misterwaterfall

Yea Steve f. He's strong like bull after riding tour of cali this year.

Tacoma was a 1.1 mile figure 8 of sorts near the neighborhood course. It took a portion of that and then went down the hill and came back up. The pavement is a lot better now and it was fast even with the climbing.

hack

Leesville or Ladoga or whatever it's called nowadays. E3 DNP. Been a couple of rough racing weekends.

I'm not a climber, not one bit. The major crux on this 80-ish mile out and back course is a 3 mile 7% climb. We had 4 guys in the race and I was going in with the goal of doing whatever I could to keep our climber as fresh as possible before making it to the base of the climb. A decent move got out early and we sent our climber up to it since it looked to have all the right players. That move ultimately fell apart and we all took a wrong turn that required some backtracking and regrouping. @aaronmcd made a few moves and I did what I could to cover them the group kept everything pretty tight for the first 20 miles.

At mile 20 a solo rider that looked pretty strong jumped out so I bridged across to him. About 5 miles later Aaron bridged across and the three of us built up a decent gap. By being up in the break, our other guys could sit in the pack and not have to chase saving themselves for the climb. Aaron has some darn good fitness and was putting a hurt on my legs. Having raced two crits yesterday didn't help, but he's strong. Eventually I reached a breaking point where if I stayed in the break I'd be fried for the climb and sat up letting the other two go. A few minutes later the field caught me and I relayed some info about the gap (our break was out of sight), and the field picked up the pace a bit.

Before the main climb, there is a shorter 5 minute climb with a feed zone. I sat on the back of the field through that. As we neared the major climb, guys started making some bigger moves and I fell off the back. Motivation gone, limped up to the top and called it a day. From what I heard, the remaining two guys were caught on the climb and a group of 6 jumped away. From that group of 6 one rider took it solo from some 30 miles out and our guy picked up the last spot in the field sprint.

At the end of the day, it was a good workout and I got a decent climb in before Cascade and I like to think somehow I helped out a teammate.

Harlan

I hit up Wells yesterday. Won the c race. Everyone must have been hungover. I went solo around 3 to go after taking a prime (ended up with 3) and found myself quite far ahead of the field. The wife finished with the field and said there was a chase but it didn't last long.

I utilized a tactic that I read on here, I forget who posted it. Maybe Fudgy. When breaking away go full gas once you go out of view of the field. That way the next time they see you it's much further, for the demoralizing effect.

Also the director said I need to be out of 5s and I agree, but he said there isn't a way around the 10 start rule. I'm at 8 and am hoping to do the RR in Albany next weekend, and one of the two crit options on that Sunday.

Ygduf

totally me, and good job. I definitely cannot be the first to think of it, but w/e!

aaronmcd

Lodoga RR cat 3.
80+ miles and hot!
Went with the first 6 man move at the start but it seemed guys weren't quite ready to work too hard, field closing in and missed a turn. Regrouped. Decided to see how the field wanted to ride this course, so let a guy get way ahead, then initiated a chase and the field brought him back but there was a lot of easy rolling, so I decided to try and get a break going. First couple attempts no one came with and they chased me down instead.

Then one guy went and got a large gap, the Hack went. I hoped for a break of 5 or so. When I saw 2 guys on the same team go to the front to trade attacks I joined in. 2nd attempt I got away, but without the other team. Oh well, hopefully one would come join. Never did. So 3 of us tried to build a decent gap before the climb without working myself too hard.

Hack dropped off, then the other guy dropped off halfway up the climb. The fastest 3 climbers joined me just at the top. Suddenly we weren't working that hard and 4 more joined over the next 20 minutes. On the way back there was a few minutes of climbing just before the big descent. One guy attacked and got away, the rest of us chased but I just tried to hold on. Lost the connection a minute from the top and couldn't catch up on the wide descent. Short climb back to the feedzone and they pulled away for good.

Ended up 8th, just out of the points. It really sucked being that close to hanging on over the last little climb and not quite having it!

grolby

Nice job. Just keep starting races until you've done your 10. That rule has nothing to do with fitness.

canuckbelle

There is *totally* a way around the 10 start rule...but they don't want to use it (which I think is a legit choice). The upgrade coordinator can upgrade you if they wanted to.

Harlan

I totally understand the experience perspective to the rule. I have over 10 races at this point, it's just that 3 are from 2011 and they made a cutoff date of 2012 for qualifying finishes under the new rules.

shovelhd

That's reason enough to ask.

grolby

That is a different story. It doesn't hurt to ask.

Doge

Daniel got 17 GC https://www.sintmartinusprijs.be with TTT, ITT and 3 70mile+ road stages. 180 starters, 120 finishers.
3 broken wheels - 1 crash.
Upcoming SRs should be a better fit for him. We shall see.

kmill23

Vuelta Acadiana (Lafayette, LA) Omnium (Crit + Road Race)


2nd Place Road Race, 6th Place Overall, 1st Cat 3


Due to obligations at home, I couldn't commit to both stages of the Vuelta this year. Having a mile long 'to-do list' for Saturday, I opted to only race the road race on Sunday.


Cat 1/2/3 road race. Racing my second season as Cat 3. My goal was to mix it up, get a good workout in, and use this race as a measuring stick to see where my fitness is coming up to the time trial championships in August. As usual, I wanted to try to make it into a breakaway. I vowed not to sit in. Even if I missed the winning move, I'd try to get another break going. There were three teams representing most of the field of 31 racers: VooDoo (6), Palmer (6), and LaSport (4). I had one teammate who was admittedly out-of-shape and said he wouldn't be much assistance. Fair enough, I am used to racing solo.


The race started off pretty tame for the first oh . . . . quarter mile or so. Then a very strong Palmer Cat 2 put in a move, so I jumped across to him. Of course we didn't stay away long at all, but it set the tone. Attacks came fast and furious for the first five to ten miles before another Palmer Cat 2 and a Cat 3 slipped off the front. Team LaSport sent two of their guys to the front to set tempo and keep those guys within reach, but Palmer sat on their wheels and slowed it up every chance they could. Seeing this, I was hoping I could lure one of the LaSport guys and maybe another Palmer guy to bridge with me, so I tried a few times. No luck. One of the Palmer guys looked at me and told me, "Don't worry, LaSport will close it down. And the next move will be bigger and stronger."


I knew he was right, but I had to try. So after I saw I couldn't get the right guys coming with me, I decided to sit in and wait for a while. Sure enough, as soon as the gap was essentially closed down, three Palmer guys hit it hard. This caused mayhem in the group, with all hands on deck chasing hard to close that move down. I thought it was a weird move. But anyway, when they were brought back, a few counters were thrown out but nothing stuck.


A couple of things really changed the dynamics of the race: On the start of the second or third lap, the GC leader (LaSport) crashed making the right turn after the feezdone. He was out. On the next lap, before the feedzone, second place in GC (Palmer) flatted, and a teammate stopped to pace him back on. The pace was really high, and the teammate killed himself successfully pulling the GC guy back up. So he was done for the day after his work was done. Both of these things really changed the race, and I was aware that these could mean more opportunity for me.


On the last lap coming to the end of Arnaudville Rd., another Palmer guy was alongside me and asked if I felt like going with him. I told him, I'm always willing to go and if he went, I was in. Coming to a righthand turn, he made his way to the front with me on his wheel. Shorty after the right turn, he attacked, and I was on him like glue. We had a nice gap and his teammates were sitting on the front: EXCELLENT!! We rotated a couple of times, making our way up the small hill, then disaster as we hit the the next right turn : a truck had made a turn right in front of us, and another car was in the oncoming lane. We had to stop and we were absorbed back into the group.


After that, the pace heated up. There were massive splits in the group, and I was in great position, making several promising moves. For these, though, the main group wasn't happy with the make up of the break, and chased each one of the down.


A few miles later one of LaSport's strong TT guys made his way off the front solo. I kept good position and had my eye on him. As we made our way up a slight incline, I saw the same Palmer guy who asked if I wanted to go earlier creeping up and he put in a good effort up the hill. Without too much fanfare, I slipped onto his wheel, hoping the group wouldn't respond if I didn't make a big move. Sure enough, I sneaked a look behind and we had a gap. He and I rotated, working together to bridge up to LaSport. We made the bridge, and it was on. About 9 miles to the finish! Knowing the Lasport guy is a great time trialist and I knew he would be a good ally. I knew if we were going to maintain the gap to the finish, we would need him. We were working pretty well together, but I could not get a good feel for whether the group was chasing or not. VooDoo had a strong contingent and they weren't represented in the break and another solo racer in the group is super strong and was racing aggressively all day, so I was sure that between those guys, the chase would be on. What I didn't know was that the solo racer had attacked and was attempting to bridge alone!


With about three miles to go, LaSport flatted his rear wheel. He was out. Now it was just me (Cat 3) and Palmer (Cat 1). with the other solo guy somewhere between us and the peleton. I think Palmer knew we were going to make it to the line. I didn't know, honestly, so I didn't let up on my pulls. As bad as this sounds, I also knew there was no chance I'd beat him in a sprint, so my decision was to drive it to the line and settle for second instead of risking playing games, lose second place and get caught. At about 300-400m to go, I put in a pretty decent dig, just to see if maybe he was hurting from earlier efforts, but no dice. He was stuck on my wheel, and came around me easily to take the win with me in second place.


With 2nd place in the road race, I ended up taking 6th place overall and first place in the Cat 3 bonus for the weekend. It feels like each race, I'm learning more about myself and how to race with some intelligence. I certainly think this season has been great for learning to race.

revchuck 

Great report, kmill! It's good to see a LAMBRA race written up here - not too many folks from outside California or New England post here. Good job...even if you're on a rival team (I'm on LCR) .

mattm

Nice racing @kmill23!

Ygduf

good work. you'll find that you have to re-learn a lot when you start the next category, but all that stuff is great. Learning to be wiley is important!

kmill23

Ha, thanks, Chuck!



I appreciate that, Matt. I love reading you guys' reports.

Racing solo as a mediocre Cat 3 against teams of Cat 1/2s, I'm learning that I can use the team tactics to my advantage if I'm patient and smart. Last year, I didn't have any results; I didn't take the time to understand what was happening in the races--it was just a matter of hanging on. This year, I've been able to pick good moves to go with later in races, so it's been a lot more fun racing.

shovelhd

It's all part of the progression. Nice work.

Harlan

Thanks for recommending that I ask anyway. They upped me to 4 tonight. Back to the bottom! At least I know I have two tons to learn about tactics.

TheKillerPenguin

Congrats on the upgrade, I do believe this means we'll be racing together on Saturday. Say hi!

globecanvas

Rockleigh Crit 1/2/3, 7th.

A couple of big teams working for their sprinters made for a fast race. Organized chasing and many hot laps in a row put me in tunnel vision land for long stretches, just focusing on holding the wheel and working to stay up front so I wouldn't be at the mercy of some random person blowing up. A bunch of guys got shelled off the back including my teammate.

Two to go, 4 guys OTF, one of the teams sets up a train and I get behind their first guy. He goes too hard and we gap off the field a bit. Turn 1 after the bell he realizes we've gapped the field and eases a bit, I go as if it's 100m to the line. Two guys come with me, though only one takes a brief turn, and we hold a few seconds gap through the last turn.

I'm utterly and completely spent by about 50m to go but have enough distance on the field to sit up, or so I think. I can hear them charging though and manage another couple of pedal turns to beat the field by an inch.

The scorer showed me the finish line photo which I wish I had, it shows me beating a couple of the top sprinters in the northeast by a nose while sitting up casually.

The last 3 minutes of my race were 30 mph and a power PR. It was a good finish against a strong field and I'm happy with it.

gsteinb

hard to tell from the photos. three man break with the winner being a pro, and then the foundation guys finishing just ahead of you?




photo credit: uh, the guy who has his name on the photo. Yehudah.

globecanvas

Yehudah does a great job but I wish there was a better finish photo. 4 guys were way OTF. The two red Foundation guys and I jumped at the bell and finished 5-6-7. Zack (blue helmet far left) and Wilson (green leader jersey) finished 8-9. In this photo I'm just realizing that those guys can close more of a gap in the final 100m than most people can.

Zack and Wilson finished the series exactly tied so there was like 15 minutes of discussion after the race that ended with them giving the trophy to Zack because he had the better finish in the last race.

gsteinb

Wilson's teammate was probably leading it out, and he was a pro for champ-sys.

Gramercy

Wait, you out-sprinted Zack? Next thing you know you'll be beating gsteinb in field sprints.

gsteinb

:-/