mattm

Can I post a threesome on here?

j/k it's not that exciting, just silly. I'll post it.

jmikami

masters 3/4 crit 1st of 41 - hammer velo crit at Swan island, Portland

No threesome for me, but I had a teammate and we went in with a plan. Our goal was to either get him in a break or lead him out if it came down to a sprint since he has been leading me out lately. The first half of the race he was an animal and took 2 of 4 primes, just missing his third with a photo finish. I figured I had sat back long enough and went to the front just as the bell was ringing and lucked into a perfect leadout to snag a prime myself.

As no group had made it more than 5 seconds off the front by this point we both figured there was no shot at a break winning so I mentioned that we should rest up for the sprint. For my teammate that meant go for, and win another prime. Not sure what he ate this morning, but I should copy whatever he is doing tomorrow.

I finally found him with 4 laps to go and asked him to just stay on my wheel. That worked well until the bell when as usual things got a little dicey. I had us on the inside line figuring we could accelerate after the corners as everyone else drifted wide ... which worked perfect and we moved up from around 20th to 10th after the first corner and then from 10th to 4th after the second corner. At this point the group was drifting back on top of us, so I cut through a gap to go outside for the final soft corner to the finish. I did not want to get boxed in for the final corner, it was wide and full speed so no need to be on the inside ... other than a shorter line.

That was the end of my teammate however as he didn't make it through and got caught on the inside. With only about 400 meters left I didn't really have much of a choice and just punched in before the final soft corner and kept wide hoping that his line would open up and he could snag a spot. I was able to hold off the new guys who found my wheel and my teammate eventually made it out of the box on the inside for 4th place, so 4 primes and a 1,4 finish made it a great race for us even if I lost my guy at 400 meters to go.

I finished with an average of 26.2 mph at 211 watts with 277 NP.

gsteinb

Yeah. He came over the my house for dinner last night.

shovelhd

Great job jmikami. Are these USAC races? Are you looking at an upgrade soon?

grolby

It's a good course, not super-hilly, but continuously rolling. Narrow, twisty roads. Fun. Recommended.

aaronmcd

The Bump Circuit Race, E3/4.
Dammit. Perfect course for me, several short hills per lap, 4x7.5 mile laps. Break was caught and guys were dropping like flies in the final miles, then about 2k to go the guy in front of me gets a mechanical and gaps me, and I have to burn through almost everything to catch up to the back of the lead group. Passed a few guys starting up the hill sprint and then held position for 9th of 33. Pretty sure I could have placed otherwise. At least another top ten counts toward upgrade if I can't get points haha.

Cat 4 race coming up, but really had to vent here on the bad luck before racing again!

save10

Bump circuit 35+3/4, OTB...baah....

The race was called the bump....as in one bump...but really there were multiple bumps i got spit out on the 2nd lap. I wasnt last. i rode back in reverse to the parking lot...the riders finishing after me got increasing larger in size. i really had no business being in that race. The schedule has some flat crits in a few weeks so thats good.

gsteinb

wilmington-whiteface RR

goal was to finish. ended up 9th

was with the break as it formed up the climb, but I was a spot not strong enough to play that game on a mile climb. we whittled the bunch down, but on the last time up the climb I cramped awfully. 7 mile roll back to the finishing climb had me and another guy actually chase back to the bunch. My best race was done though. I survived the 1.6 mile finishing climb. Was happy to gut it out. It was tempting to get off in the feed zone when I cramped.

revchuck 

Gary - For an avowed crit guy, 9th in a RR ain't too shabby.

gsteinb

Thanks

furiousferret

Ladera Ranch Criterium - DNF

The only positive is I wasn't one of the many that went down. Going into it I had stomach aches and just didn't feel quite right. Could have suffered through if it was slower but it wasn't. Mixed feelings about it; I suppose when you race eventually a day like this will happen. Right now I feel fine with the exception of my stomach which feels like Mike Tyson punched it.

agoodale

Ladera Ranch 35+ 3/4 - 6th

The race played out exactly how I thought it would go. The 2-3 guys who are strong enough to make a break stick didn't seem to have much in their legs today. It came down to a sprint and I jumped where I wanted but should have been 3-4 further up. The roads are very narrow and I couldn't get around a group of 4 safely before the very tight last turn. Still, very satisfied with the result. The season is coming together nicely.

aaronmcd

The Bump Circuit Race, second race E4
11/34

Again, I should have placed much better but I took a chance and tried a solo break instead.

Only 3 laps for cat 4. Started slow, stayed slow, so when the road turned to a slight incline for the last miles of lap 2 I went to the front and pushed the pace. It was a combination of me being bored with the pace, trying to energize the group to pick it up, and to see how strong the field was. The group fell back over the first kicker, came close but no contact, repeat times 3. I figured they must be either too tired or just complacent, so I rode away and got a pretty big gap by the bottom of the descent. Should have just drifted back and rested, knowing I could do well with the whole group at the finish. Instead the group chased me down on the flat section and caught me just before the incline started towards the finish - a dozen guys were dropped that lap.

Rested on the incline waiting for the first kicker but didn't have the top end left in me after the solo lap and a dozen guys got away. Tucked in behind a few stragglers as long as I dared (about a minute or less) and then chased. Passed a few guys that popped off the lead group and got 11th.

So... fun race, tried something new (solo break), but didn't get the results I think I could have gotten on that course had I stayed with the pack.

Ygduf

The Bump Circuit Race 2/3s - 1st/24

Weirdly only 3 laps for the later-in-the-day 2/3s race.

A great course for me, 24 miles and 2100ft of moderate climbing with lots of wind and heat and a small number of starters to limit the hiding.

Team had 4 guys and I advocated that we nail it from the ***. I went first and put in about 5 of the hardest minutes I've ever done just dragging the pack along, then my buddy countered, then I rested while getting pulled back, launched a counter immediately, then when I was pulled back @mattm launched a counter. Etc. After the first lap (only 7 miles!) we'd removed a lot of the group.

One of my counters worked and I ended up alone, maybe 20-30s up the road. I put in a huge TT effort making a small group of 5 guys chase up to me. Eventually I eased up, let them catch me, rode with them for most of the last lap and then attacked again about 2 miles out from the line (on a nice headwind 2-3-4% riser).

Crossed the line solo with about 30 seconds to spare. Super pumped, team rode like total bosses and placed all 4 of us in the top 10.

rankin116

24 miles? For a 2/3 race?

Doesn't change the result though, awesome!

shovelhd

Outstanding.

jsutkeepspining

Fort Cherry-3rd

ONe guy went early with a couple others, and stayed away. Coming into the final sprint i thought i was sprinting for like 10th place, and made up a lot fo ground but couldn't come around the guy who won the field sprint. Later found out only one guy was infront of us.

#jellolegs

Ygduf

It's a circuit race, so is what it is. Earlier fields did 4 laps. Wouldn't have changed the result, 31mi is still a short enough race to go balls-out. One more lap would have made it even easier, once we got the break established.

mattm

So rad.

The course was a lot "bumpier" than I remembered, so I was really glad you were able to do something useful with it!!

At this rate you'll be a cat 1 in no time.

globecanvas

That is a great result ygduf. Does it count for upgrade points?

[edit] If I'm reading Road Category Upgrade Guidelines - USA Cycling properly, it counts as if it were a crit, even though it was a circuit race.

Ygduf

Imma try and count it as a crit. Only 4 points. By the time I upgrade it will be 3 years old and no official is going to dig up how long it took us to race! It was just over 60 minutes, 17 cat 2s.

I dunno.

shovelhd

31 miles, over 60 minutes, 17 cat2's, 1st place, four points.

shovelhd

Colorado upgrades you to Cat1. They check everything.

TheKillerPenguin

True story, i wad denied my 2 upgrade because one of my races was 2 miles too short to count. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, yadda yadda.

Ygduf

With the crit chart, it says 30mi/60min. Is that either-or, or both? Certainly with some 60-minute crits you're not going to average 30mph.