Monday, July 10, 2006
Ed has a good day at New Britain
His story:
I was pretty relaxed at the start not expecting very much of myself given the competition. My goal was to stay in the front of the race for as long a possible to stay out of trouble and maybe get into a move. I jumped hard when it started to get within the top 10 or 15 and just kept it going. The race seemed pretty fast and wasn't having any problems staying in the top 10 or so. The fact that it was pretty strung out for much of the race probably made it easier to hold my position. I also think that I was having a pretty good day. Probably a combination of both. I was kind of expecting that sooner or later I'd lose my position up front, but surprisingly it never really happened. Lap after lap I held that position, and actually feeling pretty good. Paul came up once or twice and that was good to see. I wasn't really sure about what was happening behind with others. I just assumed folks were sitting on, as much as possible, for later in the race. A few guys attacked here and there but the pace was very high and most were brought back. There were some good size primes and some smaller ones that I saw come and go. I thought about going for a few but didn't act on any of these thoughts. By the way, the guy that had cancer in his mouth ( Wade or Matt or someone else found out about it after North Stonington ) was in the race and riding well. I talked to him for a while during warm-up. He said he went to the Dentist because of a tooth ache and they found cancer. Had it removed and was out for a while but is now back and very strong. If fact, he got one of the bigger primes during this race.
After the halfway point, Mark McCormick comes to the front and I figure here we go. Mike McGinley and others were definitely following him closely and marking his every move. A group of maybe 5 guys splits off the front about this time, or maybe a little earlier, and gets a nice size lead. They stay out there for about 10 or 15 laps. Their gap varies from 25 seconds to 10 seconds during this time. The Anthem guys worked pretty hard to control the race and I think set it up for Mike. McCormick and a few others decide to up the pace and I hang on for dear life, but manage to stay up front. I'm even actually able to recover and still ride strongly to help chase a little! I did keep hearing Wade in my head saying you don't have to work if there is no benefit to you. So I quickly took his advice and let the bigger teams do the work right up front. The group finally was brought back, and a little later another group develops and gets about 15 seconds on the field. At this point I'm pretty tired and ready to call it quits up front, but without really thinking start to follow this guy (not sure who he was) on the inside of the field. I am glued to his wheel and feeling really good and relaxed. We work our way to the break pretty quickly and effortlessly, for me anyways, and now the group is I think around 10. I don't recognize anyone in the break except for Sean Forsthye, John Funk, and Tim Unkert. There's still about 15 laps left and were moving along pretty good. I can't say it was smooth or steady but it was pretty well organized and I was doing my share of the work. Thankfully, it was a good size group so we didn't have to take really long pulls. I think I rode it as well as I could. As we got closer to the end, I can see that we had a winning gap and that was great. However, I was also pretty tired and not recovering so well anymore. I was also losing focus as the mind started to wander. Someone on the sideline was yelling to the group that we had to stay focused. That actually helped. It was good to hear that this loss of focus thing is fairly common among riders. I thought I was the only one with this problem. I had to keep reminding myself that this was the winning break and to snap out of it. During the last two or three laps I was toast but hung in there. John Funk attacked with one to go and was pulled back. Too bad that I couldn't do a thing to increase my chances for a win. I think that staying relaxed toward the end of a race instead of tensing up is key. Maybe visualizing the last few minutes of a race over and over again in a positive way can help for the future. Anyways, I managed to pass one rider and was kicking myself a little for not being able to at least get by Funk who had to be more tired than I with his earlier effort to get away.
Anyways, I think I got 8th or 9th. What a surprise, especially in a crit. By the way, earlier that morning I made a slight adjustment to my bike position Zane. I think I do better when making all these minor adjustments just prior to a race. Problem is, I'm running out of adjustment to make :-)
Ed
I was pretty relaxed at the start not expecting very much of myself given the competition. My goal was to stay in the front of the race for as long a possible to stay out of trouble and maybe get into a move. I jumped hard when it started to get within the top 10 or 15 and just kept it going. The race seemed pretty fast and wasn't having any problems staying in the top 10 or so. The fact that it was pretty strung out for much of the race probably made it easier to hold my position. I also think that I was having a pretty good day. Probably a combination of both. I was kind of expecting that sooner or later I'd lose my position up front, but surprisingly it never really happened. Lap after lap I held that position, and actually feeling pretty good. Paul came up once or twice and that was good to see. I wasn't really sure about what was happening behind with others. I just assumed folks were sitting on, as much as possible, for later in the race. A few guys attacked here and there but the pace was very high and most were brought back. There were some good size primes and some smaller ones that I saw come and go. I thought about going for a few but didn't act on any of these thoughts. By the way, the guy that had cancer in his mouth ( Wade or Matt or someone else found out about it after North Stonington ) was in the race and riding well. I talked to him for a while during warm-up. He said he went to the Dentist because of a tooth ache and they found cancer. Had it removed and was out for a while but is now back and very strong. If fact, he got one of the bigger primes during this race.
After the halfway point, Mark McCormick comes to the front and I figure here we go. Mike McGinley and others were definitely following him closely and marking his every move. A group of maybe 5 guys splits off the front about this time, or maybe a little earlier, and gets a nice size lead. They stay out there for about 10 or 15 laps. Their gap varies from 25 seconds to 10 seconds during this time. The Anthem guys worked pretty hard to control the race and I think set it up for Mike. McCormick and a few others decide to up the pace and I hang on for dear life, but manage to stay up front. I'm even actually able to recover and still ride strongly to help chase a little! I did keep hearing Wade in my head saying you don't have to work if there is no benefit to you. So I quickly took his advice and let the bigger teams do the work right up front. The group finally was brought back, and a little later another group develops and gets about 15 seconds on the field. At this point I'm pretty tired and ready to call it quits up front, but without really thinking start to follow this guy (not sure who he was) on the inside of the field. I am glued to his wheel and feeling really good and relaxed. We work our way to the break pretty quickly and effortlessly, for me anyways, and now the group is I think around 10. I don't recognize anyone in the break except for Sean Forsthye, John Funk, and Tim Unkert. There's still about 15 laps left and were moving along pretty good. I can't say it was smooth or steady but it was pretty well organized and I was doing my share of the work. Thankfully, it was a good size group so we didn't have to take really long pulls. I think I rode it as well as I could. As we got closer to the end, I can see that we had a winning gap and that was great. However, I was also pretty tired and not recovering so well anymore. I was also losing focus as the mind started to wander. Someone on the sideline was yelling to the group that we had to stay focused. That actually helped. It was good to hear that this loss of focus thing is fairly common among riders. I thought I was the only one with this problem. I had to keep reminding myself that this was the winning break and to snap out of it. During the last two or three laps I was toast but hung in there. John Funk attacked with one to go and was pulled back. Too bad that I couldn't do a thing to increase my chances for a win. I think that staying relaxed toward the end of a race instead of tensing up is key. Maybe visualizing the last few minutes of a race over and over again in a positive way can help for the future. Anyways, I managed to pass one rider and was kicking myself a little for not being able to at least get by Funk who had to be more tired than I with his earlier effort to get away.
Anyways, I think I got 8th or 9th. What a surprise, especially in a crit. By the way, earlier that morning I made a slight adjustment to my bike position Zane. I think I do better when making all these minor adjustments just prior to a race. Problem is, I'm running out of adjustment to make :-)
Ed
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