Race report - OVR Lynchburg RR
04-03-07, 09:40 AM
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Race report - OVR Lynchburg RR
Cat 4, 8+ mile loop mostly flat, 5 laps.
Strong wind from the southwest meaning that literally half the course presented stiff headwind problems. If you didn't know how to echelon, you were in trouble.
Our best rider moved up to the 3's last week so we were depleted. The course and finish seemed to suit one of our more compact muscular guys so I decided that we would work for him. We decided who would attack, chase, and had a leadout plan. It seemed like a really good plan.
These plans rarely work. We are just Cat 4's after all, so who are we trying to fool.
Barely into the first lap that rain hits us hard - in the hardest part of the course where the echelon, if you get one, went into the gutter. A couple of minor attacks didn't last long. One of our lightweight climbers spent a lot of time at the front on the first two laps either attacking, chasing or driving a hard pace. This stretched out the group in the headwind sections. On the third lap, I moved up towards the front to give him a break. A four man break was trying to get established and I helped chase it down. I was at the front when we caught them and they immediately countered. I went with them. One of the guys was in the process of popping so the four of us remaining tried to get something going for a short while but we weren't organized enough. I settled back in to a top 5 position.
Back through headwind hell and I lost position trying to secure a good echelon. As we rounded the corner into the next headwind section, a two man group attacks. They got a good gap and nobody wanted to chase hard into the wind. I was too far back to react when this happened. I got forced into the wind during a little surge and tried to fight my way back into an echelon but there was nowhere to hide. I decided that if I was going to be out in the wind I may as well make some forward progress instead of sheltering someone else. I moved up to the front five and found some brief shelter. I decided that I would chase when we rounded the corner. I moved to the front right before the corner, got as aero as I could, and then went as hard as I could. (A teammate told after the race that this put a lot of pressure on the back of the field because they had to fight really hard to stay attached.) I chased, trading off with a few other guys, for half a lap maybe and we caught one of the breakaway riders. This relaxed the field and because of that we would not see the other rider the rest of the way.
Last lap, I'm looking for teammates to set up the finish. I can only find one and he's struggling with the wind. Multiple attacks are now going off the front and I'm trying to go with them but my jump is not strong enough. About 5-6 guys are up the road and I find myself chasing again. I can't decide if it's better to sell out on the chase, or to gamble by conserving a bit and counting on others to chase. I chose the latter. I helped out and took some pulls, but let others do most of the work. We catch them right before the final turn.
The jockeying and echeloning into the headwind sprint was exactly what you would expect. I saw some guys bounce off each other but amazingly everyone stayed upright. The left side of the road was a gaggle of guys fighting for the right wheel and I had gone to the right to avoid two of the guys that bounced off each other. I only have one teammate left and he can't get to me because he got forced off the road. Without a wheel, I'm screwed because I'm not built for a headwind sprint.
The winning move of the field sprint shoots off quite like a rocket. Everyone else goes. I see LowCel come up on my left. I dig in and do what I can and come across in 7th for the field sprint, 8th overall.
I just didn't have enough juice left, but felt good about salvaging a top 10 for the team after our "plan" got kicked to the curb.
Two 8th places in a row now. Time to figure out how to do better.
Strong wind from the southwest meaning that literally half the course presented stiff headwind problems. If you didn't know how to echelon, you were in trouble.
Our best rider moved up to the 3's last week so we were depleted. The course and finish seemed to suit one of our more compact muscular guys so I decided that we would work for him. We decided who would attack, chase, and had a leadout plan. It seemed like a really good plan.
These plans rarely work. We are just Cat 4's after all, so who are we trying to fool.
Barely into the first lap that rain hits us hard - in the hardest part of the course where the echelon, if you get one, went into the gutter. A couple of minor attacks didn't last long. One of our lightweight climbers spent a lot of time at the front on the first two laps either attacking, chasing or driving a hard pace. This stretched out the group in the headwind sections. On the third lap, I moved up towards the front to give him a break. A four man break was trying to get established and I helped chase it down. I was at the front when we caught them and they immediately countered. I went with them. One of the guys was in the process of popping so the four of us remaining tried to get something going for a short while but we weren't organized enough. I settled back in to a top 5 position.
Back through headwind hell and I lost position trying to secure a good echelon. As we rounded the corner into the next headwind section, a two man group attacks. They got a good gap and nobody wanted to chase hard into the wind. I was too far back to react when this happened. I got forced into the wind during a little surge and tried to fight my way back into an echelon but there was nowhere to hide. I decided that if I was going to be out in the wind I may as well make some forward progress instead of sheltering someone else. I moved up to the front five and found some brief shelter. I decided that I would chase when we rounded the corner. I moved to the front right before the corner, got as aero as I could, and then went as hard as I could. (A teammate told after the race that this put a lot of pressure on the back of the field because they had to fight really hard to stay attached.) I chased, trading off with a few other guys, for half a lap maybe and we caught one of the breakaway riders. This relaxed the field and because of that we would not see the other rider the rest of the way.
Last lap, I'm looking for teammates to set up the finish. I can only find one and he's struggling with the wind. Multiple attacks are now going off the front and I'm trying to go with them but my jump is not strong enough. About 5-6 guys are up the road and I find myself chasing again. I can't decide if it's better to sell out on the chase, or to gamble by conserving a bit and counting on others to chase. I chose the latter. I helped out and took some pulls, but let others do most of the work. We catch them right before the final turn.
The jockeying and echeloning into the headwind sprint was exactly what you would expect. I saw some guys bounce off each other but amazingly everyone stayed upright. The left side of the road was a gaggle of guys fighting for the right wheel and I had gone to the right to avoid two of the guys that bounced off each other. I only have one teammate left and he can't get to me because he got forced off the road. Without a wheel, I'm screwed because I'm not built for a headwind sprint.
The winning move of the field sprint shoots off quite like a rocket. Everyone else goes. I see LowCel come up on my left. I dig in and do what I can and come across in 7th for the field sprint, 8th overall.
I just didn't have enough juice left, but felt good about salvaging a top 10 for the team after our "plan" got kicked to the curb.
Two 8th places in a row now. Time to figure out how to do better.
04-03-07, 10:09 AM
#2
Throw the stick!!!!
Very nice report. Congratulations on the strong finish after doing as much work as you did.
I spent most of my race setting in the back since my legs weren't feeling all that fresh due to the race the day before. I felt that I had a pretty good position at the end though to try to get a decent finish. That was until the Anthem rider came back and almost took out about five or ten people and then stayed directly in front of me. It took a couple of seconds to find a way out and then I tried to accelerate again. That's hard to do once you have already worked hard to get up to speed.
Oh yeah, the rain was awesome wasn't it? My drivetrain still worked pretty well after all of it with the exception of not being able to get into my 12 on the back. Smallest I could get into was my 12.
Not a huge deal but it would have been nice to have the 12 a few times during the race.
Anyway, I ended up 10th which isn't too bad considering I had raced the day before I guess. Two top tens in a weekend works for me.
I have got to start getting better with my positioning at the end of these races. Seems like I am always in the wrong place at the right time.
I spent most of my race setting in the back since my legs weren't feeling all that fresh due to the race the day before. I felt that I had a pretty good position at the end though to try to get a decent finish. That was until the Anthem rider came back and almost took out about five or ten people and then stayed directly in front of me. It took a couple of seconds to find a way out and then I tried to accelerate again. That's hard to do once you have already worked hard to get up to speed.
Oh yeah, the rain was awesome wasn't it? My drivetrain still worked pretty well after all of it with the exception of not being able to get into my 12 on the back. Smallest I could get into was my 12.
Not a huge deal but it would have been nice to have the 12 a few times during the race.Anyway, I ended up 10th which isn't too bad considering I had raced the day before I guess. Two top tens in a weekend works for me.
I have got to start getting better with my positioning at the end of these races. Seems like I am always in the wrong place at the right time.
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04-03-07, 10:49 AM
#4
Throw the stick!!!!
Originally Posted by cat4ever
How or why there weren't wrecks all over the place was beyond me.
The cat 3 field was DQ'd. The cat 1 field was DQ'd.
The cat 3 field was DQ'd. The cat 1 field was DQ'd.
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04-03-07, 11:12 AM
#6
Throw the stick!!!!
Originally Posted by cat4ever
That curve right before the bridge was enough to make me quit as it was hailing on me.
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04-03-07, 11:14 AM
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we are going to have some monsters in the 4 fields over the next few weeks. i think two of the guys in the 3 man break in the 5's are upgrading next week, and they were putting some serious power down. congrats to sverrefehn on the finish. which bike were you riding? i lost wheels to follow at 400m, and was relegated to 12th. i did a lot of unrequired pulling, so i wasn't too broken up about it. not really a good race for sticks like me anyway. i can't believe how much different the race was from last year to this year. granted, i was in the 5's last year, but i seem to recall that we averaged around 24 or 25 and no one was dropped. in the 4's this year, i think we were around 23, and more than half of the field got popped. WIND WIND WIND.
in other news, i now have a sore throat, going to doctor later today, and my jaw couldn't open wide enough for me to eat chipotle at lunch. it is so frustrating getting through the entire winter without getting sick at all, and then having this garbage happen for three weeks striaght. i am losing fitness for sure right now, and there is nothing i can do about it. AARRGGGHHHHHHHH
in other news, i now have a sore throat, going to doctor later today, and my jaw couldn't open wide enough for me to eat chipotle at lunch. it is so frustrating getting through the entire winter without getting sick at all, and then having this garbage happen for three weeks striaght. i am losing fitness for sure right now, and there is nothing i can do about it. AARRGGGHHHHHHHH
04-03-07, 11:17 AM
#8
Throw the stick!!!!
Originally Posted by fly:yes/land:no
in other news, i now have a sore throat, going to doctor later today, and my jaw couldn't open wide enough for me to eat chipotle at lunch. it is so frustrating getting through the entire winter without getting sick at all, and then having this garbage happen for three weeks striaght. i am losing fitness for sure right now, and there is nothing i can do about it. AARRGGGHHHHHHHH
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04-03-07, 11:32 AM
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Originally Posted by fly:yes/land:no
we are going to have some monsters in the 4 fields over the next few weeks. i think two of the guys in the 3 man break in the 5's are upgrading next week, and they were putting some serious power down. congrats to sverrefehn on the finish. which bike were you riding?
I was riding my Bianchi FG Lite with Mavic Cosmic Carbones.
I saw you up there at the beginning of the race working hard with one of our boys.
cat4ever, I was surprised and impressed that the 4's didn't have any incidents. It was pretty smooth for most of the race. The only hi-jinks I saw were at the end.
LowCel, my drivetrain was a creaky mess after that race. I cleaned it straight away upon returning home. I also poured a couple cups of water out of my seat tube and dealt with the Carbones' one weakness - full of water!
04-03-07, 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by sverrefehn
One of those guys works with you, no? Yes, we have hammerheads in our near future.
) he runs a 4:10 ish mile and sub 15 5k. i think he and i should run a 400 someday, where i think i might be able to beat him. i went for a ride with him over the winter, and it was interesting = pouring rain/very cold/he is a beastly rider.i think the other guy is one of those major taylor track guys, and apparently was a former body builder. despite how big he was, apparently he was putting in a lot of attacks at hueston woods on the climbs! guess he has some high power output.
two of my fixie friends i think will be moving up to 4's soon as well. they have had some really good results and will probably get an early upgrade.
on a side note, one of my friends from ths shop was without any teammates in the pro 1/2/3 field. he didn't shave his legs and wore an ironman jersey. i wager that the 1/2's were crapping themselves when they saw him in the field!
