tmiller9909

Wheels on Willy. 5-16-10. 4/5.

Hometown race for my club. We have 5 guys. Myself (doing well this year), one teamate I know is strong, and a couple I don't know (new to the club). At least some of the team were ready and willing to help me today so that was nice going in.

A few laps in, strong teamate was off the front and got pulled in. 2 Juniors from 2 different teams roll of the front smoothly. I think I recognized them as 2/3 of the break that stuck a week ago. The course was a 4 corner rectangle with one of the long sides uphill, then downhill on the next short side. The juniors are pulling off the front. Smoothly, but they are opening a gap fast. On the uphill stretch I see a rider I know from another team launching an attack to bridge up and I shoot over to his wheel. Right after he passes the front riders he sits up and pulls off... Decided not to try?

I kept going and shot out of the pack. Got a small gap around the corner at the top of the hill. Accelerated hard down the short downhill stretch and fast through the next corner. I pulled hard and caught the juniors after half a lap. The three of us worked well together but we were dangling off the front. Three times I decided we would get caught and stopped pulling. After a while we'd pull further off and I'd decide to work again. We kept riding at a steady pace and eventually the gap increased.. At some point a 4th rider bridged up. A big guy. He soft pedals a pull or two. Ok, he just bridged.... He continued soft-pedaling on the front and I encourage him.. no help.. So either this guy has nothing or he's going to take the sprint. I'd be happy with top 4 anyways. A little while later, I asked one of the others in the break if he wanted to try to drop the big guy. I don't think he heard me, and I didn't ask again. I wasn't really thinking about trying to attack these guys and I just sat in and had fun (big crowds at this race compared to normal).. Last lap comes around. I was sitting front riding pretty easy - probably low end of tempo. At the start of the back stretch one of the juniors goes full bore. The other two were right on his wheel. I jumped but a gap opened. 5 meters... 10.... 20.... GO!!!!

I half sprinted the entire back stretch, trying to catch up but not wanting to blow my wad.. There were 2 corners and then half of the next stretch to the finish.. I get within 5 meters of the third wheel by the last corner. The first 2 have started sprinting, big guy in front, and I'm pretty certain I'm racing for third. I squeezed by the attacker to take third.



Hartland Crit. 5-22-10. 4/5

100% flat course. Wide road. Smooth. Only 2 real turns - 90 degrees. wide. oh great - this is going to be boring...

I was 100% rested and felt like a million bucks that morning. Race starts and it's a moderate pace.. People are shifty and nervous.. No one's willing to push it.. 5 or 10 minutes in someone tries a half-hearted attack and is back in half a lap. The pace was getting slower and slower as it went on. I kept my nose out of the wind 100% of the time.

About 20 minutes in, and older looking guy tries a real attack. A full-on jump. He opens a gap right away but then seems to hit a wall. After a lap he's back. I start worrying about bunch sprinting, expecting that we'll be 10 wide going into the last few hundred meters. I don't like that idea... I start scheming about when I should attack. It will have to be during the last lap. I expect many others are thinking about the same thing.

Laps roll by and it is the most boring race of the season. With 2 left My teammate asks if I want him to push the pace. I tell him no. I'm going to attack with 1/2 a lap. Follow the wheels and pick some off...

Last lap... Going down the back stretch we are slow and about 6 wide, I'm second wheel. Next to me is a friend from another team. A 15 year old named Pete. I say "wanna have a go with me? I'm going now" He moves over for me to make sure there's a whole, and I jump with everything I've got.

I pulled away from the pack knowing that there would be at least a couple guys on my wheel, and probably the entire pack strung out single file with small gaps opening here and there. 100 meters into my attack and I'm approaching the last 90 degree turn. It feels like I'm going into the turn twice as fast as we ever went during the race. I take a look over my shoulder while I'm exiting the turn and see I have a big gap. 30-40 meters? There is no one on my wheel. I'm going to win!

Out of that corner I still had 500 or more meters to go. As soon as I could I jumped out of the saddle and back into my sprint. Probably 50 times this year I've practiced this kind of long sprint. Every time it hurts a lot. This time it doesn't hurt at all. After a couple hundred meters I look back again. The gap is bigger. Maybe 75 meters. With that gap I was sure I had it, so all that was left was sprinting the rest of the way. Approaching the line I hear people cheering. I wonder to myself if they are cheering for me, or for people who are about to catch me. 30 meters from the line I take a half-look to the side and don't see any one. I sit up and coast through the line. I think bunch finished a few seconds behind. First win for me. Perfect timing. I was very surprised that I was on my own there. I had tried the same thing a few weeks ago and in that case, others were able to catch my wheel, the pack got very strung out, and 3 guys passed me in the sprint. I was expecting this time that 5-10 other guys had the same exact plan as me. Maybe I just jumped before they were planning to.

I ask Pete if he tried, or why he didn't come. Couldn't make the initial jump. Another guy tells me he tried as well but couldn't latch on. Behind, the pack got strung out and a gap formed after the first 4-5 guys. I think they were all back together for the field sprint.