waterrockets 

+1 train in rain and race in rain. No problem.

gsteinb

Might be the image but it looks like there could be some dirt or something caught on that chain ring. Might want to clean it before riding it again.

rkwaki

Bwahahahahahahaha

Andy Somnifac 

I'll be sure to let him know.

echappist

you all are harder than i am. i'm the andy schleck of the 33, except without the climbing talent

hammy56

youre 6'1" 135 lbs?

the camera must add 25 lbs.

Walrus

Not an official race, but I went off the front solo for the win w/ 2.5 laps remaining during a local Thursday night practice crit!

Didn't mean for it to happen this way, but I saw my 2 targeted opponents in poor positioning coming out of a quick right-left section. So, coming out of the left, I put my head down on the long back stretch 3 laps out and no one came with me. Turned around, saw a 15second gap and buried myself the rest of the way. I blew up something serious 250m out and limped in for a ~5 bike length lead at the line.

It doesn't mean a whole lot, but the confidence boost was much needed after a shaky training week. (only getting in 1hr rides lately)

echappist

well done

johnybutts

Congrats Walrus! excellent job!

shovelhd

You never know until you try. Good job.

mattm

+1 nice!!

Walrus

Thanks guys. It was mostly 3/4 talent but a "W" always feels good.
I outsmarted the only other two cat 2s in the field (my "marked opponents") so that felt better than crossing the line alone.

I've been focusing on tactics lately due to my lack of training time and it's clear that far too many strong riders ignore cornering and positioning when training. Both of the 2s I beat today could slaughter me in a head to head TT, but rarely win a race.

vandalarchitect

You aren't helping to convince me to enter my first race(s) this weekend. Forecast is calling for sub 50 degree temps with a few showers and 20mph winds. Races are a 20K TT in the morning and an 11K (~1920 ft) hill climb in the afternoon.

TT is a pan flat out and back. Forecast says it would be a cross wind but being familiar with the canyon it's being held in says it will be a headwind either going out or coming back (tough to know for sure). I'm hoping for a headwind out and a tailwind back.

Hill climb course is nothing new to me, I've ridden it plenty of times to know it just hurts. Good news is that it will probably be a tailwind going up. Temps are typically 10 degrees cooler at the top but you're working hard enough by then you don't notice it ... unless the rain turns to snow or sleet.

vandalarchitect

I take this back. Double-checked google earth and it will most likely be a tailwind out and a headwind back if the forecast is correct ... still hoping for a headwind out and a tailwind back ... or for the forecast to be wrong and it to be sunny and 60 with no wind.

ShutUpLegs

Great race Walrus! Way to kill yourself!

grolby

Just as observation, but I've noticed that riders who have always been strong often don't develop their tactical sense very well. But of course being strong isn't necessarily sufficient, and not honing tactical skill means leaving victories on the table. As an example, look at a guy like Fabian Cancellara. Biggest engine in the peloton, yes he's won a lot, but he could be insanely dominant. But he rides like a complete dope, all legs, no head. He'll even wear out his companions in a chasing group by going too hard, killing the ability of anyone to help him chase. His record of chasing back late breaks is remarkably poor. He's my go-to example of how it can be helpful to have more than one trick. You can win with one trick, but you'll win more if you can diversify a bit.

johnybutts

Lago vista 3/4. Started with 100 peeps.

I identified the winnin break. Tried to bridge, got within 50m but died a million deaths. Back in the pack I sat recovering for 30 minutes and a bunch more people made it across. 13 in the break. Last lap 5 miles out I went solo otf. One dude bridged, took 2 pulls and died. Held off the field, hollow accomplishment, but I'll take it. 14th.

Lesson: stop trying to bridge too far by myself. A very important lesson indeed.

Thought of the day about 500m from the finish: "be quiet and pedal, you can breathe when you finish". I think of weird things in the pain cave.

grolby

LOL, me talking about winning.

beatlebee 

Cat 5 Crit: 5th place.

Monkeyclaw

But you're bang-on right. How many more times will I find myself closing on the eventual winner instead of dropping the eventual second-place finisher? I've been trying to concentrate on tactics more and strength less, and the results haven't been that great. Hopefully as I race more, I'll get smarter.

Virten

First C4 race...don't know what place I'm in till results come out (don't remember how many were in the break...that I wasn't a part of).

grwoolf

Lago vista 35+ 4/5's - 13th place (again)

Was in good position all day, just not enough pop at the end. The last climb had dropped most of the field by the end and I finished near the back of the lead group. I was in great position on the descent to the finish and coming up to the line, but lost all my positions in the last 75 meters. I like the course and finish, but I didn't have the fitness to make anything happen today. 13th place today. That's my 3rd 35+ race this year and I've gotten 13th in all 3 of them. My training volume is down about 50% this year compared to last and I have no base fitness, so I'm actually pretty happy with my season so far. Trying to race a little smarter to make up for my lack of fitness.

valygrl

Frostbite time trial, Mid-pack again, crap wattage, don't know what is going on my training plan isn't working.

Creatre

Greenville Spring Training Series Week 4 - Race 1

River Falls RR - Cat 3 (~5th/~35?)
- Course today is a 5.7 mile loop we do 9 times (~50 miles). Has a .6 mile 6% climb at the start/finish. Today my goal was to get as many omnium points as possible and make sure 3rd doesn't. I was sitting in 2nd for the 4 week omnium, and only 1 point out of first. It's cold and windy again today. We start and we start out pretty slow again. The first couple laps are people attacking, we gulf them up, then we slow down, then repeat the process.

The first few times up the climb we went at a solid pace and I just stayed up near the front of the group to make sure nothing got off the front. My legs felt like crap because I did a makeshift 5 day rest week and haven't had any intensity since last weekend. I wasn't supposed to race this weekend, but wanted to go for the Omnium win, so cut the rest week short. About halfway through the race, we hit the climb and I hammer out a solid pace. I string us all out in a serious way, and drop off a good bit of the back of the group. Mission accomplished for this lap (harder the race, easier for the strong people). I start seeing some strong moves go off the front, and I try to get in a few of them. I'm starting to notice I'm being marked in a serious way. The leader of the omnium has 3 teammates and he is sitting right on my wheel, with his teammates there playing back up. So, in other words, I'm not making it into any moves. I decide with a few laps to go to try to bridge up to a group off the front on the climb. I get a great gap on the climb, hammer it down the hill, but didn't drag along anyone with me and didn't want to get stuck in no mans land. Eventually some people get up to me, and I try to get us to rotate because the group is splintered, but no one is willing tow work (still marking me). Ho hum.

The last couple of laps there was a lot of attacking and people were starting to get some solid gaps. The peloton was basically stuck to my wheel and I was soft pedaling at 150w for like half a lap at one point. I did a lot of work in the last few laps, but I didn't want too many guys to get off the front. One group of 2 gets off the front, and they get a huge lead. At this point I consider them gone, and I was OK with 2 being gone. Another group of 2 get off the front and I start to get worried. Luckily, my nemesis (1st in omnium), has his team get on the front and they hammer it leading up to the climb. He launches about halfway up, and I followed. I didn't grab his wheel, (I didn't have the same punch he did) but was within 50m, and caught him on the downhill. One guy was also able to follow. We had a huge gap, and we went for it. Unfortunately, only me and the lone guy were able to rotate, first in the omnium was bummed I followed so wasn't willing to do any work. Whatever. I chat with the other guy and tell him to ignore him and lets just rotate. We are really going hard, my HR was in the upper 180s, lower 190s, and I didn't even want to know the power I was putting out. Even in the draft I was hurting because of the wind, and never could find quite the draft I wanted.

One guy bridged across about the middle of the lap. Luckily for me it was a friend of mine, and he really helped us survive (along with giving me a little bit of a breather). Finally we make contact with the 2 guys that were in between us and the 2 leaders. One of those guys blows up, and the other joins with us (we have 5 in the group now). We start rotating him in, and it looks like we might have a chance of surviving. We rotate well to the bottom of the climb, when my buddy does a strong pull. Someone shouts that the peloton is right behind us. We take a glance, and yup there they are, dunno how. Unfortunately my buddy blows up a little and can't keep the pace. The other guy in the break we caught blows up hard too, so it's just our little break of 3 left. I hit the pedal to the metal near the of the climb, and just do a 2min interval, praying I'll pop at least one of the guys with my hard pace but will allow us to survive over the peloton. I had popped the whole group a couple times on the climb, so I figured it had a chance. That strategy didn't quite work on these guys, they were too strong, and my pace after basically a threshold interval of 15mins was not quite enough. At the top of the climb, they sprinted around me and I was totally fried and let them go, and rolled in for 5th. (2 guys from my break that came around me, and the 2 guys that were in the break in front of us that survived).

Good news is the guy that was 1st in the omnium finished 4th, so only gained one point on me. Now I'm still in 2nd, only two points down. Still very much have a chance of grabbing the win in the last race tomorrow. 3rd place is 10 points behind me, so he'd have to win tomorrow and I'd have to be outside the top 10. I think I should have at least 2nd secured. Looking forward to the last race tomorrow!

beatlebee 

great job!