Doge

Teammates Mathew and Adam went 1,2 in P1/2 Modesto Crit.
Junior is home, sick.

shovelhd

I was talking to a young man at the Kermis that knew your son. He raced with him on the collegiate circuit. He is in the SEC.

canuckbelle

Oh, I wanted to thank everyone for the feedback on my clip the other week on positioning and fighting for wheels. I put some of the tips into practice and they made a *massive* difference. I was far better at defending the wheel I was following, and was generally just more comfortable handling the pack.

rideaz

Congrats!! And best of luck tomorrow!

Wylde06

Did a 3.8 mile TT this morning, 10:01. Road race later in the afternoon..yeanotsomuch. Damned hill. I was feeling great until we hit the hill then BOOM.

And my quarq is screwed up now. It was raining before the road race..and during. I knew something was wrong when we were just rolling along in the neutral start and I was doing 1700 watts.

rideaz

My Quarq has problems every time it gets wet (not very often here thankfully) but I have to change the battery and dry out the battery housing.
And congrats on the TT and surviving the RR!

Wylde06

Definitely didn't survive the road race...I think I hit post before finishing my thought/post. Got dropped on the hill so hard. May as well have been riding backwards. Had no ambition to do 3 more laps on my own in the pouring rain so after one lap I called it. Went back to my teammates van and fell asleep waiting for him to finish the cat 3 race.

ShutUpLegs

Kitchen Road Crit @ T-Town 3/4 Race - 2nd

Race takes place in the Bob Rodale Fitness Park, which if you ever have a chance to do a race there I highly recommend it! One of my favorite course, wide open no turns, just sweeping curves and small steady grade hill halfway through the mile long course. It was a late 6pm start for us and bad thunderstorms were approaching, I wasn't even sure if they were going to have the race. I had 1 teammate and tried a couple times early to get in a break but nothing would stick. Sat in and waited for the sprint. My teammate gave me a great leadout as he was second wheel and me 3rd wheel coming around the last curve to the finish. I opened up and had the lead all the way to the line until another guy closed extremely fast. It was so close they could barely tell from the video. In the end he got me by a tire length. Happy with 2nd, but definitely bitter sweet as the whole way home I was playing it through in my head trying to figure out what I could have done better. But now only 2 points away from Cat 2 upgrade points.

Harlan

Got owned by tactics at Mystic Velo Saturday. One team had three guys, one went solo OTF and the other two slowed the field very effectively. Nobody wanted to play so it came down to a sprint for 2nd after a couple guys (myself included) failed to bridge. Pack finish.

Today we did Wells and it was really fun. The D (junior/women) race was merged with the C so the fiance hung with the pack while I hammered out 2 primes. A couple guys got organized. One went clear with 3 (maybe 2) to go and the other just sat on my wheel waiting for a move. I took it easy because the guy OTF didn't seem like he was gaining any ground. At the second to last or last corner another dude hops out front and closes the gap for us. Came down to a group sprint which I got 2nd in. The aforementioned dude who closed the gap got 1st, guy who sat on my wheel got 3rd.

Then we marshalled the B race, worked on some tan lines, got our entry fees back and got to watch a fun race.

I wasn't really sure what the best course of action was when that guy went. Should I have just followed him? He didn't seem that strong. It was weird being one of the stronger dudes in the bunch, that never happens.

KingShakes

Fox River Grove Cat 5
Course is 1.1 mile with a steep climb up a ski jump hill (21% max grade) Required 500 watts for a minute for me to make it up the climb and stay in the group each lap. Eventually got dropped and finished 7th, 1st guy OTB. I'm apparently not a climber at 78kg.

furiousferret

Torrance Criterium
Category 4
...

First race in 3 months. I always think I'm going to win every race (stop laughing) but this time I thought there was a chance if it came to a sprint. Aerobically I'm out of shape, and did a good job staying in the pack. There was a lot of debris out there and wheels were slipping but everyone stayed up. The corners weren't smooth and half the pack would brake. One lap to go I hitched a ride to the front, was in perfect position and allowed another racer to chop me going into a corner. That slow down cost me too many positions, and I just couldn't recover. Finished near the back where I got in a cussing match with another rider who kept trying to egg me on to pull him to the front..... if racing was easy it wouldn't be worth doing....gonna take more than a 1 month block to compete.

aaronmcd

Modesto Road Race E3 win!

They started us with the P/1/2 field, but picked separately. 8x9 mile laps, flatter than a pancake, but many turns and some strong wind. 2nd lap a group of 5 (I think) gets away and holds a steady 30-45 seconds. I go with a few bridge attempts, all reeled in. Coming into 2 to go, field slows, parts, and I find myself with a +5mph speed delta, and a wide open shot at 2 guys trying to start a bridge. 4 of us get away and hammer for a lap and make the catch. I'm the only E3 in the group, which is not working well together. I was afraid of a last minute catch after all that work, and figured I lose nothing if I put in my fair share and have nothing left to sprint (being the only 3 in break). Unfortunately that was a bad idea. I worked a bit too hard and wasn't able to respond to a few surges. Dropped. IAB solo mode commenced.

Almost able to keep my pace targets, looked back at 4 mi to go. Lux kid who was dropped as well, then chase group of 3 farther back. Decide to keep at it and see if I can beat them. Caught, no cat 3s in the group but I couldn't hang on. Gave me some motivation though and finished just behind them as they were slowing down for 8th place sprint games.

beatlebee 

^nice job!

Doge

Its another world. ToC an example. For a team you need to look at the whole season - shoot - the prior season to figure it out.

mattm

Good work dude!

When your bridge group went I thought you guys were doomed, but I was obviously wrong..

mattm

On jr gears no less.

I chased the break the last few laps, tried to lead out a team mate but he didn't play his cards right. Those LUX kids did.

Also I asked their dad/manager guy if he was "doggy" and he looked at me like I was crazy.

hack

Congrats @aaronmcd ... I like that race and bummed I missed it this year. 3 days of riding after 10 days of wicked illness didn't make me feel inspired enough to drive down.

lols

Doge

Thanks for that. Next time I'll find you.
I thought I had posted Daniel was sick, caught @hack ' cold and didn't go. Big bummer canceled weekend, rain in Tahoe and nothing went as planned - except that race. Had Daniel been there - that race would have likely ended the same. I had hopped the RR different.

BTW - that doggy dude was Roy Knickman, Olympian, Olympic coach and 7-11 pro that also road for Hinault.

shovelhd

Good job aaronmcd.

hack

Sorry to hear Daniel got sick. Hopefully not the same thing I had, but sounds like that stomach bug is making its West Coast rounds.

save10

congrats aaron.

Modesto RR 35+123s

Race Report - Sh*t sandwich.

canuckbelle

4th in the 3/4 Women's road race (55km) yesterday. A couple solo breaks tried to go away before one went after 9km, I bridged, and two more came after to form the winning break. I won the QOM climb midway through, but I was riding at/over threshold the whole time. The heat and the previous day's crit seemed to get to me. So it was a question of when I'd pop, not whether. I popped with 18km to go. I solo'd to 4th, staying ahead of the chasers. It was a pure sufferfest.

globecanvas

Great job aaronmcd, that's got to be satisfying.


Can I just say again how bizarre it looks to have random guys standing on the ground next to the podium? If you're going to call 4th and 5th place "podium", why not make podiums with 5 steps? Or just make a giant ziggurat and let everybody stand on it?

Grumpy McTrumpy

I have actually *made* a podium. I would not have wished to make one with 5 tiers.

revchuck 

Way to go, Aaron!