Bikegeek1968

OK, how about this?

rkwaki

is that the original 600 sti?
Great pic BTW

Bikegeek1968

Thanks.

That bike was a bit of a mutt. A trek carbon frame, one of the old aluminum lugged and glued ones, and a mix of tricolor Ultegra and DA. Yes, those are the first generation Ultegra sti levers. The whole thing held up surprisingly well, given that almost every race had a bit of pave, some more than others.

Ygduf

thanks to Katie Truong

Hermes

It looks like the fast guys wore Evade helmets and booties.

Photo by Katie Truong

mattm

Taking the field sprint yesterday at the Early Bird #2 1/2/3's race.



Much thanks to @Ygduf and other guys on my team for making guys chase!

Photo by NorcalCyclingPhotos: Early Bird #2

(he's on our team btw, and is ok with us "stealing" these photos)

furiousferret

Great pics guys, @mattm splendid work beating out Teejay*
@Hermes way to charge it!
@Ygduf I'm stuck on the dude in the background, is he making a big life decision, reflecting on the past....we'll never know! Also the guy on your wheel is checking you out.


*I'm assuming that's some dude that bought a bmc kit at WalMart or is it an actual team member?

mattm

Ha, he's a new kid on our team actually, the kid I was trying to lead out.

I give him a pass since he's only 19, so he's just barely an adult!

He'll be in our kit soon enough, they're coming in this week I hear.

furiousferret

Ah, he'll have at least 2 great mentors!

bmcphx

well, I mean, if you're going to be that guy who wears a pro team's kit, at least he is wearing proper sleeve lengths...

Ygduf

you're teasing a kid who won 2013 17/18 elite track nationals. 1/68, so it's not like there was no competition

(to be clear, he's talented but his bike is noisy and he has literally no calves. weirdest thing!)

Ygduf

ooh. this is me looking sexy before ultimately losing. guy on my wheel is a 2x dutch tt champ and we couldn't stay away? say it ain't so!

I will say I am proud of this picture because I had to bridge to said TT champ, who was on my team and out solo. I managed to surf the chases and jump across solo. So that's something at least.



thanks to sylvia, the norcalcyclingphoto gal

tetonrider

cool pic. i should have learned from the race-rig porn thread that we are not allowed to make any tangential comments, but i had a question about bridging to your teammate. that's obviously pretty tough to do (so cool that you did it) -- but in terms of strategy is something like that going to actually reduce your teammate's chances to bridge to the break (or at least finish ahead of the field)?

peloton sees 1 guy they might let him dangle. 2 teammates? seems like it is kicking the bees' nest.

not criticizing, just curious about the situation in that race and wondering in general.

mattm

I agree, that since we already had a guy up the road in the break, trying to bridge is just agitating the peloton.. in this case it was a relatively weak/unorganized peloton.

It's fine for a training race, but in a real race I'd yell. I told @Ygduf as much after the race!

Taking a free ride up is one thing, but hammering into the wind after your team mate just seems wrong to me.

rkwaki

+1 but as it was a training race, why not...

shovelhd

Because it is wrong. Make sure you get future yelling on video for the collective BF enjoyment.

gerundium

Elite?

mattm

Yeah, elite (non pro).

Ygduf

It's a fair question and this is revisionist history!

I didn't attack from the pack at all. I was being a good soldier and sitting in. The guy in the pic with me did attack from the pack to try and bridge up, so yell at him!

I just surfed a 4-man bridge attempt that petered out. I was already far ahead of the pack when I felt that group give up, so I jumped and went up solo. I thought the two of us had the only legit chance to catch the break (which would have put 3 teammates in a 5-man break) and judged the pack too weak to close the break down without my or Giel's help anyway.

So, the break, in my mind, was totally safe either way. I practiced using other guy's work to get up to my teammate (without bringing anyone at all) who was solo in no man's land.

Anyway, reasonable minds can disagree. I don't think I made an unwise racing decision, though.

rkwaki

No problem there, racing decision are split second ones and at leeast you had a plan and executed on it.

mattm

I did yell at Giel, on FB anyway. =]

But you're right, you didn't just attack from the pack at least..

Still, I think if we have a guy in the break, our job is just to shut down attempts by sitting on, getting a free ride up if you're lucky. Yeah it's boring, but we gotta have faith in our guy!

HOWSER

Me in green at CX Nats attempting an inside pass. Photo credit to my father.

hack

Out of curiosity, what is Fudgy's (or anyone really) obligation in that instance? Sounds like a group of 3 or so were attempting a bridge, he sat on, and bridge exploded. Should he fall back to the group and resume covering or, with a reasonable gap in place, attempt the move he made? I guess if there isn't lone soldier in no mans land, you'd just fall back and cover the next bridge?

Ygduf

In this case I probably would have tried to get to the bridge alone, then given up shortly thereafter when I didn't make progress. Catching up to my guy and then rotating and being off the front for a few laps I felt like we were making progress, then we weren't. I would have figured that out faster solo.

There's no right answer. @mattm says to never chase. I knew in my heart of hearts that the pack was weak and the guys most interesting in bridging just tried and failed, so the break was safe.

shovelhd

Does he look like he's sitting on in that picture?