Saturday, September 30, 2006
Ninigret redux redux...
So, you may ask, how many times CAN one race at Ningret in one season? Can it possibly be enough? Well, given the opportunity to race one more time at my favorite local crit track, I had to go today. Besides, since this was a charity event, I could better justify racing one more time to Lauren. Unlike my second race at Ninigret this year, I arrived with plenty of time to pick up my number, get changed and get well warmed up for the race.
2:30 PM found me at the line in the cat 4/5 race with a field of about 40+ racers. There was a pretty strong wind (at Ninigret? Who'd've thought?) from the ssw, so the finish was going to be a mostly tailwind sprint. The start was fairly slow with obligatory and gratuitous braking at every corner. After a couple of laps, we settled into a semblance of a rhythm. I don't typically expect a break to get away in a cat 4 race and I wasn't disappointed today. I watched as a series of breaks of 1-3 riders would go off the front and dangle for a few laps before getting reabsorbed by the pack. I played it safe and kept myself sheltered in mid pack, close enough to the front that I could respond if anything really looked threatening.
With 4 to go, I moved up to assert position for the expected sprint. A late race prime was thrown in at 3 to go and I considered the possibility of attacking post sprint, but didn't like the chances and figured for once I should actually be patient and wait for the sprint (happy now Matt?). Two other riders did choose that exact tactic and went clear going into the two sharp left handers. I quickly got myself into the first 5 wheels in the chase and started monitoring the gap. It stabilized at only 10 sec max so I was pretty sanguine about the pack catching the two. I kept cycling through the lead group while avoiding taking a pull. Coming into the second to last left turn on the back stretch, I was third wheel in the pack and we had the two riders down to less than 5 sec.
Well before the last sweeping left hander, I found myself becoming 1st wheel. Even with the expected tailwind on the home stretch, this was still too far out for me to go. Besides, even I know enough not to try and launch an attack from the front. I pulled off right and let the eager riders behind me continue the chase and managed to insinuate myself back in the lead group at about 10th wheel or so.
Presently, the two break riders were caught and we headed into the sweeping left hander. I got momentarily boxed in on the inside just before the sprint opened up. I was forced to wait a beat before I could find daylight to the right. I worked off 1 wheel to get to the right side and opened up to try and recover a bit of lost ground. I nearly got hooked by a slow wheel veering hard right as I passed him, but pushed through the bump and let loose, grabbing one more place and holding off a late surge up the left side. In the end I managed to pull myself into a respectable 5th place.
2:30 PM found me at the line in the cat 4/5 race with a field of about 40+ racers. There was a pretty strong wind (at Ninigret? Who'd've thought?) from the ssw, so the finish was going to be a mostly tailwind sprint. The start was fairly slow with obligatory and gratuitous braking at every corner. After a couple of laps, we settled into a semblance of a rhythm. I don't typically expect a break to get away in a cat 4 race and I wasn't disappointed today. I watched as a series of breaks of 1-3 riders would go off the front and dangle for a few laps before getting reabsorbed by the pack. I played it safe and kept myself sheltered in mid pack, close enough to the front that I could respond if anything really looked threatening.
With 4 to go, I moved up to assert position for the expected sprint. A late race prime was thrown in at 3 to go and I considered the possibility of attacking post sprint, but didn't like the chances and figured for once I should actually be patient and wait for the sprint (happy now Matt?). Two other riders did choose that exact tactic and went clear going into the two sharp left handers. I quickly got myself into the first 5 wheels in the chase and started monitoring the gap. It stabilized at only 10 sec max so I was pretty sanguine about the pack catching the two. I kept cycling through the lead group while avoiding taking a pull. Coming into the second to last left turn on the back stretch, I was third wheel in the pack and we had the two riders down to less than 5 sec.
Well before the last sweeping left hander, I found myself becoming 1st wheel. Even with the expected tailwind on the home stretch, this was still too far out for me to go. Besides, even I know enough not to try and launch an attack from the front. I pulled off right and let the eager riders behind me continue the chase and managed to insinuate myself back in the lead group at about 10th wheel or so.
Presently, the two break riders were caught and we headed into the sweeping left hander. I got momentarily boxed in on the inside just before the sprint opened up. I was forced to wait a beat before I could find daylight to the right. I worked off 1 wheel to get to the right side and opened up to try and recover a bit of lost ground. I nearly got hooked by a slow wheel veering hard right as I passed him, but pushed through the bump and let loose, grabbing one more place and holding off a late surge up the left side. In the end I managed to pull myself into a respectable 5th place.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Once a year...
I try and do a mountain bike race. I have done 6 mountain bike races in my life and the last time I rode my mtb was last year at the Winding Trails race. Read: My technical skills suck and I have only my fitness to fall back on. We went out fast - following a Target Training roadie. I moved up to 2nd behind him but faded to 4th by half way through lap 1. I could see no one behind me and occasionally I could see a guy or two up front. Target training blew and I passed him not long after we started lap 2. By the end of lap 2 I was closing in on 2nd and 1st. I caught and passed them both and pushed it on the easy sections and lost time in the single track. I thought I had shead them but I was being too conservative was caught in the last 1/4 of the lap. I held the guy off by using my fitness on the fire roads and getting to the single track sections first. But when I ran over a log - yes I have to run over anything bigger than a twig - he pounced and got to the last stort very steep hill with a 2 second gap. He got to the downhill first, went down faster than me and that was that. Had I got to that downhill first the race was mine 'cause he wasn't going to match my last kick on the dirt road that leads to the finish. Oh well. Shoulda rode that log. A bike racing first for me. I saw some yahoo lighting up a cigarette before the race. He was "racing" the single speed. They started a minute or 2 before us. I caught him before the half way point of lap 1.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Bob Beal Day 2
Okay, this would be why I am still a cat 4 racer…
Coming out of day 1 I was actually 3rd in GC with Kyle Wolfe and Chris Young in 1st and 2nd and Badger close behind me in 4th. 1st and second were out of reach and with Badger right behind me I was justifiably concerned about losing 3rd – perhaps too much so. Unlike Saturday, Sandy chose to have the 35+ and 30+ field race separately, starting us a ½ lap apart. I wasn’t especially happy about this change because I was hoping to benefit from increased volume in the pack and potentially some well placed 30+ sweepers in a bunch sprint.
So, I anticipated that Badger had to attack early and often in order to separate himself from me and guarantee enough points to catch third. Also as expected, the race started out fast with a series of attacks. I was trying to keep forward in a position to respond to anything that looked dangerous. Unfortunately, Badger timed his attack for when I was trapped in a position where I couldn’t respond. He and one other rider got up the road and dangled in the 10-15 second range.
This is the point where I stopped thinking enough about what I was doing and focused instead on losing that podium spot. Over the next several laps I tried to respond to bridging attacks and made a few of my own in order to try to get back to Badger’s group. After my last bridging effort, where I was once again hung out in the wind by another rider, a hard counter went up the road that split the field in two and had me desperately trying to cling to the rear of the second group. I was too burnt to manage to hold on and watched as the gap ahead of me just opened up despite my best efforts. Basically I overcooked myself instead of stoically accepting the fact that I could be fighting for 4th (or even 5th or 6th – GC paid 6 deep).
I was joined by a Caster’s rider and we managed to keep up a good enough effort to only just get lapped by the lead break of 3 to finish 1 lap down. Despite this exercise in dumb racing, I still managed to salvage a top 10 GC at 9th place. Of course the killer was that all I needed was 5 more points and I still would have been in a paying spot. Hopefully once next year rolls around I’ll actually remember what I learned today…
Coming out of day 1 I was actually 3rd in GC with Kyle Wolfe and Chris Young in 1st and 2nd and Badger close behind me in 4th. 1st and second were out of reach and with Badger right behind me I was justifiably concerned about losing 3rd – perhaps too much so. Unlike Saturday, Sandy chose to have the 35+ and 30+ field race separately, starting us a ½ lap apart. I wasn’t especially happy about this change because I was hoping to benefit from increased volume in the pack and potentially some well placed 30+ sweepers in a bunch sprint.
So, I anticipated that Badger had to attack early and often in order to separate himself from me and guarantee enough points to catch third. Also as expected, the race started out fast with a series of attacks. I was trying to keep forward in a position to respond to anything that looked dangerous. Unfortunately, Badger timed his attack for when I was trapped in a position where I couldn’t respond. He and one other rider got up the road and dangled in the 10-15 second range.
This is the point where I stopped thinking enough about what I was doing and focused instead on losing that podium spot. Over the next several laps I tried to respond to bridging attacks and made a few of my own in order to try to get back to Badger’s group. After my last bridging effort, where I was once again hung out in the wind by another rider, a hard counter went up the road that split the field in two and had me desperately trying to cling to the rear of the second group. I was too burnt to manage to hold on and watched as the gap ahead of me just opened up despite my best efforts. Basically I overcooked myself instead of stoically accepting the fact that I could be fighting for 4th (or even 5th or 6th – GC paid 6 deep).
I was joined by a Caster’s rider and we managed to keep up a good enough effort to only just get lapped by the lead break of 3 to finish 1 lap down. Despite this exercise in dumb racing, I still managed to salvage a top 10 GC at 9th place. Of course the killer was that all I needed was 5 more points and I still would have been in a paying spot. Hopefully once next year rolls around I’ll actually remember what I learned today…
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Bob Beal Day 1
Road Race – Because of the relatively low number of riders in the past, the 30-34 and 35-39 fields were scheduled to race together for separate rankings this year. That made for a pretty good field of about 50 racers. Amos Brumble and a couple of his CCB rider were in the field, so that almost guaranteed a break at some point in the race. I figured that I be watchful for a good break, but felt no need to kill myself if it was all 30+ riders.
Very nearly from the gun, two riders went off the front – a ccb rider and one other 30+ rider. I kept up towards the front of the pack, but avoided doing any real work since it wasn’t really my race up the road. The CCB rider was not Amos, as he had flatted very shortly after the start (shades of my Albany race). Unlike me, Amos was able to demonstrate why he usually rides with the pros by rejoining us sometime before ½ way through lap 1. I responded to a couple of attacks during the first lap, but no one seemed willing to really commit so, again, I felt no compulsion to put any work into these. By the time we were on RT 91, we had caught back up with the two man break.
Lap two saw some more 1 or 2 rider attacks heading down to US 1. The biggest threat came with a pretty sizable attack going up the road the 2nd time up the climb. Initially 8-10 riders went up the road. I jumped to follow, but found myself in no man’s land with a few riders that would not pull through. I eased up and some more bridging efforts went by up the road. Ultimately there were close to 20 riders about 10 –15 seconds up the road, but since they didn’t get well organized, the rest of us tacked back on by the time we hit the descent.
At some point during all this excitement, one 30+ rider did get off the front and managed to make time on us. Shortly after the end of the second lap, the long awaited attack came from Amos. He and one other 30+ rider went up the road on the last significant up hill before the mostly downhill run to US 1. Here things started to get a bit confusing for me. I was mid pack and couldn’t see all of what was going on in front, but before Brumble and friend went off the front, we had a police car in the lead. I had assumed that meant we pulled the solo break back. Sometime a bit after the two man break went, we again had an escort. So again, even though I didn’t see them come back, I assumed the break was back. It turns out spare police were parked at various places around the course to jump into the gaps when they got big enough. This was not a big deal for me since the three spots up the road didn’t change my finish, but confusing nonetheless.
By the third time up the hill, it looked as if everybody was resigned to leaving it up to a bunch sprint. No major attacks occurred and there were only a few surges in pace with people trying to shake things up. I began jockeying for position going into the descent and continued to move up through the pack once we hit RT 91. Here the pace kicked up a bit again, but there wasn’t really enough of any one team to drive the pace. I had one close call as I was coming up the right when Badger pulled out and hooked my front wheel. I kept things upright and decided that if he was going to pull out, I might as well use him. We were no more than 1k out at this point, so I stuck his wheel and followed him through some more traffic. We came through the right hander before the finish right up in the lead 6-7 riders. Then the “sprint” just got funny. Going down the little dip before the railroad bridge, we sped up a bit, but once we hit the little hill at the bridge, no one wanted to lead it out. I was standing and over geared and had to skip a few beats just to avoid rolling over Badger. We were also getting pinned in the lead phalanx and looked to be at risk of having the people behind surge past. Thankfully at maybe 100-150m out, someone decided to sprint! I got right on top of the pedals, but was still boxed in the middle of the lead group. The guy on my left bobbled into me and I decided that there was no way I was going to let that slow me down today. He slowed up when we bounced and opened up a window to daylight. I lit up and headed to the left side of the road. I managed to pick off Badger and a couple of other riders to finish ca. 5-6th in the bunch, which was good for 4th 35+ field.
Of course it also doesn’t hurt that the rider who won the 35+ race didn’t win it. A GS Mengoni rider had gotten out ahead of us to take first. However, he served as an example for why you should really take the public urination rule seriously. Word on the street (okay, straight from Sandy) was that during the race he had taken a leak while rolling through one of the lovely Charlestown RI residential neighborhoods. Maybe not so bad except the act was done flagrantly in front of one of the residents. It does suck that such a nice ride on his part was negated by a relagation, but you don’t want to get the locals up in arms with that sort of behavior.
Time Trial:
Not much to say. 3 rolling and over all slightly uphill miles. Thankfully what had been a headwind in the morning turned into a weak tailwind for the afternoon. We went off alphabetically, so I was 4th in the 35+ field with Badger as my 30 second man. I managed to catch my 30 sec man and came close to my minute and 1.5 minute man. I went all out dreading hearing the sound of Badger’s disc catching up. Thankfully he never did. No times were posted, but I cooled down long enough to get my unofficial placing from the time keeper. When all was said and done I placed 7th in the TT. GC will be an unknown until I show up for the Crit.
Very nearly from the gun, two riders went off the front – a ccb rider and one other 30+ rider. I kept up towards the front of the pack, but avoided doing any real work since it wasn’t really my race up the road. The CCB rider was not Amos, as he had flatted very shortly after the start (shades of my Albany race). Unlike me, Amos was able to demonstrate why he usually rides with the pros by rejoining us sometime before ½ way through lap 1. I responded to a couple of attacks during the first lap, but no one seemed willing to really commit so, again, I felt no compulsion to put any work into these. By the time we were on RT 91, we had caught back up with the two man break.
Lap two saw some more 1 or 2 rider attacks heading down to US 1. The biggest threat came with a pretty sizable attack going up the road the 2nd time up the climb. Initially 8-10 riders went up the road. I jumped to follow, but found myself in no man’s land with a few riders that would not pull through. I eased up and some more bridging efforts went by up the road. Ultimately there were close to 20 riders about 10 –15 seconds up the road, but since they didn’t get well organized, the rest of us tacked back on by the time we hit the descent.
At some point during all this excitement, one 30+ rider did get off the front and managed to make time on us. Shortly after the end of the second lap, the long awaited attack came from Amos. He and one other 30+ rider went up the road on the last significant up hill before the mostly downhill run to US 1. Here things started to get a bit confusing for me. I was mid pack and couldn’t see all of what was going on in front, but before Brumble and friend went off the front, we had a police car in the lead. I had assumed that meant we pulled the solo break back. Sometime a bit after the two man break went, we again had an escort. So again, even though I didn’t see them come back, I assumed the break was back. It turns out spare police were parked at various places around the course to jump into the gaps when they got big enough. This was not a big deal for me since the three spots up the road didn’t change my finish, but confusing nonetheless.
By the third time up the hill, it looked as if everybody was resigned to leaving it up to a bunch sprint. No major attacks occurred and there were only a few surges in pace with people trying to shake things up. I began jockeying for position going into the descent and continued to move up through the pack once we hit RT 91. Here the pace kicked up a bit again, but there wasn’t really enough of any one team to drive the pace. I had one close call as I was coming up the right when Badger pulled out and hooked my front wheel. I kept things upright and decided that if he was going to pull out, I might as well use him. We were no more than 1k out at this point, so I stuck his wheel and followed him through some more traffic. We came through the right hander before the finish right up in the lead 6-7 riders. Then the “sprint” just got funny. Going down the little dip before the railroad bridge, we sped up a bit, but once we hit the little hill at the bridge, no one wanted to lead it out. I was standing and over geared and had to skip a few beats just to avoid rolling over Badger. We were also getting pinned in the lead phalanx and looked to be at risk of having the people behind surge past. Thankfully at maybe 100-150m out, someone decided to sprint! I got right on top of the pedals, but was still boxed in the middle of the lead group. The guy on my left bobbled into me and I decided that there was no way I was going to let that slow me down today. He slowed up when we bounced and opened up a window to daylight. I lit up and headed to the left side of the road. I managed to pick off Badger and a couple of other riders to finish ca. 5-6th in the bunch, which was good for 4th 35+ field.
Of course it also doesn’t hurt that the rider who won the 35+ race didn’t win it. A GS Mengoni rider had gotten out ahead of us to take first. However, he served as an example for why you should really take the public urination rule seriously. Word on the street (okay, straight from Sandy) was that during the race he had taken a leak while rolling through one of the lovely Charlestown RI residential neighborhoods. Maybe not so bad except the act was done flagrantly in front of one of the residents. It does suck that such a nice ride on his part was negated by a relagation, but you don’t want to get the locals up in arms with that sort of behavior.
Time Trial:
Not much to say. 3 rolling and over all slightly uphill miles. Thankfully what had been a headwind in the morning turned into a weak tailwind for the afternoon. We went off alphabetically, so I was 4th in the 35+ field with Badger as my 30 second man. I managed to catch my 30 sec man and came close to my minute and 1.5 minute man. I went all out dreading hearing the sound of Badger’s disc catching up. Thankfully he never did. No times were posted, but I cooled down long enough to get my unofficial placing from the time keeper. When all was said and done I placed 7th in the TT. GC will be an unknown until I show up for the Crit.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The First Cyclocross Race
Northfield Mass. It is a course I like and I have done pretty well there over the years. It probably has the most climbing of any race with Fox Hill off the calendar these days.
Paul, Matt, Art and I (with Brian Cantele and Keith Gauvin) started off the cross season under blue skies and cool tempatures. Really did feel like a cross race. Often this first race is 80 degrees - much to warm for cross!
I had a front row start position so mission one of the first race was accomplished. Mission two was a top 10 placing. The start was a little odd, with Marka just saying - " OK, roll out." It took me a second to respond so I lost ground immediately. The start is uphill for several hundred yards, first on pavement then on the grass field. I was able to get back a few of the positions I lost and settled into about 8th. Matt came blasting by soon after and kept the pace rolling. For the first quarter of the lap I kept expecting more riders to come through but it never happened. The front group of about 10 formed and I don't think anyone else came on board and by the start of lap 2 we lost guys and it was down to 6 ore 7 guys. After attacks from Sam Morse and Matt Wilson (IF) Kevin Hines and a Cyclonauts rider went clear and my group was Brian Cantele, Wilson Morse and me. A lap later Morse washed out on an off camber and took Brian with him. The IF rider blocked my view as we made it around but it looked like a tangle of asses, elbows and bikes. Brian would rejoin but Morse never did - I'm pretty sure he DNF'd. We caught back the Cyclonauts rider when he had a mechanical of some kind. We say him running and running and running and as he went into the pit we kept the pressure on. Brian and I tried to worked over Matt. With 2 to go Brian would gap us in the woods on the sandy downhill. I sat on Matt as he tried to close the gap. Then I attacked but couldn't shake him. On the last lap some tall hairy legged! rider caught us and just kept the tempo full on. I lost contact about half way through the lap and about 50 yards later so did Matt. We pretty much held those gaps and I rolled in 5th just a few yards in back. Brian went on to catch Hines and won the race.
Wade
Paul, Matt, Art and I (with Brian Cantele and Keith Gauvin) started off the cross season under blue skies and cool tempatures. Really did feel like a cross race. Often this first race is 80 degrees - much to warm for cross!
I had a front row start position so mission one of the first race was accomplished. Mission two was a top 10 placing. The start was a little odd, with Marka just saying - " OK, roll out." It took me a second to respond so I lost ground immediately. The start is uphill for several hundred yards, first on pavement then on the grass field. I was able to get back a few of the positions I lost and settled into about 8th. Matt came blasting by soon after and kept the pace rolling. For the first quarter of the lap I kept expecting more riders to come through but it never happened. The front group of about 10 formed and I don't think anyone else came on board and by the start of lap 2 we lost guys and it was down to 6 ore 7 guys. After attacks from Sam Morse and Matt Wilson (IF) Kevin Hines and a Cyclonauts rider went clear and my group was Brian Cantele, Wilson Morse and me. A lap later Morse washed out on an off camber and took Brian with him. The IF rider blocked my view as we made it around but it looked like a tangle of asses, elbows and bikes. Brian would rejoin but Morse never did - I'm pretty sure he DNF'd. We caught back the Cyclonauts rider when he had a mechanical of some kind. We say him running and running and running and as he went into the pit we kept the pressure on. Brian and I tried to worked over Matt. With 2 to go Brian would gap us in the woods on the sandy downhill. I sat on Matt as he tried to close the gap. Then I attacked but couldn't shake him. On the last lap some tall hairy legged! rider caught us and just kept the tempo full on. I lost contact about half way through the lap and about 50 yards later so did Matt. We pretty much held those gaps and I rolled in 5th just a few yards in back. Brian went on to catch Hines and won the race.
Wade
Friday, September 01, 2006
And So it Begins
No, not the college football season. Cyclocross Training! I hit the streets this week with a "run" - not much more than a mile jog and some cross intervals. Starting from a near stop, getting up to speed over 300 yards or so and then dismounting and running for a spell. Great fun. I guess the R2D2 thing can be classified too, I rode my cross bike and did two short sections of hike-a-bike.
The photos - the team discusses stratergy before the Capital Region RR near Albany, NY. Nathaniel's input was vital! He told Ed to get in the break and Ed got in the break. Who said bike racing was hard? Nathaniel doing 1 of the 3 things he does best.
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