Smallguy

Tis the season of learning for me

I'm sort of stuck between being too strong for the lowest category....I can win but won't learn and progress IMO here but not strong enough to hold on with the next category up

I was popped in a our local crit yesterday by being too far in the back and the elastic snapped on me


poor positioning and a fast pace of a 38.5 average....40km was the average for the fastest category

slowly learning and getting used to suffering

waterrockets 

Shovel, very nice. Congrats on such a strong finish with those guys, and on that course.

gsteinb, great to read another couple of reports from you. Nice work in the crit -- sucks about the cleat. Congrats though on the podium!

waterrockets 

Ygduf: congrats to you too! Awesome.

Racer Ex 

Darn nice do over. What took so long

Insert "A" Team "love it when a plan comes together". Big congrats, that's a neat race to win.

Racer Ex 

State Age Based Crit Championship: Silver Medal.

Been struggling all weekend...Friday night we just couldn't get it done as a team and Saturday my flyer got caught 100m from the line. Form has been fair, so I'm digging a lot during these races. Today was hot, humid, and had a pretty fierce wind.

Fast from the gun, the team with 8 guys is working the front like a stripper with a car payment due. Another rider without teammates takes a flyer 5 minutes in, I see the best sprinter in the field launch and I grab his wheel...barely. I mean BARELY. But we get there. Lap later we see one of the 8 strippers bridging, we ease up and let him on.

Gap wavers, at one point the field closes to 8 seconds, but I see they now look disorganized and I yell at my breakmates to keep hammering.

Gaps goes 10 15 15 12 20 30 60.

We're gold.

Last lap solo guy takes a flyer, Stripper chases, elbows me through and I look back and see the sprinter on my wheel. I shake my head. Stripper pulls again, I come around and drill it to try to drop the sprinter. 3 tries and but no dice. 200m into a raging headwind I'm on the Strippers wheel when the Sprinter launches. Can't get there. We all catch the flyer and I nip the strip for 2nd.

Hard fought break. Tough conditions that shattered the field. I'm done for a bit.

robncircus

Report from Memorial Day Crit 30+ 4/5

So two of us decided to do this race today. I was excited to be back on the open, safe CBR course. We really had no game plan, and after my dismal performance yesterday I wasn't expecting much. I got there early, since I had not pre-registered. Turns out this race is free for military. Excellent. I decided to warm-up for 45 minutes instead of my normal quick warm-ups, since the quick ones do not seem to be enough.

There were maybe 50-60 racers. Major Motion and SC Velo had strong turnouts, with other teams having one or two guys in the field. The race was a mellow pace, and hanging in the pack was easy for most everyone. I took a shot at a prime about 10 laps or so into the race. I pulled through two turns, then some other racers passed me in turn 4 and took it. That's fine, relax and recover. The race stayed mellow for the next few laps, with no real break-away attempts. I had found myself towards the back of the pack, and decided to move up. I got up front an took a pull for a few turns, the settled into about 5th position for a few more laps. I again moved up, and took another pull. My personal goal was just to finish, and I was feeling good about it. I decided to hang in the pack with about 7-8 to go, and conserve energy. Meanwhile our other racer (so sorry man I forgot your name!), started moving up. With 5 to go, the racing got a little sketchy, with racers chopping corners and having a tough time holding lines. I sat in the pack, waiting for a good time to advance. With about two to go, I see our other racer sitting int he #2 position. I made a move to advance, but hit some major traffic. With 1 to go, I made another attempt at moving up, and passed a few people. Finished upright, with the pack. Our other racer also had a pack finish, getting caught in turn 3 last lap.

Overall it was a fun race. It's a bummer these do not count for USAC anymore, as they are safe and at times fast races. Oh well.

Take a moment to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can race bikes, enjoy family and friends, and drink beers.

Cheers and happy Memorial Day.

echappist

Geez Ex, you are a monster

Creakyknees

Nice work Ex! Another medal for the collection.

waterrockets 

Well played RX. Congrats.

mollusk

Nicely done.

And I'm guessing that you need to tuck a $ or two into the spandex of the "strippers". Ya think that the disorganisation of the chase might have been their doing?

Racer Ex 

I was counting on it.

shovelhd

Congratulations on the silver, RacerEx.

chado445510

So the last two days racing at Killington have been pretty successful. Cat 4.

Yesterday was the 11-mile time trial. I borrowed a disc, some booties, and an aero helmet, and went out of the start gate at 9:10. Stupid mistake:backpedaling in the big-big combo, then dropping your chain when you start. I lost maybe 5 seconds, then sprinted out of the booth, frustrated for doing something so stupid. Anyways, it went on as usual, pretty painful. I finished the TT without being passed, and passing maybe 5 or so people. I started one minute behind another junior that I race with frequently, and my goal was to beat him, and I did. I finished in 26:14, so it was 25.2mph. That surprised the hell out of me, because the TT I did last year without any equipment that was pretty hilly was 29:45, and I only weigh 135lbs (oh, and there was a tailwind for this weekend). So I placed 15th in the field, 1st for the juniors (that I know of). I completed my goal of losing the least amount of time, which was 1:40 off the front.

RR- 6th place. There was a slight climb in the beginning that we hammered up, and the field split in two. 45 minutes, and a 20 mile descent afterwards, it was the 1st KoM. I wanted some points, so me and a few others went up and found ourselves in the 7-person break. I was a bit reluctant to work at all, because after the 1st KoM, there was a long steep descent that I couldn't really do anything on on the junior gears, so I tailgunned till the end (yelled at just a bit). We ended up staying away the whole way until the final climb. I was really happy, because we had opened probably a 5-minute gap. We said our goodbyes and then I was promptly dropped, thanks to neglecting to eat for fear of crashing or being dropped in the break. So I did the 4 mile or so ascent to the finish and came in 6th, 4:51 behind the winner. Since we had such a big gap, I also placed 6th in the GC, making out with $70. So I should have some upgrade points, money and some race experience from the weekend.

shovelhd

Awesome, chadoo.

chado445510

Thanks! I'm surprised there aren't any other Killington reports here yet. Anyone race there?

JonnyHK 

Someone yelled at a junior? Nice.

Don't they know that you are younger, less experienced and limited to a 13t on your cassette?

climber7

nice work to everyone in the last few pages...it's fun reading these. and chado - nice job at killington. i was there too...so here's my report.

killington stage race, men's 4/5. first USAC race (after a few collegiate races this spring in men's C) and first stage race.

saturday - circuit race. 3 laps, 55 miles. pretty uneventful, really. sat in just cruising until the first climb, which lasts from about mile 5.5 until mile 12 on each lap. not too steep, but a few guys pushed the pace for the KOM points at the top. tried to stick with them but wasn't feeling totally warmed up. caught up after the KOM and sat in again. i have the sprint of a dying snail so i didn't contest any of the sprints, which were at the finish line each lap. basically just stuck with the pack for the rest of the race. the third (last) time up the climb, we got neutralized and had to stop for a few minutes about 3k before the KOM to let the P/1/2 men go by. pace picked back up after that and the field just fell apart. a lead group of 7 guys pulled away through the KOM, and four of us regrouped to chase them on the descent into the finish. i tried to break away a few times but couldn't do it and ended up 11th (out of 63 starters).

sunday - ITT. 11 miles (i think it was really about 10.5), slight elevation gain but felt pretty flat. i have no aero equipment whatsoever, and i feel like i'm using the wrong muscles for a time trial (too much hamstrings/glutes...they were getting really sore) if i ride really low in the drops for a long time. whatever. rode hard and finished 22nd in a little over 28 minutes. that put me back to 14th in GC.

monday - RR. 61 miles. tough climb in the middle (mostly up for about 8.5 miles) with some steep parts, and then a brutal last 6 miles up the slopes of killington. over 2 miles at an average grade of 9.2%, and definitely steeper in places. then rolling for 2 miles and up again to the finish. pace was really easy for the first 20 miles or so. picked up a little for the sprint at about mile 25. i attacked right after the sprint and got a nice gap with one other kid, but the climb started right after and i didn't have the legs to hold it. field exploded and maybe 6 or 7 guys pulled away a little, but then 5 or 6 of us regrouped and ran a rotating paceline until we caught back on. i ended up in decent position and thought i was in 5th for the KOM (2 points!), but there was one guy off the front a little, so i was 6th (0 points!). oh well. race leader kept the pace quick after the KOM. by the time we got through the feed zone at around mile 35 (the end of the mid-race climb), we had a group of maybe 13-15 guys and no one else in sight. easy for a while, then there were a few attacks in the 5-10 miles leading up to the finishing climb, but nothing serious and nothing got away. the race leader destroyed everyone over the last climb and won the stage by over a minute. huge gaps opened up everywhere. i passed some people and ended up 8th for the stage, which moved me back up to 12th in GC for the weekend.

tough, but fun. and confirmed what i already knew, which is that the steeper it is, the better i do. next time maybe i'll actually do some intervals and hill repeats before i race.

echappist

chadoo & climber7, cheers to you both.

Chadoo, are you going to college this year or do you have a few more years left?

mike868y

chadoo is not allowed to go to a college in the accc. go beat up on the eccc.

neuronal

You've raced both conferences right? Tell me this- which conf holds better races/race weekends?

mike868y

hard to really say which is "better." I prefer the accc. It is smaller, and IMO the people, on average, are a little friendlier. Most of the schools are southern schools and you don't have the pretentious ivy feel that some of the eccc schools give off. This isn't to say that there aren't dbags and super nice people in both conferences though. However, the larger fields in the eccc make the racing a little more interesting, IMO. One thing about the eccc, is that they tend to (except for UNH) move people up through the categories quicker, which can be both a good or a bad thing. If I had to chose, I would say the accc, but, I am biased. you can have a blast in both conferences. I would say base your school choice off of academics/social life/location/etc. of the school and make the conference 2nd (as long as the school you choose has a decent team).

echappist

yep, says the guy who goes to Hopkins. Carry on
with that 4.3 w/kg ftp, what are you worried about?

mike868y

hehe, hopkins isn't even ivy league! btw, that comment was not at all directed towards you, you are nice as hell. but there are definitely some of those schools definitely give off a "vibe."

and I doubt my ftp is anywhere near 4.3w/kg anymore... I can't wait to be in race shape again, you feel so good.

echappist

dude, even if it were, no harm done. I am known to dress like a d-bag prepster at times

i hear you about race shape. Hopefully the tour around the country will build your base sky high. I still don't get your route though. Are you riding out to seattle and then flying back or are you flying to seattle and riding back?

also, you taking your ptap wheel with you?

king-tony

Nice job Ex and congrats to everyone at Killington