J.Lockdown

So who will be showing up to race Saturday morning and any comments?

Will be doing the Cat 4 race, and its also on my home turf (live on slidell right across from the farm with the lamas).

timster

I'll be there in the 4s also. Looks like there are quite a few teams with half a dozen guys registered.

Should be fun, I've really been looking forward to this race.

J.Lockdown

Yep I have seen a couple "All American Bike" team riding the course.

Speaking of the course its going to be pretty good. Had a chance to ride it last week, and will be out there the next 3 days. Anyone want to join in a training ride of it shoot me a pm.

MDcatV

good race, one of my favorites. unfortunately I'll miss it this year. the hills take their toll, but lower categories tend to be more attrition than anything else, so be patience tends to pay off. top of old hundred hill is a great place to attack if you can go long (like 7 miles long). if not, the finishing hill is nearly +/-700M, very very loong at the end of a race and steepest at the top. attack the dragon at its head, not its tail, and look out for those that went too soon, they'll be cramped up and in a trackstand about 75M from the finishing line.

bdcheung

I'm in.

bruce282

I was thinking about driving up to watch some the race. I was wondering about where to watch, and where to park. Also is it possible to drive from one area to another during the race?

Bruce

Laggard

Giro di Coppi in Maryland? What's next? The Ronde van East Jersey? He he.

Have a safe and successful race.

J.Lockdown

Good info I am going to keep that in mind when doing my training ride on the course today.

Depends the moved it from its original location last year. The school does not have a ton of parking so I am going to assume a lot of people are going to park on the side of Peach Tree Rd, but not 100% sure if the county will like that. A good spot to watch might be at the intersection of Old Hundred Road and Comus, as there is a place on that corner with parking. Here is a link to the google maps of it:
https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...09559&t=h&z=17
You should also be able to drive to different location as they did rolling closers last year, so the roads are open just after the group paces. I will see if there are any other good spots that to watch that I might not be thinking off on today's training ride.

entukay

Cat 5 Here.

aicabsolut

I'll be there. First qualifying distance RR (as in not circuit race distance) for me since Feb 14th. Should be an interesting time.

MDcatV

I believe that it's impossible that you arent the strongest in your field. I also believe that it's impossible for you to be overly aggressive in this race.

3 laps, you should spend at least 1 riding by yourself ... the good kind of riding by yourself

attack the finishing stretch at the end of lap 2 and spend the next 12 miles sorting out your victory celebration

gwchem

He's got a point. You should attack. Then TT. And have your V planned out.

At least break it up to a tiny group with you.

RudeSiggy

4s.

haven't seen the course but hear it's tough with attrition, which suits my racing style well.

MDcatV

is this your last race as a 4?

iirc, you've had a nice season with being an integral part of a strong and long breakaway, a good stage race, a win, and you survived reston without breaking your skull. nothing left for you in cat 4 unless you have a big target race coming up or "owe" fellow team mates.

RudeSiggy

It could be my last race as a 4, absolutely, although who knows if the request would go in before Lost River anyways.

Tomorrow, I'm helping teammates that are riding well, but I realize I might be super-domestique and fight for myself if they crack, which is what happened at ToWC and I got put into GC lead by default by beating them in the RR and TT. Whoops. We have a pretty good team attitude and if they can't win, I'm going for it - which is how I won Dawg Days. Can't let you all win the races now! I expect the guys racing with me tomorrow to be there until the end, though. Should be awesome.

This was originally one of my target races (with page valley for the VA state jersey) but now I'm totally free of any pressure. Like you said, I can't be disappointed and heck, I've been racing since February 14th at the NC State Wolfpack RR - which was only my 2nd cat 4 race. It's total fun now, which is awesome.

Another weird situation - Tom B. (Coppi) and I are basically neck-n-neck for the BAR, and he told me he's not upgrading even though he's had like 25+ points for over a month. So that's a bit of the reasoning, too, as weasly as it is. Catch 22. Do too well and I get forced upgraded but lose the BAR and a chance to get a VA state jersey, which would have been fun. (FWIW I have between 22 and 26 points depending on RSR results and starters at Dawg Days.) But I'm going on vacation before Page Valley anyways, so the rum might have gotten to me by that late in the season anyways.

I came into the season with open ambitions and no goal of getting to 3s, but just to race. I'm pretty happy with the predicament.

MDcatV

^keep in mind that the max # of BAR points one can accrue as a cat 4 = 150. once you hit 150, you never get another bar point. also, upgrading to cat 3 = 25 cat 4 bar points (double check that, it might be 20 or 30, but it's a "bonus" point award for upgrading). so, if you're at 135 pts., and the coppi guy is at 145, but you upgrade 1st, you get to 150 1st and therefore win the cat 4 BAR. although, I dont believe winning the cat 4 BAR entitles you to wear a jersey, whereas winning the cat 4 state RR would entitle you to wear the district champ jersey at road races, provided you upgrade to Cat 3.

kind of convoluted and confusing.

RudeSiggy

About those bonuses... REALLY!?!?!

Nobody's near the limit yet this year, actually. Martin from Bike Rack is leading at 91 points and he upgraded - not sure if his "bonus" points are included though. Much less anyone else's bonus points - DJ Brew, Mike Fawell, Tim Brown - all guys that were #1 at one point and are now 3s. I think Tom and I are at 83. Knowing that I'd get a bonus for catting up at least is a consolation, so I'll have to check that rule.

Since Page Valley is the title RR for MABRA, that really puts a huge weight on that one race for the BAR. It really encourages people to not upgrade so I can race later and compete for the bar. The winner gets an absurd 50 points. WTF?!?!

Originally I could have cared less for the bar because realistically it's not fair to great racers like DJ, Tim, and Martin, but it's an injustice for the team if I dont try. If that bonus is in the rulebook (checking now), then I'll hit it hard at Coppi with my boys and help our 3s out at Lost River and Page Valley.

MDcatV

^do double check the "bonus" point thing, or even email the bar administrator, I cant remember who that is. I remember when I was a 4, I upgraded right after tour de toona not really considering the BAR, then when I got the "bonus" points, it put me in a position that I should have hung out as a 4 for another 3 BAR points and I'd have won it.

Seems like there were more races that year or something because it ended up that there were 4 or 5 people at or near 150 pts.

RudeSiggy

From https://mabra.org/article.php?did=39&scid=41

"Any Novice rider who moves from the Novice class to the Senior class as a result of a voluntary or forced upgrade of USAC racing category receives a o­ne-time 25 point bonus in the Novice BAR In addition, Novice class riders may not earn more than 150 points in a single season. Any placings in excess of this level will not score toward the BAR."

Can't find anything about the first-to-hit 150 thing, though...?


Edit: MDCatV - If multiple novices make it to 150 they don't break the tie and both win. But there's no way I could get to 150 without doing page valley, even if I won Coppi, which is unlikely.

Advice? Should I just not care for the MABRA BAR and go to a BAR that serves beer to celebrate a good season instead?

J.Lockdown

Course is basically the following:
- Barnesville: rollers close together, with a flat slight downhill right after the start, fallowed by uphill with false flat in the middle of it. Has a couple rough areas on the road but decent compared to others I have done.
- Old Hundred: rollers but tend to be more gradual, with a almost perfect road surface
- Comus: similar to old Hundred
- Church: Mostly flat with a couple rollers in there, with pretty good surface
- West Old Baltimore: Climb slight incline that is steady, with a slightly higher grade closer to the top up fallowed by a slight incline to the top, road is decent but is rough on the sides and a couple spots.
- Slydell: Flat sections fallowed by a roller before a fast decent with gradual climb that is pretty easy.

After riding it and knowing im not the best climber out there going to try and stay up front as I will probably end up mid pack on some of the climbs.

aicabsolut

It's a 3/4 field, and I've got some good allies in the 3's, so it might work out well. There's one woman in the 4's who can straight up kick my butt 9 times out of 10 (I imagine she'll upgrade soon). My only advantage will be if the hills get to her, which they might. There's another good time trialist that I am going to watch out for who just rode away from me at ToWC (when I was feeling like death). I can beat her in a sprint. I just need to stay with her until the end. Maybe she won't drop me...She's dying for me to join her team. Then there's a good climber with a quick tempo who dominated at Poolesville. I've got some work to do, but hopefully, I can just work with this bunch.

FatguyRacer

I have washed the ToWC mud and cow **** off the bike. See you all in the AM.

Treefox

Rode the Cat 5's. Went fine. The most lackadaisical bunch sprint I've seen, but I had poor position so couldn't come around. Got 7th.

Catting up now.

Some guy crashed during the neutral start and took at least one person down with him.

aicabsolut

Debilitating calf cramp on the last lap. Dang.

I'm going to go eat a bunch of salt now.

timster

Had a pretty good race... I felt great today. Got caught up next to a crash in the last 500m and lost all my momentum right before the sprint. 11th.