 |
Cherry Pie crit
2-6-05
DFL (dead frickin last)
Cat 4
Field: lots- 80-90???
Teammates: Jason, John Mark, Galen, Rajiv, Lars, Julien, Tyler
First actual 4's race! I have learned that the 4's are definetly
stronger/faster than the 5's, and to some extent a little smarter...though
quiet dumb at some points! I felt pretty good for the majority of the race.
The pace was hard, but I hung on alright until the end. I moved around the
pack a fair amount and I'm now fairly comfortable in any position in the
pack. I think I spent a fair amount of time tword the back of the pack
because I was a little tired, and a little-well-little. I think my size is a
bit of a dis advantage on a course like this one because I just didn't have
the power I needed on that decent. In the end quarter I had to chace on off
the hair-pin down the hill. That just took it out of me-- going 5mph to 30
in a short didtance repetivly. I was spinning out in my Jr. gearing as well.
I was doing better just to tuck rather than to pedal on the decent! In my
opinion, the 4's couldn't climb as well as the Jr's...I noticed that earlier
in the race I could easily move up through the feild in the 4's race while
sitting down and not be going to hard, where as in the jr's we'd all be
pounding as hard as we could and no one moved up. Anyway, with 5 laps to go
I started to become the last guy on the pack. I held on until the 2nd to
last time we went up the hill when Jason attacked and the whole pack went. I
fell off there and couldn't hold on. I tried to chase on on the decent, but
it wasn't going to happen, I got close in turns 2 and 3, but then I couldn't
push any harder, and I sort of sat up and just pedaled in a little harder
than sitting up out of respect of the fact that it was a race. Over all I
had a really good day. I got lots of experience as far as the pace of Jr's
and the pace of 4's go, as well as big pack riding.
Cherry Pie crit
2-6-05
4th
Jr. 15-16
Field: about 25
Teammates: Nicolas, Ye, Greg, Glen, JP Not in category: Charles, Rajiv,
Lars, Julien, Tyler Galen
Fun, short, race. Only 30 min! I felt pretty good for the whole race. I sat
in for a lot of it, but I came to the front to help block for charles for a
little bit. I was pretty confused as to who was in my category so I didn't
really go all out for the finish. I probably could have picked up a place of
two if I had known that the majority of the people in front of me were
17-18's! This race wasn't super event-ful, and i did a race after it so i
kind of forgot exactly how things played out..haha!
Early Bird Road Race-Patterson
1/22/05
8th
Cat 5
Field: 28
Teammates: none
Ouch. Today was pretty hard. So the day started with getting up really early
to get out there. Then all of us took too long to change and Jason missed
his start...he had to chase on. I was lucky and I got in the 'B' group for
the 5's race so I made it to my start with about a min. to spare. Luckly we
started of very mellow and I had a chance to get my legs moving and a little
time to fight the freezing conditions of the foggy morning. After about 30
min. the whole field started to get tense in anticipation for the climb. (I
guess everyone was told be in the front for the climb and no one knew where
it was!). Right at the base of the climb was some scary stuff- black ice! In
the group in front of us, some people fell and they were in the middle of it
and they were yelling at us to go easy, slow down, and try not to fall.
Unfortunetly I think their presence freaked some people out and a huge chunk
of the feild hit the pavement. Fortunetly I was ahead of them and I was able
to get into the lead group. One guy in out group of about 8 said 'ok we have
a gap, let's work a little!'. That pissed me off...bad sportsmanship but
whatever. I had to go with them. I came over the climb in about 9th
postition. I had lost sight of the leaders and was kind of working with 2
other guys kind of un-efficiantly. I started to cramp up some coming off the
climb..that sucked...By the time I got off the hill and was heading back on
the rollers, I was tired and in about 10th place. I caught a ride with one
of the masters from the grup behind me (totally didn't know you're not
supposed to do that!! haha...won't happen again). He did most of the work
but I pulled as long as I could which wasn't to long because this guy was
much bigger than me. I eventually caught my group (the 5's) of about 6 guys.
We got pretty organized and chased really really hard to catch the 3 guys
who were still off the front. I pretty much spent every bit of my energy in
that pace line. We eventually caught the 3 off the front and the pace eased
off a little. When we hit the 1 k mark, 7 guys went, and I had nothing left
to go with them, but the other 4 guys behind me had less. I sat up, but made
sure I wasn't going to get caught for the last k because I knew I had no
reason to work hard. Overall I had a great time and learned a bit about road
racing in general. I would call today a success!
Early Bird #4
1/23/05
somewhere near the front
Cat 4/5
Field: 30ish
Teammates: Lars, JP, Galen
Fun race. I did the early bird RR yesterday so I was a little bit tired but
whatever. The 4/5 group was a little faster than the new 5's group. At one
point on the back stretch I looked down at my speedometer and we were
cruzing at 30! Some people are still clueless on how to take turns correctly
which makes for the slinky effect which really tires you out! Overall I felt
pretty good and I rode a quiet race.
|
|
