Cal Aggie Criterium - E4 - did not win (3rd)
Was not really planning on racing this weekend because driving 2 hours both ways for less than an hour of racing did not seem to be a good trade off. Especially on a course with what appeared to be superfluous sketchy turns. However, coach @
mattm chastised me for not racing, and when I looked at some race videos online of the course the turns didn't seem *that* bad. After a
promising workout on Friday I decided I would just drive up and try to race it after all after asking for some advice on how the race would play out:
Without any teammates in the race the game plan was pretty simple - I was just going to stay in the top 5 at all times so that I could cover any break (no way am I driving 4 hours to let a break go away) and have good line of sight on the chicane so that I would feel safe. This proved to be useful because there was a crash in the pack the very first time coming into the turn. I'm not sure I ever figured out how to nail that turn (1) even by the end of the race, but at least I kept both wheels on the ground.
I was able to sit near the front for the majority of the race - I think I was probably in the pack for less than 3-4 minutes over the 50 minutes of racing. On the occasions that I was swallowed by the pack I felt boxed in and anxious about having to do the turn surrounded by people. I think I maybe did have to do the turn within the pack once over the course of the race and it was fine, but I was much more comfortable when I was sitting 2nd or 3rd wheel. Riders took flyers and tried to get away on occasion throughout the race, but thats pretty hard to do off of such a slow pace when there's 40+ riders in the field who are all motivated to not let anyone get away. I chased down a couple more serious ones myself, but ended up pulling the whole field back with me.
Going into the last lap everyone was together, so I was set up to follow mattm's advice of attacking with a minute to go (3). There was a crash on the back stretch of the last lap where I think people were getting jittery, but I was ahead of it and followed someone who had taken off. Through the turns I was in the top 5 getting ready to launch when someone beat me to the punch and attacked coming out of these turns (2) and got the jump on me. I still attacked going into the last turn as I had planned, but I think I left too much of a gap to close. Also, earlier on in the race I had decided I would need to stay as far left as possible in the final stretch because given the wind direction that would minimize possible avenues for someone to draft, however, I seem to have forgot about this when the time came and was more concerned with chasing down the rider who went early than closing the door. In the end, someone came up the inside of both of us, leaving me in 3rd.
Overall, the race was super slow, like 23mph. I believe I've averaged more power on a recovery ride (which may speak to me being fairly undisciplined on recovery rides...) and I've definitely gone faster solo. However, I guess I shouldn't be surprised given no one wanted to lead and the only injections of pace were around closing down breaks or trying to get to the front before the turns. My power for the last minute was also super low, not much more than I held for 16 minutes the day before (albeit up a hill), so that's something to think about.
Some takeaways:
a) I think if I wanted to get into a break I should have considering trying to let a serious one form and then try jumping across. I'm too passive to try and start a break myself (it seems quite unappetizing to have to try and stay away for the entire race - I would have no problem doing this if my hand was forced, its another thing entirely to take it on willingly). That being said, I dont think a break would really have happened given how slow the race went.
b) I should have went earlier. At least I didn't try to leave it for the finishing straight, but I could have launched out of the chicane and preempted the early attack. I think I value being the first mover.
c) I need to work on 1 minute flat efforts. My power curve has my 1-min power at ~600W (9+ W/kg) but thats up a steep hill. It's another thing entirely to do that in an aerodynamic position on the flat. I think if I'm going to be racing crits my game plan will always be to get in a break or to launch early, so I should practice the 1:00 attack on the flat.
In the end, 3/20 upgrade points. 7 more races planned in February, all with more favorable courses than Saturday.