mike868y

Easterns @ PSU
Course was two laps around a 20 mile loop. Starts with a descent into some rollers into a huge climb into a descent into the finish. There was a large field, maybe 10 riders? So I made it a point to move up very early on. A princeton guy attacked on the rollers and we let him go. A group of maybe 10 chasers got away on the big climb. We caught the guy at some point. I really didn't expect to stay with the group the second lap up the climb, but I really rode into the race and managed to hang with them. Then I learned yet another thing about racing - always have a plan on how you are going to win just incase you are in the position that it may happen. I had no plan and the finish didn't really suit me (descent into a sketched corner into a sprint). So I more or less just stuck with the attacks and tried to outsprint people. But I really am a bad/cautious descender so I couldn't convince myself that I had a shot at the win. Regardless, this was probably the toughest race I've ever done and I was super happy with how I rode up the climb. I dug really deep to stick with the group and I'm probably happier with today than any other race this season. Not sure of my finish but probably somewhere around 7th. it was a great day, thanks to PSU for putting on a great race.

New 20' Power PR: 255w
New Max Power: 967W

I would know other PRs but I lost all my powertap data last week...

DennisD

You forgot to mention that the ground was covered with snow at the start.

I was one of those riders turning around. I never saw so many people give up like that in a race before, and I couldn't believe I found myself amongst their ranks in less than an hour. However, I had no choice -- the cold, wind, and rain, combined with another poor clothing decision on my part had my shaking dangerously and violently due to hypothermia. (The rest of the details are here).

Being overdressed at Battenkill might have been a factor in my poor results two weeks ago, and there's no doubt that being underdressed and lacking rain proof clothing took me out of today's race. What's in store for me at the Bennington Stage Race? Will a Janet Jackson like wardrobe malfunction by my downfall next weekend?

shovelhd

Same here. Anytime the speed got to 20+mph the shakes started. It took me 45 minutes to stop after the race was over.

efficiency

At Devil's Punchbowl too:
https://www.mapmyride.com/s/routes/vi...speria/2225921
Flyer says 1500 feet of climbing per 16 mile lap.

bostongarden

Wow, feeling lots of emotion here, nothing near what y'all had to be feeling.

RacerEx, that is insane. Loafers? Loafers? You should contact the manufacturer so they can trumpet that and enhance their brand. What is the brand of your loafers? Sales are going to go through the roof :-)
Mikey, well done. Your getting good at this bike racing thang.
Shovel, it is amazing that you ate the whole course in those conditions. You are going to rock it at Blue Hills!!
Jim & Dennis, I can't imagine; glad you recovered.
Blackdays, no problemo, it'll come back; glad you can ride.

Racer Ex 

Here you go. They are LL Bean.

bostongarden

That is beautiful Ex!!! LL Bean is absolutely fitting!!!

Racer Ex 

Way to tough it out. Keep chasing, it makes you stronger and when you do get there, it's pretty satisfying.

brianappleby

Deer Trail Road Race just outside of Denver, CO. The 60 mile L shaped course had 4 turnarounds and was all rollers. Never flat but never more than 3 or 4%. A little bit of wind but nothing horrible.
P12.
Got into an early break before the first turnaround with 4 other guys. At the turnaround we hear we have 30 seconds and I get nervous. I've already committed myself and this break is my only chance at a good result. We drop the biggest guy on a roller but increase the gap to 2:30 by the next split. I learn that 2 of the guys are in different jerseys but on the same team. We all work well together and as I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do about this, our splits start falling. 1:50, 1:50, 1:45, and finally just 1:00 by the last turnaround. We see the peloton is down to about 10 guys, and 4 or 5 of them are all on the same team. We kept pushing back our partnership. "Friends to the last turnaround" became "friends to the 1k sign" became "friends to the 200m sign". One guy complains of cramping, then puts in a serious dig and pulls the plug. He was one of the teammates, so now it's down to 3 of us, no teams. After the last turnaround I get nervous and put in a big effort on a roller and find we're down to 2. I ask the other guy if we should wait and he says no. We light it up because the group keeps seeming to get closer. I'm pulling longer and harder than he is, but I get the feeling that he's a better sprinter. About 100m before the 200m sign, it's obvious that we're going to make it. I tell him that I'm gonna go and I do. He has a bigger jump than me, but fades. I pass him pretty quick on the downwind side with about 20m to go and have a big enough gap at the line to know I have it.

That's it. First P12 win in Colorado. Granted, the strong teams are already on their way to the Gila, and I know that they would have totally changed the race, but they were gone and I'll take whatever I can get.

brianappleby

That's a seriously rad story Ex. I've lost to Stetina before in normal bike shoes and it hurt quite a bit. I can only imagine holding onto the guy with squishy soles.

Chapeau Sir!

bostongarden

Brian, a win is a win is a win!!! Well done.

shovelhd

Nice work, Brian.

Racer Ex 

Congrats Brian. There aren't a lot of bike racers that can say they won a P1/2 race. I''ve done that race and it's not easy to make a break stick given that you can see where everybody is and get time gaps pretty easily.

Cleave

Hi,

So now that I'm totally depressed, do you know anyone who wants to buy a SuperSix Hi-Mod with only 32 race miles on it? You have got to be kidding me -- LOAFERS?!?!?!

I was kind of keeping an eye out for you. About 45 minutes before the start I'm in line at the port-a-john and I hear some guys mention that someone who wears size 9-1/2 shoes forgot his cycling shoes and is looking for a pair to borrow. I think to myself that if I had driven (my teammate drove) that I keep an old pair of 9-1/2 shoes in the back of my car for such emergencies. Since I didn't drive I said nothing.

I got dropped on the climb about 1/2 mile before the road turned right. I ended up OTB with a teammate and a Swamis guy. We were within 30 seconds of a group of 4 on the downhill and the Fort Tejon leg of the course but we couldn't close the gap. On the last lap the 55+ break passed us near the top of the climb and then the 55+ field (as it was) passed us going down the short hill into the last turn. I was 18th out of 20 classified finishers in 50+.

BTW, the guys at the port-a-john started joking about taping your shoes to the pedals with duct tape like they did in Breaking Away.

I am obviously way too fat and slow for this sport. If I had any hand-eye coordination I'd take up lawn bowling.

badhat

perfect storm of crappiness = i tanked my first A race this season.

i've had a solidish start this season i was really hoping for and had reasonable expectations of a big result today at Deer Trail RR today but i blew it.

there were a lot of problems, from some things out side of my control this week that led to less than optimal prep/restedness, but the biggest problems were: i didnt eat enough during the race and i worked waaaaaay to much, for reasons i rationalize in my head but at the end of the day, they were just me being dumb.

made every seperation comfortably and easily until literally 3K from the finish of a 60 miles race, i cracked completely in a small popper hill and watched the 16 survivors roll away.

i need to buy myself a damn shock collar and give my teammates the remote for every single mass start race so they can keep me way from the front.

stupid.

i take consolation in the fact that i havent finished outside of the top 3rd of a race since catting up to three, and i've had 3 top 5s out of six starts but i'm feelin pretty dsown on myself right now.

learn from experience i guess.

wanders

yes. where's ed rader when you need him.

wens

Were you the guy w/ the case kit? If so I saw you, but didn't even think to make the connection.

Blackdays

Yeah that was me. There were a couple of us, but the rest of the team raced for Ride On.

Did you race?

wens

Ya. 5's. Blew my load early and got myself dropped, but was ok with it. I wanted to get otf for a little while, and I did that, so I accomlished my goal. Next week I may see if I can actually get a result there.

Ohmannuel

Dude you just won a P1/2 race! I would be popping open champagne, eating cake, hitting a pinata! Like Racer Ex said not a lot can say they've done this.
DAMN! how did I miss this!!!
I also did The Devil's Punchbowl...
Well, it lived up to it's name, that's for sure. The cat 4 race started out with a large field and I was not thrilled that we took off from the dirt; I hate doing that (Poor College kids was like this). The first test came quick with a long climb, followed by more climbing. Already I was moving backwards fast and there was still a lot of racing to go. By the end of the climbing, about 4 miles in, I was already dropped. I knew I had to play on my strengths, so I did what I do best and descended at 52mph. I quickly began to catch other poor souls who had lost contact with the main field. The next section I really liked, it was a mile uphill grade for about 4 miles. I used my invisible time trial bars to keep a spicy pace. Finally, I could see the main group and made my way back in crossing the line, starting lap 2 of 3 with everyone.
Sadly, lap two was more like lap one, only this time I got popped sooner. Same story, until I got on the section I felt favored my abilities most. As I was transitioning from my 53 to my 39, my chain fell off on the INSIDE. I did the old trick to try to get it back on but I was left like Shleck just watching everyone pass by me. I got off the bike quickly put the chain back on and had to go full gas to try and make contact with the field I could still see. Working hard most of the way, I found some relief from other riders trying to bridge whatever they could.
As lap 3 came, I couldn't even see the main field anymore but I never lost focus (that would happen in the stair steps). I made my way up the first climb with a rider from Pasadena Velo (Thank you by the way) and together we made up some time passing a few until we lost contact. When I hit the Stairs of Death I had to dig deeper than ever in my life. Alone... with a 20/25? mph headwind up a section that touches 10% for a second. This was when I could have quit.
I held on and found familiar strength on the descent and the mild climb. By now we were about 4 or 5 and making our way to the finish, which was a victory in and of itself to me. Even though I'm sure everyone was as gassed as I was, we still kept our game faces and had some fun with attacks and accelerations. At the finish I was beat by one of the riders but I didn't care too much I was happy to have completed The DEVIL'S Punchbowl. I'm not sure where I finished but I finished and now all there is to do is keep riding and work on my climbing

Blackdays

That race was super sketchy.

Were you wearing a kit?

lc5kpj

Cat 4. race in Prospect Park this morning. Miserable conditions to race in, but definitely a fun race. Pulled off some KOM points on the mini climb and ended up getting 3rd overall after freezing in the pouring rain for an hour and a half. My teammate ended up winning the overall and the green jersey. Check out the blog for a more detailed report:

https://rercycling.blogspot.com/

kindablue

Deer Trail RR - 4s

On the way out the pack was moving quite slow, probably due to the head/cross wind that I couldn't feel at that time. For some reason I really cranked on my FD shifter at one point and dropped my chain. Pulled over, fixed it and tried to play catch up. ~ 5 minutes later I was close, but then the pack picked up speed on a roller. Spent quite a bit of time not making any ground and cramped up pretty bad - had to stop again to work out the cramp.

The rest of the race was a giant TT effort, with me wheel surfing once and awhile as I caught people. Thanks to the PSIMET rider, who worked with me into the headwind on the final "out."

Actually walked away from the race happy. The whole time I kept passing riders and moving up in the field. I felt pretty good today, and I really learned what it felt like to dig deep alone.

If anything I got in some great training today

Also, if anyone knows about the 4s crash, could you post if everyone made it out alright? I did see an ambulance on the course on my way back - it worried me a bit.

brianappleby

One of our 4's (primal 1stbank) was in a crash. He messed up his bike but he was fine... don't know much else about that one.

VT Biker

Congrats on the victory. I was volunteering at the 34 turnaround when the P12 race was occurring. When the pack came around, they did not look very interested in pushing it harder. Of all the groups heading around the cones, they seemed to have the least surge. Maybe this is because they understand etiquette with such a turnaround, but I found it interesting.