Doge

Actually less USAC as they somewhat sponsor the whole thing and roles are accepted. I appreciate the lots sponsors and teams give, but I question if using team tactics is the best system for getting the best 23 year old racer.

I think racers need to develop their race craft before introducing team racing. They also need teammates of similar ability and to have fun, other teams of similar ability. That is very tough to get in amateur cycling.

Doge

I'm an outcast. The crooked old man who doesn't race standing at the city gate.

hack

How do they do it in Europe?

Thought you were TT'ing?

Doge

It depends on the trip and race/s. Answering for USAC 17-18 (and some 15-16)They tend to pick riders in a mix of 18 and 17 so they have talent for the following year.
Most if not all the 15-16 races are single day. Most the 17-18s are stage races. Generally they are targeting stage race wins for the 18 year olds. If the 17 year old is Adrian Costa it is different. Bandon may be different too. Tomorrow Brandon leaves as a 17 year old and he'll be on the team with Adrian. Most stage races put the TT first stage and the winner is usually who they ride for. Brandon can beat Adrian - should be interesting.

Paris-Roubaix is special. Its single day and is as much a survival race as any. The directions were everyone for themselves.

I'm "training"...not racing, lost 10#, lots to go. I said I'll win a specific 55+ race and if it gets out - I won't win cause someone here will come beat me. I'm not really a racer but I still put out more power than junior :-)

hack

Sorry ... was wondering if the Euro teams do it the same way the US team does (either in the US or Europe).

Also, I assume you'll do some practice TTs before your big race, no? Good work on the training, too.

Doge

From the bit I saw, no team stuff pre U17. Certainly some in the nation's cup races. Paris Roubaix Netherlands went 1,2 but went from start. Prior year 1,2 DNF. I don't know amateur over 18.

aaronmcd

Just random anecdote. Team stuff is fun... my first 1/2/3 race as a cat 3 I had just finished the 3/4 race, and just asked what the plan was. I had no intention of doing well. We had a bunch of guys so plan was chase everything down for 10 or 15 minutes til we got our designated guy in the break and then let them go. Easy enough. I had fun chasing everything like mad for the first 6 or 7 minutes, drifted back, the break went and our guy was in it so we all sat on. He finished 4th or 5th, but still it was fun to have a team an and execute. Sometimes I race for upgrade points, sometimes just to have a blast!

aaronmcd

And sat 3rd wheel for the pack sprint and led out another teammate for that. He didn't win it but was in the mix, 2nd or 3rd. No results for me (maybe 9th or so), yet a memorable race.

tetonrider

is there a difference? i guess if one is racing for points, expressly, then there is the potential to be disappointed.

globecanvas

Joppenbergh hill climb TT. Pretty good turnout, 3 competitors overall. Finished 1st out of 1 in the Masters. My kids took 1st and 2nd out of 2 in the under-12. Ice cream payout was 2 deep.

furiousferret

The canvas family dominating.

revchuck 

Edonis13

Golden State Crit - E5's - 5th/26

We had 4 team mates in the field and our goal was to attack and counter attack to make people chase us and keep the pace high. 2 of us did most of the attacking and it it wore us down pretty fast. I sat in for the last half a dozen laps to recover a bit and wait for the final lap. We got organized and in a great position to form a lead out train but inexperience, questionable communication, and poor timing made it all fall apart. A rider solo'd from about half a lap out and took the win. I went onto the finishing straight in 4th and had absolutely nothing left in the tank. I couldn't even get out of the saddle so I just mashed for all I was worth and gave up one position about 100m from the line. It was fun. I got to play around off the front a few times and got some experience gauging the gap. We will probably play the circuit race tomorrow a bit differently.

My fiancee got 5th in her Cat 4 race today too.

Ygduf

not last.

cat's hill 35/45 123

Edonis13

I just watched my video and discovered that the guy that solo'd half a lap to win used my team mate as his lead out. Ugh. Such is Cat 5 racing I suppose.

furiousferret

Good work @Edonis13

Way to hang in there @Ygduf

Ygduf

There is no race worse for me than this one. I was dangling the entire time on the back, determined to stick on as long as Larry Nolan. Larry is 58 and injured...

hack

Golden State Race Series. Crit day. Meh ... blah racing on my end. Haven't raced in a month and a half and haven't done a crit in two months. Fitness was good, but race skills were bad.

E3. Pack.

Tried to get in a few moves early by either jumping out or bridging across to existing moves. Nothing stuck, so I sat in waiting for the sprint. Not a lot of speed going into the last lap and I gave up a lot of wheels in the final turns and sat out of the sprint since I'd be rolling in10th at best.

35+ 123. Pack.

Much faster, but much smoother than the 3's. Dug it. Nothing was getting away, so I settled in the pack and rolled along. Took to the front for one lap just to do it and settled back into the pack. Never got myself into a position to do anything of value or place well and came in with the pack. Chatted a bit during the race with a teammate of fudgy and matt, seemed like a good dude (John).

All in all a weak showing. Fitness was great, but race acuity was poor. Gave up a lot of wheels on turns and wasn't putting myself in a position to do well toward the end of either race.

mattm

Cat's Hill p/1/2 - I FINISHED!!

That's a big deal (for me), since I DNF'd the last two years.. only lasted 15 mins in 2013, 45 in 2015. Lasted the full 75 mins this year.

I seriously debated even trying the race since it's gone so bad for me in the past, but I'm glad I tried.

Felt relatively comfy the whole time - only issue was a weird mystery brake rub-sensation up the 23% hill each lap.. no evident break rubbing when I checked after the race, go figure.

Also, oddly Holloway didn't actually win. Maybe he's tired from cleaning up at SpeedWeek.

mattm

Yeah John is a good guy.

Racing 1/2/3's tomorrow? I'll be there.

caloso

Golden State E3, same as Hack. My job was to attack or chase and counter early. Gave it all I had but I shot my wad. Thought I was going to vomit up my breakfast. Got dropped with 5 to go, got pulled. That hasn't happened in a long time. Also we failed to get our guy on the podium despite having a ton of guys in the race . Poor communication at the end. Very disappointed.

Better result in the 45+. Stomach settled and I had the same role. Eventually we got our guy into the break. Then it was much easier.

hack

Seemed like a nice guy. We were talking crashes and concussions during the race (I'm sure that thrilled others around us). I bailed out of the P123 today to save some legs for it tomorrow. We should have some more guys out tomorrow since we had a handful at Cats Hill.

UmneyDurak

Golden State, second race of the season.

Pack skills got a bit rusty since last year, but came back once race has started. Sat in for the race. The pace wasn't overly high, but I could tell high end is just not there from being sick on/off since January. Was near the front going in to final turn, when there was a pile up right in front of me. One guy binned it hard on my left, and watching replay there was a guy going over the handle bars on my right. Managed to squeeze between two bikes, with one bouncing of my wheel. Chased down the pack, and caught up on back side, but I payed for it. Legs were hurting and snap was gone. Rolled in 16th. bleh. Really ****ty start of the racing season so far. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

revchuck 

That power file hurts just to look at. Masters?

ShutUpLegs

Turkey Hill County Classic (PA State Champ Road Race) Cat 3 - 3rd!

So I came into this race confident, but not sure what would happen. My best friend got married friday, so thrusday and friday involved lots of drinking and little sleep! But I was on a rest week as far as my training went so my legs were feeling good. The course itself was 8 laps on rolling terrain w/ the last lap up Gamber Wall, which is a short but very very steep climb. I had 3 other teammates and plan was to try to get away after about 3 laps or so.

One guy went up the road on lap 2 by himself. I knew he was a strong rider, but on this course I figured he would come back at some point, well we never saw him again. Any attempts to break from the group were always shut down. If there was more than 1 rider trying to go everyone wanted to join in on the party. With 3 to go teammates asked what I wanted to do and I made the decision we need to wait for the sprint. It was evident nothing was going to get away so it was better to save our energy for the end. Last lap there was a local team doing a lot of work and a rider for that team who is always a consistent rider and protected or their team really burning matches to try and break things up. Coming up to "the wall" I knew we needed to just keep position, it was impossible to win the race from here because the other side was a 40+mph downhill that was easy to catch back on if things got separated. Like clockwork riders blew their wad trying to attack on the wall and we caught them no problem 30 seconds later.

After the descent a rider slipped off the front, he's a great time trialist and a lot of us didn't even realize he made the move. We came around the last corner to the finishing stretch of road which has 3 rollers like steps immediately after each other. The last one being about 1k or a little more from the finish. I moved up to get in great position on the riders wheel from previously mentioned local team. His teammate went on the 2nd roller to lead him out and I stuck right on his wheel. I was sitting 3rd wheel, but I saw them fading fast. At this point I knew I was to far out, but at that moment my teammate came up the side and lead me perfectly into the 3rd roller. Right before the top he was cooked and I attacked. I caught everyone off guard, put my head down and drilled it to the finish. Probably the hardest ~3 minutes of my life. I was crossed eyed at the line and finished for 3rd ahead of the group and closed to within 10 sec of the 2 up the road.