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What Mike Z. saw:
Category: 4/5+
Result: Mid-pack
The 4s race started off more sanely this week and it allowed my legs to
warm up a little in the coolness of the morning. I wanted to use this race
to feel more comfortable at the front of the race, be involved in some
breaks off the front, and get a really good workout. All was accomplished.
I spent most of the race up front or out front and rode very hard for most
of the race. I still had a little left at the end and was going to try to
lead Ziggy out for a sprint, but we were too far back going into corner 2
and therefore got caught behind a flat tire induced crash. I tried to
catch the leaders, but they were already too far ahead. I think Ziggy was
held up by the crash a lot more than me.
After the race, Ziggy and I went over to Nike Hill and did repeats. I had
to leave partway through Scott's race, but he was near the front the last I
saw.
For the second week in a row, I am going to complain about the mentors
towing riders from the pack to the breaks. I didn't witness it this time
since I was one of the two riders in the break, but that guy Dave who came
and practiced with us on the first Speed Freak workout said he was up front
trying to block for his teammate who was with me on the break and one of
the Postal Mentors came strong up the outside and pulled several riders
right to us. I understand that these are practice and the mentors are out
there to help, but they need to stop influencing things that are happening
in the race. It is becoming annoying.
Garry, can you send an email as the Race Team rep about this to Larry Nolan
or whoever is running the mentoring thing. Maybe they have a good reason,
and if they do, they need to communicate it to us. I'm not the only one
out there noticing these things.
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What Jeff saw:
Category: 4/5+
Result: Did not finish
Summary: Didn't even finish 1 lap!
Long version: I had a 1cm gash in my tire. I was near the finish line
when it blew so I cleared it with the officials and waddled back to the
car. I changed out the tube, figured that the bead was not seated
correctly and inflated. BLAM! By this point, it was hopeless to get back
in the race. I fed my girlfriend a Pria bar and used the wrapper to boot
the tire. I rolled over to the clinic session. As we rode a double
paceline exercise, my luck was about to run short again. "BLAM!"
exclaimed the tire. The skinny is, don't use a wrapper bar as a boot.
A $100 bill probably works better.
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What Tim saw:
Category: 1/2/3
Result: Back of pack
That is sooo lame! What are the mentors thinking? Speaking of lame, in the
1,2,3 race I saw at least three guys re-enter the course from the back side.
I assume they were dropped and were sneaking back in.
Was the wind as bad in the 4/5 race as the 1/2/3 race? We had a fairly
strong side wind, so on the main straights it was generally one or two guys
wide. You were either in the gutter or the wind or sometimes both! A lot
of people got dropped because they were only getting half a draft when it
went to single file. As far as my race went I was sleeping at the back when
a bunch of guys in front of me gave up with 4 laps to go. Bob Parker and I
tried to get back on, but we couldn't make it, so he and I and another guy
did the last four laps by ourselves. As bad as we did, a bunch more didn't
finish. It seemed like when it hit the one hour mark a lot of people got
real tired and bagged it. Oh well, at least our Bob finished in what was
left of the pack. Garry put in a valiant effort to get back on and then
bagged it and then was shocked to find there was only 4 to go. Oh well
there's always next week!
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What Garry saw:
Category: 1/2/3
Result: Did not finish
Hard, hard race in the 1/2/3's. I would say it was easily another 15-20%
tougher than last week (or was it just me), and I was in "discomfort" from
the very first lap. Once again a break went really early, Lar Nolan, Dave
Fuentes and 2 others. The peloton continually surged and snapped as two
other chase groups of 3 riders pinged off the front to chase the lead 4.
Fuentes was unsociable and attacked the break and lapped the field, no mean
feet on a course and day like that. I hit the front in the last 1/3 of the
front, doing several turns.
On the back straight we were all in line astern
in the left hand gutter, swinging into the wind in T3 was tough, I really
hunkered down there and then it was line astern down the right side gutter
on the home straight. Between T1 and T2 it was 35-40 mph with a tailwind.
Therefore no rest anywhere, which accounted for less than 1/2 the field
finishing. As Tim said, dropped riders were cutting thru the course to jump
back in, but they soon become so much more meat for the grinder.
With about 6 to go I was in the lead split of the peloton but having just
done a turn was in some distress, so when I tried to get back on I was
immediately on the front of the rear split and in front of Bob, so I did
another hard pull to close the gap and that was it for me, the legs said no
more thank you very much. Tim was trailed off, Bob stayed with the remains
of the pack and sprinted in for 4 place, maybe 15-16th overall.
Also out yesterday was Gaelan, Mike Z, Brian Z, Scott, Jeff and I also saw
Pritpal, although he was not racing. My apologies for anyone not mentioned.
Tim Mundorff was out to provide logistical support to #1 son and team, and
Bobs S.O. Linda, Scott's wife Bonnie and my daughter Tamra was also there
shouting encouragement.
Scott was riding a good race again and got 4th in his novice 5 race. Mike Z
and Brian Z were caught behind a Cat 4 crash (Ziggy was on his commute bike,
complete with rack. Way to go Ziggy, you must have really freaked 'em out).
Gaelan rode hard, and was in the group for half his race before he had to
slow down and rejoin some easier groups, Gaelan finished hard with a good
sprint.
All in all, another good day out for the team. Keep up the good work guys.
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What Iwan saw:
Category: 4/5+
Result: Back of pack
It was also windy for the 4/5 race but not too bad. I wanted to follow last
week's strategy of just sitting in and conserving energy untill the end.
Unfortunately, Larry saw me looking too comfy in the pack and mentioned how
I really should be up front blocking because I had a teammate up the road
(Mike Z.) So I went up to block just for the heck of it, but of course, the
break was soon re-absorbed. Really, it's good training to do some team
tactics, but how many early bird 4/5 races actually end up in a successfull
break. Especially with the USPS chasing down the breaks as Ziggy mentioned.
The mentors should review their "Prime Directive" i.e. observe, give advice,
but don't interfere with the race.
Anyway, I too was caught behind the last lap crash and spent too much energy
sprinting to catch up to have anything left at the end. A group of ten or so
was lucky and took off when they heard the crash behind them and stayed
ahead till the end.
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