Walrus

Sounds like you left it all on the road, can't be mad about that!

johnybutts

Thanks y'all. I had a plan and the strength to execute it, can't really complain about anything, other than the race being 200m too long.

caloso

Snelling RR E3. Sixty miles of wind and NorCal pave'. My goals were to finish, test my fitness, take care of our 19 year old phenom, and have fun.

I managed to achieve all these goals.

We had 3 riders in a field of 100 but we kept communicating, kept alert, and worked hard for each other. On the last lap, when the pace was dropping, I buried myself to put our young hot shot at the front and kept the pace high. I blew my wad and finished in Offthebackistan, but the kid took 2d. Well pleased.

Creatre

Greenville Spring Training Series Week 3

La Bastide RR - Cat 3/4 (Mixed us with the 4s again!!) - 5th overall, 3rd Cat3 out of about 60
- Cold and wet again. Surprise. Low 40s temp and misting/sort of raining/sort of dry the whole race. Course is flat/downhill except for a ~1mile 5.5% climb at the start/finish line. We do the 8 mile course 6 times. So, 1 mile climb x 6 times. Goal for me? Sit at the front, follow moves on the climb if they look serious, otherwise go for it on the final climb. My weight comes in handy in these races at only 135lbs, so there is no reason to waste energy on attacks on other parts of the course. They combined us with the cat 4s again for some dumb reason, so we have a fairly large sized group.

Anyways, from the get go we are just crawling. Stuck at about halfway through the group behind cat4 fodder. Apparently we are all having the same plan as me. Finally on the first time up the climb I get some gaps in the field and I'm able to get up to the front. I'll never get behind about 15th wheel in the race again. Well, 3rd time we go over the climb, we finally get some movement. At the front we hammer. We get some gaps and everything is stretched super out. I'm sitting about 3rd wheel going over the top, feeling super comfortable. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and after we crested the top and did the downhill, it all came back together.

Really nothing that much happened in this race. A couple of attacks went, I said adios/good luck, and they would come back. Finally on the second to last lap a guy attacked and got away. He had won a race last weekend, and 3rd in the other. I knew he was super strong. Well go figure we are all sitting around picking each others noses so he gets a huge gap. A guy bridges up on the last lap and makes contact. They stay away to the finish. A couple other guys attacked before the final climb with about 4k to go. They also stay away because of our group having no organization. We hit the final climb hard, a couple guys really get it going hard at the bottom. I'm sitting the top 4 wheels the whole way up. I pick up the pace with about 500m to go, a guy comes around on my right, and I get on his wheel. We hit the final corner with 200m to go and I go full gas. I can see two other guys on each side of me, but neither are able to come around. Sprint up the steep section and cross the line first in the group sprint for 5th overall. Pretty pleased with the result, wish those couple of guys hadn't snuck away on the flat sections and our group had more organization! But I stuck to my plan and it worked, so I'm happy!

Hida Yanra

close, so close.
From the sounds of things you did it right - the breakaway business is a low-margin operating plan on the best of days.
Best of luck next time. You'll get it soon enough if you were able to get that close on this chance.

save10

captain on the road....nice. make sure your kid upgrades before I start racing in a few weeks

shovelhd

Really nice work JB. I got caught at 150m at Somerville after being OTF for 19 laps. My break partner ran out of gas with 5 laps to go. I just could not hold on or have enough left to attack him until 500m to go, and it was too late.

Don't abandon this strategy.

grolby

You're going really well right now - keep it up and you'll have your Cat 2 points in no time!

hank0604

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider "crawling?"

grwoolf

Pace bend RR, Masters Open - Pack finish, but good day for the team

Field of about 85, our team had 9 guys. Break of 3 about 10 miles in and they stayed away. Our team had one in the break, so it made for an easy day. We always had a few guys near the front slowing it down when possible. An organized chase never materialized. With 10 miles to go, the break had almost 2 minutes and my legs were good. I rolled off the front a couple times hoping to get some company, but everyone seemed content to sprint for 4th. Field sprints are not my thing and I rolled in with the pack. It was a good day for the team with 2nd place, and 2 others in the top 10 in 40+. Another teammate 3rd in 50+. Pack fodder for me, but a fun day. This was my 3rd race of the year, but first time in a crowded field (other 2 were break-aways). I was a little uncomfortable and saw some other guys riding erratic as well. Early season I guess.

Tyrell

Pace Bend RR - Cat 5 - 5th place
4 laps around the park totaling about 25 miles. Rolling hills with a larger hill just before the turn into the finishing straight. Downhill finish.

I was chomping at the bit to get into a break even though I *knew* in the back of my mind that this would end up in a field sprint at the end. I had a couple guys identified as strong riders in the group so I decided to make sure I was in a break if one of them went. Half way through the first lap, one of my marks attacks and has 2 others with him. I see the opportunity and bridge up. Unfortunately, the group was not working well together and I think my mark was just testing. We slipped back into the field.

Second Lap: 2 guys escape up the road and stay away. I didn't chase because I figured they would get pulled back in soon enough. Well, these 2 stayed away for the next couple laps! No one seemed particularly interested in catching them so I made a bridge attempt about 1/3 through lap 3. No one came with me and I realized I didn't have it in me for a solo (they were about 15 sec ahead) so I dangled in no-man's-land for a little while until I sheltered back into the main pack.

I stayed near the front of the group for the rest of the race. We eventually caught the 2 on the last lap. At the bottom of the last big hill before the right turn to the finish, everybody hits it. I had thought earlier in the race that it would be a good idea to get a jump on the field by attacking on the last roller before the big hill but I didn't do a very good job of paying attention to where that would be. So, I hammer it up the hill along with everyone else, keeping my position despite some yahoo swinging his bike beside me and bumping my handlebars. After the big hill is a bit of elevation relief followed by another short bump and then the turn to the finish straight. If I had it in me at that point, I would have attacked during that lull where everyone slowed a bit but I knew I didn't have any punch to get away if I went. I would have just drug everyone behind me. So I waited for the next bump, hit it hard with everyone else, railed the corner, and sprinted for home.

About 200m from the finish I noticed 2 guys waving their bikes around like mad on the left so I pointed right to stay away. Sure enough, one guy got his front wheel tangled in the other guy's rear wheel and the front wheel shredded. Amazingly, they both stayed up.

*RULES SIDE NOTE/QUESTION*
You're not allowed to pass the lead car, right? I would assume the field is effectively "neutralized" until the lead car can establish a gap again. This happened in our race at the sharp right at the bottom of the loop. A number of racers squeezed past the lead car who was being held up by cars turning left to exit the park. Once traffic cleared, the lead car sped up to the front to re-gain position but this seemed like it should not have happened.

waterrockets 

Nice work again. I love that course. Hope to race it again, but it is a horrible time of year for me to get out to race!

You played it really well other than position into the finale. That last climb should be started in the top 5, ideally, but everyone is thinking the same thing.

Not sure on the lead car rules. I would likely race past the car without giving it much thought, but that doesn't mean it's correct.

zitter

UC Santa Cruz collegiate A's road race - 19/28

20 2.6 mile laps with ~400ft of climbing per lap. Wound up doing ~51 miles w/ ~7000 ft of climbing. Hung with the front group for the first 6 laps, got dropped, chased back on, stayed on for a lap, and got dropped again. Rode with a couple other guys to finish, but got lapped with 3 to go so only did 19 laps. Brutal wind and climbing, just glad I survived.

UC Santa Cruz collegiate A's crit - 15/28

.6 mile loop with 3ft gain per lap, but had some nasty wind as we were right next to an airport. Got into the initial break of ~8 but got caught 20ish minutes in as a couple key guys weren't in it so some teams chased. Missed the second big break which stuck and wound up doing a ton of work attacking and trying to bridge but nothing would go as the big teams were represented in the break. Came through the last corner into the field sprint pretty far back, but it was a pretty long sprint and I managed to move up ~10 places in the sprint and got 5th in the field sprint.

Racer Ex 

Ontario GP 50+ Hideously windy (gusts to 30+), crappy air quality and not toasty warm. Teammate launches from the gun and is off with another national champ. I come around a few guys, launch and bridge. We motor away. My guy takes the points prime for the series. Last lap I stick him on our competitors wheel, they both launch, I come off. My guy ends up winning, I beat the field to the line by a while for 3rd, another teammate gets 4th. He leads the series.

45+ "I swear I don't go on break". I cover two guys from one of the big teams (one national champ) who take off with fresh legs on the first lap. I sit on for two laps hoping the field catches us, then I look over and here's a different teammate who made the bridge. Oh well, here we go. Put the head down and start suffering.

Can't tell if the second big team guy is dead weight or faking but he's not pulling much at all. I take him off the back and he's not faking so it's 2 on 1. Last lap my guy lets me gap off the front (didn't communicate this, I turned around to go WTF) , the other guy attacks, I miss getting on, chase, while our guy wins in the photo finish I get caught at the line and finish 16th. We also get 4th. 24 out of 64 quit before the end. Hard ass day on the bike.

Better day for the team than yesterday, and much better for me, I flatted one lap into the circuit race. I'm too old for this though. Still coughing.

Fun with numbers: In the last 108 miles of racing (4 races) I've spent 87 of them in a 3 man break in winds over 20 MPH.

shovelhd

Nice work, Ex.

waterrockets 

+1 good stuff

Also good stuff: albuterol

jsutkeepspining

Not bad, ex

ljrichar

Hmm, wonder if you were referring to Devin from Birdsong Brewing. He went from just riding for a few months to racing CX4's, then upgraded to a 2 in about 8 races.

johnybutts

Sounds like some fun teamwork RX!

Creatre

Greenville Spring Training Series Week 3 - Race 2

Donaldson Center RR - Cat 3 - 2/46
- Course is 7 laps of about 7.5miles or so. This is the fourth time doing this course in this training series this year so far, so everyone is pretty familiar with how it goes. We fire off from the line and hold a fairly easy pace the first lap. A couple attacks launch but nothing sticks. Pace is really variable, up for a bit on attacks, down for a bit after. Not really hard enough consistently to allow anything to go off the front. I made a few attacks in the next couple of laps, a couple had a chance, but the guys I were with weren't organized enough and the chase from behind was too much.

Anyways, about halfway through the race I started feeling like crap. I think training through this series and my -40 TSB is finally catching up to me. Having trouble staying near the front end of the group. Start worrying about the amount of people I see that seem to be stronger today than in the past few races. I start drinking more fluids thinking maybe it's just the heat since it's actually a decent day outside for once and not freezing. With about 2.5 laps to go, david (currand on here) rolls his way off the front and gets a decent gap. A few guys chase but not consistently and let him sneak away. After a few guys attack and the pace has been high, it starts to lull, and I make a heavy attack. My teammate rolled off the front with me and held back when he saw I got a gap. He sits at the front of the peloton soft pedaling while I bridge up to David.

Once I caught up with David I was fully committed in this break. We had a pretty legit gap and I had burned a match (or more) making the bridge on a little climb on the course. We start working together and pulling away from the field. I think crap, only two guys, 15 miles to go. I knew last week though a similar situation happened, and I knew from the lack of organization in the group it may just work out. Unfortunately for me, I still felt like crap and was not able to do the amount of work I would have preferred. Didn't quite have the punch today for some reason. Not to mention, a 135lb guy isn't the best when fighting a flattish course with wind. I never felt like I was about to get popped, but I was deep in hurt. This led to David doing most of the work in our break (about 75% I'd say). We held them off for a lap to come across the bell lap with about a 40 second gap. We keep chugging away hoping they start getting worried about the sprint and hold back. That's what happened, we keeping cranking into the headwind section of the course and the moto starts giving us a gap of 1 minute, 1min 20 seconds, 1min 40 seconds. Guess we got em. I was 100% toast by the end and David went across for the win while I came in behind for second. Hard hard break, but still super happy with the result. I'll take that any day over a field sprint. 305w for 40mins (5w/kg). Fun stuff.

edit: Also now sitting 2nd in the omnium for this spring series with one weekend left. I'm gonna take a rest week and miss this upcoming weekends races though. Shame.

shovelhd

That is some great work, Creatre. You know you've got what it takes to upgrade to the upper categories when you can gut out a performance like that. It's only a matter of time for you.

rkwaki

And you wonder why he picks on you?

Nice work Ex

Creatre great job - 63% there
Our guys had a decent weekend down there as well.

echappist

well done

mattm

Dayum!

jsutkeepspining

he's getting into shape