Road Bike Racing - Fat, Slow, and in need of 3 seconds. Green Mountain Stage Race.

The prologue was, by far, the best chance of me seeing yellow, as I'm a hair overweight.

Results? I'm in third place. The mega-lightweight climber, who hasn't seen the stages suited for him (tomorrow and Sunday) is in first, three seconds ahead.

F.
F.
F.
F.
F.


So now I need to go for some time bonuses; I sincerely doubt I'll be able to drop the guy in the lead. In fact, he'll probably be able to drop me pretty handily.

F.

Tomorrow is a circuit, maybe a 600 ft hill in the middle. There's a sprint (I'm terrible at sprinting) bonus worth 8 seconds, after an extended downhill. There's a final bonus worth 15 seconds for the win.

Any advice, other than the obvious?

Watch American Flyers and follow David's strategy. If I understand the movie correctly, a training montage involving a cowboy hat, wheelies, a van and Rae Dawn Chong should help as well.

Hope this advice helps; best of luck.

^^brilliant.

a van and Rae Dawn Chong

Wait, do I even need the stage race any more?

Wait, do I even need the stage race any more?

depends on which version you get.

http://www.lovefilm.com/lovefilm/images/products/0/67220-large.jpg

Nice. RDC on a Friday afternoon....

:beer:

bonus worth 8 seconds, after an extended downhill.

This is where you can put excess lbs to good use.

What class?

Tomorrow is a circuit, maybe a 600 ft hill in the middle. There's a sprint (I'm terrible at sprinting) bonus worth 8 seconds, after an extended downhill. There's a final bonus worth 15 seconds for the win.

That seems like a pretty big hill in a circuit race. How long is the circuit and how many laps of it do you do?

I'd make that climber play his cards, but it will possibly turn into an all-or-nothing for you. Attack...

Nice work to this point though.

First, decide if you are going for:
-1st on GC
-a top GC spot
-or a stage win

Once you have your goal, then figure the best tactics.

What class?

<cough>Cat 4.</cough>


That seems like a pretty big hill in a circuit race. How long is the circuit and how many laps of it do you do?

4's only do two circuits, I think the grand total is 64 miles. I'd call that a RR, but the GMSR calls it a circuit.




I'd make that climber play his cards, but it will possibly turn into an all-or-nothing for you. Attack...

Indeed. I'm considering something along these lines. There's four of us in the top 15 seconds or so, and then there's a 15 second gap or so. So I think it's guaranteed that one of the four of us is in yellow tomorrow night.



First, decide if you are going for:
-1st on GC
-a top GC spot
-or a stage win

Once you have your goal, then figure the best tactics.

Stage wins are definitely not the priority, at least not the non-prologue stages... honestly I'd be happy just being in yellow for one day. The way this race is set up, though, I'd need to have one of my best races ever to take away the jersey tomorrow.

Sunday is a pure climber's race.

Monday is a crit, allegedly a technical one. If I'm going for the GC win I would want to have the lead by that point; my bet is, sans crashes, the leader going into the crit will win the GC.


Hmmm....

<cough>Cat 4.</cough>


sans crashes, the leader going into the crit will win the GC.


Hmmm....

;)








Just giving you s**t...

Oh, sorry, I read "Fat, Slow, and in need of 3 seconds..." and thought Pcad was back from Greece.

I thought Penguin was racing this event? Where'd he go?!

How did you like the ascent of the appalachian gap on stage 2? :thumb:

Well? We are waiting...

http://www.gmsr.info/results.php

That gets us through stage 2 at the moment. We're not that patient.

Well...8th overall through stage 2. (That gets a :thumb: in my book)

were you in the 4a or 4b field?

That gets us through stage 2 at the moment. We're not that patient.

I think most of the results after stage 2 will stand as the final stage (3) is a crit...unless there is a crash :cry:

I rode the citizens race (stage 3) which ended in a tough climb up the Appalachian Gap which is a consistent 15% in places with the last 500m at 18%.

I remember coming up to the last couple of switchbacks thinking what are all those people doing up there on that mountain top!.....then thinking holy sh*t
:twitchy:

So 8th for a non climber is pretty sweet, congrats!

My teammate won the opening TT in the 3's, then had a flat on day 2 and the whole field just rode away from him...
Classy. :mad:

He won the crit anyway. Still, winning the overall would have been good.

My teammate won the opening TT in the 3's, then had a flat on day 2 and the whole field just rode away from him...
Classy. :mad:

He won the crit anyway. Still, winning the overall would have been good.

Is it really policy for the group to sit around and wait for a guy with a flat? My impression is that that's racing. If he'd had teammates they could have waited and pulled him up.

Is it really policy for the group to sit around and wait for a guy with a flat? My impression is that that's racing. If he'd had teammates they could have waited and pulled him up.

No

Nope. Would have been good to have a teammate on hand to grab a wheel from, though.

Personally I would not ride away from the guy in the leaders jersey near the very start of a long stage.

Would have been nice to have a teammate indeed, but I'm a couple thousand miles away and in the wrong category.

Personally I would not ride away from the guy in the leaders jersey near the very start of a long stage.

Did they intentionally up the pace to drop him? If not, then I'd say their actions were fair. You can't expect the entire field to stop (or slow to a crawl) just because the leader got a flat and has no teammates to help him.

What, exactly, was the field's reaction (if any)?

I wasn't there, but he said a couple guys saw him pull over and hit the front. He's a very strong TTer (won the prologue handily and the crit with a very strong solo move) so I can't imagine that he would not get back on if the pack just continued on cruise control.

I'm just glad he won the 2 stages he did so I'll have a teammate in the 2's next season :)

Quick update:

Prologue: 3rd overall
Stage 1: I was a marked man; trying to go OTF (with no teammates blocking) got me immediately chased down. 'Guy swerved into me' towards the end of the race. Don't know why. Went down. Taco'd the wheel and busted up the rear derailler. SRAM neutral support got me back together in a reasonable configuration, finished a minute or two behind the pack, but got 'credit' for finishing with the pack.
Stage 2: About 60 miles into the 78 mile race, my buggered-up rear derailler failed me. No support, I got off and mucked with it for a minute. Chased back on (perhaps too hard?)... I was beat for the final hill, and those skinny young guys really put it to me. Eight overall.
Stage 3: Just hung out at the back. Finished. Collected my $75 for a total of $95 for the weekend.