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What Iwan saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
German, Chris and I got together before the race to discuss a plan, which
was for me and German to string out the field in the closing laps so that
Chris wouldn’t get swarmed at the end and he would have a good chance to
win. Great idea, I had a brief vision of us doing a Tour de France style
lead out train at 30+mph for our designated sprinter. Then, as they called
us up to the line, I snapped out of it and thought that maybe I would just
try to finish with the pack this time.
This was my 2nd race of the year, the first was the Memorial Day crit where
I struggled and lost contact with the field with a few laps remaining. Since
then, I’ve gotten quite a few more quality miles in and shed a couple of
pounds. Small improvements in fitness can make a big difference in a race.
In addition, my race strategy changed a bit. I decided to follow Chris’s
trademark approach to criteriums, which is to sit in at the back and
conserve energy for the finish. In a simple (meaning 4 corners or less) cat
4 crit with no obstacles (bots dots, bottleneck corners or grades > 2%),
which this qualifies for, there is no point in struggling to maintain
position in the pack.
Breakaways are unlikely with long straights to reel in
any attempts and the only risk was a crash, which also seemed unlikely given
the wide roads. For a non-simple crit, such as Burlingame or Cat’s Hill,
this would probably not work unless you’re really strong, in which case you
should be up front anyway.
I felt very comfortable playing cyclotourist in the bottom five throughout
most of the race. It takes a bit of energy to accelerate out of the corners
but the pack would invariably slow down half way through the straights so
there was never any chance of losing touch with them. The only bad part was
having to deal with road debris (dried plant material like grass clippings
or something) that was being thrown up by the pack in the long straightaway
after corner two and getting into my eyes.
With six laps to go, I knew I wouldn’t get dropped so I got bold and decided
to move up and execute our game plan. Chris and German had already moved
themselves up but were blocked a bit. With around four to go and feeling
fairly fresh, I found an opportunistic opening on the inside and accelerated
past the pack straight to the front and got behind the leading rider’s
wheel. He then moved over looking for some help, so I took the lead and
started pushing the pace. German told me later that he was not too far
behind me, so I guess we were trying our best to execute the plan. The only
problem is that I expected the rider immediately behind me to take over
which he was reluctant to do. I felt a little hesitant not knowing what was
going on behind me and whether to keep hammering or to ease up.
Finally, I
ran out of steam and someone else picked up the pace and a whole bunch of
riders jumped past me. For the remaining three laps, I just wanted to
maintain position and it was tough. On the last lap (?) there was some nasty
tight cornering as we rounded corner one and I heard a crash behind me.
Thankfully, I was in front of it. The pace picked up and I struggled to hang
on. I came out of the final corner in the top 15 and saw Chris. He jumped
and accelerated away to an excellent top ten finish. If I had just a touch
more fitness, maybe I could’ve contested the sprint, but the legs had no
more power in them and I just pedaled in with an awkward half-ass sprint
trying not to lose too many places.
Overall I was pleased with my
performance. German said that our average speed was at least 26.5 mph for
the 47 minutes we raced, which surprised me. Although the season is rapidly
coming to a close, there is still some time to gain a little more fitness. I
am even entertaining the idea of doing a non-simple crit like Giro d’SF or
Santa Cruz.
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What Richard saw:
Category: 3
Result: Back of pack
This year's Timpani Criterium was my first road event back after my
injury. It was all rather exciting and I was nervous in the build-up to
racing again.
I got to the course in plenty of time and got myself a reasonable
warm-up, though I was still feeling the effects of a slight head cold
from the previous weeks. Milling around before the start, it was really
nice to be welcomed back by so many people.
On to the race and Timpani is as I remembered it, flat, relatively quick
with a wide open course making moving about the bunch easy and therefore
the pack was in constant motion making it easy to find your way to the
front, generally by following wheels.
There isn't much else to report until towards the end when I started to
get myself near the front and was trying to hold myself there. There was
a bell for the final prime and I was in the top 15 or so. Round turn
one, I heard a crash close behind me.
The guys in front said things like "screw the crash" and drilled it and
I hung on. As the guys each pulled off, I found myself moving towards
the lead until I was in 3rd or 4th place round turn 3. Halfway to turn 4
I had enough to attack and opened up a substantial lead to take the
prime. Not bad, a prime in the first race back.
I sat up waiting to be caught and then it was a desparate attempt to sit
in and recover as best as possible in the 6 laps that were left. I
almost hung on, getting popped on the last lap with the final
accelerations and rolling in at the back. It was great to be back racing
again.
One notable absence from the Timpani Criterium was the timpani. For
those who are new, every other time I have raced there, there has been
someone playing drum rolls on timpani as the pack charges down the home
straight. I though that was cool and missed it this year.
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What Garry saw:
Category: 3
Result: Mid-pack
First race back after a planned training break, I was keen to see how the legs would be, and was hoping to get the body tuned in to the effort required for the following weeks Cal cup events.
We had a reasonable size field, 62 riders. One welcome face was the returning Mr. Brockie, racing his first comeback criterium after his big mid-season crash. We had no team plan, it was everyman for himself.
Anyway, the race was brisk but not super fast, I saw the front a few times at different parts of the race and every time I asked the question, the legs were strong. With 8 to go the was a big stack up at turn 1, with at least half the LG squad biting the big one. I came around the corner scrubbing speed and slithered between two masses of flesh and bike sliding on the asphalt. They kindly left a two foot gap to wriggle thru, but I had to go deep to get back on to the decimated pack.
The next few laps went o.k., I moved up, down, left and right and with 3 to go was mid pack and comfy. Then the surges started and I was not caught up in the movement, so at the bell was way too far back. Anyway, moved up between Turn 3 and Turn 4 and put in a token effort to finish in the top half of the field.
66 starters, 50 finishers, I rolled in 27th place, and we averaged a sprightly 26.8 mph.
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