furiousferret

UCLA Road Race, 4-5 30+
12/18

My power numbers weren't there today, down a ton. Right leg (note balance below) is having some issues of late, so I thought it may not be my day. Granted, its a hard race, 3 laps with a tough climb in each, and past the second lap the field was shattered. Basically 80% was a solo sufferfest.

The only real memorable thing was dropping an f bomb when 3 riders warming up blocked the course, and was tempted to report a collegiate rider. Him and another rider jumped on my wheel (I was on the shoulders edge) then passed. First guy says, 'thanks for the wheel' (illegal, but whatever) second guy in a Stanford kit blows up saying, 'Its not your race, get off the course.' Not sure what he meant but he was the one violating the rules! At the end of the day, I'm not going be that guy.

Total time: 2:17:58
Duration: 2:13:20 (97%)
Moving time: 2:13:20 (97%)
Distance: 37.7mi
Climbing: 4688ft
Work: 1347kJ
Left/right balance: 59/41%
Power 168W

aaronmcd

Valley of the Sun stage two, in which I discover what another 14 mile TT feels like in the middle of a 78 mile race.

78 mile road race, tailwind, head/cross wind, head/cross wind, anaerobic climb (finish at the false flat top), 38 mph descent, repeat 4 more times.

Just after making a selection over the climb at the end of lap 2, I hit a rock or pothole or something and flatted instantly. Swapped wheel and chased for 14 miles. Luckily another guy who flatted right after me picked up a couple guys and caught me. We dropped the other 2 and caught the peloton just a couple minutes from the climb. Managed to hang on over the top and focused on recovering the rest of the race. The effort ended up taking too much out of me and the lead group started pulling away halfway up the final climb. Gave it one last effort but nothing. Sprinted against myself for the finish. I'm guessing my place was around 30th or so out of 70.

And someone misplaced my wheel, hope it turns up at the crit. That s*** is expensive.

aaronmcd

Oh yeah, last night I caught myself telling my brother I've never flatted in a race. As soon as I heard it come out of my mouth I realized I've never spoke of that before and I just jinxed myself.

I don't believe in that crap, but whaddya know, I flat the next day.

nokia8860

Folsom Winter Crit M35+5
10th meh.

What I'm most proud of today is on the last lap my buddy wanted to make his move so we went for it as the bell rang and I followed behind. After the first turn I noticed we stopped accelerating and started to loose speed. I quickly got in front and pulled him around the course. As we finished the last corner and my lungs burning, he launched from behind me and sprinted and finished 2nd.

I remember watching him cross and I yelled out his name. Man that felt good watching him cross and then get up on the podium. Man, that felt good.

aaronmcd

^ nice leadout!

aaronmcd

Wheel turned up, I guess a non-racer grabbed it without knowing it was the wrong one.

caloso

Folsom Winter Crit M3/4 and 45+1/2/3. In the 3/4 race, I worked for a teammate who has been having excellent early season form. Tried to stay up front and either get in a break myself or, if that didn't work, try to keep things together. Didn't get in a break, managed to keep things together with the help of a couple other teammates, and we took 1st and 3d. That was fun.

In the 45+, it was purely for fitness and my only goal was to finish with the main group. Managed that, and consider it a very good day.

beatlebee 

great! @caloso

hack

BP Crits (Folsom):

3/4 35+: 7th of like 65??
Tried to get something going early, but no one was really interested in either break attempt, so I sat in and waited for a field sprint. Jumped on another team's sprint train (they were very vocal in letting each other know they were "there"). There was some breaking and I ended shooting back from 5th wheel to 15th out of the turn. Took the long sprint route to the finish for 7th.

E3: Pack finish.

Goal was to lead teammate out to the last turn. In the first lap, two guys got away and I bridged across on the second lap taking a prime in the process and one of the break-ees bailed out. Two more guys ultimately came across and the four of us worked well together and built a 20-30s gap. Took another prime somewhere in there. I started to run out of fumes and the field was gaining on us 20 min in, so I sat up and recovered in the field. Another rider in the break did the same and two from the field jumped across to keep the break going. One more from the break fell off, but the three remaining drilled it and stayed away through the end. I linked up with my teammate with 1.5 to go. With 1 to go started to move him up and then drilled it up the gutter getting him to the corner third wheel. I thought he'd come around my right, but he went left and we bumped a bit. He still got a solid jump and took second in the field sprint for 5th.

E 2/3: Pack

Hold on for dear life. Started cramping 45 minutes in, so just sheltered for the next 15 minutes to roll in with the field. Teammate finished 8th or so.

hack

Your guys did great. I was bummed to get held up in that last corner!! Also, think I almost slammed into you with like 2 to go

Doge

VOS 17-18
The good news is I got to support in the Optum SUV and talk on the radio a lot - I was very busy. The other good is we think we still have GC and a forum poster introduced himself. We laughed a bit about how I annoy people. Daniel had mid pack wheel issue (hit or something - not sure) shouting "Don't hit me!", stops fixes and the turds attacked when he stopped - so bad for him. I think he finished OK, but certainly lost his 2nd place by a lot. Maybe 10 riders left the road due to wind and to many riders in a lane. Actually an east coast big name rider just road off the road and got banged up. I really want to post the videos of all those in the dirt - but better everyone keep their secrets on this. It was a really messed up day. No injuries on our side and only 2-3 minor for the field.

For some reason they started the Cat 3s 10 min ahead of the 17-18 - that caused some issues and a lot of referee scolding of the Cat 3s for mixing in.
Fun day if it didn't suck so much.

caloso

Sorry my fault, I'm sure. First race of the year. Bike handling is pretty rusty.

I am impressed you did 3 races. The back to back was tough.

hack

Nah ... just racing. I just remember thinking "oh ****, there's caloso and I'm gonna hit him".

Third race sucked, each race was progressively more challenging and I was more fatigued for each. Recipe for pain. Back to back is serious too, especially with the field that came out for the 45 123s.

mattm

sounds hard - nice job chasing back on!

Yep

He flatted again?? Say it ain't so.

mattm

Folsom "Winter" Crit p/1/2 - meh, but a teammate made the winning break.

My legs were surprisingly sore after running a few miles yesterday, go figure. That didn't seem to hold me back, tactics did.

Plan was for the other 3 guys on my team to be active early on, and I would (try to) take over later. That partially worked out, but I ended up being more active than planned earlier than planned.

But one of our guys got into the winning move about 30 mins in; only he cramped on the last lap, ended up 6th out of 6 in the break. So it goes. Hard to watch the break go away but at least when you have a guy in it you have to trust it'll work out!

The rest of us sprinted for like 15th, just because. I got 18th.. bleh.

But besides the sadness of my racing nobody crashed, my gf had a good time, and the weather was awesome. We stopped by the Jelly Belly outlet store on the way home, I think my blood is about 45% sugar at this point.

nokia8860

@aaronmcd thanks and glad you found your wheel!

aaronmcd

Valley of the Sun third and final stage, in which I discover the difference between a local cat 4 crit, and a large cat 3 crit with most guys traveling from out of state.

It was obvious most guys were in shape and ready for this. 7 corner figure 8, 27.4 mph (but it felt faster). Wide enough roads but still very hard to move up.

Started 2nd row, took a few laps to get to the front and attack. One guy followed and the gap lasted for maybe a corner or two before we were swallowed by the rushing river of cyclists.

Spent the rest of the race trying to stay near the front and just couldn't manage it. 26th in the crit, 26th in GC, 4:16 back, and around 1:45 out of the points, which would have taken an extra mph in the TT and no flats in the road race.

Still an awesome fun experience!

furiousferret

Still pretty damn impressive @aaronmcd for your first 3's race. VOS has to be chock full of riders with Cat 1/2 talent.

revchuck 

+1! Damn good work, Aaron!

shovelhd

A figure 8 at 27.5 is serious business. Good job.

aaronmcd

I checked the license numbers - mine was the second highest of the entire field.

aaronmcd

The fastest crit I've done before was 27 and only 4 corners. We must have been doing 30 on all the straights today. Just attacking at all took a serious effort (as it should in theory, but never does in cat 4), but forget about trying to hold any gap!

Hermes

@aaronmcd Congrats on your first stage race as a Cat 3. It sounds like you did very well and had a great time.

Ygduf

Pine Flat RR - m123

2nd of 12.

Tiny field = teammate and I doing punch/counterpunch for the first 20 miles. Eventually I get away with another rider who has 2 teammates back in the field. I figure we're golden, except he turns out to be not that strong. 4-5min later we're about to be caught and he say "we're caught, ease up."

He does, I attack the hardest I attacked all race and solo away. 20-min descent 10min into my solo break so I knew I could rest. I actually railed the descent well (set a PR solo despite having been down the relatively shallow descent in big packs before) and at the bottom snuck a glance over my shoulder.

Out of sight, out of mind. Roughly 30 miles to a 15-20min climb to a 5 min descent to a 1k steep (like 10%) finish hill so I put my head down and settled in for the long haul. I make it the 8 miles of straight farm road to the first turn. Look back, still can't see anyone. Bury it after the turn over the first riser. Can't see them. Repeat as the rollers trend uphill to the climb outright. Starting to put people from detonated fields between me and my chasers now.

Make it to the climb still clear with no one in sight. 14 min into the climb I peak back and see some distinctive orange booties slowly coming up maybe 30s back. I'm so gassed I can't hold my teammate off and he catches me, but at least he was clear. 3rd place guy is now in sight too, maybe 15s back. My teammate crests about 7-8 seconds ahead of me, 3rd place is 7-8s behind me. Teammate eases up and I catch his wheel and pull through, not giving 3rd place guy any hope.

Teammate and I work the descent well. I was solo for 35 miles or so but instantly feel 100% better after getting 30s of rest behind his pull on the mild downhill. We rotate hard 20s pulls and begin the final climb again totally clear.

Told him I owed him one from the Hillclimb I won with his help on Thanksgiving. He takes off with a kick I couldn't have matched anyway and wins solo, maybe 15s up on me. I cross and then 3rd place rolls in 45s later.

Small field and I told him he shouldn't have chased me, but in the end no-harm-no-foul.

Short race and tiny field with some cat 3s to water it down more = 2 points for me. Up now to 22, 2 from masters.


Best part of the race was the guy who got 3rd giving me tips as we were attacking/countering, telling me (while sweating in 55f) that if I wanted to make a break stick I had to work it harder than we were. I told him "thanks for the tips, you should lead by example. No but really these are just body blows; the fight starts when people are tired." Nice guy and while waiting for results we chatted and he admitted that as I got away and then Stefano got away from him he regretted talking ****. Good times.