W&M (February 22nd)
What a weekend! It’s great to be hanging and racing with the UVa and ACCC crew again. It didn’t hurt that it was 65 and sunny in Williamsburg either. I had two races lined up for the day, the Cat 4 open race and then the collegiate B race almost directly after that. I was hoping I could snag some upgrade points to move toward A racing.
First race began and went by as uneventful as a road race can I would assume. Between the Miller School and another team (Long & Fosters?) nobody was getting of the front and we just made our way along the course waiting for the flurry of fun at the finish. Miller did continually attack but no one was letting 3 teammates off the front. The course itself was really tight and staying up front was tricky, probably the first time I’ve tried to stay up front and still ended up sitting a good ways back. It really took a lot of work and attention to stay up front. Good thing to work on. I tried to pay attention and spent most of the race close enough to the front and never actually in front of everyone. Read boring 2 hours. The last lap came but nothing really interesting or exciting occurred. People yelled from 10 rows back at the slow pace, but other than that nothing special until the very end.
With ~3 miles left I shifted to the left side of the road to set up for the final run in to the finish. That move kept me close to the front, maybe too close even. Into the final turn ~mile from the finish I thought I was in good position. Unfortunately that’s the last good thing I did during the race. Shortly after the turn a big move came from the right, people yelled “move to the right”, and this guy (me) decided sure why not chase it. MISTAKE. They slowed down and next thing I knew I was in the front of everyone with a long way to go thinking what anyone would in that situation. Crap, crap, how did I screw this up so bad, crap, crap, stupid, not where I should be! That being said there wasn’t much I could do (or knew how to do) to get off the front. Rolling into the final dip and short climb to the finish I tried to respond to moves but really just didn’t have much left and couldn’t respond from the front. I thought I could hang close enough to maybe snag a couple upgrade points and that’s when the fun began. Not sure how it started but people started going down to my left and then I saw this guy flip over his handlebars and just smash his head straight into the pavement. Really hope he was okay, I didn’t see an ambulance roll up so I’m assuming he wasn’t hurt too bad. Either way, scary to witness from 3 feet to the right. Shortly after that I got bumped pretty hard and threw a foot out to stabilize, saved it, and decided it was time to shift into little gear and pedal on up to the finish. Safe. The race was incredibly frustrating, completely on me, completely blew a chance to do well. I sat just past the finish line and sat there for a while running it through my head. All in all, it's a good reminder I can get my butt kicked. Probably had a little too much ego going in, between my own training and people (Gavin) telling me I would lap the B field. Road racing is a chess game, I love it, but have lots to learn. Bryce had the race of the day, placing 2nd, killer job! Super happy how well he is doing this year.
After the frustration of the 4 race I was excited to enjoy racing with the collegiate guys. That being said I also decided I just wanted to ride hard, sitting in the whole race and then blowing the finish even though you feel fresh wasn’t fun. I thought I might as well work hard this time. Right before the neutral roll out ended I looked at Bryce and said, “this is a terrible idea”, and boom off I went from the gun. Two guys chased on and a three man break was formed. Gavin Kline (VT), Scott Krause? (UNC) and I rolled through about 1.5 laps before being caught became imminent and we sat up. Being caught was fine by me, I worked hard and now I had plenty of time to chill and recover before the flurry at the finish. Except next thing I knew Bryce came rolling by and yelled, “Let’s go, go, go!” Instead of the peloton it was a 7 man break that bridged and now we had 10 with every team represented. Welp, this was probably going to stick and it was definitely going to hurt. I pulled my weight for the next lap or lap and a half but I was hurting and hanging on for dear life. Taking the longest pulls in the 3 man break and the previous race were taking its toll. Eventually I dropped because I couldn’t pull. MISTAKE. Apparently it’s completely acceptable to just sit in and do zero work…as Steven said, “you’re too much of a mountain biker, you need to be more of a jerk roadie.” Well, lesson learned. It was an extra bummer as they shorted our race by a lap to get the A’s off before it got dark, might have convinced to hold on if I knew it was shorter, but the officials never told us. All in all the race was okay, I went back to the pack and enjoyed chatting it up with some of the guys I had met during mountain season. Rolling 18mph with the peloton and joking the whole time was probably good for me after the frustration of the day. It was still great to be out riding my bike.
In summary lots of lessons learned this weekend, and with that I’ll say I’m happy. Frustrated, but happy from the takeaways of the race. Be patient. Sitting in is okay. Alright, moving forward.
In summary lots of lessons learned this weekend, and with that I’ll say I’m happy. Frustrated, but happy from the takeaways of the race. Be patient. Sitting in is okay. Alright, moving forward.
Snowcone (March 2nd)
A week after W&M I headed to Richmond for the Snowcone series and hopefully a little redemption. The UVa guys raced down at UNCW and UNC but I passed on the weekend because the Syracuse v. UVa game was too tempting. While racing with the guys is always great, I definitely made the right decision. What a game!
On the Fortuna ride Saturday (race Sunday) I talked to Saul about W&M and my frustrations with the Cat 4 race. He was kind as always and gave me plenty of pointers and tactical advice. For this race in particular he told me to try 6 moves, with the 6th move being the one that “counted” so to speak. Hopefully the moves would help tire people out and string the field along. It was odd going into a race knowing what I planned to do; usually I’m completely winging it.
On the Fortuna ride Saturday (race Sunday) I talked to Saul about W&M and my frustrations with the Cat 4 race. He was kind as always and gave me plenty of pointers and tactical advice. For this race in particular he told me to try 6 moves, with the 6th move being the one that “counted” so to speak. Hopefully the moves would help tire people out and string the field along. It was odd going into a race knowing what I planned to do; usually I’m completely winging it.
The Crit was 45 minutes, so for the first 15 minutes I sat in and tried to work as little as possible and stay close to the front. It usually strung out around the 4 corners on one end and came back together along the 2 large straightaways connected by a 180 degree corner. At 15 minutes I made my first break into the 4 corners hoping to string out the field as I ripped through the corners free of nervous racers. I guess it strung people out and made them work to catch me. I couldn’t tell much of a reaction to chase and I seemed to stay away longer than I thought I would. A similar scenario played out for the next 4 attacks. I was unsure if Saul’s advice was really working in this 4/5 field. I was definitely worried I was just tiring myself out. Into the final lap we went with one last move to make, crossing my fingers I wouldn’t screw it up like I did a week ago.
We made it through 3 of the corners no problem and then things got interesting before the 2 big straights to the finish. It was a 90 degree left hand sweeper and the guy to my inside decided he would drift his way into me. We didn’t quite lock up handlebars but they definitely touched. I did my best to corner for him but I couldn’t quite hold the line and while I made it past the hay bales the cones marking the course were coming quickly. Whether this was the correct move or not I’m not sure, but I had to release and avoid the cones, unfortunately that means my new buddy went into one of the cones. Down he went taking a couple (or more) people with him. Definitely my most nerve wracking moment I’ve had on a bike, and I feel really bad that I caused such a mess, but I’m not sure I could do anything different.
With that I headed up the hill, made the 180 degree turn, and starting waiting till my final move. With about ½ mile to go a kid made a move to the right, I snagged his wheel road it out to a little gap of the field and boom, made my move. Well, I’m not sure if it was the field, Saul’s advice, or just more patience, but my move left everyone else in the dust and I was able to sit up just before the line well clear of the field for my first win of the year. Feels good to win a race like that, it’s not just fitness, you have to be smart.
I think having a plan made a huge different and I owe some serious thanks to Saul for being so kind and always lending an ear and some advice to me. I’m sure that will continue to be invaluable as I gain more racing experience and make more mistakes. It’ll be great to have someone to help me get better and race smarter.
With that I headed up the hill, made the 180 degree turn, and starting waiting till my final move. With about ½ mile to go a kid made a move to the right, I snagged his wheel road it out to a little gap of the field and boom, made my move. Well, I’m not sure if it was the field, Saul’s advice, or just more patience, but my move left everyone else in the dust and I was able to sit up just before the line well clear of the field for my first win of the year. Feels good to win a race like that, it’s not just fitness, you have to be smart.
I think having a plan made a huge different and I owe some serious thanks to Saul for being so kind and always lending an ear and some advice to me. I’m sure that will continue to be invaluable as I gain more racing experience and make more mistakes. It’ll be great to have someone to help me get better and race smarter.
Snowcone was a complete 180 from W&M, but both weekends were really helpful for my riding and racing. Up next is the Virginia mountain bike state champs at the Southern Virginia Shootout in Danville. Hoping for dry trails and warm weather, sick of riding in this snow, we’ll see if it works out.
Keep those pedals spinning,
B.Slow
Keep those pedals spinning,
B.Slow