On Sunday, Apex showed up with a noticeably smaller, but not underpowered, contingent for the the Longbranch Road Race. Lyle, Steve, and I all carpooled down there in the battle/battered wagon. The weather was about 1,000 times more promising than Saturday at Glenwood – sunny and mid-fifties. Warming up on the course, I remarked to Steve that this was about the best weather one could conceive of for cycling.
Overall, only 38 guys started compared to the 80 or so the day before. The smaller field on the Longbranch course was nice – generally resulting in smoother riding. We were to race 5 laps, unlike last year which was 6 laps for the State Championship Road Race. It’s too bad Glenwood was used for the champs this year and not Longbranch because this is definitely a more challenging course. Most legs in the field were a little tired with the exception of only a few guys not racing the day before.
The first lap was fairly unremarkable. At the start of the second lap, cresting the rise after the start/finish, I rolled off the front. It was exactly the same spot as the year before and exactly the same things happened (for a while anyway). The significant exception was that there were 4 laps to go until the finish this time (not just three). I road conservatively out there waiting for others but no one came and all the while my gap kept growing. My legs weren’t fresh so I really was questioning the intelligence of this decision but I kept on plugging away in low zone 4 / high zone 3.
By the end of lap 2, the field was out of site. By the end of lap 3, I had two minutes on the field. The sun was shining, my bike was humming and things were going well. My third time solo up the steep climb (in the middle of lap 4), I totally came apart. I had been eating plenty but I had just too much racing in my legs since Thursday night at Seward. To top it off, my fancy SRAM Red front derailleur derailed itself in some bizarre way so I was rubbing some serious chain while in the small ring. I couldn’t figure out how to fix it and the noise only added to my delirium. Over the top, I was happy to shift into the big ring again and tried to regain some composer and time while running through the back half of the course.
Going through the start finish again, I looked back and saw the field closing. Two guys were bridging up to me and caught up on the rise past the finish. To my amusement, they started barking orders at me on where to sit and when to pull through. Sure, kid, whatever. I’ve just been off the front for over 30 miles. I’ll get right on that. They were lousy company, so I drifted back to the field bracing myself to be ejected out the back. I hung in for about a mile in the surprising reduced field, got a few back slaps and then slipped off the back. So, I finished the race solo again, but on the wrong side of the field.
Meanwhile, I learned that Steve had gotten sick and pulled out after the first lap. Lyle was sitting in the field conserving his strength. There was some chasing going on which aided in my demise but I think a big part of it was just me being a bit too tired. What I know about the rest of the race comes from Lyle. Going through the feed zone hill the last time, a Second Ascent guy jumped the field. Everyone hesitated, he got a gap, and then took it all the way to the finish. Importantly, that guy didn’t race the day before so he had fresh legs. It’s only 4k from the feed zone and a super fast finish favoring a small group of riders so it was a good move. Lyle was determined not to pull the field (again) so sat in. He sprinted across the line in 4th for another solid finish. That guy is on a roll.
So I learned something about Longbranch yesterday. It was a useful data point. I can hold off the 3s field for 3 laps but 4 laps is just one too many.
After the race, I went out and had one and half hamburgers and a couple of bowls of ice cream. I’m looking forward to a few easy days of recovery and then one more road race on Saturday before a few week break in weekend racing.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Glenwood Cat 4 Report
I guess it is up to me to report on the cat 4 race, since I was the only one to make it there. I’ll keep it a little shorter than Scott. In summary, it was raining at the start of the race, there was one crash in the middle of the race, and it was raining harder at the end of the race. It was a frustrating race. That pretty much sums it up.
I’ll throw in a few details for anyone who is interested. I started at the very back of the pack because I was thinking the race started at 9:30 until I checked at about 8:50 and had to scramble to get to the line. I’m not sure on the exact number of racers, but seemed like a pretty big field. I’ll guess it was about 65-70. It was very dicey going with lots surges and hard braking. The pace wasn’t particularly fast, so it was hard to move anywhere. It stretched out a bit a few times and I tried to move up, but just as I would start moving up it would slow down and bunch up and I’d have to hit the brakes to avoid hitting the pile in front of me. After a few tries, and my glasses getting increasingly foggy, I adjusted my goal to finish the race and avoid any crashes. I just rode the back of the pack for a good part of the race. One the 3nd lap there was a crash, which I was able to avoid and it provided an opportunity to move up in the pack. Shortly there after, I moved near the front. There were two teams with two guys near the front and I started marking a pair of guys, okay I admit I was following two guys from wines. One of them seemed to be doing some work at the front while the other guy just sat in, so I figured they might be trying to set him up. My plan was to sit on his wheel until they made the move. (I turned out to be wrong as the guy I was following faded at the end). I was in about 8th position going into the last sharp right turn before heading towards the finishing stretch. The smart thing to do would have been to move to the front at the corner. I was on the inside and there was a clear path, but after concentrating on just staying out of trouble for the whole race, it didn’t register in my brain what was coming up after the corner. I hesitated and some other riders moved up. It got strung out after the corner, but then bunched back up before the descent. I was boxed in, so it was too late to get into position for the final sprint. I knew it was going to get clogged up on the hill and decided not to charge into the mess with little chance of finishing in the top 10, so I held my position behind the guy in front of me and finished in the middle of the pack. All in all a frustrating day.
I’ll throw in a few details for anyone who is interested. I started at the very back of the pack because I was thinking the race started at 9:30 until I checked at about 8:50 and had to scramble to get to the line. I’m not sure on the exact number of racers, but seemed like a pretty big field. I’ll guess it was about 65-70. It was very dicey going with lots surges and hard braking. The pace wasn’t particularly fast, so it was hard to move anywhere. It stretched out a bit a few times and I tried to move up, but just as I would start moving up it would slow down and bunch up and I’d have to hit the brakes to avoid hitting the pile in front of me. After a few tries, and my glasses getting increasingly foggy, I adjusted my goal to finish the race and avoid any crashes. I just rode the back of the pack for a good part of the race. One the 3nd lap there was a crash, which I was able to avoid and it provided an opportunity to move up in the pack. Shortly there after, I moved near the front. There were two teams with two guys near the front and I started marking a pair of guys, okay I admit I was following two guys from wines. One of them seemed to be doing some work at the front while the other guy just sat in, so I figured they might be trying to set him up. My plan was to sit on his wheel until they made the move. (I turned out to be wrong as the guy I was following faded at the end). I was in about 8th position going into the last sharp right turn before heading towards the finishing stretch. The smart thing to do would have been to move to the front at the corner. I was on the inside and there was a clear path, but after concentrating on just staying out of trouble for the whole race, it didn’t register in my brain what was coming up after the corner. I hesitated and some other riders moved up. It got strung out after the corner, but then bunched back up before the descent. I was boxed in, so it was too late to get into position for the final sprint. I knew it was going to get clogged up on the hill and decided not to charge into the mess with little chance of finishing in the top 10, so I held my position behind the guy in front of me and finished in the middle of the pack. All in all a frustrating day.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Glenwood State RR Cat 3 2009 Race Report
I'll keep this a bit more brief than the last report partly because I'll be eating a smaller breakfast today. And again, this will just be what I remember ...I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot.
Well, it was some shit weather! But at least it wasn't cold. There were 81 starters in the 3's for the 70 miles. Apex had me, Lyle, Ben, Alex, Bernie and John B.
It was just dumping as we rolled out. My glasses immediately fogged up so I just took them off. And as a result, I'm still rubbing sand and grit out on my eyes this morning.
Most of us Apexers rolled out about mid pack and as a result didn't make the first big break of the day. It looked to be a group of about 10-12 with every major team represented, except us. They got a pretty decent gap before Lyle and I were able to work our way to the front. We started working to pull it back but weren't getting much help from anyone else. Lyle too his customary 1 mile pull and then I'd do a little work. Eventually a strong guy from UW came and helped. A Second Ascent guy tried to bridge up and helped fire up a bit more chasing. Eventually the break came back. It was early to be chasing breaks but it seemed entirely plausible that that particular group could have gotten several minutes on us and the race would have been over.
Sometime early in the 2nd lap Alex came to the front and launched a wicked counter attack. After that, he pretty much marked or closed down everything that tried to get away without us. He did a great job of managing the front of the field while Lyle and I took a break. I'd move up every so often and do a little work after Alex had chased something down but he did a great job by himself up there. By the 3rd lap I had yet to see Ben at all, so I thought perhaps he'd had a mechanical and wasn't even in the race anymore. But soon he popped up near the front and started attacking. He got away several times with pretty good combinations of riders but nothing stuck because he's a marked rider. So if he would get out there with a 2 or 3 other guys then people would start trying to bridge up. That would slowly create a string of riders that would bring the whole pack up. More than once this Hagens guy would chase down a break with his own teammate in it. It happened at least twice, maybe three times. I wouldn't have minded but it helped bring back a break with Ben in it. I can't recall the chronology exactly but Ben instigated at least 3 breaks in the last couple of laps. They were all well timed but for various reasons didn't stay away.
Anyhow, nothing was really sticking. With about a lap to go Recycled sent a guy off the front and he got a huge gap and seemed to be holding it. They had guys on the front setting a false tempo and nobody was chasing. So I went up and worked as long as I could to bring him back. Once the gap had shrunk enough, people started helping a bit and he was brought back.
Things seemed to stay together until the last time up the steep hill about 4-5 miles before the finish and then Recycled guy and a Starbucks guy got off the front. They got a gap pretty quickly while people recovered from the hill. And nobody chased! They just let it slip away. And I say 'they' because neither Lyle or I could get to the front. People were just dawdling and the road was jammed. Finally after a few miles we got to the front. I tried to encourage other teams to chase but everyone was just looking at each other. Lyle and I took a couple of turns but there was no way to pull it back without just perfectly setting up everyone else. In any case, Lyle and I were in front for about the last 1.5k. And Lyle basically pulled the for the last 1k while I sat behind him trying to wave other people through. I thought perhaps a last minute surge could bring the break back in the sprint. But nobody came around and Lyle was just stuck there. I decided to sprint for third so I dropped back a couple of wheels and was immediately boxed in while guys literally turned their heads and looked at each other... waiting for someone to go. I guess I shouldn't have let anyone past me and gone at 250 meters. But we probably lost about 5-10 mph at the bottom of the hill. I was way overgeared by the middle of the hill and could just barely turn over the pedals. I felt great but a couple of guys who chose the correct gear slipped by me in the last 20 meters. Alas! I ended up 9th, Lyle 18th and Alex 24th. Ben rolled in with the group having done a ton of work in breaks. Bernie and John lasted as long as they could in the race but are still honing their form.
As a side note, I think they need to open up both sides of the road at about 400meters. It's ridiculous to have only one lane open going into a downhill sweeping turn before the finishing climb. It totally clogs and slows the finish while also making it more dangerous.
It was unfortunate (for us anyway) that none of the other teams wanted to work to bring back the break when it really counted. But I have to say that Recycled rode a great race and deserved the win. They must have learned something after their experience at Vance Creek last week. All in all I think we rode a really good race considering we only had four of us out there for the whole race. We could have used a guy like Greg there at the end but I'm satisfied that we raced well, in spite of not-so-great results. Everyone did their work and contributed in useful ways. Personally, I had a great time racing yesterday. The race was interesting, frustrating, active, tactical and kinda hard at times... just like racing is supposed to be.
-Scott
Well, it was some shit weather! But at least it wasn't cold. There were 81 starters in the 3's for the 70 miles. Apex had me, Lyle, Ben, Alex, Bernie and John B.
It was just dumping as we rolled out. My glasses immediately fogged up so I just took them off. And as a result, I'm still rubbing sand and grit out on my eyes this morning.
Most of us Apexers rolled out about mid pack and as a result didn't make the first big break of the day. It looked to be a group of about 10-12 with every major team represented, except us. They got a pretty decent gap before Lyle and I were able to work our way to the front. We started working to pull it back but weren't getting much help from anyone else. Lyle too his customary 1 mile pull and then I'd do a little work. Eventually a strong guy from UW came and helped. A Second Ascent guy tried to bridge up and helped fire up a bit more chasing. Eventually the break came back. It was early to be chasing breaks but it seemed entirely plausible that that particular group could have gotten several minutes on us and the race would have been over.
Sometime early in the 2nd lap Alex came to the front and launched a wicked counter attack. After that, he pretty much marked or closed down everything that tried to get away without us. He did a great job of managing the front of the field while Lyle and I took a break. I'd move up every so often and do a little work after Alex had chased something down but he did a great job by himself up there. By the 3rd lap I had yet to see Ben at all, so I thought perhaps he'd had a mechanical and wasn't even in the race anymore. But soon he popped up near the front and started attacking. He got away several times with pretty good combinations of riders but nothing stuck because he's a marked rider. So if he would get out there with a 2 or 3 other guys then people would start trying to bridge up. That would slowly create a string of riders that would bring the whole pack up. More than once this Hagens guy would chase down a break with his own teammate in it. It happened at least twice, maybe three times. I wouldn't have minded but it helped bring back a break with Ben in it. I can't recall the chronology exactly but Ben instigated at least 3 breaks in the last couple of laps. They were all well timed but for various reasons didn't stay away.
Anyhow, nothing was really sticking. With about a lap to go Recycled sent a guy off the front and he got a huge gap and seemed to be holding it. They had guys on the front setting a false tempo and nobody was chasing. So I went up and worked as long as I could to bring him back. Once the gap had shrunk enough, people started helping a bit and he was brought back.
Things seemed to stay together until the last time up the steep hill about 4-5 miles before the finish and then Recycled guy and a Starbucks guy got off the front. They got a gap pretty quickly while people recovered from the hill. And nobody chased! They just let it slip away. And I say 'they' because neither Lyle or I could get to the front. People were just dawdling and the road was jammed. Finally after a few miles we got to the front. I tried to encourage other teams to chase but everyone was just looking at each other. Lyle and I took a couple of turns but there was no way to pull it back without just perfectly setting up everyone else. In any case, Lyle and I were in front for about the last 1.5k. And Lyle basically pulled the for the last 1k while I sat behind him trying to wave other people through. I thought perhaps a last minute surge could bring the break back in the sprint. But nobody came around and Lyle was just stuck there. I decided to sprint for third so I dropped back a couple of wheels and was immediately boxed in while guys literally turned their heads and looked at each other... waiting for someone to go. I guess I shouldn't have let anyone past me and gone at 250 meters. But we probably lost about 5-10 mph at the bottom of the hill. I was way overgeared by the middle of the hill and could just barely turn over the pedals. I felt great but a couple of guys who chose the correct gear slipped by me in the last 20 meters. Alas! I ended up 9th, Lyle 18th and Alex 24th. Ben rolled in with the group having done a ton of work in breaks. Bernie and John lasted as long as they could in the race but are still honing their form.
As a side note, I think they need to open up both sides of the road at about 400meters. It's ridiculous to have only one lane open going into a downhill sweeping turn before the finishing climb. It totally clogs and slows the finish while also making it more dangerous.
It was unfortunate (for us anyway) that none of the other teams wanted to work to bring back the break when it really counted. But I have to say that Recycled rode a great race and deserved the win. They must have learned something after their experience at Vance Creek last week. All in all I think we rode a really good race considering we only had four of us out there for the whole race. We could have used a guy like Greg there at the end but I'm satisfied that we raced well, in spite of not-so-great results. Everyone did their work and contributed in useful ways. Personally, I had a great time racing yesterday. The race was interesting, frustrating, active, tactical and kinda hard at times... just like racing is supposed to be.
-Scott
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)