cross-post from The 33

Louisville crit SW4, 7th/45.

This was a cat 4 women's mentoring crit, which might explain the abnormally high turnout. It was fun & challenging & scary to race with such a big group. I stayed in the top 6 most of the race, didn't take any pulls, was pretty happy with how my cornering has improved. Just before crossing the start/finish at one to go we lapped the main field and I got caught in that group going thru the first turn, so I had to extract myself and chase back on, losing the last opportunity to recover before the long uphill approach to the finish. I made it back to the lead group, the sprint started really early, and I dug deep to pass one gal just before the finish.

I need to figure out how to do better in the last lap. I think I raced pretty smart the rest of it, but I just don't know what to do to close the deal. Work on my one minute power, I guess. I have a terrible fade at about 15 seconds.

Valygrl, it seems to me your power is really good. I mean, to stay in the top 6 in a W4 crit is amazing. I see what you're saying about "closing the deal", though. You feel you're not matching the efforts of the other riders in the closer? Oh, you'll get there, and quickly. You're very strong! Congrats on riding smart, staying strong, and an overall great race.

Here's the back half of the CCCX circuit course on Fort Ord. The Sea Otter road race goes the other direction on this section. Yes, it is that steep - this is from the top of the rollers. It's a women's group in the photo, I might be in the picture - in the back!

http://i1111.photobucket.com/albums/...psa275f476.jpg

Nice photo... looks like a nice course. Will have to try to get up there one of these days.

Valygrl - good job on that race! Staying on the front, even at the beginning, is something I need to work on.

Sara - I think I remember running that hill when I was stationed at Ord in the early 80s.

Chuck, Eucalyptus Road. The ranges are to the right.

Vance, come on up! It's a tough course, but it's fun!

Topsport Stage Race report:

Opened my bag Friday to find my helmet missing. Had to go by a cheapy at the LBS. Rode the road race course, reminded me of a lot of Texas courses. I did well in Texas.

I was doing really well in the race until I hit a pot hole and flatted my tubular half way through the race. I had good legs. No follow car so I got worst time + 5m.

This morning I woke up with a sore throat and a head full of muck. Came home.

So for 32 miles of racing I spent, counting the kennel for the dogs, hotel, gas, tire, helmet, and food around $700.

I think next weekend I'll just drive back and forth around Reno throwing a $20 bill out the window every mile.

Can't seem to get a break this year.

Ex, you really can't seem to catch a break. The glass-half-full view is that you've stayed upright and haven't been to an emergency room or had an overnight stay in the hospital.

I think Big M got 4th yesterday in 45+.

Oh ex bummer.

Sarals, that is an amazing looking course, I want to come race there!

I want you to, too!

Ex - who do I talk to to get you a break?? Damn the luck.....

Bethel M45+, mid 40's, stiff headwind sprint, in the field. Going into this week we were in 1st and 3rd, but with only a point or two between some very strong riders. It would be a day to totally focus on the team. One of the guys in the mix didn't show, so I marked the other rider for most of the race. He tried to get away several times but didn't get very far. Late in the race a strong M50+ guy from another team jumped right in front of me, so I took the chance, left my mark, and went. Another guy came along. I let the two of them do the work, taking a tempo pull to stay honest, but just being a PITA skipping pulls in the back. With 3 to go one of the riders started having shifting issues (Di2 no less) and dropped back. With two of us and 3 to go, ya gotta go. So we hammered as hard as we could but the other guy faded and we were caught with 1.5 to go. I slid back into the front looking for my mark, got on him, and he attacked. I stayed with him for a bit but he got away, finishing 6th with 1 point. So with a kilo to go I hit the front and nailed it, leading out the field, shortening the sprint. gsteinb came around and took the field sprint, finishing 3rd.

The wind picked up as it always does for the P/1/2/3. Brutal. On the backstretch with the tailwind I was doing 32mph under 150w. Crazy. An early four rider break got the teamwork going. I was in the middle of the field when a second group attacked, including our 17 year old phenom J Jr. I blasted to the front to cover. Within a few hundred meters I was joined by two teammates. We did three wide tempo at the front, and covered several attacks until they were out of sight. I was starting to fade, and the attacks just kept on coming, so I conserved and downed a gel. After I got some strength back I attacked a couple of times when the opportunity presented myself but nothing stuck. On the last lap guys were looking around, and I thought for an instant I'd try one last kilo effort, but I knew I only had half a kilo left, so I ended up in the middle of the field.

I'm tired and my legs are crunchy. I've had harder races by the numbers but these felt tougher.

Ex, it's early. It will turn.

Ugh....that's rough...missed you there...I ended up doing the P1-2s..

Ken

Valygrl, good work. Seems like your getting there.

RacerEx, well............damn.

Shovelhd, solid work as always. When are they gonna let you go "rouge" and try for your own bouquet?

Sorry Cleave, I skipped you. Sounds like your racing was productive, ......and reasonable. :D

Soon. :D

I hope soon means after we get this series wrapped up.

I wish I had a teammate to support. We have a small Masters team that is allergic to any course whose description contains the word 'hill.'

+1

Louisville Crit, 45+4

This course isn't one I like. It's .9 miles, and you are going downhill for basically half a lap, or uphill. No real flat section. 3 corners are in the downhill, and the uphill is a big arc. Last year I was off the back in a couple laps, and lapped 4-5 laps later.

This year, I was middle pack till I was up front/top 5 for a bit, then back to the middle. I think I actually had decent tactics, and was in good position on the last lap. Top 10 going into the last lap, and I couldn't hang the last 500 feet. 16th. Yet another thing I need to work on. The list grows, but that's OK.

Hung with rapwithtom a lot of the race, and that was A=OK.

Agreed. Two of those downhill corners feature really bad, uneven, broken pavement, and the last of those two, coincidentally the most important turn on the course, also features decreasing-radius and narrowing of road. It's a recipe for disaster. Every year at least one racer wins an ambulance trip.

Long ago and far away, when I raced cars, I was impressed by the emphasis on safety that went into track design. I don't think crit courses share that thinking (perhaps because they're transient and opportunistically found), and the result is escalated racer risk. Boo.

LAJ & rapwithtom - what line were the guys taking in that last corner? Most of the women in my race were respecting the yellow lines, thus narrowing the effective width of the course. I found that swinging out really wide in the approaches to those corners let me carry speed through them, but left me with the choice of losing the draft to take the faster line vs staying in the draft and maybe having to break.

I actually liked the course, but it sounds like maybe that is just because I don't know any better, and i like right turns.

valygrl, I made my best time taking the outside line. I did go inside a few times, but it seemed folks were slowing too much, or if I did have a clear shot to the inside, it was dicey. My only concern with the outside was the rider was just to my inside taking it too wide. I was in the gutter a couple times. Being outside on that corner also set me up to be sheltered for the arc up the climb. Lapped riders were also a concern, as they were hanging to the inside in that area. At least, I think that's what they were.

Funny my assessment is the opposite of LAJ's even though we were in the same race and around each other a lot. :o

I tried throughout the race to try different lines/places in the pack for each of the corners.

I like the inside line on that corner because of 2 reasons: a) I felt like immediately after the corner, it was consistently the easiest spot of the entire race to move up on the RHS of the pack as there was almost always a lot of space there; and b) you know I thought that the most dangerous turn on the course; therefore, the last place I want to be is on the outside of the pack in said turn. Oh, also, upon exiting that turn on the outside, I frequently got pinched and had to brake, which is always annoying at the bottom of a hill.

Yellow lines? I never noticed any, let alone paid attention to any.

It's a crit. According to the USAC rules, a sanctioned crit has to allow the entire width of the road.