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Reports by:
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What Richard saw:
Category: 4
Result: 11th
Eugene and I went down to ride Watsonville on Saturday. It was nice to
have a reasonably close criterium with a relatively late start so I
didn't have to get up rediculously early.
We got there with plenty of time to spare before the 5's raced so we got
an opportunity to ride the course beforehand. It is a great course with
a rise up to the finish which adds character to the event and builds it
in the riders.
I made sure I did a good warm-up to be able to tackle the hill well in
the early laps. This was a good decision as the pace at the start was
very fast. It didn't really let up until around half distance. I looked
at my HR a few times at the top of the rise and almost every time I was
well above LT.
I had drifted to the back of the group around half distance but got
myself into the leading ten from 8 to go. I was able to maintain this
pretty well until the bell when I got a little swamped up the hill. On
the back of the circuit I moved up to 5th in the string before the left
turn, but paid for the effort and lost a couple of places out of the turn.
For me it was then a question of trying to hang on in the top 10, but I
wasn't able to do so. I got pipped for 10th at the line by Raffi
Jizilian of Dragon. The hill kept kept everyone honest, and I was found
a little wanting. Looking at my HR zones, I spent 17 minutes above LT
during the race which is about double the time I have done so in recent
crits.
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What Eugene saw:
Category: M35+/45+
Result: Back of pack
EB's race: Fun course as Richard noted. The combined Masters classes were
fairly quick or I'm just slow, the more likely story. Was hanging in there
until a too clever guy decided to cut too far inside one turn and clipped
the hay bale taking out himself and a few others just for fun. One team
Spine guy broke a collarbone I think. I avoided this but my speed and power
are lacking so I was off the back.
I trundled around for the rest of the
race trying to get some training in. Got caught with 2 to go and was able
to sit in the bunch to the finish. It's been a long time since I rode in
the peleton and it felt good to be there for a bit but at least the Masters
seem to ride safely. Next Saturday its off to Santa Rosa and the Corporate
Crit #2, any takers?
Also of note for the club Wynn Kageyama's daughters rode the local juniors
race, I didn't see how they did.
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