gbot

My best results thus far have all been due to 'epic moves' - getting into a break or taking a flyer off the front. There are a fair number of strong cat 4 sprinters in my local races and I don't really have a shot against them in a field sprint.

Phatman

For the first half of the season, I was just going for top 10s, so I would basically sit in until the end, then sprint with a pack. Pretty lame racing, I know, but thats the way the system has been made, and I could top ten pretty easily like that. I like attacking though. Now that I'm a 3, I plan to do more attacking, but I need to get to know the local racers so that I can know who to bridge to/not bridge to. I suspect that while I'm learning the whos who, there will be many epic fails.

NickDavid

You'll never know unless you try. If you had succeeded, that would have been epic.

aham23

well said.

its all about the Move.

later.

ZeCanon

About 90% of my wins come from breaks, because I have the threshold to help them stick and the kick to win out of them. I don't quite have the raw power to win field sprints, unless they are uphill.

I am generally not the one attacking, I prefer to bridge to good looking moves. Otherwise, you waste a ton of energy getting in moves with the wrong guys. Just wait until you see the right guys go off, then join them.

carpediemracing 

I *have* to sit in until the finish. Doing a steady 22-23 mph in a break isn't going to get me anywhere, and sitting on a break is not really very nice (but that's the only way I can stay in a semi-strong group). Tuesday I made it onto the back of a group, they rotated until I was second wheel, the guy in front of me looked back, saw me, and must have started salivating. He jumped and I couldn't stay on his wheel - he had ramped it up until I was way into the red, then he attacked. Beautiful (for him).

This year I've had my best successes when, for whatever reason, I've avoided moving up until the very end. New London - hill killed me, almost came off for 10 laps, then hung on grimly for the next 20. Realized I couldn't move up and maintain position so I waited until about 2 to go to start moving up. Moved up hard at 1 to go, then just before last turn, and got 5th. Nutmeg State Games - wet turns were scary, I sat at the back for everyone's safety, moved up between 1/2 and 1/4 lap to go. Led out sprint but in an uncertain way, got 3rd. Mystic Velo - moved up for real with 2 turns to go. 2nd.

It's nice if you can do epic breaks. I wish I could. But it's not something I can do. If I were that strong, I'd try for moves. I wish in my best year that I stuck with one attack in particular - after 2 laps solo in a huge Cat 3 race I was about 13-14 seconds off the front and feeling pretty good. I had Scott Rakes and felt fluently comfortable on them - I could average about 25 in headwinds and 30-ish on the tailwind stretches. I thought about the 6 laps to the finish, the hungry sprinters, and decided to sit up. It took the field 1/2 lap to catch me, and I felt so fresh I didn't drop out of 3rd or 4th spot until the sprint.

What I'd do is think about how long you can go really hard, then time your attack appropriately. Like WR's 1 km attacks, but tailored to your particular strength. If you can go 8-10 minutes like no one else's business, then I'd go with 4 or 5 to go in a crit with sub-1 mile laps.

cdr

Dunce

This has been my compromise between racing negatively and racing like a dofus. Typically if the rest of the field is racing negatively, I'm one of the guys that makes everyone else regret that.

I don't get why there are so few attacks going on. The same 5 guys win the sprint every week and frankly those same 5 guys are often the ones in the breaks as well. Ironic.

carpediemracing 

I also like to bridge to groups. The group has separated itself, organized, and is committed. At 10 seconds I think about bridging - I can get across 10 seconds solo (most riders can). A strong time trialer might get across a 20 second gap solo, but not me.

Creakyknees

Depends on the course, conditions, who's there (competitors and teammates).

But generally I'm more of a race reader / move follower than a leg breaker / RacerEx type.

This comes from my knowledge that I'm not the strongest guy there. Not even top 10, not even top 20 unless it's a really weak field.

So I have to carefully allocate my limited resources. Some may call it wheelsucking or defensive riding, I call it energy management.

I'm not a wheelsucker; I'll take hard pulls if the situation is right. I'm not negative or defensive - I'll attack / bridge if the situation is right. I'm just not the guy who hits the front, causes a split, tows the group around and then wins the sprint.

queerpunk

Depends on my goals for the race and the time of the season.

When I was a cat 4 trying to grab a few more upgrade points, it was more worthwhile to be bored, sit in, and sprint for an okay place than to wear myself out trying to make the race awesome. I've done both - unfortunately the former was more effective.

But when I'm racing without thinking about lowest-common-denominator success, I prefer to keep my head up, attack when I can, bridge to promising moves, and try to make it so that the number of people getting to the finish line first is a lot smaller. It's harder, more fun, better for your body.

Tinton

Can't ignore Jens

DocM

This might sound like heresy, but I'm not as interested in results as I was in past seasons. I'm a moderately strong 3, and, at 43, I'm not really looking to make the Cat 2 upgrade. So when I race, I would rather make the doomed heroic move than sit in. It's a matter of what is more fun for me--the Jens-esque break can be a blast, especially if you're in a race with an announcer who calls your name out as you fly solo past the s/f with not a chance in hell of staying out there until the end. Or a road race with spectators who cheer you on as you push yourself into the red, knowing that you've got another 2 minutes--maybe--until the pack sweeps you up, but that 2 minutes is pure awesomeness. Too often races get boring otherwise, riding in circles for 45 minutes until 30 seconds of all-out pain.

bikesandcode

My ideal race looks something like this: Tailgun (if the course is suitable) until one of the following happens:

1. I get dropped because it's hilly/I'm slow/everyone else is fast, etc.
2. An interesting break goes up the road, bridge.
3. Other guys look kind of tired/bored/not paying attention, attack.
4. If all else fails and we're still together with ~1km to go? Attack.

With the exception of 4, this isn't really playing to my strengths. I do actually have a decent jump, but if I'm paying to race, I'd currently rather spend the time racing aggressively than protecting myself until the end. This doesn't generally work out overly well for me as my TT abilities are far from great, but sometimes they let you go...

For perspective, in the few dozen races I've done, the results I'm most proud of are a win from just over 1km out, a 2nd from a late race 2 man break and a 'caught and off the back' after spending 6.7km of the last 7km off the front by myself. (all crits)

umd

That's where I'm headed. I'm not going to win the race in a sprint, so there's not much point to sitting in the whole race. Some races it's just hang on for life no matter what anyway, but if I'm strong enough to be on the front in a race, I'll play a little. Sometimes with spectacularly explosive results...

El Diablo Rojo

Dude that was really cool...it made me want to race my bike.

Racer Ex 

Unless there was a left to right crosswind in this race, you really need to work on reintegrating back into the pack...

El Diablo Rojo

I got the impression that he didn't even have the legs to sit in.

umd

There were a bunch of surges up the climb and my legs were toast after a few of them. I was with the pack for a little while but every surge dropped back a bit more and more until I was off the back.

echappist

i wish i read this post before my crit in april. i thought the way you create a break was by a steady, incremental increase in effort, hoping that a gap would form. what i didn't know, of course, was that you have to sprint a bit to create that gap...

brian416

I guess I know who I need to keep an eye on this weekend That is if you're racing at Superior

TheKillerPenguin

But I didn't. My point- attack with purpose.

Racer Ex 

It looks like you were stage right a whole bunch and not on a wheel...fi I start to blow I elbow my way into the calmest space I can find. A watt here, a watt there...

umd

Possibly... there was more that I cut out. There was a leftish tailwind though.

waterrockets 

I went at 1000m tonight got a gap, but a guy caught me by leapfrogging a breakaway that I passed. I was playing the game too much with him on my wheel and ended up swept away by the pack.

Rolled the dice anyway.

Racer Ex 

Que "You've disappointed Bongo" picture (we are of course kidding).