umd

I have more but I want to edit it down to illustrate my race report. I'll post another clip later.

Issaquatch

Nice job Ian (Hida), and nice chatting with you during the race.

I had an unspectacular result, but enjoyed the course. 9 races down. I need one more for my Cat 4 upgrade. Unfortunately I can't do the race tomorrow and I don't think there are any more sanctioned races in the area this year, so it looks like I'll have to wait until the spring. I will be out in Arizona in October though, so I might see if I can do a race there.

mattm

Yeah that's a fun course - but my 3's race got stopped two times! (due to a crash in the women's field)

Besides that it was a good race, Eric attacked about a million times, sounds like our team was aggressive as usual today.

I sat in the whole time then went off the front with 1 mile to go, got a nice gap, held it around the last two turns, but ran out of gas in the last 200m and got swarmed. Damn.

For a second there I thought I had it! But I can only do 194-198 bpm for so long - about 2 minutes in this case.. good times.

I might come out and watch your race tomorrow, then come back for mine later - either way good luck!!

Hida Yanra

Yeah - good to see you out!
There should be races out there as late as October - I'd go for it!

Hot D! Well done sir, that's fantastic, even if you didn't close it out in the end.... If you keep up your rate of improvement or even close to it, you'll be on the '2' squad by the end of next year!

CrimsonKarter21

It happens, better luck tomorrow!

bernside

Drove 3 hrs to the last race of my season. Dragged my flat-lander ass up and down 38 miles of rolling hills just to get taken out in a crash with 100 meter to go.

yay bike racing.

myclem

I was among those first four in that break. Cramped and started dropping back. Saw you pass with the few others in tow. Sorry you couldn't make it stick.
Calf cramp wouldn't go away and I ended up dropped right before the final lap. DNF, but stuck around to watch the finish.

Not the best way to end my road season. But I knew I was starting this morning with lower fitness, so it's not much of a surprise.
Still glad I made it out. I've missed racing.

Glad to see and hear that the usual suspects kept it animated.

Psimet2001 

Had a race good enough finally that I am actually going to post in here about it. Stayed in. Yay me. Felt like it was going to be a good day. Been kind of actually paying attention again the last week or so.

Race seemed steady although the data disagrees. Wasn't too hard. If I make it past the initial surges feeling OK then it's my race to give away and I know it. Well that hapened and I found myself riding next to a new teammate for next season who has won a few this year and said, "OK....I feel great. Now what?" We both laughed then went back to yelling at squirrels.

Shed everyone on the last few laps except for a pack of 16. I came in 16th.

My man Joe (PSIMET Joe who I posted the video of from the new report a while ago) took the win. On PSIMET when you win races you get a PSIMET water bottle. I'm good like that.

1 hour long 2-man Relay cyclocross race tomorrow. I have a certain ass to kick tomorrow. He knows I am coming for him. I'm going to kick that ass so hard he'll have to raise his saddle a couple of cm.

milliron

Winters road race. My PM says I did good but I couldn't keep contact with the leaders on the climbing.

/fat cyclist

grolby

Well, you may be overthinking it, but you're also probably racing against better competition than I have. That's why I'd like to get back to the velodrome: racing against experienced competitors. The kind of rider you are also matters. Having a good jump seems like a bigger advantage on the track than on the road. Maybe because of that one, fairly large gear that you need to stay on top of.

carlosflanders

I came 15th. Although I was in first (by ~10s) for 6 of the last 7 laps. But not on the one that matters. Won a 20 pack of laxatives and a Ronald Reagan T-shirt though. Both have the same effect.

JonnyHK 

Please explain to the slow child at the back of the room.

umd

It's kind of a boring clip without any editing. I posted it in the ride video thread. In a few days I should have the whole thing edited together.

tallmantim

Yay - first racing win today!

Club championship M2 Veterans (Masters) - 35-39.

https://www.southernvets.com.au/locat...p?locid=17#map

6 riders starting, so a small field, however we were first off and all wanted to ensure we were not caught by the larger groups (M2 and M3 had quite a few more riders). From the get go, we were a rolling paceline for the 72km race.

Overall average was 37.8km.h for the mostly flat course with low winds.

We dropped off one of the riders pretty much from the start - he was from a lower grade and could not handle the initial pace (he was E or F grade with 2 B grade riders and 3 C grade riders (including myself)). We dropped another rider (one of the B graders) early as well - he blew up in the fast initial pace after not getting in a good warm up.

The pace continued, and we nearly dropped one more rider, although he tenaciously hung on to a couple of attacks against him.

When we hit the "hills" (2 rollers of about 400-500m at about 7-8% gradient), we stayed together on the first one, and me and the B grader were away on the second - and without the two behind us working together we easily stayed out in front.

I was attacked after my spell on the front with about 7-8km to go - but was able to drag him back in. Rounding the last corner, I was in a good position behind him after I disastrously tried to sprint the last time I was in this position with about 600m to go. I waited, and waited and waited - with him looking over his shoulder for me to move, and then sprung my sprint with 150m to go. I pulled out wide into the centre of the road and hammered for all I was worth and kept it going - in the end I had gapped him and held on for the win (maxing out at 53.7km/h as the max speed).

All in all, a fun day out on a good course.

Creakyknees

Yeah!

I love winning, man...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeVca...eature=related

bostongarden

4th, closing fierce, had I had outside line, 1st without a doubt, wasn't winded much after sprint, details later.

GirlAnachronism

CRCA Open Women's race in Central Park this morning. No other races going on this weekend, so it was a pretty big field and all of the strong folks were there.

My job was to help cover attacks so that our two sprinters could sit in. Did my best to stay toward the front and chased down everything that moved, and put in one counter-attack where I got out front for a bit, but was reeled back in. With about 1 mile to go someone put in a huge move that shattered the field, including one of our sprinters. I did my best to bring her up to it but we both died, and I rolled across the line somewhere between 10th-15th.

The result wasn't great but I am feeling really good about it anyways. Open races are always a challenge for me, and I felt like I held my own and was in the mix in a fast and aggressive race. Also, racing with the men has HUGELY improved my pack skills. I was taking and holding wheels like it was nobody's business, and felt very comfortable in tight quarters. I also did 3 hours with 40 minutes of hill repeats yesterday, and my legs felt great today, so hopefully that bodes will for my fitness next weekend at Green Mountain.

ridethecliche

Awesome!

echappist

chapeaux!

bostongarden

Thanks!

Feels good to have the form, finally, coming around. In retrospect, it takes time to come back from a crash.

I went for Wells Ave B today because I thought I could win and I wanted to win. For the record, my satisfaction is based more on my performance than on final placement. But, I was thinking about winning going into the race. The bones are starting to feel "it" again.

Lined up in the first row. I wasn't planning to hit it hard off the start. I just wanted to be near the front and not have to work my way up the field early in the race. First 30" were at 347ap, enough to ramp things up, but nothing silly. I then settled in the the top 10-15 or so. At the 9' mark, the pace was getting boring -- although, some people who had launched earlier were caught -- and I didn't want to halt my momentum, so, I launched without any intent to stay away, 588ap for 20". I just wanted the pace to stay honest. I recovered reasonably well and then got back in line after folks caught up.

Stretched myself out a bit more here and there; for example, 404ap for 33" at the 15' mark, and then settled in again. I "sort of" went for a prime at the 29' mark. Worked my way into reasonable, not great, position with a 347ap effort for 40", chilled a bit before the setup, and then launched with strong effort, but, not all out, 8" at 868ap. When I got around some folks, I saw others up front that I might have caught with an all out effort; but, I didn't want to burn a huge match. I was satisfied to see that I could be in striking distance with that effort. It made me confident for the finish; and I wanted to save up and focus on the finish sprint.

For the remaining time up to about 5 laps to go, I pretty much analyzed the rider behavior and stayed cool. There was one point where I thought out loud (when thinking about someone in front of me who was on a less than desirable wheel) "get off THAT wheel." I quickly apologized to the rider next to me -- felt right at the time (I'm not very vocal when racing) -- he replied that he was thinking the exact same thing. There was another time when I was sitting about 15-20th when someone put down a nice launch. A rider near me shouted out for someone to go get him. Given my observation of things, I felt there was no way he would stay away long; I said to the dude "don't worry about it; he'll be back." He then said, "oh no, at the beginning of the race, he talked about doing this." I stopped talking at the point and thought, okie dokie; I could see -- don't ask me how, I just could from pattern recognition -- that he wasn't going to be staying away. Sure enough, he was back soon.

Without about 5 laps to go, there was a launch by a Cycle Loft/NEBC (I think) rider that felt like it was a tactic to help a teammate who was staying tucked away in the pack. We caught him and, sure enough, at 3 to go, the teammate went. I stayed patient as I felt that he did not have the legs to stay away for 3 laps. We gobbled him up before the bell lap.

I loved my position going into the last lap. I had it played out in my head - before the last bend, get ready to move outside, sit on a wheel or two and then launch. I was where I wanted to be. Coming off the turn, I got a little blocked (I'm guessing because the dude to my left was running out of gas) and I could not get outside as I planned/hoped. I could have slowed and gone around, but, I didn't think that would be a good decision. So, the inside line it was for me, with a watchful eye to get outside.

I did a soft launch seated for 10" at 634ap and 32.3mph. I didn't feel free enough -- enough space that is -- to stand and launch. I finally got some space and jumped, although, I had to dance and maneuver a little being on the inside -- this pattern shows the effect of this (in essence, letting up a touch and accelerating, a few times): 913, 1000, 916, 854, 882, 951, 948, 915, 889, 874, 928, 903, 850, 775, 686 (last 15" were 886ap, 34.1mph into a headwind). I was working hard, but, I couldn't really put in a "rock the bike" effort on the inside. I was closing nicely, just missed 3rd and 1st was about 6 feet in front of me. We'll never know, but I feel that I could have won were I on the outside where I could have just unleashed and driven without interruption to the finish.

Overall stats were 61', 199ap/235np, 24.3mph (into a decent headwind on the home stretch). Indeed, a slow race. Perhaps this is why I felt that I had so much energy at the end. I was not tired, and I could have kept sprinting; I did not feel too winded. I'm feeling good about this race. 4th place is fine for today.

If you'll excuse me, I have some recorded Adventure Time to watch now. (I'm rarely into cartoons or Cartoon Network. But, Adventure Time is hilarious.)

caloso

Well done, BG!

I did the Cat 3 Vacaville GP this morning. Finished in the middle of the pack. Legs were decent but my crit skills were rusty: terrible positioning for most of the race and had to burn some matches to move up towards the front of the race. All in all I'm satisfied. Good prep for the Giro di SF next week.

Racer Ex 

It's simple. Ride off the front and lap the field. Unless it's a 1/2 field and people are expecting you to try to ride off the front and lap the field.

If you're not a best sprinter then you need to be an opportunist and read the race for those opportunities. I'm always looking for chances to split the field or take advantage of other people being gassed. Like all racing, being passive and waiting for stuff to come to you is not a recipe for success.

Racer Ex 

Nice race craft BG!

ZeCanon

And keep in mind that trackies often can't go fast for more than 2-3 laps or so.

tallmantim

Well done - I always like hearing others race-time thinking.

Oh well - good cartoons are nearly as good as a podium finish, right?

I had the Vuelta TTT to watch when I got home from my race!