ShutUpLegs

Philly Naval Yard Crit
4/5 Race: 9th
I've done this race the past three years and it is one of my favorites. 6 turn course, fairly technical but wind always plays a huge role in this race. I knew I needed to stay in the top 10-15 even if that meant wasting some energy in order to do so. From the gun I drilled it to the first corner and held good position throughout the first half. I was2-5th wheel most of the time. Couple breakaway attempts but nothing that stuck. One guy went solo with 5 to go and i go pushed back to about 15th. Teammate came up and was willing to drag me to the front and lead me out with 2 to go but i missed his wheel and got stuck. Last corner came out and started me sprint from about 600m out to catch as many as possible. Thought I knipped two at the line but jUST missed them. The guy that won also just beat me out for two primes during the race.

Cat 3/4:Top 20 ( didnt stay to find out)
Wind was stronger for this race and knew it would be even more important to stay up front. Started back further at the start so used some energy to make my way up to top 15. Glad I did because guys were getting shelled immediately. Both my teammates got pulled halfway through. Got into a couple breaks but there was always one or two who didnt want to work and they ended just as quick as they started. A group of 4 went up the road but I was to far back to respond and I knew it was the right mix. Guy who won the 4/5 started it and is real strong along with another strong guy I knew. They worked well together and we never caught them. 2 to go and the pace lulled ssignificantly and I put in an attack thinking I could split the group of 20 that was left. Unfortunately i ended up on the front until 1 to go when I slowed and another attack went. I spent a lot of energy going with the group and came around the last turn with not a lot left in legs and essentially held my position to the line. Good friend of mine won the bunch sprint for 5th and guy who won the 4/5 apparently blew by his breakmates in the sprint to win the 3/4. Good confidence builder for me to hang there with most of the 3s.

revchuck 

Nah. Tell everyone it's a planned "tactical pause."

Wylde06

One of these days I will figure out how to race bikes.

aaronmcd

Copperopolis TT - I mean Road Race
Cat 4, 10/25

Caution, this is long because I felt like it was an epic race.

Part I - Road Race

First let me say that everyone makes a big deal out of the patchwork pavement. And yes it was bumpy, especially on the descent. But after about 30% of the first lap climb, complaining about the pavement was laughable. The climb started about 2 miles in and lasted about 17 minutes including the more gradual base. NP for that climb tied my all-time record, and I was just off the back of the lead group of 14 at the crest; chased back on and recovered.

I wanted to lead the descent at the end of the lap (of course) so I rode to the front and rode recovery pace and no one cared. At the bottom we only had a few seconds gap so I didn't bother trying to break off and get to the climb early. Second climb is a bit slower, but not enough. I popped off the lead group a few minutes from the top. Climb 2: NP just under threshold.

Part II - ITT (mostly)

I crested and started chasing. It was immediately apparent that the lead group didn't want to be caught this time. I caught a straggler and quickly dropped him to chase a 3 man chase group. After a few minutes, I noticed 4 guys chasing me. They weren't catching, but I figured it's worth working with them so I eased up and slotted in, but it was complete chaos and I promptly and accidentally dropped them on a tiny roller. Suddenly they were chasing me again. I let them catch me (again) and the strongest of the bunch suggested we work together (I assume it was he who chased me down). I said I assumed they didn't want to chase when they let me roll away like that (which I believed, but in hindsight that may have been a bit rude if they really WERE trying...). Then the strongest was just chilling out in the wind being chatty while one of the weaker guys was trying to pull. I mentioned the 3 guys we should catch, tried to get things going, took a long pull trying not to drop them and finally gave up and went off on my own. Should have done that sooner - they were out of sight in minutes.

Rode another lap solo passing another dropped rider. A few miles from the final descent I latched onto a 2 man group, recovered for a couple minutes and rode by to see if dropping them would be just as easy. One guy hooked onto me so I hammered the short rollers - he was still there but REALLY didn't want to pull so I slowed to a crawl and he finally came around. He said something chatty, I responded and attacked into the base of a 2 minute climb. He was gone.

I descended and rode the short uphill finish as hard as I could.

Hardest ride I've ever done, and super happy that I pushed it hard for 2 hours even after being dropped.
3.5 hours, NP = 88%

I also noticed that the speed difference between solo and group riding was very small on this course:
20.2 with group, 19.4 solo

carpediemracing 

9th. Field sprint into a massive headwind. Wasn't 100% in the race. Field got cut down by 50% in a slow motion "everyone fall together" crash just before we got the bell. I never sprinted super hard as evidenced by my massive sub 800w jump.

Highlight of my day was the Junior race. Two guys lapped the field. At the bell one of the two flatted. The whole group eased while the flat tire Junior got a new wheel. Then he chased back on and duked it out for the race.

He got 2nd but his dad pointed out that he'd been stuck chasing the field for something like 5 laps after the other break guy attacked him and lapped the field first.

I got to change the wheel simply because no one else did it. Kid pulled up in the big-big gear so not ideal for a fast wheel change, on the spare wheel I put the chain on the big cog. Not sure how long it took to change the wheel but it wasn't too bad as the group was maybe 50 meters away when I finished.

Afterward I realized that I just grabbed some random rear wheel. Not sure if it was his.

Racer Ex 

No post race rollout I hope...

mattm

Also, don't free laps usually stop at 5 or so laps to go?

shovelhd

He didn't take a free lap, he came into the pit on the last lap and the field sat up and waited.

hack

Antioch Fairgrounds Crit
Cat 4
2nd of 15 or so (not sure on total count)

Quick summary for the TLDR folk: Two man breakaway 15 seconds into the race, we stayed away. Other rider worked his ass off.

The longer writeup:

Fun race, good result, sketchy course. The course was contained completely within the Antioch Fairgrounds and was a 0.5 mile out and back "loop". Basically 1/4 mile segments with 180 degree turns on either end. On one end of the course was a lowrider car show coupled with a pitbull dog show and drinking/bbq. At the other end of the course was a flea market. In the middle...we were racing. The race organizers or fairgrounds had police patrolling the lowrider show as their setup was literally all the way up against the "course"...granted it we were separated by a piece of twine. During the warmup and during the race, we had quite a few people on the course, not too fun.

Anyway, on to the race. There were about 15 of us and of these 15, 3 only 3 were on a team (Fudgy's Squadra), so a bit of a free for all. A bit of a delay as one rider was MIA, but eventually we were off. Going into the first turn about 200 meters into the race there was a crash that split the field (one of the Squadra guys went down, so no option for team work remained). I was ahead of the crash with one other rider (the other Squadra guy) and we started pushing the pace out of the turn and quickly got a 5-second gap. A couple of guys attempted to come across, but never connected. That was it, that was the race. We spent 34:45 of a 35:00 crit off in a two man break. With the U-turns it was easy to see how our gap was fairing. 5s grew to 10s grew to 15s then 20s then about 30s.

There was quite a bit of wind and it was always cross. It really hurt and it bounced off a lot of the structures around the course making it hard to hide. I was shuffling around quite a bit trying to find a good spot, but with as much swirling as there was I just had to eat wind. I am thinking this played a big part in discouraging anyone from chasing too hard.

About 20 minutes in, I was starting to hurt and was getting gapped from my breakmate and had a few options. I could let him go and try my hand at a field sprint with the pack or come to some kind of agreement. Basically, I told him I'd pull when I could and if he could put up with me hanging around I wouldn't challenge him for the win (if we got there). That sounded like a good plan and we pressed on. I'd guess I was putting in about 35-40% of the pulling to his 65-70%. He was working hard and I was either hanging on and trying to pull long enough and hard enough to let him recover. We lapped a few of the riders that had been dropped and it always seemed to happen near the 180 turns and we made sure to keep our distance to avoid crashing and giving up what lead we had.

With about 2 to go we confirmed our agreement and had a big enough gap where we could ease through the turns safely. Coming out of the last turn I sat up and applauded his win/effort. The guy rode hard (apparently he threw up a bit at one point). Afterward, another rider asked me why I gave him the race. I said that is what we had agreed to and that he worked hard and pulled me around enough to win the race. The other rider said its a race and no agreements fly. I thought about that, I was feeling strong and could have made a sprint out of it, but didn't want to be that guy. Its a race, but I'd put good sportsmanship over that. Also, that wouldn't be how I'd want to win my first race (or any race really). Had there been no agreement and I just sucked wheel, that'd have been a jerk move too, but not as bad as going back on our agreement.

Anyway, got some points, got some gas money, and avoided the crash.

UmneyDurak

I got caught up behind that crash. I will post a video once it is uploaded. It shuffled me all the way to the back. By the time I got to the front, half a lap, you guys were way ahead. I tried to bridge and caught one guy, but couldn't on my own. No one else wanted to work. There was a guy in green kit who was strong and tried to do it, but tactics were not his best point. He would stay in the wind and try again. After 15-20 minutes of being mostly at the front I gave up and started to seat in.

Before that, I soft pedaled at a front on back straight, then took a turn as tight as I could forcing everyone else in to ****ty lines and over braking. This formed a gap and I gassed it out of the turn. Shortly after green jersey guy sprints passed me dragging the rest of the field behind him. At that point I said screw it.

On last corner went on inside so I could have a clear line for the finish. I was pusing 900W in sprint and people were passing me. FML. Ended up 7th. Won a hat, not sure how. lol.

Quotes of the day. Both from the same guy in blue Jersey.

This is right after we passed the finish line and officials yelled two to go.
"Is this a final lap?"
Shortly after:
"So those two guys are in a breakaway?"

I honestly think most people didn't know there was a breakaway.
The Squadra guy, who didn't crash, was just seating in second wheel. Which was understandable.

Ygduf

Copperopolis RR - P12 - 15th-ish of 50-ish.

Duration: 5:10:50 (99%)
Moving time: 5:10:17 (99%)
Distance: 109mi
Climbing: 11529ft
Work: 4391kJ

108mi RR so we're not going hard on the first lap, right? Nah.

Ben Jacques-Maynes and Justin Rossi and some others decided to drill it at the first climb 10min into the race. Because I'm a bit of a *****, I usually start races in the back until I get into my race brain and start being better at racing. Unfortunately, at 10min (after a 90-second warmup) I was still at the back and missed the initial move go. I did maneuver around people being dropped (10min into a 108-mi race! sucks to be them) and manage to catch back up to the main field.

10min after I caught on another move of 6-7 went up the road. I missed that one too, but found my balls when they only had about 45 seconds. I jumped, bridged for 10 minutes and caught up with them.

4 hours and 85 miles later 4 guys caught our chase group (we never saw the Ps of our p12 again) so heading into the final descent we were 11 guys with 6-7-8 off the front. No one knew for sure.

One of the 4 guys who caught us was my teammate, and knowing my sprint prowess I sat off the back a few seconds on the descent and as they hit the first roller, about 1mi from the line, I flew past the pack and played my only card. I figured even if I get caught, it puts my teammate in a good spot.

The 1-k sign comes and goes. I'm still clear. At the 200m sign a group of 5 comes by. My teammate is 5th. He's got nothing, we finish 5th-6th of the chase.

I think Ex has done Copperopolis and can attest, but it's basically a 21mi loop of cold-patch asphalt layers which look like they've been poured out of buckets by a helicopter. To do so many miles at effort on that was brutal. I was super happy to finish, show decently, and never have to race 5 laps of that again. m123 is only 3 laps next year!

hack

Ahhh...so you were the hat winner. I'll have to say hello next time. Must have been a pack prime or something?

I wasn't sure where the crash happened, but didn't think it was third wheel. That explains how the two of us got away so easily.

UmneyDurak

I guess. I certainly didn't hear anyone announcing it. Meh, now I have another cycling cap. lol.

furiousferret

That was a pretty noble thing to do Hack, with as rare as wins can be, I'm not sure I'd do the same .

UmneyDurak

Noted.

hack

Meh...no guarantee I'd have been able to take it anyway and I figure I agreed to it, better live up to it. Maybe that's not the thing to do in racing, not sure. But, it felt like the right thing to do in that situation.

carpediemracing 

Only two sets of wheels in the pit so I assumed they were Junior wheels. I remember the skewer, thought it was Campy, rider has DA, not sure if the skewer is a newer DA or if it was a Campy.

There was a roll out, everyone went, everyone passed.

I'm wondering if it wasn't the local kid (I never, ever recognize him on the bike) who normally runs a 12T on the back. It would explain why he was so far back in the sprint, if I slapped on a wheel with a 14T.

Looking at shots of the race I took I think he was running a 12T. This is him when he was trying to get the lap that his break mate already got:


Picture of the wheel I grabbed (laying on the grass). It had a Campy-like skewer.


He (ahem) "chased back on" but yeah, they were going 10-12 mph.

shovelhd

Wasn't my wheel as mine are in the grass in the picture.

carpediemracing 

I grabbed the rear wheel from the grass, only picture I have of the wheels before I grabbed them. THe next lap the kid flatted, I grabbed the wheel, sent him on his way. Do you have a skewer that's black, has two sides that go into the skewer head on both sides (sort of like an A-frame) instead of one lever that goes in one side?

shovelhd

No, then they were not my wheels. Mine are psimet with silver Zipp skewers. I have yet to see another set in the pits. Yesterday they had an 11/23. But they were in that general area to the left of the canopy and back off the edge of the grass. The way guys were attacking on the inside I didn't want them to get run over. It's a long pit lap so there's plenty of time to dismount

echappist

well done. that description of pouring asphalt out of a helicopter is exactly how Roubaix is described; certainly sounds as sketchy.

btw, how do you scarf down enough calories for such a long race?

furiousferret

Ontario Cat 5's....somewhere near the end #ovolegmemorialridefail

Probably my best race to date, even though I was pretty much last. Was in top 5 for most of the race, two laps to go I was second wheel, took off but it didn't stick. On the final lap, jumped on a guy making a break and by the time I realized he was blowing up the field just jumped past us. Didn't have the legs to keep up, still got some work to do. Got bumped twice on the elbow and once on the hip and stayed up, always a positive. First time I thought there was a legit chance to win, first time I wasn't out there as a tourist just wasting a slot.

mattm

@hack, nice job on 2nd!!

Wow that looks like one of the crappiest crit courses ever!

Nice dude! I totally would've been one of the poor souls otb in the first 10 mins, thus me not being there. Nice to see you're hanging well in the big(ger) league.

mike868y

race report - i'm so slow right now. so. damn. slow.

marginally less slow than last week, though.

save10

Fairgrounds Crit

Cat3's
field...small
result - 1st

small field, but enough for upgrade points. sat in until 7 laps to go/prime. counter attacked the prime, it didnt stick, but legs felt good. final lap...attacked with just over 1KM to go. never looked back, focused carrying as much speed into the final roundabout. braking as late as possible. held the lead and won by several bike lengths. I'm pretty good over 1KM but its hard to kilo away from 70 guys...but its doable against a small group


35 +3/4
field bigger than the E3's
result 5th

kinda just sat in until 3 laps to go. i attacked there. I was kinda being watched after the last race. but i figured if everyone was tired from having raced already i might be able to solo the final 3 laps. I didnt quite account for a guy who hadnt raced yet and when i had to back off a bit, he went over the top and got a nice 50m gap. I resumed chasing for the final 2 laps kept the distance even....almost closed him down, but ran out of gas heading into the sprint. i got passed by the guys behind me. cost myself an u pgrade point because most of the race was 3s. But my suicidal attack earned me ANOTHER hat. and per the race official...a standing ovation from hat distributor Jess Rafael. so that happened.


Re the course : I actually liked the course. if you could take the roundabouts smoothly you could save alot of energy. if not you were sprinting out of every corner. and i was pretty good at the u-turns.
also the area with the pitbull/low rider show smelled heavily of marijuana. and if it wasnt so windy it would have been a fog of BBQ smoke and marijuana down there. good times.