OK, Joseph, How Did Your Race Go?

[Colin Campbell]

I'd hate to think you went to bed without filing a report!

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 23, 4:57 am, Colin Campbell <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'd hate to think you went to bed without filing a report!

Report coming! I almost posted when I got home, but I figured I'd wait
to see if there are any pics posted on the race website first.

Joseph

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 23, 4:57 am, Colin Campbell <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'd hate to think you went to bed without filing a report!

It was a beautiful 13C (55F) sunny, and only a slight breeze. Perfect
conditions. Lots of folks were optimistic about the temperature and
rode in shorts and short-sleeves. I figured no reason to deep-freeze
my knees, so wore some nice cozy tights. This year's first shorts ride
will have to wait a few weeks.

The race organizers are trying to get a primitive category system in
place. It's voluntary, so I don't think it is going to work. But I
figured I'd do my part to try to convince folks that group 2 could be
fun and have some real racing if enough folks admitted to themselves
that they were outclassed in group 1. Group 1 started with a large
field, and perhaps due to the fine conditions, not that many got
dropped. At least not compared to the race a few weeks ago where
almost everyone got dropped. The high number of finishers in group 1
yesterday doesn't bode well for increased participation in group 2
next week. Oh well.

Anyway, about 15-17 were in group 2. A mix of old farts, weaker
juniors, and women. I like to think I was the odd man out...

We ran 3 laps of 15km. Some of the women got things started, and set a
good pace, and most everyone tried squeezing into one line. Some of
the juniors clearly were not using their brains as they tried to
squeeze in on my position. They couldn't ask for a better place to
draft than behind me, why would they try to get in front? I tried
gassing it a few times after the hills to see how everyone felt. They
would zoom up the short hills and then practically stop at the top.
That's when I'd push it. Most were able to keep my wheel. Then I just
sat back and waited while some of the others tried some moves. One of
the shorter hills is after a descent of sorts, which I hammered each
time so I could use momentum and a gap to take it easy on the hill.
Nobody had any chance of keeping up down there.

On the last lap, people started attacking every few hundred meters. It
was mostly the juniors, and I let the other juniors close the gaps. It
was an uphill finish with a steep section 1km from the finish then a
short flat section maybe 100m, then maybe 3-4% the rest of the way.
Since some of the juniors seemed like they could just dance up the
steep hills, I was wary of trying to sprint uphill against them. So at
2km to go, I jumped. It was 50m from a turn, and everyone was sort of
looking around as they had just chased down one of the juniors. As
they were setting up for the corner, I jumped, sailed through the
corner, and jumped again. Before I knew it I had 100m on them. I got
as low as I could, on the rivet and gave it all I had. After 1km of
this at 1km to go, setting up into the final left hander which leads
to the steep part of the finish, I looked back and saw they were
spread out but still 100m back. Up the steep part, they got close, and
I sat up on the flat section, figureing they had me at any moment. I
looked back again, and saw heads hanging. They had pretty much stopped
when they saw I stopped, but a gap was still there. They are wasted I
thought, and jumped again. This time I opened up big in the final
500m, but 2 guys weren't completely wasted, and they flew by with
100m to go. I looked back, saw the others still way back, and rolled
across casually to 3rd.

In retrospect, I should have just waited for a sprint and pretended to
be Boonen, not tried a flyer like Cancellara. Given the way things
shook out, I see I would have crushed them in a sprint. We averaged
about 35km/h. Group 1 averaged 39 over 4 laps.

Now the trick is to get more (and faster) folks to join group 2. If
group 2 doesn't get more folks, I'll go back to getting dropped from
group 1.

Joseph

 

[Andrew Price]

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:59:29 -0700 (PDT),
"[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:

>It was a beautiful 13C (55F) sunny, and only a slight breeze. Perfect
>conditions. Lots of folks were optimistic about the temperature and
>rode in shorts and short-sleeves. I figured no reason to deep-freeze
>my knees, so wore some nice cozy tights.

Agreed. 13° is still 3/4 length weather for me. Below 9°,
full-length tights, above 15°, shorts.

 

[SLAVE of THE STATE]

On Apr 23, 12:59 am, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 23, 4:57 am, Colin Campbell <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I'd hate to think you went to bed without filing a report!
>
> It was a beautiful 13C (55F) sunny, and only a slight breeze. Perfect
> conditions. Lots of folks were optimistic about the temperature and
> rode in shorts and short-sleeves. I figured no reason to deep-freeze
> my knees, so wore some nice cozy tights. This year's first shorts ride
> will have to wait a few weeks.
>
> The race organizers are trying to get a primitive category system in
> place. It's voluntary, so I don't think it is going to work.

I do.

> But I
> figured I'd do my part to try to convince folks that group 2 could be
> fun and have some real racing if enough folks admitted to themselves
> that they were outclassed in group 1. Group 1 started with a large
> field, and perhaps due to the fine conditions, not that many got
> dropped. At least not compared to the race a few weeks ago where
> almost everyone got dropped. The high number of finishers in group 1
> yesterday doesn't bode well for increased participation in group 2
> next week. Oh well.
>
> Anyway, about 15-17 were in group 2. A mix of old farts, weaker
> juniors, and women. I like to think I was the odd man out...
>
> We ran 3 laps of 15km. Some of the women got things started, and set a
> good pace, and most everyone tried squeezing into one line. Some of
> the juniors clearly were not using their brains as they tried to
> squeeze in on my position. They couldn't ask for a better place to
> draft than behind me, why would they try to get in front? I tried
> gassing it a few times after the hills to see how everyone felt. They
> would zoom up the short hills and then practically stop at the top.
> That's when I'd push it. Most were able to keep my wheel. Then I just
> sat back and waited while some of the others tried some moves. One of
> the shorter hills is after a descent of sorts, which I hammered each
> time so I could use momentum and a gap to take it easy on the hill.
> Nobody had any chance of keeping up down there.
>
> On the last lap, people started attacking every few hundred meters. It
> was mostly the juniors, and I let the other juniors close the gaps. It
> was an uphill finish with a steep section 1km from the finish then a
> short flat section maybe 100m, then maybe 3-4% the rest of the way.
> Since some of the juniors seemed like they could just dance up the
> steep hills, I was wary of trying to sprint uphill against them. So at
> 2km to go, I jumped. It was 50m from a turn, and everyone was sort of
> looking around as they had just chased down one of the juniors. As
> they were setting up for the corner, I jumped, sailed through the
> corner, and jumped again. Before I knew it I had 100m on them. I got
> as low as I could, on the rivet and gave it all I had. After 1km of
> this at 1km to go, setting up into the final left hander which leads
> to the steep part of the finish, I looked back and saw they were
> spread out but still 100m back. Up the steep part, they got close, and
> I sat up on the flat section, figureing they had me at any moment. I
> looked back again, and saw heads hanging. They had pretty much stopped
> when they saw I stopped, but a gap was still there. They are wasted I
> thought, and jumped again. This time I opened up big in the final
> 500m, but  2 guys weren't completely wasted, and they flew by with
> 100m to go. I looked back, saw the others still way back, and rolled
> across casually to 3rd.
>
> In retrospect, I should have just waited for a sprint and pretended to
> be Boonen, not tried a flyer like Cancellara. Given the way things
> shook out, I see I would have crushed them in a sprint. We averaged
> about 35km/h. Group 1 averaged 39 over 4 laps.
>
> Now the trick is to get more (and faster) folks to join group 2. If
> group 2  doesn't get more folks, I'll go back to getting dropped from
> group 1.



I like it both that you attacked and the timing of it was good. It
almost worked. It probably wouldn't work for better (more
experienced) riders, but part of tatics is having a sense for who you
are racing against. It was appropriate given that.

Good.

 

[[email protected]]

On Apr 25, 6:54 pm, SLAVE of THE STATE <[email protected]> wrote:

> > The race organizers are trying to get a primitive category system in
> > place. It's voluntary, so I don't think it is going to work.
>
> I do.

I hope so. I have decided to stick out 2 more races in the 2nd group
provided the feild does not get smaller and/or worse. If after 2 more
races, it is still stagnating at the same level, I'll throw in the
towel and go with group 1, and do my best not to get dropped.

> I like it both that you attacked and the timing of it was good.  It
> almost worked.  It probably wouldn't work for better (more
> experienced) riders, but part of tatics is having a sense for who you
> are racing against. It was appropriate given that.

I was pleased I was able to keep my head, and found a good place to
jump. Far enough out for there to be a flat section for me to build a
gap, close enough that it was in the realm of possibility to hold the
gap. It could have worked even with more experienced riders too, as it
was close enough to the finish for folks to be worried about burning
themselves out closing the gap only to give the victory to somebody
else. More experienced riders would be probably too fit for me to get
away, but that would have been something else.

My tactics for the inevitability of when I am all the way in in a
group 1 race, is to bank on the sprint. Wheel-suck the whole way. I
won't see any wind until the last 100m. I am pretty strong in a
sprint, and a total unknown to those guys, so as long as I stay fresh,
I could do ok. And there are only a handful of guys who's wheel needs
to be followed at the finish to be in a good position to let it rip.

> Good.

I was pleased. I'm getting excited for the ITT coming up too. This is
a 10 race series with 3 ITTs. I am going to punish (some) people
there!

Joseph