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2014 Race Results Thread

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2014 Race Results Thread

Old 07-06-14, 05:50 PM
  #2376  
shovelhd
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P/1 twilight crits. $1,000 primes. Getting in the break with household names. You're in the show.
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Old 07-06-14, 06:21 PM
  #2377  
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Originally Posted by shovelhd
P/1 twilight crits. $1,000 primes. Getting in the break with household names. You're in the show.
yeah there is no shortage of goals at the p/1 level. it will just be different to not think about upgrade points anymore.

hell there was a $5,500 prime at toad this year!
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Old 07-06-14, 06:24 PM
  #2378  
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Originally Posted by mattm
hell there was a $5,500 prime at toad this year!
IIRC there were crowd primes north of $4k at Tulsa Tough. That buys a lot of MRIs! Or, well, one maybe.
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Old 07-06-14, 07:26 PM
  #2379  
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Red Kite Crits

Temp 97-100

35+3/4 - Teammate in front set a good temp in the final few laps. I drilled the leadout and our two sprinters got 1st and 3rd. Pretty good.

3/4 - Same plan..we had the omnium leader (tied) on our team. last time in the race i was able to do some good work for the omnium leader. but my tank was empty almost from the beginning. fortunately teammates took all the primes (which in addition to some sort of prize also count as omnimum points) and our guy did well enough to move up to overall leader though our much planned leadout train never happened. I got dropped with 1 lap to go. in a flat 3/4 crit. To quote the great Vizzini...inconceivable.

35 +123 - if i got dropped in a 3/4 crit how was i gonna finish the 123 crit theat started 10 minutes later? 30 minutes in I started getting light headed and shivering even though it was almost 100. i pull outed and almost passed out retrieving my pit wheels. Heat exhaustion. F'in hell. i iced down, drank a bunch of cold liquids, got some electrolytes. I'm fine now. slight headache, not foggy anymore. That my explain the 3/4 crit hopefully.


i obviously was not prepared for the heat. i drank almost two bottles of electrolyte during each race, but it wasnt enough. i never ride in the heat...i always try to ride as early as possible to avoid it. and even though the race was only 30 miles from my house it was 15 degrees hotter at the race. i'll be better prepared next time.
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Old 07-06-14, 07:53 PM
  #2380  
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yeah two, much less three, back to back races is tough! even without heat.
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Old 07-06-14, 07:58 PM
  #2381  
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Red Kite, E4 and 3/4
Two pack finishes and a prime. In the first race I was following one guy with 2 to go, switched wheels, and the guy I had been following won. Dammit. I felt good coming around the final lap but as usual I had a horrible position near the back. Managed to follow a guy cutting through the inside of turn 3 as everyone else took it wide and passed a bunch leading into the sprint but not enough and got 16th out of 40ish.

Second race position was also bad but couldn't find a good wheel to follow at all. Should have followed the same guy.. he won again.

Got solicited to join a team. Again. I should probably take one of these offers, but I'm bad with decisions like that!
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Old 07-06-14, 08:09 PM
  #2382  
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Originally Posted by aaronmcd
Red Kite, E4 and 3/4
Two pack finishes and a prime. In the first race I was following one guy with 2 to go, switched wheels, and the guy I had been following won. Dammit. I felt good coming around the final lap but as usual I had a horrible position near the back. Managed to follow a guy cutting through the inside of turn 3 as everyone else took it wide and passed a bunch leading into the sprint but not enough and got 16th out of 40ish.

Second race position was also bad but couldn't find a good wheel to follow at all. Should have followed the same guy.. he won again.

Got solicited to join a team. Again. I should probably take one of these offers, but I'm bad with decisions like that!
Just join. Especially if they're local to you. Worst case you get a new kit and change teams next year. Best case, you get a couple guys to work with in races or at least drive with to races.
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Old 07-06-14, 08:11 PM
  #2383  
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following wheels is a great way to end up 2nd! at least that's what i always told myself.

anyway glad to see race reports are rolling in! getting stir crazy already.
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Old 07-06-14, 08:15 PM
  #2384  
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Originally Posted by mattm
following wheels is a great way to end up 2nd! at least that's what i always told myself.

anyway glad to see race reports are rolling in! getting stir crazy already.
Shoot, was just editing my post to say something similar.

One thing that helped me at the same point, was either knowing or convincing yourself that you are the good wheel now.
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Old 07-06-14, 09:13 PM
  #2385  
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Originally Posted by aaronmcd
Red Kite, E4 and 3/4

Got solicited to join a team.
sounds illegal

Originally Posted by mattm
yeah two, much less three, back to back races is tough! even without heat.
totally. but i felt like it would be good for the fitness. i think if it wasnt hot it would be doable.
also i have a worse headache than i thought and i'm a touch nauseous.
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Old 07-06-14, 09:57 PM
  #2386  
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Originally Posted by mattm
thx! even tho I double-checked all the field sizes/etc I'm nervous CO will turn me down..

also, it felt weird to hit that upgrade button for the last time! "upgrading" has always been my motivator, now it'll just be "winning" i guess.
there are folks here who know far better than i do, but one thing i've been told is racing at the p/1 level (*not* p/1/2, p/1/2/3) becomes even more interesting and tactical. riders are going for the win (or for their team to win), and people are not racing for upgrade points.

maybe i'll see you in the p/1 CCC crit next year, matt! ;-) congrats on the upgrade in advance. i'm sure CO won't turn you down.

(ps i don't​ expect to make it to p/1 next year.)
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Old 07-06-14, 09:58 PM
  #2387  
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Originally Posted by mattm
yeah there is no shortage of goals at the p/1 level. it will just be different to not think about upgrade points anymore.
well, there's always the 'pro contract' upgrade.
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Old 07-06-14, 10:13 PM
  #2388  
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I race Red Kites as well. Was earth-melting hot.

2/3s couldn't get a break going, I am too marked. Somehow my teammates all sat up and I was the 1 guy in the 15-person selection my break-creating attempts created. I took my shot at the win by attacking the selection, was caught in the last corner. 14th. Blech.

p12 could get breaks going. The field just kind of shattered and it was Dave Grundmann TTing solo for the win, then 3guys here, 2 there, 2 here. I was 8th of like 40. Pretty good I guess, but definitely a touch of heat illness after crossing the line. I wobbled over to rival team's tent, laid in the shade and put about a pound of ice cubes in my skinsuit.
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Old 07-06-14, 10:40 PM
  #2389  
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Speaking of teams I ended up joining one. I figured worst case I get a new kit to ride in in the winter. Right now not a lot of people, but I hope it will grow. If not I am no worse then I was before.
Red Kite was pretty bad. I need to figure out how to get my high end endurance back, because this is just not fun.

@aaronmcd Dude I don't know how you race without gloves. Whenever I think back at conditions of my gloves after crashes I shudder to think what would happen without them. Oh and hey join the team I just joined.

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Old 07-06-14, 10:57 PM
  #2390  
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Originally Posted by tetonrider
there are folks here who know far better than i do, but one thing i've been told is racing at the p/1 level (*not* p/1/2, p/1/2/3) becomes even more interesting and tactical. riders are going for the win (or for their team to win), and people are not racing for upgrade points.

maybe i'll see you in the p/1 CCC crit next year, matt! ;-) congrats on the upgrade in advance. i'm sure CO won't turn you down.

(ps i don't​ expect to make it to p/1 next year.)
yeah that will be different, and fun!

congrats on your upgrade too, and best of luck at cascade!
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Old 07-06-14, 11:05 PM
  #2391  
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Originally Posted by UmneyDurak
Speaking of teams I ended up joining one. I figured worst case I get a new kit to ride in in the winter. Right now not a lot of people, but I hope it will grow. If not I am no worse then I was before.
Red Kite was pretty bad. I need to figure out how to get my high end endurance back, because this is just not fun.

@aaronmcd Dude I don't know how you race without gloves. Whenever I think back at conditions of my gloves after crashes I shudder to think what would happen without them. Oh and hey join the team I just joined.
That's awesome re: the team. Small teams can be good. I think there are about four of us on my team that race frequently enough to say we race (road). We know each other (I've seen a few teams have to do introductions at the start line), we know what each other can do, and we know that we're more than happy to help one another in races, too. Between three of us, we've got 6 wins and something like 15 podiums this year. So, small teams can work and can be fun.
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Old 07-06-14, 11:08 PM
  #2392  
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Originally Posted by mattm
yeah that will be different, and fun!

congrats on your upgrade too, and best of luck at cascade!
my season's so weird. i can't really expect anything, so i'm trying to let go. it's normal for me to have an idea of where i am but i haven't been competing in anything national these last few months...so i truly have no clue of where i am (competition-wise).

some things will probably go well and others not so well. should be fun, though. bummed to miss you there. sounds like it might have been my last shot to race in a field with you! ;-)
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Old 07-06-14, 11:21 PM
  #2393  
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Manhattan Beach Grand Prix cat 2 - 7th place

Came into the race with 4 teammates out of a field of 56. I was the designated sprinter as I had good legs and placed 5th in the 3's last year, so I was looking for some redemption. For the most part, the race was pretty uneventful for me. Two of my teammates were on breakaway duty due to the hilly/rolling hotdog shape of the course. The other two were on cover/leadout duty for me. Everything was going great with one of my teammates on breakaway duty getting away several times, his most promising was with only 2 or 3 laps to go (he was caught on the last lap though). Unfortunately, with 5 laps to go, I went down in the the only crash (I believe) behind a guy who clipped a pedal through the first U-turn at about 20th position. I took my free lap and got back in, but at the very back of the field with 4 laps to go. My rear derailleur hanger was pretty bent and I had a hard time shifting, but I was fine otherwise, as the crash was on the slowest of the turns (I flew over my bars and landed frog-like, luckily for me). It took a lap and a half for me to work my way back to the front without wasting too much energy. We were pretty organized with two laps to go with 2 of my teammates in front of me and 1 behind me, but we got swarmed and lost contact with eachother on the first hill. On the last lap, I only had one teammate to bring me close-ish to the front from about 20th wheel and one teammate near the front who had managed to keep his position. On the backside of the last lap, I burned a couple matches shooting up the outside to get to the top 5 before the last corner (a U-turn, so positioning was key to finishing well). I latched onto my teammates wheel, but had to play the elbow game with some guys to keep my position going into the last corner. I backed off a bit too much through the last corner and wound up coming through it about 9th position with 300 meters to go. I sprinted as hard as I could, despite my f'ed up shifting delaying me a secondish after the corner (excuses, I know), and made up some ground, but my finishing result came down to a bike throw at the line which could have been as good as 5th and and bad as 8th. Wound up 7th, but I was glad I at least finished in the top 10.
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Old 07-07-14, 12:09 AM
  #2394  
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Originally Posted by zitter
...(excuses, I know)...
they don't sound like excuses to me. to get taken out in a crash late in the race, compose yourself, get back in the game, and still get in the top 10 in what was surely a tough field is pretty impressive.

would have been easy to bow out or just roll in for a pack finish. nice work.
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Old 07-07-14, 01:35 AM
  #2395  
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Hey Zitter, I would take a top 10 after going to the back with 5 to go, that is a tough spot, nice recovery.

As for me, I nabbed a 2nd at our weekend crit in the master 1/2/3 (28 riders) and 3rd in our weekday master 1/2/3 circuit race (43 riders) last week. For those that prefer TLDR posts ... keep reading.

The weekday circuit race was a perfect day for me, my goal was simple sprint in as many sprints as possible. I started at the back, we got a bell as I was moving up towards the front and I found myself at the front too early so I backed off and let another rider take the wind. Lucky for me he kept the pace up so when the sprint finally started I was in perfect spot and was able to hold it for just over 250 meters and snag the first sprint points.

Back to the back for me as I like to avoid the argy bargy in the middle and the work at the front. I made it back to the front for the 3rd sprint and didn't have to go as long and nabbed another first, but right after that the fairly obvious winning break took off. It had all the top break guys in the group, and I even got a second chance as two more riders left late to bridge up, but I was too tired and with something like 30 miles left in the race I was hoping it would come back.

As I sat at the back wondering if I made the right choice I noticed the break sitting at 10 seconds and two laps later thought maybe I can bridge it, or at least get the group going. So I went as hard as I could for just under 2 minutes on the tailwind section, and just my luck, the group split and I was now part of an 8 man chase group ... with almost 25 miles to go. Great, not only do I get to be in a break all day, but I get to be in the chase group. Then it gets better as 3 riders sit on and it is just 5 of us working.

After a few laps of working really hard I mentally give up and just start riding tempo and doing my pulls, but don't have much heart left as it is pretty much just 4 of us working, with 2 others doing a little bit. Lap after lap goes by and eventually we are 20 seconds down in no mans land, but still in the points as there are only 5 left up front, so I sit up with a mile to go and give it all I have and end up 2nd in our chase group, but with my earlier points end up 3rd on the night. In the end that is exactly what I wanted, some decent miles, and three really good hard sprints. I checked my power meter and my final sprint was my best, even after the 25 mile break, so I'll call that a goal achieved, enjoy it and move on to next.

... second race was much more fun and ended slightly better. The course was tight at the top, then had a fast easy corner into a 3 block downhill headwind, then a 2 block slight rise followed by 3 corners to the finish, just under 1k with 6 corners. Basically get to the front in the headwind, sprint up the hill and then hold on through the corners to the finish.

I again started at the back to feel out the group and ensure I had plenty of space incase of any mishaps. After spending 50% of the race at the back and watching attack after attack come back I broke free of my mental block to move through the group and made my effort. Unlucky for me I was not able to get all the way to the front on the first go and had to sit just inside the top 10 going through the corners, but the group kept it safe.

I was at the front and assisting with the chase efforts by my second lap of effort, but I was not able to launch a counter move as I did the year before at the same point in the race. It seemed like a small break would work, but I just could not find enough in the tank to get a winning effort going. So after a number of laps at/near the front I finally needed a recharge and went to the back to let them sort it out. Just my luck a number of laps latter a strong break of two went up the road. As they were dangling just a few seconds off the front and I finally found my nerve to move back up with 5 to go.

Again it took two laps to get to the front, but as soon as I hit the front it looked scattered. I was not really sure what was going on but it seemed like while I was at the front of the group for the final 3 laps riders kept going and coming back all around me. So while I was pushing a lot of wind, I was also chasing down someone in front of me pretty much for 3 straight laps, so the constant carrot made life much easier and I wasn't really at the front the whole time. Also being at the front I could race my own race and keep things safe on the corners. I caught one rider on the bell, and another into the headwind on the final lap, getting max draft off each one. Then as we went up the hill one of the two lead riders fell off pace and we caught him as well. We were unable to catch the final rider, and since I made it to the top of the hill first, I was able to control it through the corners and take the pack sprint for 2nd.

As I looked at my power meter after the race, I hit (actually smashed) my max power numbers for the year and overall for every time span between 2 minutes and 40 minutes. Wow, I guess I was going harder than I thought the whole time, it seemed like an easy race and I felt like I was under control the whole time, but at least for my power meter I have never raced that hard ever. So while I missed out on the win, it feels even better that my training is putting me exactly where I hoped, and actually a little in front of where I wanted to be at this time of year. Onto the next race.
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Old 07-07-14, 07:30 AM
  #2396  
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Frederick Challenge / MABRA Crit Champs
Men's 5
3/~50

Course is an industrial park with basically no features and a square layout . Wide smooth roads with a slight uphill finish and a slight downhill backstretch. Finish straight had a tailwind but was too short to really have speeds get up there.

Wasn't going to race as I didn't keep track of when registration ended, but had a friend that wanted to race in the 3 field with a bunch of team mates but didn't want to drive so I figured why not, let's finish up my 10th race as a 5 and have some company for the trip.

I wasn't sure how the race would go with a course with no features, but was a little bit hesitant with a reasonably good sized CAT 5 field racing without the course forcing a selection to take place. So I decided to just go at the *** and see if everyone was sleeping or if the more fit racers would try and bridge up and drop some of the soon-to-be rolling road blocks.

Hit it hard going into the first turn and opened up a gap. Settled in to a decent pace about 30s in front of the pack and sat out there for 2-3 laps. Had one person bridge up which apparently woke everyone up and they pulled everything back together shortly after as CAT 5s love to do.

Spent most of the race just sitting in staying out of the wind and out of trouble with a couple moments perhaps worthy of comment:

1) Had the guy who solo'd off the front last week head off on his own about half way through the race. I was sitting about 6th wheel but on the wrong side so I hesitated in reacting. Looking back I think I could have bridged over to him and kept his pace but the bit of hesitation, a bit of doubt, and the delay in identifying who it was meant I just stayed in the pack for the remainder.

2) With about 6 to go, entering turn 4 I'm sitting mid-outside heading in to the turn. The wind is coming from the outside so I'm just offset to the inside of the rider in front of me. Entering the turn he swing out wider 1-2 bike lengths, then dives across to the inside curb, chopping across my line. I held my mid -outside, moving into the apex, back to mid-outside line, but his line chopped my front wheel forcing me to check up and shift the bike back and inside. I felt someone come into my rear wheel and hear some shouting, but not sure if anyone went down.

Question - I know it's not the best description, but what responsiblity do I have to slot in behind said rider vs. his responsibility to apex the corner on a reasonable line (turn was wide open on the outset, so reason to late apex/move outside-inside)? He lost so much ground swinging out prior to the turn it put me back up inside and overlapped and my reaction was to protect my wheel mid-turn by shifting it back, would I have been better served to try and push up next to him to protect my line or is this conversation not worth having as I kept it upright?

Anyways, slotted back in 6th or 7th wheel and moved around a bit until I found someone with some visible strength. Last lap they moved up to 4th wheel going through the last turn and I sprinted (actually for the first time as usually I'd be 12-15th wheel at the end and just sit up) up to get 2nd in the field (3rd with the winner off the front). Got a championship bronze medal and a box of gel for my troubles.

Then watched chappy have a good day in the 3s...
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Old 07-07-14, 08:25 AM
  #2397  
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Originally Posted by ips0803
Frederick Challenge / MABRA Crit Champs
Men's 5
3/~50

Course is an industrial park with basically no features and a square layout . Wide smooth roads with a slight uphill finish and a slight downhill backstretch. Finish straight had a tailwind but was too short to really have speeds get up there.

Wasn't going to race as I didn't keep track of when registration ended, but had a friend that wanted to race in the 3 field with a bunch of team mates but didn't want to drive so I figured why not, let's finish up my 10th race as a 5 and have some company for the trip.

I wasn't sure how the race would go with a course with no features, but was a little bit hesitant with a reasonably good sized CAT 5 field racing without the course forcing a selection to take place. So I decided to just go at the *** and see if everyone was sleeping or if the more fit racers would try and bridge up and drop some of the soon-to-be rolling road blocks.

Hit it hard going into the first turn and opened up a gap. Settled in to a decent pace about 30s in front of the pack and sat out there for 2-3 laps. Had one person bridge up which apparently woke everyone up and they pulled everything back together shortly after as CAT 5s love to do.

Spent most of the race just sitting in staying out of the wind and out of trouble with a couple moments perhaps worthy of comment:

1) Had the guy who solo'd off the front last week head off on his own about half way through the race. I was sitting about 6th wheel but on the wrong side so I hesitated in reacting. Looking back I think I could have bridged over to him and kept his pace but the bit of hesitation, a bit of doubt, and the delay in identifying who it was meant I just stayed in the pack for the remainder.

2) With about 6 to go, entering turn 4 I'm sitting mid-outside heading in to the turn. The wind is coming from the outside so I'm just offset to the inside of the rider in front of me. Entering the turn he swing out wider 1-2 bike lengths, then dives across to the inside curb, chopping across my line. I held my mid -outside, moving into the apex, back to mid-outside line, but his line chopped my front wheel forcing me to check up and shift the bike back and inside. I felt someone come into my rear wheel and hear some shouting, but not sure if anyone went down.

Question - I know it's not the best description, but what responsiblity do I have to slot in behind said rider vs. his responsibility to apex the corner on a reasonable line (turn was wide open on the outset, so reason to late apex/move outside-inside)? He lost so much ground swinging out prior to the turn it put me back up inside and overlapped and my reaction was to protect my wheel mid-turn by shifting it back, would I have been better served to try and push up next to him to protect my line or is this conversation not worth having as I kept it upright?

Anyways, slotted back in 6th or 7th wheel and moved around a bit until I found someone with some visible strength. Last lap they moved up to 4th wheel going through the last turn and I sprinted (actually for the first time as usually I'd be 12-15th wheel at the end and just sit up) up to get 2nd in the field (3rd with the winner off the front). Got a championship bronze medal and a box of gel for my troubles.

Then watched chappy have a good day in the 3s...
good job!
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Old 07-07-14, 08:45 AM
  #2398  
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Originally Posted by tetonrider
they don't sound like excuses to me. to get taken out in a crash late in the race, compose yourself, get back in the game, and still get in the top 10 in what was surely a tough field is pretty impressive.

would have been easy to bow out or just roll in for a pack finish. nice work.
+1. nice work getting back into things after crashing so late in a race

-----

Originally Posted by ips0803
Frederick Challenge / MABRA Crit Champs
Men's 5
3/~50

Course is an industrial park with basically no features and a square layout . Wide smooth roads with a slight uphill finish and a slight downhill backstretch. Finish straight had a tailwind but was too short to really have speeds get up there.

Wasn't going to race as I didn't keep track of when registration ended, but had a friend that wanted to race in the 3 field with a bunch of team mates but didn't want to drive so I figured why not, let's finish up my 10th race as a 5 and have some company for the trip.

I wasn't sure how the race would go with a course with no features, but was a little bit hesitant with a reasonably good sized CAT 5 field racing without the course forcing a selection to take place. So I decided to just go at the *** and see if everyone was sleeping or if the more fit racers would try and bridge up and drop some of the soon-to-be rolling road blocks.

Hit it hard going into the first turn and opened up a gap. Settled in to a decent pace about 30s in front of the pack and sat out there for 2-3 laps. Had one person bridge up which apparently woke everyone up and they pulled everything back together shortly after as CAT 5s love to do.

Spent most of the race just sitting in staying out of the wind and out of trouble with a couple moments perhaps worthy of comment:

1) Had the guy who solo'd off the front last week head off on his own about half way through the race. I was sitting about 6th wheel but on the wrong side so I hesitated in reacting. Looking back I think I could have bridged over to him and kept his pace but the bit of hesitation, a bit of doubt, and the delay in identifying who it was meant I just stayed in the pack for the remainder.

2) With about 6 to go, entering turn 4 I'm sitting mid-outside heading in to the turn. The wind is coming from the outside so I'm just offset to the inside of the rider in front of me. Entering the turn he swing out wider 1-2 bike lengths, then dives across to the inside curb, chopping across my line. I held my mid -outside, moving into the apex, back to mid-outside line, but his line chopped my front wheel forcing me to check up and shift the bike back and inside. I felt someone come into my rear wheel and hear some shouting, but not sure if anyone went down.

Question - I know it's not the best description, but what responsiblity do I have to slot in behind said rider vs. his responsibility to apex the corner on a reasonable line (turn was wide open on the outset, so reason to late apex/move outside-inside)? He lost so much ground swinging out prior to the turn it put me back up inside and overlapped and my reaction was to protect my wheel mid-turn by shifting it back, would I have been better served to try and push up next to him to protect my line or is this conversation not worth having as I kept it upright?

Anyways, slotted back in 6th or 7th wheel and moved around a bit until I found someone with some visible strength. Last lap they moved up to 4th wheel going through the last turn and I sprinted (actually for the first time as usually I'd be 12-15th wheel at the end and just sit up) up to get 2nd in the field (3rd with the winner off the front). Got a championship bronze medal and a box of gel for my troubles.

Then watched chappy have a good day in the 3s...
Congrats on the bronze, especially as that run in with the guy in front of you occurred so close to the end. i thought you might have been there as i saw someone wearing a Patuxent Velo jersey. Will definitely say hi next time.

For anyone else wondering the situation described, the course (Strava Segment | Wells Fargo Crit Loop) runs clockwise, with the start/finish located on the stretch heading north. Corner 4 connects the back stretch heading west with the stretch containing the start/finish. Wind was coming from the south at 7-8 mph for most of the day, so you go from crosswind to tail wind. The minor bump on the road is located on the stretch containing the start/finish.

As for your question, i think it's a bit of both of you are at fault. You are responsible for the safety of your front wheel, and while being offset (without actually overlapping) would be fine riding straight, i tend to think that you should be actually behind the person going into a turn as it makes things a bit more predictable. That said, he's definitely at fault for trying to apex a corner while riding in a pack. That corner isn't that hard to take, and one could carry through quite a bit of speed just following wheels. There were a few times i was doing late apexes as it allowed me to slingshot into the front with the tailwind, but i made sure there weren't too many others around me when i did it.
-----

Thanks for the kind words. This was actually my 4th mass start race of the year (would normally have done ~8-9 by now), with one of the races purely for training purposes as it was a 1/2/3 race. I had gotten sick quite often this year, and i had planned on just riding for fun or doing only ITT for most of the year. I got sick the day before my first cat-3 race (Tour of Page County, a stage race), and ended up in the back of the field as i had to use the restroom at the last minute due to all the fluid i was drinking. I knew the break would go early as there was 15-20 mph crosswinds, but when it went, i could only watch as i was only midpack by then. Tried to bridge up, and got within 15-20 seconds, but having a cold doesn't really help with things.

I then took off two months or so from racing as i kept on getting upper respiratory issues every two weeks. I was doing okay in a race last weekend (Tyson), but on a chipped-seal descent, my wheel got caught in a crevice, and i thought i had blown my tire. Fortunately, as i was on tubulars, nothing happened, but a good 20-30 seconds went by, and it would have been impossible for me to latch back, so DNF.

Actually didn't know if i was going to do the race yesterday as i felt symptoms on Friday, but things cleared up by Saturday. I decided to go for it, really without much expectation. I lined up a bit toward the end and spent the first few laps moving up. I was able to stay on the front for quite a bit. Various moves pinged off the front, but i didn't bother with any of them as i was marking a few people.

One somewhat promising move went around 22nd minute, and i went with it. Too bad that this wasn't "the move", and it was gruppo compacto after a few minutes. One guy i was marking (fellow forumite jsiegs11) went around the 30th minute, and he bridged up to two others. It took me about a lap to bridge up, though it could have taken less time as i was somehow not as committed part way into the bridging (thought the pack was on me). This, too, got reeled back a few laps later.


I was feeling it a bit at this time and decided to conserve until the end. As this was a fast course without with neither technical features nor significant false flats, and i was able to recover midpack. When reviewing my file, i realized that a good portion of this was done at ~65-75% FTP, which is good as I had thought that my cornering and pack riding skills had gotten quite rusty during my time off. This was quite beneficial as AP for the first 25 minutes or so were right quite close to FTP. However, sitting midpack was far from uneventful as there was some sketchy handling going on around me, but overall, i watched as more people burned matches while i sat tight.


With about 10-15 minutes left, i felt well enough and moved up toward the front again, waiting for moves. Jsiegs11 went again with about 8 laps to go, taking another rider with him. I set off in pursuit, and it took me a 3/4 of a lap to latch on up; the good thing is that for once, the field was content to let us roll away. One more person joined, and we had a foursome.


I was not feeling so fresh anymore from the earlier efforts, while the other two who bridged up were smarter and probably burned fewer matches (don't think they were in many moves before this one). The goal for me became contribute when possible, and hang on otherwise. I skipped a few turns, and cornering skills came in quite handy as I was able to use it to close small gaps that opened while rotating. The lap cards ticked down, and we were told that we had about 5-6 seconds with about 3 laps to go. With one to go, the gap remained steady, and i knew that the break was likely to stay away. I put in some sort of an effort on the back stretch. Didn't have much left in the sprint, but it was enough to hold off 5th place.


Overall very happy with how things turned out given the very rough build up i had this season

Last edited by echappist; 07-07-14 at 08:51 AM.
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Old 07-07-14, 08:54 AM
  #2399  
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Jsiegs = Dmitry? Was in almost every break all day?
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Old 07-07-14, 09:13 AM
  #2400  
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Jseigs = Joseph, who got steak knives. He's on a Scott Foil in Orica Green Edge colors

i didn't even know who Dmitry is before yesterday. apparently a 18-yr old phenom. when he gets famous i can tell people i once raced with him.
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