2015 Race Results
10-12-15, 03:24 PM
#2551
Senior Member
Well I just meant if I had squeezed the watts out when I was dropped I maybe could have caught up to the pack. Should have done some long efforts over threshold. But I agree I wanted to save the energy where I could.
10-12-15, 06:37 PM
#2552
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Jamestown Classic, 55+, 27th, pack finish.
My first USA-Cycling officiated race since last year -- this same race -- and since my hip replacement. When I again started riding outdoors in May, this race was sitting in the back of my mind. I had no formal plan or time table; all I did was ride once I hit the road again. The weather forecast called for, and it was, a gorgeous fall day in New England. There were a lot of strong riders in the field. This race shaped up to be a good challenge for me. I divided the race into segments, and target points. Each time I made it to a target point with the pack, I refocused onto the next target point. For some of them, I was wondering, painfully, if I was going to make it!
I raced hard, and my tactics were pretty good if I may say so myself. I was at, or near, the front a fair bit after a teammate got away at about the 9 mile point. Another teammate went into a ditch on the side of the road at around the 28-30 mile point -- just grass stains from the experience. To my surprise, I was in the top 5-7 of the pack (with, as shovel likes to say, the "champ") as we were about to crest the last climb of the second/last loop, with around 1 mile or so to the finish. I lost some position when a group came through on the left; I was far right. I eventually got over to the left, and wanted to move up, but, I was concerned about crossing the yellow line. Soon, a 90-degree left turn was coming up. I didn't like being left, as my primary thought was staying upright and keeping my new hip in good shape. Thus, I didn't want to be too tight on that left turn. I went to the outside, and lost more position. Had I been willing to stick my nose in there, my guess is I may have finished somewhere in the 10-15th range. All good though. I like where I'm at on the bike. I'm extremely satisfied with my riding and racing performance.
Shovel was officiating, and gave me a shout out before the race started. We connected after the race while he was still engaged in official stuff. It was definitely interesting to hear some of the chatter between racers and officials that occur after a race (e.g., protests, requests/complaints). I saw some good management in practice!! I also enjoyed visiting a bit after the race with DNuzzM and his mom -- congrats to him on a fine performance.
My first USA-Cycling officiated race since last year -- this same race -- and since my hip replacement. When I again started riding outdoors in May, this race was sitting in the back of my mind. I had no formal plan or time table; all I did was ride once I hit the road again. The weather forecast called for, and it was, a gorgeous fall day in New England. There were a lot of strong riders in the field. This race shaped up to be a good challenge for me. I divided the race into segments, and target points. Each time I made it to a target point with the pack, I refocused onto the next target point. For some of them, I was wondering, painfully, if I was going to make it!
I raced hard, and my tactics were pretty good if I may say so myself. I was at, or near, the front a fair bit after a teammate got away at about the 9 mile point. Another teammate went into a ditch on the side of the road at around the 28-30 mile point -- just grass stains from the experience. To my surprise, I was in the top 5-7 of the pack (with, as shovel likes to say, the "champ") as we were about to crest the last climb of the second/last loop, with around 1 mile or so to the finish. I lost some position when a group came through on the left; I was far right. I eventually got over to the left, and wanted to move up, but, I was concerned about crossing the yellow line. Soon, a 90-degree left turn was coming up. I didn't like being left, as my primary thought was staying upright and keeping my new hip in good shape. Thus, I didn't want to be too tight on that left turn. I went to the outside, and lost more position. Had I been willing to stick my nose in there, my guess is I may have finished somewhere in the 10-15th range. All good though. I like where I'm at on the bike. I'm extremely satisfied with my riding and racing performance.
Shovel was officiating, and gave me a shout out before the race started. We connected after the race while he was still engaged in official stuff. It was definitely interesting to hear some of the chatter between racers and officials that occur after a race (e.g., protests, requests/complaints). I saw some good management in practice!! I also enjoyed visiting a bit after the race with DNuzzM and his mom -- congrats to him on a fine performance.
Last edited by bostongarden; 10-12-15 at 06:42 PM.
10-13-15, 05:51 AM
#2553
Rides too much bike
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Jamestown Classic P123, 4th
Final race of the year, won it last year this year...Well the field was a little more challenging this year.
Things started like they did last year with the break going from just about mile 1. The local pros / semi-pros began to trade blows near the front and I was quick to jump into the frey. By the time we were 5 miles in the break of 5 had been established. Lets just say the pace was quite hot, one of the guys in the break got the KOM for the Jamestown lap (He started behind me and I got 2nd in the Strava competition...GRRRR. Its all about the Strava!).
Things sort of trucked along until lap 2 where things eased up a bit. Aside from a few near misses with the pace car (It had a bad habit of stopping at turns) it was uneventful. That is until the ref made a mistake and thought I was a rider from another field and told me to pull off the back off the break. That cost me a few matches of riding in the wind alone but the official recognized his mistake and they paced me back to the group. Perhaps I put down a few matches that would have helped me later but in all honesty things didn't unfold any differently.
In any case I got back to the break and stayed there until the mighty mitchel started drilling it up a hill in the last half of the final lap where the break came apart into 3 in the lead and me and another guy chasing. This chase went on until the final climb before the finish where I saw the trio ahead of me maybe halfway up the hill. I took the opportunity to launch away from my companion and start trying to chase them down. Too little too late though, I was gaining on them before we hit the downhill but I was still maybe 50 meters behind them over the line. 4th isn't bad but it was a step down from last year
The ref came up afterwards and apologized. Everything got worked out, in the end it didn't really change the race. Maybe I burned an extra match or two but they got me back where I was supposed to be and honestly when I got dropped I got dropped because I just couldn't match the others.
All in all a good way to end my season. But damn did I want that win.
Final race of the year, won it last year this year...Well the field was a little more challenging this year.
Things started like they did last year with the break going from just about mile 1. The local pros / semi-pros began to trade blows near the front and I was quick to jump into the frey. By the time we were 5 miles in the break of 5 had been established. Lets just say the pace was quite hot, one of the guys in the break got the KOM for the Jamestown lap (He started behind me and I got 2nd in the Strava competition...GRRRR. Its all about the Strava!).
Things sort of trucked along until lap 2 where things eased up a bit. Aside from a few near misses with the pace car (It had a bad habit of stopping at turns) it was uneventful. That is until the ref made a mistake and thought I was a rider from another field and told me to pull off the back off the break. That cost me a few matches of riding in the wind alone but the official recognized his mistake and they paced me back to the group. Perhaps I put down a few matches that would have helped me later but in all honesty things didn't unfold any differently.
In any case I got back to the break and stayed there until the mighty mitchel started drilling it up a hill in the last half of the final lap where the break came apart into 3 in the lead and me and another guy chasing. This chase went on until the final climb before the finish where I saw the trio ahead of me maybe halfway up the hill. I took the opportunity to launch away from my companion and start trying to chase them down. Too little too late though, I was gaining on them before we hit the downhill but I was still maybe 50 meters behind them over the line. 4th isn't bad but it was a step down from last year
The ref came up afterwards and apologized. Everything got worked out, in the end it didn't really change the race. Maybe I burned an extra match or two but they got me back where I was supposed to be and honestly when I got dropped I got dropped because I just couldn't match the others.
All in all a good way to end my season. But damn did I want that win.
10-13-15, 05:53 AM
#2554
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By far my favorite part of the day was when guys started hammering on the way home. I remember the same thing happened last year. It felt sooo good to put some effort into the pedals and have it translate into speed instead of just more suffering. Somehow I could barely manage tempo up the last climb, but had no trouble with repeated 700w efforts to hold a wheel on the way home. We averaged 25 mph for 45 minutes at the end of a 6.5 hour day.
10-13-15, 06:29 AM
#2555
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Ha, see I made the mistake of taking the final descent slow, and was really lucky that confusion at the left turn onto brunswyck let me hitch back on. Somewhere around the gas station I realized there was to be no regrouping and spent however many miles getting close enough that the turn onto brunswyck let me hitch back on. The drag race was fun, it is astounding how tiny Fink can get while applying power.
10-13-15, 06:53 AM
#2556
meow
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Aha, DZ, I forgot to check my Strava!! Yes, that is what it's all about 
.
I set PRs for this year on every segment.
.I set PRs for this year on every segment.
10-13-15, 07:49 AM
#2557
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What a gorgeous day in Jamestown yesterday. Nice to see you BG and hubcyclist. I have never raced or worked the course before. Never even been to Jamestown. I had a lot of issues with the race organization but we have to make the best of it. There were no officials in the pace cars and no motos. With 3-5 minute gaps between starts overlapping was unavoidable. We had a great crew in the comm (follow) cars though and I'm glad that Nutso got everything worked out. I have never seen so many protests in such a short race. I got lucky and got an experienced driver but my pace car driver was clueless even though I spent ten minutes with him going over everything. We had to pass a field right before the final sprint and no chaos ensued.
10-13-15, 08:15 AM
#2558
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Heh yeah, I knew that Fink (I like that nickname) and the big Danbury Audi guy were going to open it up so I went deep to hold on. I believe I even did a full Fred "woooo!" when we hit 50 mph. If I had fallen off, I'd still be out there somewhere.
10-13-15, 09:29 PM
#2560
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Cause, why not?
Jump-Start Crit 4/5 Day 1 (I'm cat 5)
3rd from 36 I think, made up quite a few spots in the sprint. Seemed like a ridiculous pace for the first 5 laps or so, especially in near 100 degree temps. Could barely hold on, but it got 10x after the first few laps. One main pack for the whole race, not really any attacks or break-aways, kind of boring to watch.
Cat 5 same day
1st from 30 I think, first time win for me, felt pretty good to get two podiums in one day. Still cat 5 for 3 more races :/
I was apart of a group of 5 that broke away from lap 2-4, mainly split the work needed to be done. Come the final corner, I sprinted and won by 10-15 feet, not exactly a photo finish but pretty close time-wise at 37mph.
Stupid stat, but kind of cool I think. Now ranked 3rd for cat 5 juniors, out of 1100 or so. First is only 4 points or so away.
Jump-Start Crit 4/5 Day 1 (I'm cat 5)
3rd from 36 I think, made up quite a few spots in the sprint. Seemed like a ridiculous pace for the first 5 laps or so, especially in near 100 degree temps. Could barely hold on, but it got 10x after the first few laps. One main pack for the whole race, not really any attacks or break-aways, kind of boring to watch.
Cat 5 same day
1st from 30 I think, first time win for me, felt pretty good to get two podiums in one day. Still cat 5 for 3 more races :/
I was apart of a group of 5 that broke away from lap 2-4, mainly split the work needed to be done. Come the final corner, I sprinted and won by 10-15 feet, not exactly a photo finish but pretty close time-wise at 37mph.
Stupid stat, but kind of cool I think. Now ranked 3rd for cat 5 juniors, out of 1100 or so. First is only 4 points or so away.
10-17-15, 01:58 PM
#2561
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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if I gain 50% fat and 50% muscle forever I can't lose, eventually.
Today though, I was 5th or 6th. Lost track. Everyone rode away from me on the start (steep) but I caught a couple. Including @scheibo who should have paced off me like he said he was going to do.
Today though, I was 5th or 6th. Lost track. Everyone rode away from me on the start (steep) but I caught a couple. Including @scheibo who should have paced off me like he said he was going to do.
10-17-15, 08:21 PM
#2562
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Yes, I probably should have. Getting close to peak 5 minute power in the first 5 minutes is a bad way to start a race. That said, I still managed to hold on enough to bump up my power curve from 8-26 minutes, including a large enough 20 minute PR to force me to modify my FTP. Numbers aside, not super happy with the race given how I planned to follow you going in and immediately threw that plan out the window and then felt miserable in no man's land 10ft OTB for the entirety of the race. Let's see if I can stick to my guns when we do Bohlman in 3 weeks which should be similar.
2? 3? spots behind @Ygduf and 27s back, though only 9s off the guy ahead of me. Maintained my ranking as the 'worst of the best', FWIW.
2? 3? spots behind @Ygduf and 27s back, though only 9s off the guy ahead of me. Maintained my ranking as the 'worst of the best', FWIW.
10-21-15, 04:17 PM
#2563
Senior Member
snagged a third at the cross race i did this weekend (not the race dz_nuzz promoted...sorry buddy, next year) and along with it my cat 3 upgrade. ahhh, time to embrace mediocrity in both disciples of bike racing.
10-21-15, 05:57 PM
#2565
Senior Member
10-24-15, 06:49 PM
#2566
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another hill climb, but TT style this week. flat/rolling bottom and then steeper near the top, rough road. no recon beforehand meant i was probably in for a surprise. not quite the w/kg ramp I wanted, but this is where all the flat riding coach fudgy has me doing comes in handy. threw away 5 seconds on the clip in (though it seems like that happened to a lot of people), caught the guy 40s ahead of me in the first ~7 minutes and was also summarily passed by the guy 20s behind me around the same time. kept pace with him, trying not to draft which was hard given on the super narrow and ragged road there was kind of only one reasonable line to ride. eventually I realized he had spent himself catching me so quickly so I passed him near the end of the climb and almost gained back the time he had caught me for. the '200 paces to go' sign came way earlier than expected, for some reason I expected there was another half km or more to go - i definitely had more saved in the tank. power was surprisingly high given the irregularity/bumpiness/flat bits (going by NP it is apparently equivalent to last week's 20 min PR).
it seems like no matter who shows up i always end around 9th. this time i was only 6s off 7th and was way closer to the faster guys (though an absurdly quick Kevin Metcalfe still put a minute into me...). overall i'm happy with my pacing, especially given my lack of knowledge of the course (kind of my fault there though...). i also like that i was able to put out the around the same power on my own without the motivation of falling off the back of a pack.
it seems like no matter who shows up i always end around 9th. this time i was only 6s off 7th and was way closer to the faster guys (though an absurdly quick Kevin Metcalfe still put a minute into me...). overall i'm happy with my pacing, especially given my lack of knowledge of the course (kind of my fault there though...). i also like that i was able to put out the around the same power on my own without the motivation of falling off the back of a pack.
10-25-15, 12:08 AM
#2567
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another hill climb, but TT style this week. flat/rolling bottom and then steeper near the top, rough road. no recon beforehand meant i was probably in for a surprise. not quite the w/kg ramp I wanted, but this is where all the flat riding coach fudgy has me doing comes in handy. threw away 5 seconds on the clip in (though it seems like that happened to a lot of people), caught the guy 40s ahead of me in the first ~7 minutes and was also summarily passed by the guy 20s behind me around the same time. kept pace with him, trying not to draft which was hard given on the super narrow and ragged road there was kind of only one reasonable line to ride. eventually I realized he had spent himself catching me so quickly so I passed him near the end of the climb and almost gained back the time he had caught me for. the '200 paces to go' sign came way earlier than expected, for some reason I expected there was another half km or more to go - i definitely had more saved in the tank. power was surprisingly high given the irregularity/bumpiness/flat bits (going by NP it is apparently equivalent to last week's 20 min PR).
it seems like no matter who shows up i always end around 9th. this time i was only 6s off 7th and was way closer to the faster guys (though an absurdly quick Kevin Metcalfe still put a minute into me...). overall i'm happy with my pacing, especially given my lack of knowledge of the course (kind of my fault there though...). i also like that i was able to put out the around the same power on my own without the motivation of falling off the back of a pack.
it seems like no matter who shows up i always end around 9th. this time i was only 6s off 7th and was way closer to the faster guys (though an absurdly quick Kevin Metcalfe still put a minute into me...). overall i'm happy with my pacing, especially given my lack of knowledge of the course (kind of my fault there though...). i also like that i was able to put out the around the same power on my own without the motivation of falling off the back of a pack.
10-25-15, 07:08 AM
#2568
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thanks! and no, he wasn't, judging by the start list it looks like he actually started 3 minutes ahead of me, so it looks like he rode a lot better than he was seeded.
10-25-15, 09:48 PM
#2570
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He climbs pretty good for being such a big guy. I think a few of us may come down for Bohlman. I'm a terrible climber, so that should be a blast.
10-26-15, 08:57 AM
#2572
Senior Member
Tough weekend with two cross races that didn't go quite to plan.
Saturday was Fruitlands Cup, a new race at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Mass. A real power slog of a course, 150' of climbing per lap, on grass like velcro. Not my kind of course, and going slow is demotivating so I didn't really dig deep enough to hang with my usual group. Ended up 12th.
Sunday, Orchard Cross, a more suitable course for me with plenty of turning and fast power sections where you could stick to wheels and sprint out of turns. I was pretty motivated after a mediocre race the day before, too. Alas, it all went wrong pretty much immediately. Normally a front row start keeps you pretty safe, but not today. First, the guy to my right immediately came into me on the clip-in. I had to check up and shoulder him off of me (he went off into the barriers), then start sprinting again. I was still in tenth and figured I was okay, but someone freaked out when we went into the holeshot and went down. I got squeezed pretty hard, then popped through the hole... and there was a bike on the ground right in front of me. With nowhere to go, I was on the deck and dudes were streaming past me. I got up and going pretty quick, but crashing 15 seconds into the race meant I was probably in 50th place or something. And the first third of the lap at Orchard bottlenecks HARD. So the race immediately changed from "try for a podium place" to "let's see how many people you can pass in 45 minutes." The answer was "a lot," but only enough to get me up to 20th by the end. Probably would've been 18th or 19th, but I had a stupid crash with 2 to go that cost me those spots and cracked my fancy helmet. SIGH. Fortunately it's a rad course and a really cool event overall, so it was still fun to race around the course and passing people is pretty satisfying. And I was pretty happy with my legs, which certainly seemed better than the day before. Now I get a couple of weeks to train for Cycle-Smart in Northampton.
Saturday was Fruitlands Cup, a new race at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Mass. A real power slog of a course, 150' of climbing per lap, on grass like velcro. Not my kind of course, and going slow is demotivating so I didn't really dig deep enough to hang with my usual group. Ended up 12th.
Sunday, Orchard Cross, a more suitable course for me with plenty of turning and fast power sections where you could stick to wheels and sprint out of turns. I was pretty motivated after a mediocre race the day before, too. Alas, it all went wrong pretty much immediately. Normally a front row start keeps you pretty safe, but not today. First, the guy to my right immediately came into me on the clip-in. I had to check up and shoulder him off of me (he went off into the barriers), then start sprinting again. I was still in tenth and figured I was okay, but someone freaked out when we went into the holeshot and went down. I got squeezed pretty hard, then popped through the hole... and there was a bike on the ground right in front of me. With nowhere to go, I was on the deck and dudes were streaming past me. I got up and going pretty quick, but crashing 15 seconds into the race meant I was probably in 50th place or something. And the first third of the lap at Orchard bottlenecks HARD. So the race immediately changed from "try for a podium place" to "let's see how many people you can pass in 45 minutes." The answer was "a lot," but only enough to get me up to 20th by the end. Probably would've been 18th or 19th, but I had a stupid crash with 2 to go that cost me those spots and cracked my fancy helmet. SIGH. Fortunately it's a rad course and a really cool event overall, so it was still fun to race around the course and passing people is pretty satisfying. And I was pretty happy with my legs, which certainly seemed better than the day before. Now I get a couple of weeks to train for Cycle-Smart in Northampton.
10-26-15, 10:39 AM
#2573
Senior Member
same two races as grolby!
Fruitlands: as grolby said, straight power course. got caught behind a crash at the start, but rode hard. rolled in 20th or so out of 50 or 60 guys. was pretty happy with that in a 2/3/4 field, although there was a group a little bit up the road that I really really wanted to get but just couldn't
Orchard: SUCH AN AWESOME RACE. came in 33rd/80 after getting caught behind two crashes at the start. let dz_nuzz get me right at the end. i was so cracked i had nothing left. wish i had done better tbh (would have loved top 20), but I have nothing to blame, I rode a clean and hard race.
sdfjklsdfjkl i think i really like cross guys.
Fruitlands: as grolby said, straight power course. got caught behind a crash at the start, but rode hard. rolled in 20th or so out of 50 or 60 guys. was pretty happy with that in a 2/3/4 field, although there was a group a little bit up the road that I really really wanted to get but just couldn't
Orchard: SUCH AN AWESOME RACE. came in 33rd/80 after getting caught behind two crashes at the start. let dz_nuzz get me right at the end. i was so cracked i had nothing left. wish i had done better tbh (would have loved top 20), but I have nothing to blame, I rode a clean and hard race.
sdfjklsdfjkl i think i really like cross guys.
10-26-15, 10:44 AM
#2574
Senior Member
a guy in my club podiumed wednesday and was top 10 sat and sunday, seems like things are clicking for a lot of folks. maybe one day I'll try cross and see what the fuss is about!
10-26-15, 11:43 AM
#2575
Senior Member
I want a cross bike..on the list for next year. Need a new road bike first. Cross looks like a lot of (painful)fun.