mattm

San Jose Bike Club "twilight crit" - won field sprint. Attacked a million times; only got away for a few (2-mile) laps.

Kid who showed up late/skipped the first lap was otf, didn't realize it, so I guess I was 2nd.

Oh well, got a t-shirt anyway. Good training!

tetonrider

sounds like a solid effort. hard to be disappointed in yourself (objectively) when you didi all you could to bridge but failed. sometimes other riders are just better. at least you gave it a shot. in fact, i think the fact that you could not catch back onto the pack is a GOOD sign. it means that your chase was not a 90% effort--you gave it all you had.

in big races with strong fields, taking some risk is the only way to win, right?

dz_nuzz

I think that for me I always look back and end up saying "I could have pushed just a bit more", whether that is true or not is always hard to know after the fact. It also played out the way I thought it might, total attrition, which is my specialty. I could have just sat in until everyone was dead at mile 80, and then took off.

tetonrider

even from 1000s of miles away, it is obvious that you are tough as nails. my guess is if you pressed pause during any of those efforts, you would have said you could not push more at the time.

sure, you can sit in and wait, but that is not how you prefer to race. if the break stuck, you would then be pissed at the end and probably feel (correctly) that you could have ridden harder on the day.

your way won't always produce results -- the fields you race are too strong to guarantee anything -- but it will leave you satisfied that you at least tried something. now, if you were a field sprinter, then of course you sit in and wait, wait, wait.

as an aside:
the parking lot scene post-TT is always funny. 90% of dudes are talking about how they could have ridden harder. i've always wanted to do a video where you interview them after the fact, then superimpose their talking head on a photo of them at a key part in the race where their tongue is hanging out of their mouth, sweat dripping, totally gassed. "yeah, i could have gone harder."

globecanvas

The memory of pain obviously fades after the fact. Otherwise we would all be only children.

TexMac

Congrats! you are having a great season so far

mattm

I always joke after every race that I should have "pedaled harder" - which while true, is usually not possible.

mattm

Thanks!

dz_nuzz

Your not a wise and experienced racer at all? Are you?

And hey! Don't go trying to inflate my ego! I don't need any extra weight going up that climb!

globecanvas

You can do that?!!?

Hida Yanra

"Not Last"

swallowed my pride, pinned on a number and did a mid-week TT.
7.5 mile uphill TT - non-aero class.

No real setup- did 1.5 miles easy-to-medium warmup getting to the start line -
then heard the guy say, "racer on your mark" and I was a bike racer again.
holy smokes that hurt.

also, hi everybody - a brief glance seems like most of the same faces are still around?

grolby

Nice!

mattm

Welcome back!

carpediemracing 

I just saw your name and thought, wow, has he been around and I just missed it?

Uphill = not much aero necessary?

Hida Yanra

ha- no, sadly- I haven't been around much since... 2013 or so? This was my second bike ride of the year.... life choices being what they are.
'13 was my last year of racing, and I didn't even do much road racing that year other than collegiate omniums.

the uphill isn't that bad - course averages 3-4% on the way up - aero would 100% be choice, but no aero 'cause I sold it all off over the last few years for life expenses.

echappist

welcome back!

Andy STi

Nice job!

That was so hard. So cool that we have this to do.

carpediemracing 

Don't listen to anything I say. Keep doing what you're doing

aaronmcd

Ha I always think I could have pushed harder. Funny thing is, I know sometimes I can push harder than other times. Makes it tough to work out after the fact.

My last road race, trying to bridge to what looked like the winning 2 man move. Went very,, very hard. Burned a few matches. Came within seconds. Couldn't close it. Chasing pack came by, not too windy or hilly and on form so held on and even contributed to chase. Contributed here and there, took off early for sprint to catch them. Passed one, but lost the sprint to a few. Missed cat 2 upgrade by one point. Half wheel behind second guy in break. Knew if I had caught the break we would probably have stayed away.

Same thing has happened before, caught close to the line, missed the break by seconds. Too many times. I'd have 45 points instead of 29 if a few miniscule differences happened. And after every race, maybe I could have gone a tad harder at x crucial time. But I couldnt. I would have if I could, I know that. Just gotta trust that I wasn't just being lazy. If I start being lazy it's probably time to quit bike racing.

shovelhd

Great start to the season, mattm.

Nice to have you back Ian.

Aaron, you'll get your upgrade. You may be focusing on it too much. It will come. Focus on racing. What I read in your comments is that you don't know how hard you can go for how long. You have almost enough but not enough. You can try and train this capability up, or you can ride smarter, within your capabilities. If you had launched that bridge attempt 60 seconds earlier, would you have made the catch? You have to know these kinds of things. If you do, then maybe it's a confidence issue, with the same root cause. Start thinking about refining this capability now, before you upgrade. You can't race like a bull in a china shop in P/1/2, they'll eat you alive.

globecanvas

Right at the end of an especially hard race I will sometimes think, try to remember how utterly spent I am at this moment, for later when I start thinking "I should have just gone faster." If I forget to sort of stamp the exhaustion level into my memory immediately after the finish, the recriminations usually start by the time I'm done with the cooldown lap.

Twice in recent memory I was so spent after the finish that I literally rode off the course into the grass. I find that helps to impress the pain into the medium-term memory. The other day I was away for the final lap with some 29 year old hotshot and after the finish I wobbled off into the grass and he was afraid I has going to have some type of old man health crisis. It was pretty clear I couldn't have gone faster.

island rider

We are hard wired for that. It's why I keep thinking basic training would be a fun thing to repeat, or repeating law school would be a good break from real life. It's also the only reason any woman ever had more than one child, or any husband for that matter.

mike868y

ccns kermis cat 3/4 - 10th
a break rolled and stayed away, i'm still bitter as it was a counter to my attack. so it goes i guess. had really good positioning coming into the field sprint and felt like i was coming into it with good momentum and on a good wheel, but i way overgeared myself. i really need to work on the mechanics of sprinting. my instinct is always to slam it into a harder gear then jump whereas I think it's better to jump and then shift into a higher gear as you sprint? i feel like this is a totally novice question.

also jumped in the 123 and felt surprisingly good. found myself in the top 10 wheels or so and was all types of excited so i took a couple turns on the front. which was dumb as there was no way the break was coming back (i had a teammate in the group), then my efforts hurt me and suddenly i was last wheel. then the guy in front of me got gapped off and that was the end of my race. i was cooked, though. next time need to work on maintaining good position while not blowing myself up.

mattm

I like to slam it in a big gear then sprint, sit, shift up and sprint again. But it doesn't always work, and every sprint is different. I don't think there's a right answer; mostly depends on your racing style. Nice racing btw.

crazyarm07

BHB Backyard Crit 4/5 - Crashed. About a 1/4 mile in. So that was a short day. Only casualties were my front wheel and my pride, so it's not so bad.