globecanvas

Get well soon @carpediemracing! but come on now...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bury_the_lede

Radish_legs

better yet carpediemracing hopefully recorded it and will post a vid.

mike868y

nice racing cdr!


lap cards only came with 5 to go. in one of the races (can't remember if it was the 3/4 or the 1/2/3) they skipped 2 to go, it went right from 3 to 1. it was a blast though and I'm real glad I made the trek.

Racer Ex 

Get well CDR, congrats to the hillclimbing sprinter Gstienb. And Echappy won a TT this weekend.

Glad everyone made it through Nats without crashing or being impaled on fencing.

Got a call from EDR who was watching the 50-54 crit. My old teammate and another old TX rival were in the break that stuck, EDR was asking who I thought might win. Old teams, hands down. And so it came to pass. And, unlike a race a few years ago (which he will never live down), he did not raise his arms, wobble, and crash .

Win Nats and all they remember is...

Seriously happy for him. EDR got a top ten in his crit as well.

CHT

Hey, I'm the race director for the White Plains Crit. Lurker but not often poster. Sorry about the lap cards. One of the officials who has brought lap cards every year forgot them. 20 min before race time we had someone scrounge in their basement nearby for some numbers. The officials had enough to show more laps or to announce laps to go through the PA system, but they made a decision to take the 5 to go approach. I know how it feels when you are suffering and just need to know how many laps remain. Lap cards are now on my list rather than relying on others.


Thanks to all of you that came out and raced - it really is a great course (albeit a bit bumpy at times).

mike868y

the lap cards were a minor inconvenience but in the grand scheme of things not a big deal at all! things happen, totally understandable.

carpediemracing 

This is the first time I've been up since about 1 PM yesterday. Absolutely fatigued, head pounding. Fortunately I had today off but the Missus had to take the day off because I couldn't look after Junior (he's at home Tue/Thu during the summer).

My camera was bouncing a bit. I'll probably make a clip but it won't be as easy to watch.

rubiksoval

Wednesday night crit. Rolled it hard from the gun. Was taking as many 30 sec, 500w pulls as I could to keep it going and try to make it a harder race. Ended up rolling off the front for 5-6 laps during one of them, my second longest solo break ever. Had a ripping headwind on the longest stretch, though, and I wasn't going to swiftly there, so that had the writing on the wall.

I covered a few late moves and took a couple of more pulls, then dropped back with 4 to go to set up for the inevitable field sprint. I went with the first jump on the last lap, sat on, then jumped again as another guy went screaming over the top. The race ends with a 100m sprint after a 180 and it's really hard to come around unless you just time your turn and line perfectly, so 98% of the time the guy who enters that turn first wins, so I figured I'd be second. But then the guy in the lead overcooked the 180 and slid out. I was set up to come on his inside anyway, but I still grabbed some brakes and lost momentum. The guy behind me came ripping up and threw his bike...but it was at the wrong line. I pedaled a few more times and put a half length back in him and won. So two last-second losses averted and I got to have another lion king podium with my baby held aloft. Yay for family bike races.

globecanvas

Awesome ... winning by being the least #bikefail of the top three guys.

mattm

Pretty rad, @rubiksoval!

globecanvas

Rockleigh P123 - 10th or so. Big, strong field, hard race. Just like White Plains last Sunday, I had trouble getting my head in the game for the first 10 minutes and wasted a bunch of watts -- gonna have to figure that out.

Also just like Sunday, at one point I realized I was dragging the rear brake through the corner because my right hand had gone numb. I just kept my hand off the brake entirely for the rest of the race which ended up being much better anyway. Something else I'm going to have to figure out though. I feel like Dr. Strangelove fighting with my own hand. Or Ash from Evil Dead.

Anyway Rockleigh is all about getting into position before 2 to go, which I did, and I was in the 3 spot at the bell. But the 2 guys ahead of me both launched doomed last lap attacks one after the other, leaving me behind a dying guy on the back stretch with a small gap to the field. I hesitated for a half second and then jumped but not hard enough and ended up leading the sprinters out. I could probably have finished 5 spots better except I let up the last 50m after the first few guys passed me. The winner was the same ex-pro who won White Plains. Plus there was at least one other pro there.

Not a bad race and tied a 1m power PR, but lots of takeaways:

- Better to be in the 5-8 spot at the bell there
- The scenario wasn't perfect but the tiny hesitation in the finale was an error
- Didn't jump hard enough (250w less than Sunday's sprint) probably because of the previous night's 23 mph worlds ride which I knew I'd pay for
- Gotta go hard to the line even if the podium passes you
- Fast technical crit requires head in game from the whistle
- Really need to sort out the numb hand

rubiksoval

Hahaha. Exactly!

Turns out it was Jake Keough, who used to ride for UHC and whose brother Luke still does, that came flying up behind me with the bike throw. Guess he was in town and wanted to play bikes a bit. No wonder he looked/is so fast.

rubiksoval

Sounds like some good analysis. Good work!

mattm

Dash for Cash crit today. 2nd in p/1/2 (teammate won!), and 4th in 35+ (same teammate won!)

This used to be a big local race, with 50+ in the p/1/2, all the big names, etc. Maybe it was just a scheduling conflict (another big crit out in Reno today most of the fast guys went to), or maybe bike racing is doomed, who knows. We needed 25 on the line to get the usual $10 primes every lap this race is famous for, but we only got 18..

Long story (75 minute crit) short, I countered a teammate's break that got caught, one other went with me, then a teammate bridged. The three of us dropped the field, sprinted it out for the win. I kind of screwed up taking the W (we had basically all decided I was gonna win), but I waited too long to attack on the last lap so my team mate took it - all in the family though!

Team got 1st, 2nd, and 4th, and took 7 of the 8 of the primes.

In the 35+ a few hours later there was a larger field, but still not the 25 needed for the $10 laps. Teammate that won the p12 got in the winning move with @Ygduf and some alien beast man, and the three of them lapped us. After almost falling asleep from boredom back in the pack while they were in the process of lapping us, I led teammate out for the W.

It was a good day of racing! Time for a nap.

hack

I think Tulsa pulled a handful (at least a few MarcPros and a couple Mikes) away as well. Let's hope for scheduling conflict.

UmneyDurak

Fields have been getting smaller I think. Lodi was under 20 for last couple of years.

mattm

Lodi 2017 #'s:

4/5's: 44
3's: 20
35+: 39
p1/2: 51

2016:
5's: 5
4's: 11
3's: 15
35+: 47
p/1/2: 60

revchuck 

All the Masters race in 35+, or were the other fields too small to count (like they are here)?

mattm

There's a separate category for 35+ 3/4's here.

TMonk

Ladera Ranch state champs crit, cat 3: DNF

So there's some local dude that's a pro triathlete that has been riding off the front from the gun and winning solo. Today he went ~10 min in (out of 50) and it was his first cat 3 race. My job was to stick his wheel, and I did, for like 4 or 5 laps, then fell back into the pack after I was tasting blood and feeling like I was going to puke.

There's a decent hill on the course and the pace in the pack was lively (only ~50% of starts finished), and I never really felt recovered in the pack. My handling was therefore sketchy in the corners and I just felt unsafe and really bad so I pulled out.

You win some, you lose some. I was at a family friend's annual BBQ yesterday that involves lots of heavy food and too much to drink, so I may have to skip it next year if I have a big race the following day. Still probably couldn't have held his wheel though, put perhaps would have recovered faster in the pack. Funny, I've actually DNF'd a race in the past the day after this BBQ and after a huge effort. I'm beginning to notice a trend...

A teammate won the field sprint (for third) and got some hardware for it, so that's cool.

wktmeow

Same race as @TMonk. Legs felt like sacks of garbage, and I was dripping snot and unable to breath through my nose half the time. Think I'm over this cold, just need to let the congestion clear up and legs un-flatten. Really wanted to help bring the break back, but only managed to get on the front for one half-lap pull or so and then settled back in.

For once I felt better through the corners at least, gaining positions and not losing as many as I usually do on a semi-technical course. Smaller field size may have helped too though.

dz_nuzz

Purgatory P12 4th - State Champ though

That race was nuts. Got away at the start of Lap 1 with another guy I know works great in breaks. Over the next 2 laps (7 laps 11 miles each for a total of 77) we stretch our lead to about 1 minute. Then he flats. Great. Spend another lap OTF alone and eventually get caught by the field. Break of 6 guys gets up the road and I bridge up with another dude. For the next 2 laps we basically just lost people from the break. Second to last time up the climb the last other MA state guy gets gapped and I tell the other guys to drill it and I will drive the break as long as I can get the Jersey. Basically spend myself on the last lap holding off a MA state chaser (ex-pro tri dude. Totally didn't want him to catch up). It shows and the final climb I just fell off the back of the other three but kept the gap to the guy behind.

I really wish I had put more into gripping onto those guys on the final climb but I was so spent from all the time OTF, legs had cramped multiple times. I wanted more from myself but I don't really know if there was anything more to give. I could have played the last lap more conservatively and probably done a place or two higher, but I was more focused on winning the state champs.

Oh well, at least I got a Jersey.

For better context: It was a 95 degree day and the race ends with a 2 minute steep (10% average) hill every lap.

aaronmcd

Same race as mattm, Dash for Cash crit. P/1/2 was before 2/3 at this crit so I was fresh to help the team for once.

Teammate attacked first with one dude, out there for a while while me and another teammate sat several wheels back while a few other teams rotated. We got close, teammate comes back, other guy keeps going. So then another teammate goes up the road to bridge. I follow whatever attacks I can when I'm near the front. Break comes back after a while, I had just covered an attack, then matt shoots like a cannon up the right side with one other and the pack twiddles their thumbs. It looks good timing but too small. Keep following attacks here and there, then teammate that was off the front at the beginning follows one guy halfway up to matt and the pack is still sitting around kinda chasing a little but not very fast. Then I look up the road and see teammate attack the other dude and bridge solo to matt. We all know that's the move and just cover for the next half hour or whatever it was. 3 laps to go I try to get away and am chased hard and reeled in half lap. I try again 2 to go and same thing happens. At the bell another guy takes off hard for the leadout and I follow second wheel, which would have been pretty cool if I had any more matches. Pack sprints around us and another teammate won the sprint for 4th. Still cool!

Didn't think the first race hurt so much until starting the 2/3 race. Ouch. I had one fresh teammate, field of 26. We started with like 10 primes straight and the pack had holes everywhere, sometimes 4 groups split through more than half the course, but eventually came together for the finale. Then at the bell no one was moving and 2 guys had a few second gap. I saw them glance back and knew they were goin for it so I got my teammate on my wheel and went as hard as I could for 3/4 of the lap. By this point I didn't have enough gas to take him all the way to the final corner but I was able to close most of the gap. Pack start to come by, teammate slides over and sprints for second.

rubiksoval

Awesome. Sounds brutal.

Ygduf

Dash for Cash 35 123s - 3rd

From my perspective.

Small field of ~20, windy, flat, non-technical course. No teammates to work for or be concerned with.

All that, to me, says "get into a break and stick it."

Race starts and a lap or couple minutes in a Mike's Bikes guy is given 10 or 12 seconds, solo. I jump across to him but he's going slow when I get there so I go through and begin the break-seeding. He and I are eventually reeled in and another move goes. I go with that one too but it's a little too big and everyone is too fresh so it gets pulled back.

The final iteration was another counter. Matt's teammate (winner) viewed it as me coming across to a break, I remember it them coming across to me, but regardless we found ourselves 4 up the road with 3 of the stronger break riders and a Mike's Bikes guy. I had been trying to keep the pressure on already for ~10 minutes and was a little worn, but thankfully the two stronger guys blatantly gapped the Mike's guy off while I maintained the pace. Mike's guy came back once, but got shelled on the 2nd gapping and we were 3.

Here is where I find myself trapped a bit. Both guys I'm with are better sprinters than I am, and at least my equal in high-speed crit endurance riding. I can outclimb them both, but that doesn't matter much in this race.

So, Matt's teammate start pulling a little weak, willing to go back to the field if that's what happens. The other guy is not-so-sneakily letting me pull the headwinds and then turning the screws in the tailwinds. I recognize that I'm getting worked, but going back to the field isn't a situation I want. I'm likely to take 3rd from this break, but like 15th from a field sprint.

Anyway, that's my thought process. As we come up on lapping the field both the other riders don't want to close the final 20-30 seconds. In my opinion, my best bet it to get us mixed back in with the pack, wait until my breakmates might be boxed in and try to attack from there, hoping the lap-down field won't chase.

So - about 10 minutes remaining I take a few very-long, very-hard pulls and get the break to the back of the field. Breakmate 1 attacks with about 2 laps to go. Strings the entire field out for half a lap. As he gets swallowed back I try and attack off the opposite side. Lap-down guys mark me, no gap to the field and 1.5 laps to go so I sit up.

It comes to a field sprint, I lose to both breakmates (surprise surprise) and finish with 3rd.

I'd generally be pretty satisfied with this result (and really, I am) but reading the report from Matt's teammate annoys the **** out of me.

So what say ye? Pretend you're me. You have no sprint and find yourself in a break with 2 guys who are just (currently, at least) better than you. Do you do anything differently?