gsteinb

new here, huh?

echappist

I believe his victory is Powered by Racer Ex™. Allegedly Racer Ex gave him a good engine; whether the said engine is consisted only of gsteinb or whether it additionally includes some other contraption Racer Ex rigged up and put into gsteinb's bike is uncertain.

ovoleg

SoCal Cup 3. Cat 4 - 11th.

I've ridden in the rain more times than I can count in Ohio. Clear skies then next thing I know its pouring on my head lol. That said, I was looking forward to racing today!

I went in with the game plan of trying to solo the last lap if I had the right position otherwise surf some wheels and attack up the little hill. Well I ended up at the front after a few guys blew up from a Prime going into the last lap.

At this point I just put my head down and started drilling it. I did the look down under my elbow to see if anyone was on my wheel and I gapped the guys behind. I kept going full gas and taking the corners as fast as I could with the wetness. I caught 3-4 guys that were blowing up and hit the hill. All I kept saying to myself was, "Stick to the plan!!" Looks like they pulled up to me and as soon as they did I hear a crash behind me. I kept hitting it and driving it to the line but flew back into 11th as I was gassing out.

I'm not even mad. I went in with a plan and tried something new. Fitness feels great, 298 NP and my legs don't even feel it.

Next week I try something new.

carpediemracing 

Meh.



Or whatever "almost last" is.

Ygduf

I raced 3 times today and won a big chunk of humility.

Actually raced like an idiot for the first two, because why-not just go pedal as hard as you can for the entire race? Best finish came in the final 123 race, was like 12th, where I just tried to hide my sobbing and hung on as best I could.

Races were back to back to back with about 5-10min of lining up, changing numbers and go again. Totals were 3:49, 86mi, about 6400ft of climbing and 287TSS.
@mattm was there and did well in the 2/3s, rocking the highlighter orange helmet and still not in team kit!

mattm

Good racing with ya! I can't believe we averaged over 20 in that 1/2/3's race, I felt like we were going 15 mph the whole time.. not that I had any problem with that, but still. I also thought there were like 20 guys up the road!

mattm

CCCX 2/3's - 5th.

Two guys got away, I lost the field sprint but did ok in it. Kind of a crappy result but I think I scraped out one upgrade point depending on how many 2's were in the race.

1/2/3's later in the day - pretty close to DFL. Felt like ****, but two team mates made the winning break and one won it. At least I told my team how I felt before the action started, so the knew not to count on me! Once the big group went up the road, the rest of us rode around and chatted. Good times.

mattm

Ha thanks. They say the helmet fades eventually.. I was even warned not to wear it too much because of the fading but I kinda want it to!

revchuck 

Matt & Fudgy - sounds like you had a pretty full day. There was at least one other BF racer there, @sarals in W4.

To think that the post I was stationed at for over a year is now a national monument...shoot, it makes me feel like I was a cavalryman in the days of the wild west.

rkwaki

I thought it was pretty detailed...

tbrown524

Can't pass at a chance to win free sunglasses!!!

waterrockets 

Agreed. 2-door implies either solo or 2-man finish.

Congrats gsteinb. Not unusual for you, but still badass.

Ygduf

for pack finishes OK? I mean 2 lanes wide and seats 35...

bmcphx

tumacacori rr cat 4 - 15/30

This race has a reputation for being the hard man's race in Arizona, and after trying it last year as a cat 5, flatting in the first lap, then walking to the finish and going home, I came back this year just wanting to finish. If you flat, your race is essentially over because there is absolutely no wheel support as they do not allow vehicles on the road and the 6 mile laps are short enough that you could lose half a lap changing a flat. It's also the worst pavement I've ever ridden, just a step above a dirt road, full of cracks, potholes, and a poor excuse for pavement in general... the 3 14% climbs are hard to get traction on out of the saddle, etc.

I finished. A fast group (most of the fastest lap times of the day) of cat 4s and I was dying from both the pace and some burn out/fatigue. Got dropped from the group on the climb on lap 6 and rode the remainder of that lap and lap 7 by myself. I didn't actually lose much ground on them, finishing about 1.5 minutes behind, with the next racer behind me about 5 minutes back. I feel decent about it... sure I'm disappointed that the first race I got dropped in was my A race, but whatever, I still enjoyed the experience and am glad I finished. Only about 60% of entrants across all categories finished the race. In the pro race it was bad, about 40% finished.

https://www.strava.com/activities/117311713

waterrockets 

That's probably about right. Then maybe an Escalade for winning a bunch sprint?

Andy STi

Saturday was the first race of the season for me. Echo Red to Red mountain bike race has been my season opener the couple of years. It's up in the middle of nowhere northeastern Oregon. Long day in the car with a 4 hour drive each way.

Race starts with 3 miles of gravel road until the single track. I hit the single track in the top 5. Right as we hit the trail Wicks and some other pro took off and we had a group 6 trailing. Our group blew up until there were 4 of us. We were doing great and I popped off on one of the final climbs right before the road section back to the finish. Worst time possible as there was no chance of catching back up when those 3 were working together. Oh well, rolled in for 6th place (one out of the money) and 1st in my 40+ Cat 1 age group. Not bad but really frustrating.

Long drive home made worse by the ticket for rolling a stop sign after leaving the gas station to buy a pop!

LandyachtzDH 

San Tan Crit

Cat 4/5: DNF/17

Cat 3/4: 15/22


.8 mile course with a 1-2% kicker ever lap. On and off rain all day, so the fields were all really small. Lucky for me that both of my races were dry.

4/5: This race was hard from the gun with almost no real let up in the pace. Teammate and I had decided to trade attacks going off the front to see if we could break the group. He went off with another rider on the second lap. I sat on wheels and when they were pulled back I attacked the group and got off the front. No one tried to bridge, so 4 laps later I was pulled back. With 5 to go I was getting pretty gassed. With 4 to go I was going to try a last ditch attack to setup my teammate to counter, but when the field pulled right on the backside he attacked right in front of me. I hung on for another two laps and then pulled the plug to try and save myself for races later in the day. Teammate ended up taking 2nd after going full gas from 500m out and getting pipped at the line.

3/4: This race was stacked with the host team having 10 out of 27 riders on the start list. I had two teammates in this race and was basically looking to work for them as I didn't think I had the form to do anything. The first lap was all-out and then the pace settled down. This race, as a whole, seemed a lot easier than the 4/5 even though the pace was 1 mph faster. The first half of the race saw several attempts at breaks. The San Tan guys always had someone in there, but the breaks never got very far. Maybe halfway through there was a San Tan rider and a strong junior rider off the front, and when the pace lulled on the climb I attacked hard and bridged to them. I thought it was a good composition as we had 11-12 teammates back in the field (between the three teams) with only another 7-8 riders to chase us. However, it didn't seem like either guy wanted to work. The junior rider didn't pull at all, and the San Tan guy wasn't giving full effort. We found out afterward San Tan were working for another teammate, so he was really just there to mark the move. We got pulled back, and I basically just hung on to the group for the rest of the race. Pack finish. Junior rider from my break ended up winning the sprint, and teammate got 5th.

ovoleg

I guess to each his own. I want to win the race, I can afford to buy a pair of glasses so that doesn't mean that much to me.

I can't sprint for glasses with 3 laps to go and still win. At least I don't think I can

gsteinb

Depending on the race, there are on occasion primes the far exceed winning. I've been in races where there are $100 primes on multiple laps, or a mid race bike frame. In general I don't go for primes unless I'm pissed off, and then it's mainly as a show of force. That said, I won a $20 prime yesterday just because I was in position and it wasn't a stretch. I won't do it late in a race though. It's a pretty good way to lose a race you can win.

globecanvas

gsteinb, were you at Bethel?

I'm curious whether this outlier NE winter has had much effect on the overall fitness of the early spring race fields.

gsteinb

yeah, Bethel. The 1,2,3 field was smaller than it would be in better weather. Masters field was slightly smaller, though not by much. Can't speak to overall fitness. Masters race would typically end in a break week 1, speaking to a normal level of the haves and have nots of fitness. Field sprint usually indicates fit guys chasing things down.

shovelhd

Gary, don't go by the results to judge the P/1/2/3 field size. I'd say it was pretty close to the Masters field size. We blew a whole bunch off the back and they were pulled. I would say that fitness was all over the place but overall fitness was down compared to a warmer winter. I don't think there were that many training campers in the fields. I beat a guy I don't usually beat twice, and my fitness is not stellar.

carpediemracing 

In the 3-4 race some guys that might have been able to stay away normally disintegrated on the last lap. Two guys did win the race from the break but I think 3rd went to a field finisher, and in the camera shots they're as close together as a normal field sprint. In fact, reviewing the finish (due to an error on my part I thought a banned rider took part after being ejected so I checked the finish footage Sunday night), I didn't realize the two guys that won were from a break. I only found out there was a break after reading someone's blog entry about the race.

It was cold, there was snow forecast up until that morning, so a lot of people didn't show up.

On the other hand I averaged 202 watts for the race, a very high number for me, and I couldn't sprint. So it was hard enough but the super fit riders either weren't there or were feeling too cold after returning from whatever 75 degree temperature training camp weather.

Tyrell

Lago Vista La Primavera 4/5 (Saturday): 7th/44

Poor positioning at the beginning of the race resulted in my missing the early break. I tried a couple other moves throughout the race (joining a chase, initiating a chase and hoping others would join) but nothing seemed to work. After a failed move with 3 laps to go, I decided to sit in the next couple laps and make a run for it at 1k to go. I got away with a decent gap but the pack was closing fast from 200m. I almost made it work but came up a couple meters short. I was over-geared (and totally gassed) coming up the final steep bit to the finish and 3 guys ended up passing me as I was swarmed at the line.

What I learned:
1) The last couple races I've done had early breaks that stayed away. I need to position myself better at the start so I'm in a position to cover an early break if it looks promising.
2) If a move isn't working, back off, regroup, and try again later. Trying to force it isn't likely to be successful.
3) Mind your gearing on hill-top finishes!

bmcphx

There was a ps4 prime in one of my cat 4 crits this year.

People threw away their race on that lap.