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What Richard saw:
Category: 4/5
Result: Back of pack
It was a lovely, if a little cool day for the first race of the season.
It was nice bumping into a few old friends and wishing them "Happy New
Year", then getting on my bike and attempting to race for the first time
for a few months.
On lap 2, I found myself in a break (of about 6 guys, I was just
following the wheels near the front), but they were really hammering and
I was having a hard time even sitting in. So, I allowed myself to drift
back to the pack. The break sorted itself out to 3 guys and stayed away
for essentially the whole race, gaining over a minute by the end.
I was towards the front for most of the race, but deliberately drifted
to the back to say hello to a couple of people (including Jeff) in the
latter half of the race. It was hard work back there so the next time
down the back straight, I motored up to the front again.
With 4.5 laps to go, a group of 3 went off the front of the bunch and I
started the reaction to bridge up to them. I took a couple of guys with
me and with a pull from one of them, we caught group of 3. However, the
pack wasn't that far behind us and I don't think I had much in me to
contribute to a break at that point, so rested as much as I could near
the front.
Approaching one to go, I was a little boxed in on the inside, but did
find a gap to get to the outside in preparation for the final lap surge,
but I let myself get a little swamped nonetheless. I thought I had a
good line round the outside of turn 4, but it was too much too soon and
I was spent well before the finish without even attempting to sprint so
rolled in at the back of the field.
Fun, relatively quick (>24.5 mph) and everyone stayed upright, though
people were getting a little ragged towards the end as they tired.
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What Tim saw:
Category: 1/2/3
Result: Mid-pack
First of all good work, Richard and a special kudos to Matt and everybody
else who was out there. Also Matt, if you have a chance, give us a detailed
description of your exploits.
Regarding the 1, 2, 3 race, fortunately for Bob and I it was a bit warmer by
the time the 1, 2,3's started (1:15pm). The field was around 55, so we
managed to keep a very good average (low 26mph) and it wasn't too much work.
However 1 hour and 15 mins seemed like a long time this early in the season.
Bob and I just hung out in the rear for the first half or so. He made a few
good charges up to the front. I made one which preceded a rare but ugly 1,
2, 3 crash. I decided Robin looked pretty board watching me at the rear, so
I decided to move up. With the pack going steadily it was child's play to
pass lots of riders on the downwind side between turns 2 and 3. After we
cleared turn 4 and were heading up the main straight, the only woman in the
field hooked her front wheel in a guys skewer! Down she went right in front
of me. I grabbed the brakes and swerved hard. At one point her head was
right in front of my front wheel, but somehow I missed her. As I was doing
so, I prayed nobody would hit me. Fortunately nobody did. Unfortunately I
had to go from 10 mph to 28 mph on adrenaline filled legs. Ouch! After a
few laps I felt OK again. The race just went on and then finally a three
man break got away. Then on the last few laps it got interesting.
It was sort of like a track cat and mouse with 50 guys. Flowing and surging
all watching each other. I moved up front with a few to go. On the back
straight I saw Brian Hennegan, a strong Cat 2 who told me earlier that his
legs were tired from Mtn biking. Therefore I knew he was going to give
somebody a leadout as he wouldn't be able to sprint. Sure enough there was
Bob Parker and then Joe get on his wheel. I jumped right on as did Biker Bob
unbeknownst to me.
So down the final straight we went all of us from the
lunchtime parking lot crowd and then Brian finally blew, then Bob pulled and
someone yelled "Go" then 10 seconds later "Go" again. Well it turns out it
was Biker Bob on my wheel, the problem was I didn't know it was him. I
would've gladly lead him out, if I'd known it was him. Anyway, he
eventually jumped and either won or almost won the field sprint. I got like
14th, as I didn't jump fast enough. I could've done better if I'd stayed
back a little more and ridden the pack to the front, but I couldn't resist
hooking up with my lunchtime buddies. It's OK it was fun and I was happy to
avoid the crash.
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What Matt I. saw:
Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack
This is my first race report, so I will try to give as much detail as I
can...
Report for Cat 5 with less than 5 races experience:
I was really nervous before the start of this race only because I didn't
know what to expect. I had a lot of things going through my mind: what
if I got dropped? What if I crash, etc.
That changed at the flick of a switch when just before the line up Tim
grabbed me by the shirt and said 2 things-or was it 3? # 1 Don't crash
#2 Hang on to a wheel.. The #3, I cannot remember, but right after that
I felt very calm and was ready for anything! Thanks Tim!
On to the race:
I got to the line somewhat early, early enough to find a spot right on
the line.
I saw Chi come up as well and motioned for him to line up beside me. We
were going to try to stay together during the race. At the sound of the
gun, I got off good and clipped in. I was surprised to see that many
people were calm at the start. At the first turn people started to speed
up a bit. There was a single paceline through the turn number 3 and it
was that way for about 4 laps.
My strategy was just to stay on a wheel
as much as I could to maximize the drafting effect. I found a really
good wheel and stayed on for much of the race. The line surged up and
down a lot and I found myself at the front, in the middle, and at one
point in the back. I was amazed at how if one is not paying attention,
you can suddenly find yourself at the back, it happens so fast! There
were a couple of breaks, but they were all caught. I knew that they were
all going to get caught, so I didn't want to waste my energy chasing
them.
About midway, I saw Chi make a big sprint up on the outside on the
straightaway, he was hauling ass! He brought along with him a huge trail
of riders and I remember saying, gee I better catch up! Shortly
thereafter on turn number 3 I heard this loud BOOM! Behind me I turned
my head to see about 3-4 riders sliding across the pavement and hit the
curb on the far side of the road. Ouch!!!! The pack moved briskly still
and I was still firmly planted on some guy's wheel for about a few laps
longer. I was surprised to see how good I was feeling so I thought I'd
try something on the back stretch. I took off on a sprint towards the
inside. Right when I did that, some guy yelled "sprint". I was about a
good 50 yards off the pack by that time, but I wanted to get right back
in to the pack! Its hard pulling out there on your own!! Now I've got a
lot of respect for those guys on the front!
Soon the race organizers
were holding up a sign with the number 5 on it. I really didn't know
what to make of it. Some guy along side me asked me " Is that 5 mins? "
I replied, I don't know..but made an effort to ask some other person. He
said " It's 5 laps left!! " Whoa, I thought, this is going to pick up a
bit. To my surprised everyone stayed together most of the time and
utilized the drafting effect. A lot of them were very courteous in
letting me back in the line and myself included. After all, I thought
its better to let them in rather than cause a crash and get a tongue
lashing.
When the lap card read two, I was really conserving my energy
but it got hairy on the straightway. Some guy, I don't know who he rode
for, totally took himself out on what looked like a full out sprint. All
I remember is seeing a yellow bike, silver Mavic Ksyrium wheels and a
huge body falling right in front of me! I tapped my brakes and leaned
left, and avoided him. In the process, the rider behind me bumped my
wheel but It wasn't anything. Whew, I was lucky! Everyone, I mean
everyone in the front of me slowed down and stood up and looked behind.
I wasn't sure if they were stopping the race or what, because it looked
like it was a big pileup. Toward turn number 1, we all sped up again, it
was going to be almost the last lap. I looked around and there was only
about 20 of us left. This is it I thought!! Whoo, I made it this far. On
the last sprint, my strategy was to hang on to someone's wheel as long
as I could and then pull out and sprint. It didn't work out that way.
Everyone was all over the place! All I could do was make a sprint with
blown legs. It just didn't work, but the same went for everyone else!
The last part seemed the longest, and crossed the line and looked
around. It looked like I was in the top ten.
That was a lot of fun! Can't wait for next week!
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What Jeff saw:
Category: 4/5
Result: Back of pack
I was feeling really out of shape for this race. I am also very
nervous about criteriums in general so my plan in this race was to sit
out in the back and move up to the front at the very end.
Richard's advice was to sit back until 5 to go and then spend a whole
lap moving up. I was feeling really weak during the first half of the
race. I hadn't ridden more than 10 miles in the previous week but I
was fine in back since I spun on the corners and took it easy. There
was plenty of room for moving around and avoiding people. Richard
also made the observation that even if you don't crank at every turn,
there is more wind resistance in the back because you aren't riding as
closely.
Anyways, I did make some efforts to move up but I didn't feel strong
enough to do it safely so I sat in the back for the rest of the race.
I was mostly tired from Saturday's speed work. Richard says that it's
to be expected since we are trying to build endurance through riding
hard before these practice races.
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