bostongarden

hna -- nicely done, congrats!
climber7 -- that is an impressive performance on very popular stage.
Janders -- well done!
poxpower -- good show in a tough race; bagels can be your friend.
shovel -- I loved feeling the emotion and energy in your writeup and riding.

valygrl

Iron Horse Classic Omnium, Durango CO.

Women 45-54 Cat 1-5, they combined the 35+, 45+ and 55+ fields for racing but scored separately.

They failed on number/color coding the categories so there was no way to know who was in your race while you were racing. The scoring this weekend was a mess, and the results have been changed several times, so who knows what the "final" results will be but this is what I have now for results on USAC.

Road race - 47 miles, 5700' over 2 near-11,000' mountain passes. Strong tailwind turning to side/head on the switchback descents. (High wind warning said something like 40mph w/75mph gusts, I don't think it was nearly that bad during my race). 82 starters in my category. Worked too hard to stay at the front of the lead group for the first 15 miles, got dropped when the real climbing started, worked some with other drop-ees, fought off a sympathy-barf as I passed someone wretching. 3 full-on asthma attacks during the race, from effort and dust/smoke kicked up by the high winds. My team mate re-caught me on the climb to Coal Bank Pass and we worked together through that climb, the short but scary (sidewind in the switchbacks) descent, and the climb up Molas. It was so helpful to have a friend there. Dropped her on the last part of the climb up Molas Pass, then got passed by her and 6 other women (cat unknown) on the descent, I just couldn't bring myself to go fast because it was SO scary, we were getting pushed all over the road by the wind. THought I was in like 20th and it didn't matter.

Ended up 11th in 3:15, my teamie took 10th.

Crit - figure 8 course with 6 rights and 2 lefts, one short uphill and one short downhill into a corner with bad pavement just before the finish line. 28 starters. Lined up in back due to taking a 2nd preview lap but shot through a gap right away and stayed 2nd-10th wheel through out the race. First 2 laps were brutally fast, then it settled down. Tried to follow wheels and not screw up the corners. The practice crits I've been doing and advice from you guys were crucial learning here, and I managed not to get dropped in the corners and only got yelled at once. Did get passed on the inside in the last 2 laps and lost a couple places from where I was, went into that last downhill corner 6th wheel and sprinted hard but didn't gain anything. 6th in the mixed cat field, but I guess someone went OTF (unknown to all of us, or just a wrong result?) and I was placed 4th in my race, I think I was 3rd and the other rider was lapped, but not sure enough to protest.

TT - 14.4 mile course, the first 12 mostly flat / very gentle rolling, the last part climbing, the last mile steeply. I was first starter in my cat (doh!). Dead legs, first race on new TT bike, longest TT I've done. Paced it poorly, I later found out via power files - went out too fast and faded at 25 minutes, didn't know how to drink while staying aero and needed to, quads were on the verge of cramping from mile 7. Slowed down once as an oncoming vehicle came into my lane to pass two riders on his side (they weren't supposed to ride back on the course, I guess this was why!) Came out of aero bars 2x to drink, 3x for sharp corners. Was only passed by one rider and passed 3 (2 were from a previous wave with 2 minutes in between). Ended up 9th out of 15 starters. I have a lot to learn about time trialing.

Omnium - 4th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shovelhd

Nice job, valygrl. That crit sounds like fun.

waterrockets 

Nice race and report shovel. Very well executed and hard fought.

+1

Ex, I hope your wife's ankle heals up fast. Gah.

grolby

Bummer! I guess you'll have to say hello next time; I'll keep an eye out for a big guy in a Livestrong shirt. I'm afraid I don't remember seeing you, apologies, but I was kind of hyper-focused on my own race and, afterwards, on cooling down. I was friggin' dying out there. Not as bad as Saturday, though; I've since confirmed that I was absolutely dead last of every single rider that entered the state TT. Given that I was recovering from that crash and heat illness posed a serious risk even if I hadn't physically and mentally collapsed (I actually got off and walked for a while), I can't be too ashamed of that, it just makes me wish I had followed my first instinct and not entered to begin with. Oh well!

That was actually the 4 race, which I was in. I only saw the aftermath of the crash (being way back will do that), but caught a video later. The first guy who went down was Ziemba, he lost a lot of skin but seemed basically all right despite being seriously banged up. I'm sure he'll have some significant aches and pains this week, though. The other guy got taken away in an ambulance, as you probably remember, apparently he was complaining that his neck hurt. Hopefully he's okay. I don't think anyone ever deserves to be injured, especially not something as potentially life-altering as a spinal injury, but I will say this: that guy has absolutely no excuse for what happened. He was far enough behind Ziemba that, had he been watching what the f*** he was doing, there was ample time and space to go around him. He should be ashamed of himself, it's when people do boneheaded things like that that I get pissed off. Hitting a downed rider is one thing; what if a f***ing child ran onto the course? It can happen. Gah, that's just so irresponsible. Anyway. /rant

Everyone - geez, wins, upgrades, just plain great racing. You all are cleaning the F up! Congrats to everyone.

rkwaki

I'll tell Ziemba is lucky though his bike is messed up (hole through the top tube). Not sure what the other guy was thinking sprinting for like 20th place with his head down, Ziemba is lucky he didn't get hit in the neck - that other guy hit him so hard that he pushed him down the road. I really did try to get in the way - so much so that I heard my little girl yell "Daddy!!!!" but couldn't get far enough out there

Some guys had asked me what I would change to prevent it - I said that if you are out of the points and out of the money sit up and everyone gets the same result. Watching that wreck was not cool, I just hope everyone is ok.

hammy56

I dont believe that for a second.

kensuf

+1.

rkwaki

If the field pays 10 deep (points/money) they should blow an airhorn which would get everyone's attention and stop writing spots - list everyone by race number. What difference does it make? In one field (can't remember which one) a guy sprinted for last place.

rkwaki

I know you don't...

It was nice to see a bunch of guys that I hadn't seen in a while and they were taunting me -went up to one buddy on the start line and pinched him on the ass. Really warmed my heart.

One friend turned and said that it was nice to see nothing had changed.

Hey WR - our mutual friend seems to have moved back this way for the time being...

shovelhd

Until the rules are changed, I will continue to sprint, head up, to the line if it is safe to do so, money or no money. Sprinting head down into the back of the field isn't just unsafe, it's stupid.

rkwaki

Should have put a caveat on my statement... you are correct.
This dude however was looking at his nutsack while sprinting and hit a rider who had been down for at least 5 seconds...

waterrockets 

My memory fails me again...

Zei

Raced for my first time tonight, three crits. Flat 1 km rectangular loop, 22mph wind from West. First race was 15 laps, second was 30, last was 12.

Placed forth, first, and first.

Won the 2nd one solo off the front with about 14 laps to go. Won the last race of the night attacking with 2 laps to go, breaking off successfully and staying away.

Fat Boy

That's a lot of weight in not a lot of time. Be careful. I know a guy who jacked himself up pretty good by losing a bunch of weight earlier in the year.

darb85

Tour De Frankenmuth on saturday. Ended up 12th after getting boxed in on the sprint. Still learning tactics, which is frustrating as all hell, considering I was 6th wheel and gaining before getting cut off by a guy who then sat up 50 yards before the line, someone right next to me, picked the wrong section of course, but for the 3 real race, I though it was a pretty good finish. Highest Finish yet.

carpediemracing 

Shelled in no time flat at Tues Night Worlds. Maybe lasted 1.5 laps of a 0.5 mi course. I've decided I need to reboot this season.

rkwaki

Thanks man. Not doing it intentionally just based on clean eating and a pretty intense training schedule I am evaporating. On my way to San Antonionionio this morning so I am going to eat like a hog.

waterrockets 

rkwaki: Heading up to the Driveway tomorrow night? Or University Oaks crit?

Great start! Congrats

rkwaki

What's that?

Creakyknees

https://drivewayseries.com/Home/tabid/915/Default.aspx

Homebrew01

Dang !

Creakyknees

Tuesday nighter last night. It was hot. Guess it's that time of year, the style of racing changes dramatically; it's no longer about power or speed because when it's sofa king hot, you can't put out max power, you'll overheat. So it's like racing in slo-mo: a little tiny gap will open, nobody much feels like closing it, and next thing you know there's a break. Strange, but, I enjoy it. Got a teammie into the 2-up break with the strongest guy, and once they were safely away, attacked (slo-mo) again, got away with another guy. Teammie got 2nd, I got 3rd. $8 in cash monay, baby. W000t.

Jsiegs

Tour of Tucker County Cat 4/5. My first race as a Cat 4 - 2nd (Steak Knives I guess).

The race started at the base of the final climb - Sugarlands Road (5 miles at an average of 7% according to Strava). Myself and a couple guys I knew on different teams rolled down to the start a little early. Down there we met up with another friend who was not racing this year but had just ridden the course and got some intel about the first climb (Location road - 7.2 miles at 3.2% on Strava, although it was really like two shorter, steeper climbs with a flat in the middle). We already knew the hill we just rolled down was going to be a challenge. The rest of the course was rolling, and all in all was about 4,700 feet of elevation over 35 miles.


The race started with a few miles of down hill and very rough roads. I kept to the front with the guys I knew. We rolled to the location road climb and pressed the pace up it. Unbeknownst to me, we separated to a pack of about 15 that stayed away for the race (I never got a good sense of our group size during the race - I didn't realize we had split). I raced it pretty smart - knowing the last climb would be where the race was won or lost, I stayed off the front but forward enough to avoid any potential crashes (there were a few) on the very technical and rough descents. At one point at the top of Location, a few of us had a gap. One rider asked if we wanted to work and go, and we said yes. But one of the other guys got up to pull and just pulled too long and too easy and the group came back together. I took a pull to give it a shot at separating again, but I found myself 15 meters off the front with no one, so sat up and rejoined the group.


One of the riders I knew was in a "spirited" mood and was aggressive on the front - making some quick bursts on the rollers and being very aggressive on the downs. I was happy with this, being pretty confident he wouldn't get away (or hold on his own) and sitting a few wheels back letting the others make the responses. If a few did get away and looked dangerous, I was confident in my ability to bridge up given the terrain. This maintained until the end of the loop and we turned towards the final climb. There a new guy took the lead and upped the intensity to the base of climb, but being protected in the group, I wasn't over taxed by it.

We hit the hard portion of the climb, with about 3.5 to go (the point where we staged to start the race) and the grade kicked up hard. I set in targeting 100% FTP and soon found myself ahead of the pack with another rider. We got separation together but when the road got really steep he got a 20 meter gap which stayed constant. I was a safe distance ahead of the pack, with them being just in view behind me. This was the last I saw of them. The climb flattened a little and I caught up to the leader. We eased a bit and chatted not seeing any threats behind us. When it kicked up again the chatter stopped and I stuck to his wheel. Same thing as before happened. In the real steep section, he got a gap of 20 meters that stayed pretty constant. I made an error calculating the remaining distance and was surprised by the 200 m to go sign appearing suddenly. I put everything I had into a chase and caught up to about 5 meters back with 50 to go. I don't think he knew I was there until a spectator yelled to him that I was closing. At that point he accelerated and I wasn't able to close any more gap and we crossed the line like that. Without the heads up, I think I may have been able to surprise him and who knows. But oh well.


All in all, I'm pretty happy. The climb played to my strength of a longer SS effort. And I was toe to toe with a guy weighing 35 pounds less than me for a 5 mile climb averaging 7%. If I can drop those 5-8 pounds I need, maybe next time will be different.

waterrockets 

...and it looks like I had my University Oaks dates mixed up... https://www.txbra.org/db/events/2012UniversityOaks2.pdf

(My teammate did the trailer on the front page at https://www.drivewayseries.com)