B-game Crit
Wow, it's been a while since I updated my blog or even done a race report. So here I am doing it, before the excitement of this weekend's race wears off.
Burlingame Crit
Cat 4 Men
Teammates: Chris Lollini, David Parrish
Place 22/61
Course map
Pictures...coming
My training has been full of ups and down this year. Most recently I was coming off of a 5days on\5days off regimen...not the best consistency. But leading into this weekend's race I got a good hard workout at the Park Ride, read as I felt like puking and my lungs hurt the entire time. Weds was my regularly scheduled mtb ride up at Skeggs, where I also thru down some hard intervals to prime my legs for saturday.
So overall I was coming into the race feeling purty good. However as I'm not a sprinter I would definitely be working for my teammates Chris and Dave. Dave's been tearing it up at the Park Ride lately. And Chris well, he's our sprint master....duh!
God, 7am is an awful time to race on a saturday...ie. wake up at 5am. Anywho, showed up, had a little trouble with reg ( i took over Ammon's spot), hopped on the trainer and got a solid 22 minutes of easy spinning with one effort. Jumped off the trainer, hit the restroom and off to familiarize myself with the course. Did one easy lap and tried to find the good lines and made not of the broken pavement section. Not sure where I read it, but the "buttery smooth"description of the course didn't really match the reality ;-) I came thru the start\finish area with about 6 minutes to go before start. Plenty of time I thought. I went thru and did a hot lap to see how to handle the corners. As I rolled up to the S/F line riders were already line up and I was 3-4 rows back. Dooh! So much for positioning.
The whistle blows, I click in to my pedals and quickly dart thru the field and move my way into the top 20. I think it took about a lap and I made my way over to Chris. I told him, I'm working for you, what did you need. And BAAM, just then an attack went off, so I chased it. A couple guys got far off the front I chased for a while, then got stuck in the middle of the break and the pack. As I saw they weren't going to stay away I eased up to reintegrate into the pack. Just then I heard Chris telling me to get back in the pack and rest up. I did as I was told and felt great in now time.
No sooner had that happened than more attacks went off. I chased it down and then reintegrated into the pack. I felt nervous, but more confident about moving around the pack than in crit's passed. I learned to make my way towards the outside of the pack so that I could follow surges that came up along the side. This is actually how I gained quite a few positions a number of times thru the chicane sections.
I'm still nervous riding crits and for the life of me I couldn't find the damn lap cards. I stayed focus and tried to relax as much as possible. With about 5 to go, I heard the horrible sound of crashing. Thankfully I was far away enough only to hear it and not experience it. The fight or flight response of the pack was intact as soon after hearing the crunching of bikes the pack accelerated and I was right there on the hammer.
I could see Chris comfortably sitting near the front. At one point, I don't even know when it happened, I realized there was a mouse at the front. Turned out that Dave was responsible for stringing us out. As I had sensed the pack accelerating I went with a surge on the right side of the pack and made my way near the front only to find Dave finishing up with his strong pull. I offered Dave my wheel, but I think he put a little to much of his juice into that effort and he didn't latch on.
Shift the focus back to Chris, I'm working trying to get back over to him, but the pack is going fast, people are getting jittery and yelling. We approach the last turn, I take an inside line.... to pass a few folks, but it ends in a bunch sprint (about 30people) and it's over!
In retrospect I realize that I should have gone to the front to driver the pace with like 2 to go. Because with 2 to go the pack started bunching up and bunching up toward the end of the race is never good. Sorry Chris! Next crit I will be stringing it out for you with two to go and you'll be assured of any sprint finish!
Great to see many Mice faces out there. Thanks Larry, Scott, Matt for cheering. James was racing masters, how did it go? While Rick was reprezent'n in the 3's.
Finished up the day with another 3hours in the saddle. Road over to Woodside and up Kings Mountain for a little hill tempo workout and then back to B-game to pickup my car. Legs feel really good right now. I'm already looking forward to bringing some glory to the Mouse at Leesville. Who's with me!?
Thanks for Reading!
Burlingame Crit
Cat 4 Men
Teammates: Chris Lollini, David Parrish
Place 22/61
Course map
Pictures...coming
My training has been full of ups and down this year. Most recently I was coming off of a 5days on\5days off regimen...not the best consistency. But leading into this weekend's race I got a good hard workout at the Park Ride, read as I felt like puking and my lungs hurt the entire time. Weds was my regularly scheduled mtb ride up at Skeggs, where I also thru down some hard intervals to prime my legs for saturday.
So overall I was coming into the race feeling purty good. However as I'm not a sprinter I would definitely be working for my teammates Chris and Dave. Dave's been tearing it up at the Park Ride lately. And Chris well, he's our sprint master....duh!
God, 7am is an awful time to race on a saturday...ie. wake up at 5am. Anywho, showed up, had a little trouble with reg ( i took over Ammon's spot), hopped on the trainer and got a solid 22 minutes of easy spinning with one effort. Jumped off the trainer, hit the restroom and off to familiarize myself with the course. Did one easy lap and tried to find the good lines and made not of the broken pavement section. Not sure where I read it, but the "buttery smooth"description of the course didn't really match the reality ;-) I came thru the start\finish area with about 6 minutes to go before start. Plenty of time I thought. I went thru and did a hot lap to see how to handle the corners. As I rolled up to the S/F line riders were already line up and I was 3-4 rows back. Dooh! So much for positioning.
The whistle blows, I click in to my pedals and quickly dart thru the field and move my way into the top 20. I think it took about a lap and I made my way over to Chris. I told him, I'm working for you, what did you need. And BAAM, just then an attack went off, so I chased it. A couple guys got far off the front I chased for a while, then got stuck in the middle of the break and the pack. As I saw they weren't going to stay away I eased up to reintegrate into the pack. Just then I heard Chris telling me to get back in the pack and rest up. I did as I was told and felt great in now time.
No sooner had that happened than more attacks went off. I chased it down and then reintegrated into the pack. I felt nervous, but more confident about moving around the pack than in crit's passed. I learned to make my way towards the outside of the pack so that I could follow surges that came up along the side. This is actually how I gained quite a few positions a number of times thru the chicane sections.
I'm still nervous riding crits and for the life of me I couldn't find the damn lap cards. I stayed focus and tried to relax as much as possible. With about 5 to go, I heard the horrible sound of crashing. Thankfully I was far away enough only to hear it and not experience it. The fight or flight response of the pack was intact as soon after hearing the crunching of bikes the pack accelerated and I was right there on the hammer.
I could see Chris comfortably sitting near the front. At one point, I don't even know when it happened, I realized there was a mouse at the front. Turned out that Dave was responsible for stringing us out. As I had sensed the pack accelerating I went with a surge on the right side of the pack and made my way near the front only to find Dave finishing up with his strong pull. I offered Dave my wheel, but I think he put a little to much of his juice into that effort and he didn't latch on.
Shift the focus back to Chris, I'm working trying to get back over to him, but the pack is going fast, people are getting jittery and yelling. We approach the last turn, I take an inside line.... to pass a few folks, but it ends in a bunch sprint (about 30people) and it's over!
In retrospect I realize that I should have gone to the front to driver the pace with like 2 to go. Because with 2 to go the pack started bunching up and bunching up toward the end of the race is never good. Sorry Chris! Next crit I will be stringing it out for you with two to go and you'll be assured of any sprint finish!
Great to see many Mice faces out there. Thanks Larry, Scott, Matt for cheering. James was racing masters, how did it go? While Rick was reprezent'n in the 3's.
Finished up the day with another 3hours in the saddle. Road over to Woodside and up Kings Mountain for a little hill tempo workout and then back to B-game to pickup my car. Legs feel really good right now. I'm already looking forward to bringing some glory to the Mouse at Leesville. Who's with me!?
Thanks for Reading!
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