Spring Valley cat 3: 5th place

Late report as I've been busy. I'll use some pictures to spice it up.

I said after last race that I was hoping to blow things up this Sunday. The course looked good for it: a 1 minute power climb leading into a false flat, then some windy criss-crossing roads. My plan was to stay near the front on the climb then hit the gas just over the top. At my weight, making a separation on a climb is difficult, to say the least. But a false flat and a crosswind play to my strengths. So hopefully the climb would leave guys a little gassed, then I could string it out on the false flat and the elastic would snap when we hit the crosswinds, leaving me and a few strong guys to form a break.

The race started off with a bang, as big Dan Waite from Saturn went to the front and roared through the crosswind section. Chip said, "Where's the fire?" Knowing Dan and his teammate Rodney Sauser, my guess was that Dan was trying to weaken some legs and set up Rodney for an attack first time up the climb. Sounded good to me -- I like working with Rodney.

We hit the top of the climb and I start my attack (all photos (c) Jeff Jakucyk):

No luck. Pace wasn't high enough on the climb and I blew the surprise by attacking in the little ring, stopping to shift (which is why I'm on the hoods in the photo), then attacking again.

But where was Rodney on the climb? It wasn't like him to sit in when there was carnage to inflict. Coming around the backside, I had my answer, as I saw Rodney waiting for us on the side of the road. A minute later he rolled up next to me.

"Rodney, you off the back?"
"Nah, got a flat."
"Damn, bad luck."
"I figure I'll just get in a hard training ride now. Want to attack?"

Ah, that's Rodney. So the second time up the climb I had some help at the top:

This time we were a little more successful, as more people went off the back, including Rodney's teammate, Dan Waite. As we came through the crosswind section, riders were sprinting to close gaps:

Soooo close .. but again, we didn't get the big separation. Down the backside of the course, Rodney and I traded attacks. He'd go off, get caught, then I'd counter. I don't know why I didn't sit in for an attack then try and go with him -- stupid. Near the bottom of the course I got to motor past the 1/2/3 pack solo as they shouted encouragement. Shortly after that two riders bridged up to me and we worked it for a while, but eventually they brought us back too. Darn those selfless riders working for their teammates in the pack!

Third time up the climb and I was paying for the attacks. I couldn't hang with the front row and had to drift back a few wheels. There would be no attacking this time:

Out of the picture above is young Cory St. Clair from Turner Logistics, who took off on the climb and had several seconds by the top. As we hit the top, everyone looked around for Echelon to start the chase, as they had been all race. But no -- the climbs were taking it out of the flatlanders. Except for their strongest riders, the Echelon train had been neutralized. Good news.

But with no padron in the pack, it took a while for the chase to get organized. Cory's lead grew. He looked good, and this was getting dangerous. The chase finally got underway ... but just then the 1/2/3 pace car came past us. Having just come up to speed, the front riders kept the gas on. Next thing we knew, Kirk Albers was in the middle of the cat 3 pack dropping spittle and F-bombs all over us. If I could make out Kirk's message between the swear words, he felt we should neutralize and slow down to let the 1/2/3s by. Last week, a screwup with the pace cars had left the pack neutralized for several minutes while an enterprising Turner rider went up the road, so the pack wasn't too receptive to Kirk's idea. Finally, the front riders slowed down not so much to let the 1/2/3s by as to curse back. As soon as the 1/2/3s got in front of us, they sat up. Great. We waited a few minutes then said, F this and started the chase again. In the end, Cory blew up, and just as we caught the 1/2/3s they caught him. So we let him drift back into us, let the 1/2/3s get a few hundred meters up the road and started racing again.

Bell lap, and at this point I figure it's coming down to the final climb, so I drift back into the pack to recover. Again, I blew an opportunity to work with Rodney -- since he couldn't contest the finish, Rodney started attacking like a madman at the front. Halfway through the lap he got away and started building up a very nice lead. He still had it at the climb, too, but he gentlemanly sat up so as not to confuse the finish. He told me afterwards that he'd have been happy to tow anyone who went with him to the climb, since he was out of the placings anyway. Opportunity lost.

So the final climb. Bike races are funny -- sports movies and Versus TdF coverage tell us that the last mile should be action packed with riders screaming in suffering. In my experience, it's nothing like that. You get to the last climb, and you go as fast as you can. It's either/or: either you can go faster than the other guys or you can't. This may be strange to say, but there's no sensation of pain. The wheels are coming towards you or they're going away. That is all.

In this case, I could go faster than the others, then I couldn't. I was about eighth at the bottom, then I was even with the front, then I was ahead of them. But about 3/4ths of the way up, Kyle Lyman from Team Dayton and Michael Whitlock from COBC attacked and gapped me. Like a big, dumb, pain-deadened animal, I kept chugging away, hoping to catch them. Now we were over the top and I'm still huffing after them. I glance under my arms and see wheels -- crap, looks like I'm leading out the pack sprint. We get to 150m to go and I try and open it up ... then close back down. 550 watts was all I had in me for the sprint, compared to 1000+ most pack finishes. So first Isaiah goes, then Cory gets his wheel in front of mine. 5th place.

Photo's not so good -- that's Isaiah in the blue Echelon gear taking 3rd, Cory on the right in 4th, and me hidden by Isaiah in 5th. You can see my wheels under Isaiah. I barely held off the Olympus rider.

Had I been smarter, I suppose I would have let off and looked for someone else to lead out. But I hate sitting in and letting the win go up the road. With two riders ahead of me, I kept the gas on. Knowing now that I couldn't close the gap, that was a tactical mistake, but so be it. I beat Blair by 3 spots, but it makes no difference on the GC since he's got that wrapped. I beat the current 2nd place, Joe Hall, by 2 spots, which still leaves me 15 points down.

Next week, Bull Run. Big packs and big money. We'll see how it goes and if I can pass Joe in the GC.

Spring Valley '08

I have been a little anxious leading up to the Spring Valley race, having heard it was a hilly course. As it ends up, there was one moderately big hill (@240 ft. over 1/2 mile) that crested maybe 400m before the line. I'm still not much of a climber, so I was a little nervous that those with "non sprinter's builds" would run away. We did 4 laps and the first time up, I was pretty gassed but noticed I was towards the front. As long as no one got carried away, I felt like I could at least compete on the hill.

It was great having teammates there again, Brett, Mike, and Tank were all there with Chris and Tank Jr. cheering on the sidelines (thanks for the yells). It makes a huge difference when you have teammates that can cover breaks and help move you up in the peloton, thanks guys!! I'm not sure why, but we all let a lone Dayton guy go up the road and he was never pursued, so we were all racing for 2nd. It was all together as we turned onto the last hill, I was right where I wanted to be as far as marking who I wanted to mark in the GC. I probably paid too much attention to him and some lighter guys were able to scamper away. I was playing the hill conservatively as I didn't want to blow my sprint. Brett got in front of me with @300m to go but I had a hard time catching him at first. I wound it up with maybe 250m to go and passed several people, including nipping Brett near the line (sorry!). I got 5th in the sprint, 6th overall, and more importantly, put time over the 4th place GC and got a few points closer to 2nd overall as well, mission accomplished. I am now 20 pts. out of 2nd with 1 more race to go.

Darkhorse Threads

It's all about branding...

(American Apparel California Fleece Track Jacket)

One mile race: 3rd, Gettysburg cat 3

First, huge congrats to Alex for hitting the podium! With his sprint, we all knew it was just a matter of getting into the break and he'd be up there. So when the cat 4 break motored past the cat 3 pack and I saw him riding strong, I squealed like a schoolgirl. (As he says, I'm not proud.)

I have to say, our 4 boys impressed me. Alex obviously, but also Brett and Mike. I was watching the cat 4 pack come in, and with about 200 meters, I saw Brett in about 15th place. At 100 meters he was working through the top 10, and by the line he was just behind 3rd. That's a serious kick. Mike comes out of semi-retirement to give Alex some key support and finish strong on a course that doesn't play to his strengths. Soon as he sees a race with some real elevation change, he'll be the one riding off in the break.

And one more moment: the cat 3 and 4 packs were playing leapfrog for a while, and at one point, the referee inexplicably decided to lead the 3s past the 4s as we headed through two hard turns in succession. It could have been mayhem but for one thing. As we came by, I saw Brett and Mike at the front of the pack controlling for Alex, which was cool, but more impressive was that they had the class to slow the 4 pack and bring it together so that we 3s could get by without any broken clavicles. Nice job guys -- makes me proud to wear the same jersey.

As for the cat 3 race it was, well, kind of meh. There were a few flustercucks other than the ill-conceived pass I just mentioned: the pace car that took a wrong turn on the first lap; the moto ref who then tried to stop us by zipping to the front of the pack and throwing on the brakes, sending riders into the ditch; the junior who quietly rode away as we were neutralized to get the pack turned around, thereby gaining a several minute advantage which he held to the line, only to fight back tears when they told him he was relegated. And the forecast upper 60s and sunny that turned into 55 and misty rain. Do I need to mention what happens when you have wet roads in Amish horse-drawn carriage country?

But I'm not really animated about any of that, because in the end no one got hurt and none of it mattered to the race outcome. What bugged me was that the racing was fairly boring. The main culprit was the course: flat and windless. The other factor was that the OVR cat 3 series has now become the Echelon Cycling Show Staring Blair Fraley. Blair has a well-deserved commanding lead in the overall, and Echelon showed up with 6 or 7 guys to support him, many of them quite strong like Isaiah Wallake. They were there to control the race and put their guy to the line first, both of which they did 100% -- total credit to them and Blair for a job well done.

But with a non-selective course and with the biggest and strongest team shutting down all the early moves, the race became far too predictable: we're all going to roll around for two hours then race the last mile. Heck, if that's the way races are going to go, I'd rather just shorten them to one mile and save everyone the time. I've said before that I like races with a story, a little development or surprise. This race had none of that. Oh well. More hills, more wind, or another big team to mess with Echelon and the series will be back in action.

So, the last mile. I was fearing mayhem, since too many guys feeling strong means riders all over the place. In the end it wasn't too bad -- a DRT rider attacked late, which forced Echelon to chase him down and string things out. Once they caught him with about 500m to go, it got a little trickier. I was about 8 from the front with Blair on my right when a surge came up the left-hand side. I'd been planning to mark Blair again, but was worried that this surge would box me in so I jumped into it. Mistake. Just then Isaiah fired up to give Blair an excellent leadout and the left-hand surge lost steam. I was on-and-off the power picking my way through the wreckage for a while, and by the time I got clear, Blair and Scott Spees had about 10 meters on me. I started after them and was gaining for a while. Then I wasn't. Then we crossed the line.

3rd place, I'm happy with that. I'd rather come in 7th in a race that showed more excitement though. Next race I may go out with the plan just to try and blow sh*t up. I'll probably fail, but hey, at least it will be interesting.

Movin' on Up

Another lovely spring day in Southern Ohio, mid 50's and rainy for almost the entire race. I had some teammates today and I think it made a difference. From the gun Team Abundance was trying to get away and we kept catching them, we weren't going to let them get one up the road by himself again.
Halfway through the 1st lap, I asked Mike More to get me toward the front and he did, great work! Soon after that, a Campus and an Abundance went, I knew from their race #s that I wanted to go with them so I did. We had a nice little gap as Brett and others got to the front and started regulating the pace to prevent any counters. An Echelon bridged up, then Brett told Steve Fine of Dayton to go so they had a rep in the break and that was all we needed. We had 5 in the break and stayed away for the rest of the day. We dug hard to get as big a lead as we could and ended up passing the Cat. 3 field. We worked well together and everyone took pretty equal pulls, although I felt a little weak at times.
After the last turn, there was about 1 mile to go and Jim Dennedy of Abundance took off. I knew it was way too early so we just slowly ramped it up, Steve Fine took a nice strong pull then we all came to a complete stop as the course marshalls waved a car in front of us at the 4 way stop with @ 500 meters to go!! We got going again, playing cat and mouse until maybe 150 to go when Campus' Mike Chewning got a nice jump and I hesitated just long enough for him to get a bike length on me. I closed the gap but ran out of real estate, finishing a bike wheel out of 1st.
2nd is my best result ever, but with the taste of victory so close, I really want to be there next time. I'll let Brett and Mike blog their versions, but they did great and I couldn't have done it without them. Hopefully Adam's novella is forthcoming as well, he was strong as always.

YEEE-HAW!

We cyclists often hear of less than cordial exchanges between riders and pickup trucks. So I think it's important to highlight the times when the opposite happens.

Riding back to Oxford tonight from the Thursday Westside ride, I heard a vehicle coming up behind me. Something big by the sound of it. The engine gunned and I looked left to see a large pickup rolling by in the left lane. Rusty fenders, dual stacks, flatbed, the whole picture. And through the window a big excited grin looking my way.

"YER DOIN' THURTY MILES 'N HOUR, BOY! YEEE-HAW!"

He gunned it again, and as he shot down the road I saw a big thumbs-up sign out of the driver side window.

Made my day.

(And before anyone asks: downwind, long gradual downhill.)

Lynchburg, 4th in the 4's

Don't worry, my blog will not be nearly as long as Adam's for 2 reasons. I am not nearly as eloquent or talented a writer (or rider) and I don't remember half of what happened anyway. As you could tell it was cold and windy, but thankfully not rainy. We rolled out with the 5's (which explains some of the sketchy riding) and after the first turn, the attacks started. Team Abundance (formerly Anthem?) was off the front all day long. We managed to reel most of the attacks in, thanks to Brett and a few others willing to work. Finally, a lone Abundance managed to get off the front which no one was too worried about since he was alone. Sure enough, he stayed away and was eventually joined by a teammate when I was too far back in the pack to notice. There were a few feeble attempts to bridge but no one was willing to work together so they stayed away. The last lap, we reached blazing speeds approaching 15 mph as no one wanted to burn any matches and we know the break was out of reach. Brett volunteered to help me out in the sprint so I got on his wheel and with 1km to go, we reallized we were way too far back for the sprint. I had probably 15-18 guys in front of me with 800m to go. Unlike Adam's well laid out sprint plan, my thoughts were "Go fast, pass people" so I just passed as many guys as I could while seated. At about 250m to go, I stood up and gave it my all, passing enough to take 4th in the field, 6th overall. There were 2 Cat. 5's ahead (I'm not proud) so I ended up 4th overall, my best result ever!

Thanks to Brett for the teamwork, we'll get 'em next week.

Lynchburg cat 1/2/3 and 3 combined: 2nd combined, 1st cat 3

(Photos by Jeffrey Jaukucyk, (c) 2008)

Nick, Chip, Alex, Brett and I dared the crummy weather report to race at Lynchburg today, where luckily for us the predicted rain stayed away. Because of the cold, turnout was down, and the organizers combined the 1/2/3s and the 3s together and also bunched the 4s and 5s. So Alex and Brett got to race with total newbies and we 3s got to race with Texas Roadhouse and Huntington. Yay.

I've never seen a race go down quite like this one. There's not much to tell: we rolled out for three miles, then the first break went ... and stuck until the end. No back and forth of attacks and chases, no stretching rubber bands. 3 miles and it was down to 7 riders, 3 from the 1/2/3 race and 4 from the 3. Fortunately for me, I was the next-to-last rider to make it in, just before Kirk Albers came up like a bullet, went straight to the front and made sure we had open road behind us.

That makes it sound easy, but the pace was pretty high when the break went. And once we were in it, we were hell bent for leather for quite a while, especially when Kirk was on the front. He'd blow apart our rotation and string us out for a good half mile. The only time I feared getting dropped was when I got caught out in the crosswind as he was winding up. The wind was pretty strong and there was no place I could get a real draft. I drifted back to the rear of the line, but the lane was too narrow to fit 7 riders echeloned out, so I still had no shelter from the crosswind. The gap was 5 meters from me to the last rider and I just ... couldn't ... close it. Thirty more seconds and I would have been gone, but right then Kirk pulled off, everybody slowed to get their breath back, and I made it back into shelter.

The race within the break started with about a half lap to go. I think everyone believed we had a pretty good gap after 4 laps of concerted effort, so we weren't afraid to get slow. Which we did. At one point, I was glued to Blair from Echelon's wheel as he zigzagged across the road at 18mph. Ryan Vingris from Anthem razzed me and I had to agree it was pretty silly, so the three of us rode to the final stretch side by side.

Once we took the right hand turn onto the final 1km stretch, the fourth cat 3 in the bunch, a Raisin Rack rider I didn't know, offered us a leadout. My three thoughts for the sprint were: cover Blair, who I figured was the strongest sprinter; don't go early, as there's a strong wind which will slow me down; and go on the downwind side, so's not to let anyone slingshot through my draft. In the end, I only accomplished the first. Blair went way to early, about 250m out, but I jumped a few seconds later with 200m still remaining. I got up to speed, looked up and thought, uh oh, those people at the finish are still a long way off. Looked under my arm and saw a wheel anchored to mine. Crap. Nothing to do now though, I'm committed. Sure enough, with 100m to go, the rider came around me -- slingshoting through my draft on the downwind side, just what I meant to avoid. But it turned out that it wasn't the whole break blowing by me, just Kirk Albers. I held him to a little less than a bike length but had no chance of closing.

So that's it. It was fun, I'm tired and more than a little brain dead. Apologies again for the long report. Nick and Chip did some great work in the pack helping us stay away. I heard from Nick that he was feeling strong coming into the bell lap until a junior rider put a skewer into his front wheel and broke his spoke. Chip held in there for a good long time given it was his first race of the year -- nice work, brother. And Brett and Alex were their usual sprint monsters in the 4/5 heat. They'll have to fill you in with the details.

Sunday's Race Results - Lynchburg - 4/13/08

Gentlemen, can someone post a race recap? I am anxious to read how the race played out today! Especially after Boonen destroyed them at Paris-Roubaix!

Four Horsemen of the New Richmond Apocalypse

The end of the pack was nigh for many a brightly colored rider at the New Richmond Rampage tonight. We four horses -- Brett, Alex, Mike and I -- showed up and put our spurs to the bunch. By the end, only two of 25 riders were still with us. Now, I should probably mention that almost half the pack, including many of the big guns, decided to ride back on their own and skip the climb, and a flat detained another 4. But I think it's pretty impressive that we made up 2/3rds of the final lead bunch. Even Mike came through strong, despite all his claims to being out of shape, losing his bike, moving, etc. etc. And horses led at both the sprint and the top of the climb. Not bad guys.

Now, if we could only keep the 70 degree weather a few more days.