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What Jeff saw:
Category: 4/5
Result: Crash!
I crashed near the end on the 2nd corner where the pack compresses
before going through the right turn. It felt like someone had run into
me. I recall grabbing someone around their waist or back. I think I
should have kept the hands on the bars instead of panicking. According
to one witness, just as I hit a bots dot, the other guy moved into my
front wheel and so it was turned sideways. Bad luck? I guess so.
Luckily, nothing was broken and there was almost no clothing damage.
The rear wheel is bent as is the derailleur hanger but that should be
fixed in no short time, provided that I can find a replacement or make
do without one.
I just hope this doesn't happen again.
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What Biker Bob saw:
Category: 3
Result: 1st
Boy it felt good. The best part was having everyone there to witness it. My
Team, my girl "Soigneur" and my best friend. I apparently need to start
doing hard rides the day before races, yesterdays Spectrum ride was a
scorcher. Anyway, I felt good but did not know I was feeling that good.
The race was rather uneventful, with only a few failed breaks, and two primes.
As always I played at the front with Ziggy and Garry for a while and then
rested near the back till the end. At least only as far back as Garry would
allow me to go! With two to go I was near the front and working to maintain
position. It was a long sprint and I didn't want to be all the way at the
front. It was quite fast through the last two corners and I was further back
than planned maybe 8th ot 10th. I was sure I was too far back but when we
came around the last corner everyone spread out and started dying. I saw some Lombardi rider squeezing thru the cracks and followed him. We flew by
everyone but he had a bike length on me. I thought he had it but then he
started to fade and I barely got him at the line. I'm not sure but no more
than half a wheels length. If anyone knows someone who got a picture of the
finish let me know.
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What Scott saw:
Category: 4/5
Result: Back of pack
Next year, and in any race in the summer where they are combining the Sr
4/5's, I will prereg. I was 6th on a waiting list for the full 80 rider
field, and was the last one picked to make the race.
The Sr 4/5 race was a bit scary. Every lap there was at least one corner
during which someone yelled, "Hey, watch your line" to someone. Guys were
cutting each other off, sweeping in on the inside just before a turn,
sweeping wide just before a turn (cutting off riders coming up along side
the outside). Scary. When I saw Jeff down I was very afraid that he was
going to get nailed by a rider from behind, since it seemed like he was
sitting up with about half the pack still behind him coming up. Probably
best to just sit and wait at that point like Jeff did, since moving would
probably bring more riders down.
That new guy (Matt I think it is) did a great job staying in the front. I
don't think I saw him south of 15th in the pack the whole time.
With 5 to go I moved up to the front, mostly because Richard was yelling at
me, "Scott, move up!" In one lap I moved from about 2/3 of the way back, up
to 10th-ish. Coming around the last corner of lap 2-to-go, I had some good
momentum, no one was watching, and I felt like I was in a prime position to
attack (just like it feels on the track). I convinced myself that I had it
in me to go full bore the rest of the way and went for the break away. I
felt great! I blew past the guys on the front (they were at least as
shocked as I was that I was going for it), tucked-in, and cranked it past
the roaring crowds cheering me on.
Gary said after the race that at this
point the AV guys really stepped it up in pursuit, stringing out the pack
like Carl mentioned. I figured if I went for it and didn't make it, at
least I wasn't giving a lead-out on my way off, and I would break-up any
team lead-outs other guys my be putting together... giving FFBC a better
chance since we didn't have one planned. Two turns later I was calling for
"Mommy." On fire and fully seized, my legs threw in the towel and wouldn't
let me past 20mph. The pack went by, and I brought it in.
One thing that
would have been smarter for me to do, from a safety stand-point, would be to
have moved to the outside of the course once I realized I was going to get
passed. I was on the inside, where people had been making full-speed
attacks throughout the race to get up to the front of the pack. I raised my
hand so guys in their last-lap-fog would see that there was a good speed
difference between myself and the pack, hopefully safely avoiding me. I'll
be sure to steer clear next time.
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What Carl saw:
Category: M35+ 4/5 and Snr. 4/5
Result: 3rd in both!
The MVV Crit was a first for me being that I had decided about a week ago to do 2 races, the scheduling of the +35 4/5 and the Senior 4/5 events seemed pretty good on terms of time for recovery and not spending the whole day at the races.
The first race for me was the +35 4/5 we had a decent size field (47) with quite a few teams in the race and only myself from FFBC. The race was pretty fast and there were a few attempt breaks that got reeled in after a couple of laps mostly due to the head wind on the start/finish straight. On the last lap a rider went off by himself and had a pretty good lead when the another couple of guys took off and I jumped on and we sprinted after him on the finish straight and just as we got near he started to fade and we came in 1-2-3 and the "lone" rider got I believe 4th. I placed 3rd.
The second race was the Senior 4/5 race. This race had a full field (80) riders with a waiting list (pre-register for those local races is key). Being a full field and a 4/5 race I was determined to stay near the front as to not get caught in the mid/back of pack "fun". My thinking going into the race was maybe to go for the primes since I was unsure how I would feel being this was my second race. From the start I noticed that this race was going to be a lot faster that my earlier race and to have a chance at the end I would need to sit in quite a bit.
At the first prime I got myself into good position and began sprinting but just did not feel as if I had the speed to make it happen and let off and decided to see what I could do at the end of the race. This was about the time when between turns 1 and 2 I heard this horrific sound of a bike scraping along the ground and it seemed to go on forever, then I heard someone say it was a blue and red jersey which was turned out to be Jeff (glad to see you came out OK). With about 5 togo I found my self about mid pack and knew I needed to get into better position for the sprint and worked myself up into the top 10/15 when with to togo Scott took off on a solo break and unfortunately I was not able to get to the front of the pack to block, his break did make the pack speed up and thin out abit on the last lap. I was in about 10 place going into the last corner when most of the riders went wide and there was a opening towards the inside which I took and started going to the finish but not a full tilt then saw some more openings and people fading and cranked it up and took 3rd.
It was fun doing 2 races especially with getting 2 good placings. FFBC Racing is doing a great job, we are being noticed.
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What Iwan saw:
Category: 4/5
Result: Off the back
I pre-reg'd for both masters 4/5 and Sr4/5 but decided to do just the Sr4.
From Carl's description, maybe I should've done it the other way. I think I
did everything right. Got there early, warmed up next to Jeff on the rollers
and started front and center at the line. Got off to a good start and rode
near the front for the first few laps. I thought, this isn't too bad and was
thinking thoughts of glory... Then I started feeling a bit of heaviness in
the legs... uh oh, not good. A few laps later this turned into an annoying
burning sensation accompanied by a decline in my ability to accelerate. I
could feel the lactic acid slowly filling up in my legs and not clearing. I
drifted backwards pretty quickly and after a while, there was no one else
behind me.
Now I was really in trouble. Anyway, it was pretty painfull
trying to hang on at the back. I started thinking I should quit but each
time the pack would slow down a bit and let me back on before going into
warp drive again. Finally I started looking for manhole covers, potholes...
anything to get a flat so I could end the pain. No such luck, the tire gods
were looking after me (or scorning me in their own way). What finally did me
in was Jeff's bicycle lying in the middle of the corner with five to go.
Everyone slowed then went ape after that crash and I popped off the back.
Tried to ride hard the last few laps but got lapped before the finish.
Afterwards my legs were still stewing in pain. I think it's a definite sign
that more training is called for.
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