MDcatV

Situation:

hilly road race, narrow chip seal surface (the kind that makes you feel like you're riding in mud), beautiful sunny day. no sustained climbs but endless supply of 1' climbs including one that of a grade that a 39x23/25 is useful, and an uphill short and steep sprint finish. my team representation is 7 racers including the defending district RR champ (whom we were committed to work for).

our protected rider (district rr champ) is a jens voigt type, who either wins with no one else in the photo, or gets lost in the field, so a breakaway was a necessity and our plan was to let things shape out/keep things together for several laps, then unleash hell in the last quarter of the race until "jens" was OTF, hopefully solo.

another team with what seemed like 40 riders had the opposite plan, they attacked during the neutral roll out, and kept going hard. this put my entire team on the defensive and resulted in a few getting called out. "jens" and some of the others we marked as contenders were getting nervous as some big guns were getting up the road. "jens" wanted me to go, so I went, "jens" in tow, break of 7 was gone, all familiar faces who should have been there. Excellent but it was about 1/4 into the race. My fitness was off due to life happens types of things and 2nd time we hit the 39x23/25 climb, the breakaway of 7 was trimmed to 6, I was shelled.

After a futile mile or so of "I think I can get back to the break" (ha, ha), I realize it isnt happening, sat up thinking I'll just get back to the field, hang out, and try for a best of the rest. However, after a couple of minutes, I'm greeted by a chase group of 8, not the field, and one of the 8 is another teammate of mine. I tell the teammate that "jens" is up the road, we dont work, if we pull through we do so just as a formality to keep from getting curbed. One guy in the chase (not a teammate) is a strong finisher, especially in uphill or longer sprints. Others are a mixture of unknowns and a Cat 3 district champ TTer who missed the move. We sit on and do not work. The breakaway of 6 stuck.

In hindsight, we had some other options, so what would YOU have done?

a) I'm strong, never would have been dropped from the break
b) worked with the chase, 3 out of 14 are better odds than 1 out of 6
c) sat on, done what MDcatV and his teammate did
d) attacked the chase, split it, and formed another smaller breakaway
e) other

broerie

Nah, you did the right thing by sitting in (and hoping your chasing group would take the leaders back). You simply can't chase you own leader.

kudude

c and or d, but nothing to help the break. I however, have no experience and who knows what I would do, aside from missing the initial break and getting shelled from the main group on the 1' climbs......

grolby

c) or d). Seeing as you got shelled from the first breakaway, you probably didn't have the snot for d), so c) sounds right to me. At a guess, I mean - I'm new to all this stuff. Even if you do have the stones for d), though, it's a risk - one or two other guys in the break might have them, too.

aperez8264

+1
That was the best decision in your situation. If you were more fit, you could stayed w/ the break and possibly set him to solo ftw

YMCA

The question is:
3 out of 14 or 1 out of 6?

I'd say you made the right decision letting your leader take his chance against the other 5.
BUT getting popped when you had 2 out of 7! Not good. Hope you apologized profusely. Sit the crap on and survive so you can help at crunch time.

MDcatV

yes, I apologized.

there's more to the story about why I was on a bad day, but let's just say I gave it what I could, it wasnt a giving up or "mental" getting dropped ... and my teammate knew that.

mollusk

Blowing yourself up so that your designated leader makes the crucial break is nothing to be ashamed of. Good for you. If you could have found a way to stick in the break that would have been a bonus.

Once you recovered a bit and found your way into the chase group you had no obligation to work and should have been as disruptive as you could get away with. At least you should have made them work a bit to get rid of you.

ottsville

+1
PAge valley?

MDcatV

smithsburg

umd

How did your teammate do in the break?

MDcatV

3rd.

DrWJODonnell

C is the correct answer and well played. The ONLY time you drag the bigger break up is if it wasn't your protected rider in the front group. If it is just a domestique that has little chance of a good placing, you then take the 3/14 is better than 1/6 odds because it is true. However, Jens was protected and where he was supposed to be.

RacerMike

Interesting series on GamJams about breaks entitled "How Not To Attack Like A Wussy". Just thought I'd throw that out there since its kinda related.