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What Ziggy saw:
Category: 4
Result: 2nd
The race started out with Mark K. assuming the role of Jacky Durand for the day, taking off right from the gun and towing one rider with him. I was slightly off the front and sat up to see about getting back into the group, but they were going so slow that it took a little bit for them to catch up to me. Mark was caught before the next time around and then the racing was on.
I added a bit to my strategy by planning to not pursue any of the primes so as to save the legs for the end. I didn't do too much chasing of attacks today, rather I chased accelerations just to keep myself in the top 10% for most of the race. This was the first race in a while I've had so many teammates around to help out with the chasing. It was great having a familiar wheel to follow throughout the crit. Richard had a little dig at one point and I tried to block for him, but the back side was so fast that riders found it easy to come to speed and at a certain point, holding off the swarm wasn't an option.
Every attack was brought back, and some were even counter-attacked. Coming into five laps to go, I got myself into a bad spot by trying to slip back a few wheels when the pack was swarming on the back side. This made me a bit nervous, but thankfully Mark came up just in time and I asked him to take me to the front, which he did with so much finesse. A few of the guys were able to make it back up to the front with me at three to go and really turned on the gas.
A few other racers got mixed in with us and this helped to extend the amount of time we were able to drive the pace. I believe it was Scott and Carl that had the final gut wrenching digs that ended just before corner three. At this point, there was one rider in front of me, so I swung a little wide to allow a couple more in so I wouldn't be left leading out the sprint. This arrangement stayed into the final corner. The first guy into the corner didn't like the finish on his pedals, so he chose to sand them down a bit and made the two guys in front of me a little squirrely. I'm not entirely sure what happened next, but I got stuck behind two guys that couldn't decide what to do as the winner sprinted away. I swung around to the left of these guys, and sprinted up the gutter to try to catch the guy in front, but at a certain point, our top end speeds were equal and he stayed away by about a bike length. So second on the day was the end result.
A few riders noticed our teamwork in general as well as our train forming and tried to take advantage. One guy from Alto Velo had mentioned that he let a couple of our guys through so they could line up. I think with maybe two more guys at the front, our train would have been a huge success. Awesome job regardless of the outcome!
One note: I'm sure this has been discussed already, but the situation with the lap cards was a little confusing. Casey indicated that he would show lap cards at five to go and if I remember correctly, the cards read five to go for the entire race. It was never mentioned that the timer would at some point switch from race time to number of laps left. I know Brian J. and a few others got caught of guard with one to go and the cards still reading five.
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What Tim saw:
Category: M45+ & Snr. 3
Result: Top ten
My version. After looking at the roster, I figured I would play it very safe. Although I figured Larry would show, I was shocked to see the caliber of the riders and the distances some of them traveled to get to our race! Just for the record it included: Larry Nolan, Chris Black, Mark Caldwell, Bob Parker, John Elgart, Rick Adams, Robert Jimenz, Harvey Nitz, Captain Hook. All of which I believe are at least Cat 2's, some I know are 1's! Anyway, I felt guilty watching Brad chasing down breaks, but I didn't think I could do that and get a decent sprint AND do the Cat 3 race. So any time there was a surge I always tried to make sure some it front of me supplied the jump. It worked pretty well. Although there were some major jumps no one got away so it ended up being a bit of a free for all with in the fourth corner. AV worked together to launch Rick Adams and he beat Larry out. I was a bit behind, but I got by a few to get 9th! Good enough for me, considering the level of the competition.
In the 3's I figure I had nothing to lose. Having not double dipped in ages, I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but after a few laps I felt pretty good. It was very twilight-ish, fairly big field and wide street so you could move up huge amounts. It was great to actually have three teammates. Sometime after half way I moved up and all four of us were up toward the front. Somebody took off and I did my duty for the team and decided to try and cover it, which I did. I think I was off for at least three laps, feeling real good. I even pulled a few times! I was able to stay toward the front after that, but with about two to go, I got swarmed and I soaked my sweatband so it was leaking in my eye, and I suddenly realized how tired I was, so I backed off. I did see Bob between turns 2 and 3 and positioned myself to give him a draft, but I don't think he needed, althogh it was fun to pretend. I think I got like 25th, right along side Pritpal. Doing two races allowed me a quick way to get 51 miles! Great course. First time I raced since Mather, so it was really a gas. ,p>
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What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: Back of pack
It took quite a lot of will-power to pull myself away from the
registration desk to prepare for the senior 4 race, but I did manage it.
As you all know, we had high hopes of having a huge train leading Ziggy
out to contest the sprint. It didn't turn out quite like that, though we
did have a group of us at the front near the end driving the pace,
enough that our efforts were noticed and commented upon by the other riders.
I didn't have a particularly good race, finding it hard to maintain my
position and having to expend considerable effort to get back up near
the front, generally on the home straight into the wind. I think Ziggy
is confusing me with Mark when he mentions me being off the front - I
don't recall being in a break. Still, I did get myself onto the front as
planned with three laps to go.
However, I wasn't riding as I would have liked and yet again, I wasn't
able to maintain my position. It was good to see from my vantage point
some way back that on the last lap, Ziggy did have some help in the
shape of, I think, Carl and Scott. It was good to ride nonetheless, but
I wasn't particularly happy with my performance.
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What Jeff saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
This crit was my first since Napa crit of this year. At Napa, I had a
lot of anxiety and I lacked the base miles to do anything but fall off
the back. I was somewhat concerned about the same thing happening this
time but after the first few laps, I felt reasonably confident and
comfortable.
I didn't really do much in the race other than maintain my position in
the front and keep track of where teammates were. With 4 to go, I
looked for Alan and tried to get into my place. It was pretty chaotic
when things sped up and it became apparent that we might not be able to
execute our plan. With 1 to go, I was trapped on the inside. I moved
to the inside of the course on someone's wheel when the decided to slow
at the final sprint. I leapt into the wind in a big gear when I
realized that the finishers on the outside had already come through at
30+ MPH and I was only doing 25. Damn.
Anyways, I was glad to finally feel safe in a crit.
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