensity by maybe 10 watts every 30 seconds (not near the end of the race). If you are strong enough, even with the aero advantage, you will SHATTER a large group and bring it down to a select few riders (certainly less than ten). Because you have not yet sprinted, you will still have sprinting power left and you will have no difficulty convincing the others who are now in a select break to do a fair amount of pulling. You rest, they don't want to get caught, and then you blow by them in the finish. ONLY if you are strong.

nitropowered

I would either attack and solo or sit in the front quarter. No reason to work if no one else is working. You want to stay in the front so you can catch any attacks if there are any.

alpe d'issaquah

Buy 3 dif. jersey's and rotate them eack week. They won't be able to mark you!

bitingduck

The way to make this work is to start from about halfway back, so that you're really flying by the time you hit the front, and nobody has enough jump to stay on. And start it when the pack is moving slow, or playing games-- a slow moving pack is an invitation for a pursuiter type to try to escape and grind it out to the finish.

You need to get enough gap immediately to cause people to have to think about chasing before they start, which will let you work the gap a little more before any organized chase starts. In a cat 5 field you may never get an organized chase. You also have to be careful not to blow yourself up in the initial attack-- if you do a lot of intervals you'll push up the intensity that you can attack at, and have a better feel for your limits. If a chase does start and latch on, ease up and slide back into the pack so you can try again later. If you're doing it near the end of the race and you don't get a good enough gap, softpedal as they catch you and become the leech yourself.

back when I was in your spot I would use a combination of tactics that people have already described-- go hard at the start for a while to make people cry and shed the people you can, then sit in like a slug for the rest of the race and attack or sprint at the end.

And like Voodoo says, there are leeches everywhere. As you move up there will even be teams with designated leeches and teammates helping them out. I have a teammate when I ride masters events who sometimes keeps the pace high so nobody can get clear, then I sit in and wait for the sprint. I share my prizes with him.

Bobby Lex

+1

Cat.5s talking trash in a training crit?

C'mon.

Bob

Voodoo76

See, its already working.

merlinextraligh

I agree with this. Although I think a little good natured ribbing is ok. For example, any of you ladies going to race, as suggested is just fine, imo. When people start cussing and yelling, is what I don't like. However, in my experience, those are usually the weaker riders anyway, so I don't worry about them.

bitingduck

Get a friend to hang out by the announcer booth and offer a $10 prime if the race is too slow. It will pick things up real fast.

Dabbo

We all know too well the big guy with the bright yellow jersey, you are too easy to spot, plus you are always smiling away, did you see the pictures of Swan Island?
I will tell you what not to do.....Tuesday night, get there early, good warm up, only to take one too many laps around the track when the lady says 10'...late for the start, chase the group for 6 laps by yourself....
Hope to see you there some other time, than maybe we can figure something out.
Ciao
Paolo