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What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: Back of pack
This was a hard race, especially after the track last night. I wasn't
sure how the legs would be, but they were surprisingly OK on the trainer.
The senior 4 race was a "Dash for Cash," with $10 on the line each time
round. I decided that I would try to get at least one prime, but I
didn't have a great position at the start, so it took a while to work my
way up towards the front.
Approaching the middle of the race, there was a slowing between turns 3
and 4 which was enough to invite me to have a go. I got a good gap
around turn 4, complete with a rear wheel jump on the exit. I then
discovered exactly how long the home straight was.... very long. An Alto
Velo rider came across to me, but I was aware of him and as he came
round me, I gave my final kick. I had no idea how close the line was - I
just put my head down and attempted to kick for all I was worth. It was
close, and I had no idea who got the sprint until the announcer said my
number on the PA. Hurrah, and thank goodness, as that was hard!
A couple of riders came past, trying to get us to ride with them as we
were off the front, but the Alto Velo guy and I were knackered and quite
happy to wait for the bunch to swallow us again. I drifted through the
bunch attempting to recover. At one point, Darryl Smith of ICCC said
hello and offered to give me a leadout - I said "Thanks, but no," given
the state of my legs.
A couple of laps later, Darryl went off the front with Brian Jensen in
tow. I moved right up to the front to block and they stayed away for
Brian to win his prime. At this point, I was fairly well recovered from
my effort, so was trying to stay near the front and was reasonably
successful.
With 2 laps to go, I was well positioned when I had an altercation with
a rider who objected to my line exiting turn 2. I was on the inside,
just following the rider in front - his problem was that he was squeezed
between two riders and didn't enjoy it. Some harsh words were exchanged
and for a couple of seconds, he grabbed my jersey, pushing me out into
the wind. This destroyed my position and I didn't have the legs to get
back up and rode in near the back.
The rider and I reconvened our argument on the wind-down lap and settled
our differences. Turns out that we ride together quite often on the
Tuesday/Thursday lunchtime rides, but haven't really spoken to each
other before. We certainly broke the ice today.
Still, a fun race, I stayed upright and I came away with $10 and a water bottle for my efforts.
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What Ziggy saw:
Category: 3
Result: 2nd
This crit was my debut as a cat 3 racer. To help ease my nerves, former teammate Santiago thought he should inform me that cat 3 racers were pretty mean guys and to watch out. After Santi's little pep-talk I went to test my new warm-up technique, which seems to work pretty well. After about 40 minutes of warm-up I went for a slash and watched the end of the 5's race.
Our race was to be a 20 lap dash for cash with each lap awarding $10 to the first across the line. My plan was to not contest these at all and save the legs for the finishing effort.
The race started off fast and stayed that way for its entirety. I managed to place myself in the first dozen wheels for the first lap. Because this race awarded a prime on every lap, it was necessary to change tactics a bit in terms of chasing breaks. In the beginning, I found myself chasing almost every move and quickly found myself in difficulty. At this point I backed off and let others do the chasing.
After this, I only participated in bridging two gaps, one of which turned into a half lap break. Bob came across to me and helped me get back up to speed before the pack swarmed us. I started to set myself up with about five to go and was joined by Garry for a little while. With three to go, I was set up behind a trio of Santa Cruz guys that seemed content to blow themselves to pieces to keep the pace up at the front. When they looked to be slowing, I moved from their train in search of the one that was sure to be coming up, and I wasn't wrong.
About 5 riders came up on both sides and I tailed onto the group on the left. This took us past two to go and from then on, it was just a matter of fighting to keep position. With one to go, I saw Daniel Holloway pass by with a couple riders in tow so I jumped on figuring he probably wasn't a bad wheel to follow. Well, Daniel is a very risky rider. Perhaps this comes from track, but several times throughout the race He squeezed himself through impossible gaps between a rider and the curb. When I took his wheel, to avoid running into a trio of riders that were going considerably slower than us, he found such a gap and took it just before it closed off. This almost caused a nice stack up as the rest of us didn't see the slow moving rider and had to make quick movements to avoid running into him.
This slowed us down, but I was able to recover and pick my way back to the front of the pack. This left us with one turn to go and just as I was coming up to the turn, I could hear a rider on my outside behind me, so I took the turn a bit wide to make sure I had one less guy to sprint against. Because I couldn't get into the front pack, I was left with only one rider in front of me for the finishing sprint. He wasn't going fast enough, so I left his wheel right away and started the long drag into the finish. I was maybe eight riders back at this point. As I sprinted, I noticed that all the fast guys were sort of boxing themselves in on the right of the road and were going nowhere fast. The rider that I came around died about halfway through the sprint and I was still gaining on the first few guys. As I crossed the finish line, I was truly shocked as not only had I gotten past the favourites, I was also only half a bike length behind the rider who won the race, meaning I took second by an equal margin to the rider in third.
This was a painfully fast race. I don't really know what the average speed was because I was racing on 23's and my computer was set for a 25c wheel and read 26.3 mph avg, with a 37.2 max. Because the race gave $200 in cash, the prize for second was 100% merchandise. I got another jug of Hammer Gel and another Voler leg/arm warmer certificate. These guys made a killig today because all of the money for the dash-for-cash was donated by Promethius Tech. This left the orgainisers not having to dip into their registration fees to make prize money. Smart.
So what did I think about my first 3's race? It hurt. After reading Richards report, I'd say that the 4's are a meaner bunch of guys. I did notice that my favorite A-Hole from Lyon Homes was racing in the 4's. The jersey grab is one of his signiature moves, so perhaps it was he who pulled Richard's jersey. Anyhow, the main difference between 4's and 3's is the number of attacks and the number of riders capable of executing them. Also, bike handling is a bit nicer, and the riders aren't shy about where they want to be.
Sorry for the lengthy report, but as you can imagine, I'm a bit excited.
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What Tim saw:
Category: M45+
Result: Top ten
Can't wait to hear from Carl but here's mine... I only got 8th, but that's great for me. Four years a row in the top ten there.
Anway, as we lined up for the race, my hopes for a fourth top ten were dropping quick. Not only were there four Postal Boys, but Chris Black, Mark Caldwell, Bob Parker, Robert Jimenez, Tyler etc. Eek there were at least ten than I knew that were in the field, that could beat me with one leg. That plus my dismal track performance had my confidence sagging. First lap was not the normal 45+ geritol start, instead Larry took off pretty hard. By the end of the lap he slowed down, but then others attacked. Using my brain to make up for my lack of legs, I moved up when it slowed, held my position when they attacked, and kept a wary eye for the potiential break on the completion of prime laps.
At the start I was just average, but as the race wore on people got tired and I felt better. At about 3/4 the way through the race, two guys started bumping shoulder to shoulder pushing off right in front of me. I don't think they were fighting I just think the were trying to stay up straight, well after one pushed the other returned it then the first guy pushed back only the second guy had pulled away. So the first guy had nothing to push off against and down he went right in front of me! The guy next to me pegged his bike and went flying! Larry was right next to me, so he almost got caught up too.
With three to go Bob Parker went for a solo. This was serious as four years ago he made it, but then again this year he didn't have the temmates to block for him. Anyway with a little more than two to go I moved up well only to have the leader snake off to the left and a new guy split to the right and I was trapped. I went from like 10th to 25 with two to go! It slowed a bit just before the start of the last lap, every time I saw a hole I moved up until the on the finishing straight with one to go I was even with Mark Caldwell (Cat 1 sprinter) on the inside.
Then the Postal boys did what our Cat team could not do at our race. They wound it up and held it there for the last lap. Fortunately I jumped in the fray and I was in the top ten while it was strung out. Only one guy (Tyler from lunch) actually got by and it took a huge effort. We caught Bob Parker on the last turn and then hit the afterburners. I didn't catch anybody on the sprint, we just held our positions despite a strong effort on my part. I actually backed off early as I misread the finish line, but I still got eight. I was elated, as I didn't think I had a prayer. Larry won. I told him afterwards that it was cool to see his team work so well and that it helped me as well, as I much prefer a strung out finish rather than a 15 across sprint.
At first I was too tired to think about doing the Cat 3 race, but just before it started I thought I should have, but then again, I probably just would've got in Ziggy's way. So I watched the Cat 3 race for awhile and went home and took a nap. I spent the rest of the day working on my motorcycles.
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What Mark saw:
Category: M35+ 4/5
Result: Crash - ouch!
Carl rode a superb race in the 35+ 4/5. Tactically
spot on.
I managed to get in one break of only 3 riders but one
rider wouldnt work so we were doomed. The wind was
also pretty nasty in a small break. Did my best to
stay up near the front for the rest of the race.
I had a good hard race until the final lap when I was
perhaps 2-3 riders behind Carl coming into turn 2 and
there was an almighty pile up in front of me. I almost
managed to stop in time but got rear ended rather
heavily and ended up on top of the pile of riders
(soft landing). Scratched bike, bent back wheel,
minor abrasions, some sore joints and muscles and
bruised morale was the damage :-(
I think we rode well as a team but even without us
Carl was the strongest man in the field.
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What Carl saw:
Category: M35+ 4/5
Result: 1st
Saturday began with me wondering if I should really head out to Pleasanton for the WOT race because I was going to have limited time due to my daughters dance recital and the father/daughter dance I was doing with her. The dance practice got over a little early so I said what the heck and made my way to the race. I got to the race registered and did a limited warm-up and was not feeling very good as I went to the line.
The +35 4/5 race was not a dash for cash race but they announced that there were going to be a few primes. The race group stayed together for most of the race because any attempted attacks seemed to get knocked down when they went into the two head wind sections. With about 6 togo two riders went off the front and contested for a couple of back to back primes and they may have been able to stay away if it had not been for those primes.
With about 3 to go the group was all together and appeared that it was setting up for a final lap field sprint. Then on the last lap a rider jumped off the front after turn 1 (he had tried this early in the race also) and had a decent lead halfway between turn 2 and 3 and I thought that if no one reacted he just might have a chance to go all the way, so I attacked so as to at least bridge to him and maybe we could work together and make something happen.
I caught the rider at about halfway through the tough head wind section between turns 3 and 4 and as I caught up he began to fade so I just kept pushing. Upon going thru the 4 th turn I quickly looked back and did not see the field on me so I said I'll give it all I have and saw Garry on the side of the rode yelling at me to GO GO so I got out of the saddle and gave it my all on the long straight to the finish. I crossed the line with no one around me and WON my first race!
Since our race was not a dash for cash they had decided to give away some better prizes and I received a set of Ultegra Brake lever/ shifters. I had to then scoot home and get ready for my daughters recital that was starting at 5:00. It was a hectic but good day for myself and also congratulations to the other FFBC racers who either placed well or made some noise winning some Dash for Cash.
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