graphs

Maybe I'll travel down with him sometime, sounded like a fun course.

How does the A/B thing shake out in terms of regular categories? He was explaining to me yesterday but I didn't totally get it.

jsutkeepspining

a's were 1/2/3 and b's were 4/5. Honestly the race wasn't really that bad. It was a little hilly, but overall there was a lot of downtime (especially in the break because i had a teammate about 10 seconds up the road).


edit: the mid-ohio race looks like a blast. I wont be there because i'll be down in Florida for spring break, but racing on a race track is always fun.

jwible

Awesome!

bcellis

Do you use Auto Pause? I found that my recorded time was always off a bit from the official time if I used Auto Pause. Now I disable Auto Pause and start my Garmin 10 seconds before my start and that seems to be fairly accurate (within a second or two, after I subtract the extra 10 seconds).

A bunch of us drove out for Tour de Murrieta this past weekend. It was definitely a fun race and that TT wasn't nearly as bad as the BF thread from last year made it out to be. We pre-rode the course the evening (well, more like night) before and it definitely helped a lot.

GirlAnachronism

Okay, maybe 'much' easier is an exaggeration, but it helps to have 100 wheels to hide behind. Here are my numbers:

Women's:
AP: 182
NP: 204
IF: 0.949
Speed: 22.4

Men's:
AP: 179
NP: 202
IF: 0.941
Speed: 25.1

Beaker

is this time measured from your head unit, or after uploading your data? If the latter then GPS position error could be a good bet.

ridethecliche

Was the mens race smoother? That could have been it.

SalsaPodio

The "smoothness" of a race would be reflected in the NP.

Crash716

Bigger pack, less time out in the wind?

Crash716

3 day omnium complete…I did horrible, well kinda, but I've been on the bike like 6 times in 18 days, 3 of which were friday, saturday and sunday of the race. Legs are cooked, I lost 5lbs and had a stomach bug the last 2 days of it. All and all I am happy, I don't feel like i made a huge impact in the team getting the GC by any means, but I do feel like I contributed to it even if I finished out of the points.

New Powertap shows up this week…formal structured training will be following shortly.

TMonk

why did you keep racing?

Carcinogent

Dank je wel! Good luck to you with the season; sounds like you are having fun as well!

-Carcinogent

Crash716

because we were trying to get the team GC… duh

RedLeg

Dang...I just typed this long report and the computer freaked on me.....

Perry Road Race, CAT4, six laps of 5 miles, a substantial climb on each lap with an uphill finish. Rain, cold, windy....17 starters...no teammates.

Attacked after the KOM (lap 2). 4 wheel suckers followed. Attacked again. One rider bridged, but was not pulling hard enough. I dropped him on the hill and went solo for 20miles beating 4 chasers by 3secs.

shovelhd

Nice job.

rkwaki

Good job, fn wheelsuckers.

recursive

Kenosha Velosport Training Crit #1

No matter how many numbers you look at during training over the winter, the first race of the year always serves as a reality check or calibration of expectations. It also marked my first race on my new team, Big Ring Flyers. I knew I'd been training right, so I was hoping to prove that to myself. Due to a crash in the previous race, and low turnout, the 3s were combined with the 1/2s. The course was 1km on a wide open industrial park with only two real turns.

My plan was to sit in for the first half to get the feel for the pack. For the second half, if I had anything left, I would chase or attack aggressively. The race started pretty comfortably. No one wanted to pull the field into the big headwind, so a strong solo flyer went off that stayed for several laps. It was a good effort, but a single rider in that wind would have been very hard pressed to stay off for the whole race, even if the field was not exactly drilling it. Meanwhile though, I felt very comfortable in the pack, managing to stay in the first 5 wheels. The race came back together just before the midway point, and I knew that would be my opportunity.

At the halfway mark, I chose to attack at the last corner, since there is a slight rise coming out of the corner, which would probably make it hard for the whole field to react. My attack wasn't exactly earth shattering, being maybe 700w for 20 seconds, but I was allowed to roll off the front. When I looked back and didn't see anyone with me, I sat up. I didn't like the idea of soloing for the rest of the race, and figured I'd try again in a few laps. When I got caught, the first thing I heard was "We got a gap". I didn't realize that the riders that had come up were not the field, but just two riders bridging. Bingo! We traded pulls smoothly for a few laps, putting some time into the field. One rider dropped, and then we were two. I think our gap increased to a maximum of 15 seconds. The two of us settled into a rhythm of half a lap each. Every few laps, I would look behind me when I was on the back. I saw a four person chase, but couldn't tell where the field was. We might have a chance! With two to go, my break mate faded, and the chase was closing. I figured I could hold them off for two laps because it looked like I still had about 5 seconds. When I came around again for the bell lap, the lap card said "2" again! No bell! wtf! Ok, two more laps again. On the next lap, one rider bridged up to me moving very fast. He looked strong, but he was burning lots of energy. I figured if I could hang on, maybe I could out-sprint him at the finish. But then he sat up. What?

"It's over".



The officials never showed me the final lap. At least I got second for my efforts. And overall, I'm pretty happy. I've never considered myself a good break rider, but I did pretty well at it.

slynkie

So the guy basically rolled through for the win as you thought he was just taking his turn at pulling? that sucks, very uncool...did the chief ref have anything to say about it? I'd say an apology was due..

edit: btw, very nice job despite the anticlimactic ending, especially in the combined field!!

rkwaki

Good job. I had a similar thing happen years ago where they moved the finish line on a national caliber road race. They announced it at the start but with 125 or so guys I couldn't hear.
At the base of the last climb i jumped with another guy (i think it was a 6km climb) and we were gone, the group surged at the end and were catching us. I sat up on what I thought was the finish line in exhaustion and was swallowed up by the group as the finish line was about 100m down the road from the start.

Does that help towards upgrade (not sure if you are a 1, 2, 3)?

recursive

Well, to be fair, it was obviously not just a regular turn. He came through with a significant speed difference, but quickly slowed. It all makes so much sense in retrospect. On the final lap, I think the officials managed to get their bell together by the time his group came through.

That's pretty crazy. Why would the move the line like that? That case definitely sounds more serious. This one was just an early-season local "training" crit. Yours sounds like it mattered. I'm a 3, and I think there were only three 1/2s in the field. Regardless that race doesn't officially give upgrade points because it's sanctioned by ABR, not USAC.

rkwaki

Good job nonetheless, shows that the strength and mental fortitude is there, early
I am smelling an upgrade this year

McTufferton

Awesome. Way to make things happen.

While not an ideal finish, it was a great result. Again, way to be the instigator and dictate the terms of the race.

McTufferton

Saturday, 3-10-12. Carondelicious Crit. Cat3 field of approx 45. 45 minutes +3 laps. I'm on a new team (https://www.facebook.com/QuantumMesa) as of a couple weeks ago, and this was my first outing in a new kit in 4 years. We wanted to make our mark. There were several attacks throughout the race but nothing stuck. I grabbed a cash prime when the opportunity presented itself. It came down to a group sprint in the end... teammate 3rd, I rolled through 8th with a teammate on my wheel for 9th. Overall, not bad; a podium, three top tens, and a prime.

Sunday, 3-11-12. Great Forest Park Bike Race. Chilly, rainy and windy resulting in a small Cat3 field of approx 30. 55 minutes + 5 laps. Tired legs from yesterday, and I was riding my "backup" bike due to conditions (that's my excuse anyway). A 4 person break got off the front and quickly gained 45 seconds on the field. Once they were away, I tailgunned for a majority of the race, finally moving up at minute 50 to setup our sprinter. I confirmed he was on my wheel half way through the final lap so I focused my attention on holding the wheel of an ex-teammate whose a very strong sprinter and I knew would be there at the end. We came around the final turn sitting in fourth and fifth position and wound up the sprint. I pushed hard for the line expecting my sprinter to come around... he never did. I rolled through 5th in the bunch sprint, 9th overall.

I'll take top 10's any day, but things are different this year and I'm raising the bar with this team: podiums or bust!!

bostongarden

Thanks Shovel. Way to go on hitting best Bethel finish!!! I was looking into my crystal ball -- you will certainly podium at least once, and, I think (i.e., after putting crystal ball away), that you'll win one there this year.

Racer Ex 

Did a stage race this weekend. We won the battle and lost the war. 2nd and 3rd on GC. I got bee stung three times during my TT. Once in the arm, once in the thigh, and the last one flew into my helmet and nailed me in the head.