carpediemracing 

(All the below are pertaining to Cat 3 races, since that's what I know best.)

I've watched races where a team spends itself in the first half of the race, attacking the bejesus out of the field. Problem is that they're doing this while everyone has fresh legs. Everyone covers and by the time the field is collectively fatigued, so is the attacking team. My current team has been pretty good at self destructing like this.

As TKP pointed out, it's best to attack when things are already pretty fragmented. Attacking out of a packed field? Usually the odds are against you. Attacking out of a fragmented field where there are noticeable gaps (1-2 bike lengths) all over the place and it's sort of single file? You'll probably hammer the coffin shut for many of the racers.

The problem is that making those attacks requires a lot of patience (wait for 30 or 40 minutes of racing before making a single move), a lot of strength (FTP), and a willingness to absolutely commit to the effort (this relates to not making any moves for 30 or 40 minutes).

If you have a lot of teammates you can use one up (maybe the sprinter that will sit in otherwise) to launch your actual attacker. I've done some massive moves to launch friends or teammates, then recovered in the field.

You can assign the weakest riders the job of covering the early moves. Sit on, don't work, etc. I'll do that if I know I won't make the finish of a race because simply by being present in a break, a lot of riders in the area will stop working (because they know I can't work but that I can sprint).

Save your big guns for the really vital moves. Usually the first or second threatening moves get a bit clear but eventually come back. It's the moves when it's fragmented that you have to watch for, and then you need to decide what to do. However, do that deciding discretely. Don't be at the front throwing out commands and such - if you do that then everyone will wait for you to do whatever you do. Instead you should be sitting 20-30 riders back, murmuring, just bored out of your skulls (if you're so lucky to be that fit).

When you attack you go, and you go to the finish. Don't attack just to attack, unless you want to do that (for pictures or for fun or whatever). If your team wants to attack and win, launch the guy that can go 27-8 mph to the finish. If you don't have a rider that can do that then you shouldn't be attacking to win, but remember that the later you attack, the faster they have to go to win. A last lap attack might work if you can sustain 32-33 mph (no idea, I haven't looked at a lot of data on last lap avg speeds). I've done last miles at 30 mph so I know the field can go that fast or faster. As a field sprinter if the break is within 10 seconds at the bell (1 mile to go or less) then they're dead and I am getting super amped to blow by the break before the finish. 15 seconds, they might have a chance, but if there's any kind of a concerted leadout effort I should be able to pass most of them in the sprint. 20 seconds... I am doing a field sprint. So with 1 lap to go, or 1 mile to go, you want your break to have at least 20 seconds on the field.

In this clip (start at 10:00 in) there's a break, it's solid, it hasn't come back, and it's a good 25 seconds off the front. It's 30 minutes into a 50 minute race and everyone was starting to look a bit tired. There'd be some attacks but then it would go wide as everyone sat up and looked at each other. This is usually because the field is tired or unwilling to work. Early on the field was strung out constantly, attacks going all the time, etc. If you look at the beginning of the clip vs the 10 minute area you'll see that it's much more bunching up and such. However, when I went, it was strung out with some substantial gaps in the first 10-15 riders.

A solo rider can usually cover a 10 second gap so my goal was to get my teammate within, say, 5-7 seconds of the break. I made a big effort (525w for 45s, which is huge for me, especially since I had to keep pedaling after it), tried to make it look less threatening by never getting out of the saddle (max under 750w), trying to launch my teammate across the gap. We did go about 32 mph down the main straight so we were moving well enough.

I thought the break was only 15 seconds off. Problem was I waited a bit too long to help my teammate because I wanted to get @shovelhd into the break as well, plus my teammate made some big efforts and I wanted him to recover before I launched him. To his credit I did tell him I'd launch him but the reality is that in the last race I did I lasted 5 minutes so he couldn't count on me, so he did a lot of work on his own. By the time I got around to making the effort the break was more like 25-28 seconds off the front and my teammate was less than fresh.

Nonetheless I managed to get us about 10-11 seconds clear of the field. The break was 15 seconds up when he went around me. My teammate got within about 3-4 seconds of the break before he blew. I should have gone another 2-3 turns but I thought I was blown. Thinking back my race would be over because all the places were in the break so I should have done a race ending effort to get him as close as possible to the break. Instead we both got nothing.

canuckbelle

Same for the women's fields. The 3s and 4s are pretty clueless about beating up on people and really cracking each other. The 2s are learning it (or have recently learned it, if they're struggling to upgrade). And the 1s are there to hurt each other. There was a HUGE change for me going from a 3 even in 123 races to a 2 in P12 races. The latter are significantly harder; even though the average power isn't a whole lot different, the NP is a good 20-30+w higher.

Doge

Puppy missed his first 3-4 feeds and ended in a hole he couldn't gt out of. That he finished a bit better than top 50% turned out to be a pleasant surprise. He really enjoyed getting beat up.
My car had 106F on it - sun on black car, but I think upper 90s/100 was pretty real.

mattm

Good luck to him!

Doge

Thanks @MattM. He's just trying to survive. Not being sick would not have made him at the top, but aspirations of a good finish went out before the start. Today he was with the main group till about mile 75 - then, could no more. Then bonked. So lost about 15 min in that last 45. He's not time cut - yet. We are about 100 riders less than started.

Heathpack 

Tough luck, @Doge. Bad timing for him. Maybe he will rally yet.

TheKillerPenguin

Brinkerhoff 1/2/3. Flatish, windy, kermesse-y, 62ish miles, 12ish mile laps. I'm an idiot, so I went solo OTF at like mile 3. Fortunately there were other idiots in the field and 7 guys joined me after 6 or so miles flying solo. Then we put like 5-6 minutes into the field and stuck it. So that was cool.

What was less cool was infighting starting with 35k to go. This allowed a couple of very not slow guys to complete their bridge attempt and get up to us with ~25k left. Then dudes bugged out and beat the snot out of each other, but that made sense because the end of the race was coming at that point. I messed up and ate like I was in a 3 race instead of in a p/1/2 break so I popped with 4 miles to go after bridging to something I really knew I shouldn't have bridged to, just before basically the worst kicker of the day, into a head/cross wind. Some took advantage of this, which made sense. I rued a lot (so much rueing!) but chased, nearly got back on again, then did not, caught and passed a guy, and rolled in solo for a hard earned 7th place. But no upgrade points, because the race was too short :-|

When I checked my AP when crossing the line it was ~275 or so, and I think that was for around 2:40. In other words, a lot of kJ were burned very quickly. I definitely should've eaten more, this was my downfall as I was a bit crampy and empty toward the end. So that is one lesson learned. The other one is when guys start flexing on each other and **** starts hitting the fan I need to be OK with following instead of taking my turns trying to beat guys up. In other words, patience is a virtue. Overall I would say I am about half satisfied and half full of rueing, but that is how the lessons you learn stick and you do not make the same mistakes again.

Tomorrow is Brumble! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

shovelhd

See you in Westerly. It's a stacked field.

TheKillerPenguin

I am expecting a lot of suffering. See you there!

mike868y

i'm so excited to get dropped in the crosswinds.

aaronmcd

Turlock Lake Road Race, possibly my favorite race.

Cat 3, 3 laps, 68 miles about half rollers and half giant ponds spread across the road, raining the whole time.

2 days off, fueled and hydrated and feeling a bit too good. Field of 15 meant I wanted to this the herd, but not enough wind/cat 3 meant it didn't happen. Attacked at the whistle. Attacked again about 15 times per lap. We split our time between 17 mph putting and 28 mph chasing/attack-and-counter games.

Managed to get a solid gap with one guy starting lap 2. They let us get out of sight, then chased us down. All solo riders except 2 guys on a team so no one was waiting for the big team to shut down breaks.

3/4 through lap 2, a guy who had been sitting on the back the whole time makes his move, and I judge him to be going for the win. He stays close for a while, then the dude that was OTF with me earlier goes up and they pick up speed to go all in for the last lap.

I wait for a chance to get clear and go for the bridge, VO2 effort. I get within a few seconds and can't finish it. Was hoping they might ease up a tad for a bit more help. I drift farther away and the pack catches me, rotating and chasing hard. But then it falls apart and the 2 build up to maybe a minute - sizable gap for the field size, and I thought they were gone for good and start panning for another no man's land break.

A few guys are still wanting to chas though, so I contribute a bit. Then attacks start flying on the back stretch rollers, and it continues long enough to split up the field. We all came back together finally, but we could see the rabbits up the road a lot closer now.1k to go and we are only 5 or 10 seconds back. I wait for 500, then attack in hopes of getting a gap, then slinging around the domed break. But a few guys got my wheel and came around in the sprint. I passed one break guy, and the other beat me by a half wheel.

6th place. Still need 1 upgrade point.
2:50, 260 AP, ~300 NP

ntnyln

Good hard racing TKP and Aaron. I have love/hate memories of Turlock. It was my first win, but last time I raced there, it wasn't so pretty.

rideaz

Nice job at the race and so close to upgrading!!

caloso

Finished 5 places behind Aaron, who should be awarded the red number for the Most Agressive Rider. I just struggled to hold on, but for me that was a really great result.

And holy crap was it wet. I haven't been that wet on a bike since I quit triathlon. One section was so deep all I could do was hope to stay in the bow wave of the rider in front of me.

aaronmcd

Sometimes the aggressive works and sometimes it doesnt. Today I did 0.97 IF for almost 3 hours and it came to a field sprint, so may have been better off chilling out a bit more. But aggressive is almost always the most fun!

globecanvas

Come on now.

aaronmcd

? IF, not AP. AP only 83%. Also I lied, it was 0.966. I rounded up to make it sound 0.4% harder

TheKillerPenguin

Regardless, that is a lot of tss to inflict on yourself. Nice work!

shovelhd

It's going to be a challenging race as an assistant referee on the road. The winds are going to blow the fields to pieces, except maybe the pro field. No motos, so no easy time gaps or added enforcement. Three fields on the course at the same time, so there will be overtaking, aka Jamestown. If there are crosswinds, the yellow line will be a huge factor. The CR is a NatComm, so the racers are in great hands. I have many pre-race questions on how she wants us to handle these issues. We will do our best.

shovelhd

One point.

canuckbelle

Dilworth Criterium, Open Women. 1st ^_^

45min of hard racing. Up and down course: hill on the back straight. Lots of attacks, counter-attacks, and counter-counter-attacks (including one of my own). I figured that I would have a w/kg problem hammering to the finish w/ the pack, so as we went into the start/finish on the last lap I put in my attack. I immediately got a gap, took the corner, and put my head down. The gap widened down the descent, and by the time I took the bottom corner, I had 8-10sec and the group gave up. They possibly could have caught me, but when I looked back at 200m to go, they were nowhere in sight. Apparently they sat up and started positioning to sprint for second. So I got to sit up and really enjoy the win. ^_^

I guess I'm more than a sprinter.

Oh, set a new NP PR for 45min: 261, at an IF of 1.03. So we're going to bump up my FTP.

TMonk

nice ride @canuckbelle.

shovelhd

Nice!!

grolby

Course all left turns... I'm figuring with normal ocean winds at that time of day, probably a lefthand cross-tailwind on the front (ocean) stretch, opposite on the inland stretch. Gutter 'em on the gutter on the front stretch, centerline on the backstretch. Could be pretty brutal. My main goal is survival.

rideaz

Congrats!
Dumb questions...what's an IF?