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02-02-08, 11:21 PM
Well, I did my first cat 5 race of the season today, boulevard RR. (did two last year but only as a second race of the day and both crits)
The pace started out exactly like crash said, extremely slow, i dont think i pedaled for the first 5 miles or so ( ok not that bad, but it seemed like it). No one wanted to go the the front and work. So we roll through the first 10 miles or so of the course like this before we hit the fun part... the hill. It starts with a few short steep climbs to reshuffle the pack and then a quick downhill into another steep 50 yard hill and then you turn a corner into a two mile climb. This is where the pack splits, those who can hang and those who cant. Im still just sitting about 5th wheel watching whos pushing the pace and content to just hang on for now. After the crest of the hill it turns into some rollers for a few miles, and the pack regroups a little and the lead group is about 15 or so, down from 40ish at the start.
Finish the first lap and hit the downhill section again, and boom... all of a sudden no one wants to work. Still content to just sit in and we roll through the first 10 miles of the second lap at a recovery pace.
Now the race starts. Im sitting about 10th wheel, and i figure its time to up the pace a little. The short steep climb before the corner of the two mile i jump and open up about a 150 meter gap on the pack and quickly settle in to a good tempo. I look back and see 3 or 4 trying to bridge up, so i ease up a little to get a little pack going because i know the rollers are coming up. We get to the top of the climb and one guy goes to the front for almost all of the rollers. I was thinking, hes either Really Really strong, or Really Really stupid. Me and the other guy are content to just sit on his wheel. Coming into the final climb, it turns out he was really stupid and i attack, the guy that was on my wheel goes with me and counters as soon as i sit up a little. I jump on his wheel and with about 800 meters or so to go we've got ourselves a race. I swing wide with about 300 left and jump and he pulls over beside me and we grind it out to the finish. I was waiting for the final sprint, but he just sat up about 10 feet from the line as we were neck and neck and i roll across for 1st place.
The pace started out exactly like crash said, extremely slow, i dont think i pedaled for the first 5 miles or so ( ok not that bad, but it seemed like it). No one wanted to go the the front and work. So we roll through the first 10 miles or so of the course like this before we hit the fun part... the hill. It starts with a few short steep climbs to reshuffle the pack and then a quick downhill into another steep 50 yard hill and then you turn a corner into a two mile climb. This is where the pack splits, those who can hang and those who cant. Im still just sitting about 5th wheel watching whos pushing the pace and content to just hang on for now. After the crest of the hill it turns into some rollers for a few miles, and the pack regroups a little and the lead group is about 15 or so, down from 40ish at the start.
Finish the first lap and hit the downhill section again, and boom... all of a sudden no one wants to work. Still content to just sit in and we roll through the first 10 miles of the second lap at a recovery pace.
Now the race starts. Im sitting about 10th wheel, and i figure its time to up the pace a little. The short steep climb before the corner of the two mile i jump and open up about a 150 meter gap on the pack and quickly settle in to a good tempo. I look back and see 3 or 4 trying to bridge up, so i ease up a little to get a little pack going because i know the rollers are coming up. We get to the top of the climb and one guy goes to the front for almost all of the rollers. I was thinking, hes either Really Really strong, or Really Really stupid. Me and the other guy are content to just sit on his wheel. Coming into the final climb, it turns out he was really stupid and i attack, the guy that was on my wheel goes with me and counters as soon as i sit up a little. I jump on his wheel and with about 800 meters or so to go we've got ourselves a race. I swing wide with about 300 left and jump and he pulls over beside me and we grind it out to the finish. I was waiting for the final sprint, but he just sat up about 10 feet from the line as we were neck and neck and i roll across for 1st place.