echappist

much appreciated!

hack

Coppertown circuit races E3 and E3 35+. Raced poorly and placed poorly.

Bad positioning in the 3's and basically had the door slammed on us in the sprint finish. Not much you can do there other than be further up or faster. Oh well.

Missed the key move in the 35+ race. Had been covering or attacking a lot and when the move went, teammate and I looked to the field of other teams to cover. Didn't happen. Race over.

Yep

Crit on the Campus (Stirling, Scotland), 4th of 50 or 60 (full field), Cat 4 (4/5 in the US).

When I moved over I had to get a British Cycling license and that meant starting as a 4. In the UK 4s need points (12) to upgrade to 3. There is no cat 5, and there's no experience upgrades to 3s. For me, it's nose to grindstone and get the points. Most races have either a 1/2/3 or a 3/4 field, sometimes just the 3/4, so 3 is truly the Ultimate Category.

This was a very technical (3 hairpins), rolly polly course with a light rain making it extra greasy. Of course I managed to start at the back so I spent the first 20 of 40 minutes digging (read: wasting energy) to get up to the front. With 3 or 4 to go, the third crash (!) of our race took out a small group in front of me and left at one of them with a bloody face and looking generally roughed up. I couldn't manage better than 4th wheel going around the final hairpin with 80 or 100 to go to the line and that's where I ended up. I got 6 points toward upgrade and £20, so I'll take it.

Cosmic Hawk

Just completed the Tantalus Time Trial here in Hawaii 4.1 mile sprint up 1,400 ft of elevation. I managed a 26:50. At 210 pounds that was a tall order! Finished 13 seconds behind a buddy who is 145 pounds.

Screen shot from my VIRB! lol.

aaronmcd

Saturday Copper Town Circuit Race, cat 3 and 3/4

Out and back rollers, with a bunch of fast turns through the "town" square at one end. Not enough wind and both races ended in a field sprint.

Cat3, 2k to go pace picks up very fast as guys try and get to the front. I see a guy on the right moving up to lead out his teammate. Don't think he'll make it, but maybe I'll get a free ride to the front so I follow. Front guy has nothing so other guy comes around, pace slows and he attacks over 1k out, I follow, field strung out and suddenly he realizes how far the finish is and everyone slows up again. That's where I should have attacked if I wasn't stupid, but I missed my shot and another guy went, the entire field scrambling in a chaotic mess and I got stuck midpack for the finish.

Cat 3/4 a break of 3 was up the road mid race. I decided to go for it and 3 of us bridged. But I guess that set off the panic alarm in the pack and before we could increase the gap 6 more had bridged up. Too big and I and a couple others weren't gonna work too hard for basically a split field. I attacked into the town square section and came out with 3 guys, all cooked. The pack had merged with the rest of the split, and swallowed us up shortly after.

Another chaotic field sprint and another pack finish.

aaronmcd

Sunday I had tired legs at CCCX Circuit Race.

Headwind, rollers out to the turnaround right into a tailwind roller. That first hill at the turn hurts bad if there's a real attack at the front and I'm mid to back. Which is exactly what happened in the 10 man 2/3 field.

There were a few really strong 2s intent on dropping the rest of us one by one. 3 guys cracked in the first half, then me and my 2 teammates came off in the tailwind. I had cracked the hardest and my teammate almost dropped me in the chase to my other teammate in front of us. Finally recovered and the 3 of us worked together. One of the 4 guys left in the front group broke a chain, so we were getting 4th 5th and 6th. We let the cat 2 teammate take 4th for the extra BAT point.

Cat 3/4 race sucked. Usually I'd be strong in this one but the legs were not having it and I missed a 5 man break (out of 13 guys and 2 gals). We had one junior in the break and the 3 of us in the pack were all feeling poor so we decided to let it go and gamble. Another team of 2 were chasing, our guy got popped so we started chasing and suddenly other team stops working. Dumb move on their part, as it was obvious we weren't going to catch the break unless both teams worked. But I guess they were mad at me from 2 weeks ago when I dropped them from the break. Whatever. I don't want to race for 5th, so we kept working some, attacking a bit, but mostly just trying to finish it off and get a workout while the other team sat on and sprinted to the glory of 5th and 6th place. Congrats on the T shirt and west coast podium, guys. You earned it. *eye roll*

hack

I'm starting to hate this race. It's a fun course with features enough in it to make things challenging, but the racing (at least in the 3s) is so frustrating. Too few teams or something and every single move is covered. One guy jumps the field surges to stick to him like glue and once he eases the pace drops until the next guy tries to get away. We tried over and over to get something up the road on Saturday, but it just failed miserably. Dolce did well to get a guy away, but we just couldn't get a guy free from the field to join him. Ugh.

There is also minimal collaboration if a "break" get's more than 5s on the field. Seems guys forget that when they're in a break they have to work a little bit to ensure they can get away. It's like the thought instantly goes to "I'm in a break, I need to start conserving so I can win the sprint".

Ygduf

take it upon yourself to let gaps open and get one of your guys in a move. Then when the field chases do it again. Repeat a few times and then counter with a move of your own. The course is super predictable, but there are ways to take advantage of it.

grolby

So jump before the pace eases. If you're trying over and over to get something to stick and it doesn't, you kinda by definition don't have the strength in depth to really threaten the field whenever one of your jerseys is up the road. So many 3/4 teams' attacking ambitions go to the grave on the reality that most teams just don't have enough strong riders to do any damage. So then you hope the other teams will recognize the tactical brilliance of letting one of their guys join move rather than just chasing it back. But of course that tends not to happen. If no one's strong enough to get a threatening gap for long, there's not much incentive to do hard pulls in a break you have good reason to believe is inevitably doomed. I'm not unsympathetic, but it's bike racing. It's not easy, and one of the reasons it's not easy is other people aren't necessarily going to do what you want them to do to shape the race in a way you like.

globecanvas

Probably a generalizable statement. After a few races similar to what you're describing, last year, I decided to just stop racing 3s and only race masters or 123.

hack

That's all well and good .. doesn't mean I have to like it though. Our team, lacking strength in depth, has done relatively well and were due to have a bad race weekend. It's a frustrating reality when the 27 other guys in the field don't do what you want them to do, but we grow, learn, and reshuffle for another day.

TheKillerPenguin

As I start to figure these bike games out, the times that seem "easiest" to get away are when everybody is already on their limit. If there are a series of attacks, you counter the counter to the original counter. If you're feeling it, you have to just assume others are feeling it more and just go for it. If done with enough oomph the people that make it across are the other guys that were strong enough to do what you just did. You also hope that one or more of those people has a bunch of teammates in the field to help arrest a chase. If you're stuck out there solo you put your head down and go as hard as you can muster and hope someone bridges to you and you don't pay attention to your power meter. If you're caught you probably won't get dropped, and if there is a counter you try to follow it again. BUT, if you do get dropped that's also OK, because you wouldn't be trying to get OTF if you were confident waiting for the sprint anyway.

Cat 3 racing was an absolute ****ing mystery to me, but that seems to be how the successful moves get rolling in general.

hack

My reference was very limited to that one event and that one field on that one day. Just venting some frustration to come up empty handed as a group more than anything .There has been a decent amount of good action in a lot of the races this season (3s included).

globecanvas

Fair enough.

hack

From what Ive seen and experienced, I will agree that the 35+ 123 is quite a bit more active. I'd jump in those more often if my teammates would just get older.

grolby

What I've noticed about Cat 3 racing is it inhabits this weird middle ground where sometimes it makes sense and people make tactical decisions with some actual sense of what they're trying to do, and other times it's a bunch of headless chickens a la Cat 4/5 racing (no offense to the 4/5s, you'd expect things to be less sophisticated there). In the 1/2/3 races, where most 3s are basically along for the ride, things are aggressive and hard, but there's usually a point to it.

Doge

Is it the doping?

hack

most assuredly

TheKillerPenguin

I think 3 races made more sense than I thought, I'm just not naturally gifted at the tactics stuff. It has taken time to reverse engineer it but it is starting to click.

grolby

Yeah. One reason I do better at cyclocross is it's a better match for my dumb "want win race, pedal bike hard" brain. That and for whatever reason I'm better at putting my meager watts to work on grass and dirt than a lot of guys who are objectively stronger than me. I have some sense of what's going on in road races, but struggle with the positioning stuff. Still. Progress.

Yep

I've thought a lot about the innate tactical ability thing. A 2 I raced with who was pretty successful always seemed to follow/make just the right moves. I always said he had a great racing brain, which might be true, but he also tended to be a cut above everybody else too, so I think a lot of the moves I might consider, he could actually make.

aaronmcd

In the 2/3 and 1/2/3 races I've done, it seems the main difference is the 1s and 2s are actually trying to beat up on each other and crack people, and they know how and when to attack HARD (or they are just insanely strong). The 3s are learning this. The 4s are relatively clueless (or just not strong enough to factor).

In Saturdays 3/4 race there was a guy just chasing everything without thought it seemed. Turns out he was a cat 4 with 15 races under his belt and 414 watt 22 minute power. He's gonna crush everyone when he learns how to race. I may be able to hold my own in the 2s if I ever learn haha.

ntnyln

After two years of not racing and a move back to the east coast from the Bay Area, I pinned on a number again last weekend. I did the Elkridge Cycling Classic 3/4's. It's a circut race on a 5 mile loop with a .5 mile climb about a 1/4 mile from the finish. We did 8 laps. The race started in the rain and about 45 degree temps which limited the field to 38. I haven't even done a group ride in a year, so the first few laps were just trying to get reacquainted with the dynamics. The pace was fairly mild for most of the race and the the 10-12% kicker at the top of the climb kept the pace up under control on the climb but we still managed to shed some of the riders along the way. Last lap there was about 15 or so that hit the bottom of the climb. We went up in a fairly tight group but started to spread at the top. I crested in about 10th. The finish was about a 1/4 mile down the road with a slight downhill after the crest and then flat shot into the finish but it was yellow line all the way. The group let 3 guys roll off the front and when I realized no one was moving, I jumped. I couldn't catch them because I hesitated to long waiting someone to volunteer to be my lead out, but still ended finishing clear for 4th.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with my return to racing and starting my new racing chapter with Cat 2 Meter: 2/30

Doge

The winner of the San Dimas P1 RR and the Crit (same rider) is RA 19.
He happens to be Daniel's new teammate this week - EP Cycling. Daniel is still off from sickness. Oh well.
I still tend to think there were a bunch just taking it easy for this week. We shall see.

mattm

San Dimas Pro/1 RR - failure.

I got gapped at the same part of the course, on the same lap, as last year - ugh!!

Field got strung out, I was dangling on the back, thought there were guys behind me so I coasted a bit to rest. Turns out nobody else there, so I opened a gap I couldn't close! Dumb.

Chased but eventually got time-cut. That 5% margin isn't much to play with..

Only about 100 out of 160 went on to the next stage.