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What Iwan saw:
Category: 4
Result: Back of pack
Somehow I decided that the E4 race in Morgan Hill would be my return to
racing after a 19 month hiatus. Goals were simple: Try to make it to the
front for as long as possible and then hang on to dear life for the rest of
the race.
Well, I got a fairly good start made it to the front on lap three
or so and then gradually started slipping backwards. The repeated
accelerations off the corners are what finally did me in (need to do
intervals). With a few laps to go, I found myself trying to hang on to
Chris's wheel. He was a few feet off the back, as Tim stated, looking
relaxed and easily following the pack... a good energy conserving strategy
for this race.
With a couple of laps to go, legs became unresponsive and I
fell off the pace. It was good timing because a corner later, there was a
big crash. Instead of chasing, I opted to sit it out. Didn't see the finish
but saw that Tim had moved to the front. It was fun and good training.
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What Tim saw:
Category: 5
Result: Back of pack
This race started at 7:30AM. I had a decent warm-up -
20-minutes on the trainer and one lap around the
course. We start the race and I'm in the middle of the
pack. About 2-3 laps into the race, there is this big
crash 2-3 people ahead of me, bikes are flying
everywhere and I had to swerve to my right to avoid
hitting a bike doing summersaults. I later learned
that about 7 riders went down but two or three were
able to take their free lap and rejoin the race.
Fortunately, no ambulance was necessary.
For most of the race, I stayed in the middle of my
pack not working too hard. I decided to give it a go
at the front a couple of times. However, instead of
picking off riders one-by-one to get to the front, I
just pop outside (actually inside) and suck up all
sorts of wind in my efforts to get to the front. I'd
get to the front 5 and be too pooped to even stay
there and drift back to where I was initially. I tried
this one more time with the same result.
Finally, they pulled out the cards and there are three
more laps to go. Maybe my adrenaline started to kick
back-in when I saw the lap cards, but it felt like the
pack actually slowed down a bit. So, I easily move up
to about 10th place by the beginning of the
second-to-last laps. However, I found this lap very
difficult and I found myself getting passed here and
there as I'd let little gaps form with the rider in
front of me. On the last lap, the speeds really picked
up and I'm struggling to keep their pace. I lose more
spots and am probably around the end of the pack at
the end at the final turn. I see everyone stand up and
sprint after the final turn, and my body just says,
"Stop now". I coast in to the finish at the back of
the pack.
My only goal was not to get pulled. I succeeded with
that goal and was actually surprised several other
people were pulled from the race. I figured if anybody
got pulled, it was going going to be me. I think the
reason I was able to stay in the race was that I was
mostly assertive and forced myself to stay in the pack
by not letting gaps form with the bike in front of me,
and filling gaps when they were present.
I also saw Rory. He was always at the front, but I'm
not sure how he finished.
Chris's strategy for his race was very interesting -
he basically dangled of the back of the pack (like 2-3
bikes off with no draft) for the entire race then
jumped to the front with only a few to go. He said his
race was slow, and it must have been, as he was making
faces at me when he'd pass me.
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