Merco 2009 - first suffering of the year!
Merco Crit and Road Race Report -2009
I've gone over and over the races in my head for the last couple days. It makes my adrenaline flow each time I revisit the last few moments of each race. I also beat myself up a lot for not being fit enough to carry my team mates close enough to the line, but at the same time I have to be realistic. I knew coming into this first race weekend, that my fitness would not be ready for a win until the May time frame. So I did my best to play a supporting role.
I also realized how perfectly everything must flow together in order to execute pre-defined tactics. Road racing is as much about tactics as it is about have a base amount of fitness. As I said, I knew my fitness at this stage in my training was decent, but not great. Therefore I had to rely more on tactics for this go around of racing.
Sat-
For the crit we had Ryan, Jeff, Ed, James and myself. The plan was to get Ryan to the line protected enough to take the sprint. I knew I had to be efficient in the early part of the race so that I could help to ramp the pace at the end. For the most part I followed my friend Lloyd around the course. I did so because I know he's pretty sneaky and efficient about moving around within the pack and always staying near the top 15.
For the most part this worked for me. With three to go it was getting squirrely, as expected. Coming thru the start finish I moved near the front and then after the chicane I move to third wheel on a group the was setting tempo and stringing out the pack. We did this for about a lap, on the second time around I could sense the pack was getting ready to surge so I move to the front to keep up the temp and pulled for a lap.
The effort was taking it's toll and as we came around for the final lap I was gassed and as the pack was swarming me, I saw Jeff dragging Ryan up to the front for the final go around. I managed to grab back on to the pack and that's about where I finished. Nothing spectacular, but I felt that I put in the one good effort I had in me to keep it safe during the final laps.
Personally, I felt much more comfortable in the pack. I sucked wheels like a mofo and took turns in the middle of the pack even though it scared the shit out of me at first. As the race progressed, I felt more comfortable riding shoulder to shoulder with peeps. Not too bad for my first race of the season.
Sunday-
For sunday we had a larger crew: Josh, Ryan, Sam, Hank, Paul, Ed, Jeff, Nick and Liam. The plan was to keep Josh, Ryan and Sam protected so that Josh could be led out for the Win!
First lap was pretty uneventful. I worked on moving around the pack and chatting with people. The plan to get Josh to the front in the final lap was to start stringing it out as we made the left off of Cox Ferry road and onto the left-right-right-left of Keyes road.
So the second time around people were waiting for the Mice to do something. I also felt like when we were riding in the pack that peeps were purposely boxing us in. I had to work pretty hard to get out of the shelter of the pack.
At about mile 37 attacks started happening and the Mice took control. I remember seeing Hank, Paul and Nick go after stuff. I could tell the pack wasn't letting it get away as they accelerated to swallow the break, so I stayed in the pack saving my legs for the last few kms. As one attack after another was swallowed I realized that we would have to get decent positioning even before Cox Ferry road. By the look of my HR profile there were 4 surges before Cox Ferry.
Once on Cox Ferry there was a few more surges and the biggest hill. This is really when I knew the Mouse would have to take control well before the turn off of Cox Ferry onto Keyes road. I remember Sam saying something about take control or something to that effect. At that point Hank, Paul and myself started driving the pace at the front. Things simmered down and we reintegrate with the pack.
Then another surge takes place. I'm by Ryan's side and he asks me to let him out of the pack. I do and then follow his wheel. He goes to the front and set a fierce tempo, I let him know I'm on his wheel and to let me know when to take my pull. He continues on and then I take my turn then a few Paul or Hank. At this point the pace is high and am frick'n redlined and all I know is we have to keep the pace hi. I wonder to myself, how many more surges do I have left in me?
The pack is still pretty much together. Before the turn onto Keyes road and I know we have to be moving up. I starting calling to the Mice and charge to the front. I believe it was me and another couple folks we were first through the turn. I'm unbelievably in the hurt locker and looking for somebody to take a pull. Can't remember who it was, but somebody did and I'm resting a bit. The pack starts coming back together and before you know it the 1k sign marker is coming up. I'm positioned ideally for the final left hander before the final hill. I hear Ryan or Sam say go now. Already in the hurt locker I dug deeper than I can remember and entered the pain cave and drilled it. We made the left turn safely as I merged onto the wheel of one of the godspeed guys. My vision is blurred and i'm sitting and churing as hard as I can to keep moving. We hit the hill and I completely and utterly implode. I'm standing, grunting, swaying the bike to keep moving up hill. I'm swarmed by the pack and I only hope the Josh, Ryan and Sam made out of there.
I finish the grunt up the hill and spin as fast as i can to recover and then stand to sprint, but nothing comes out. All I could do to cross the finish line was to stay standing and use my weight to mash each pedal stroke to help me cross the finish...whew. That was about one of the hardest efforts I can recall putting out!
Josh, Ryan, Sam....I'm sorry I didn't have the tiny bit of juice to get us up over that last little hill. Damn it! I'm pretty sure you guys would have gone 1-2-3.
After beating myself up quite a bit I realized that road racing is about racing as a team. And that getting tactics to pan out as planned is really difficult. But on the bright side, we had a plan and we were so god damned close. The fact that Josh, Ryan, Sam and I were in the right position near the end is awesome. That hasn't really happened for me before.
Now I know that it is only a matter of time before we get the Mouse train dialed in. Not only that, but we have quite a lot more new mouse horsepower this year: hank, paul, liam, ed and nick! I'm proud and excited about this effort and it's only the start of the season!
Nice work fellas! Ladies you rock and the results speak quite loudly!
I've gone over and over the races in my head for the last couple days. It makes my adrenaline flow each time I revisit the last few moments of each race. I also beat myself up a lot for not being fit enough to carry my team mates close enough to the line, but at the same time I have to be realistic. I knew coming into this first race weekend, that my fitness would not be ready for a win until the May time frame. So I did my best to play a supporting role.
I also realized how perfectly everything must flow together in order to execute pre-defined tactics. Road racing is as much about tactics as it is about have a base amount of fitness. As I said, I knew my fitness at this stage in my training was decent, but not great. Therefore I had to rely more on tactics for this go around of racing.
Sat-
For the crit we had Ryan, Jeff, Ed, James and myself. The plan was to get Ryan to the line protected enough to take the sprint. I knew I had to be efficient in the early part of the race so that I could help to ramp the pace at the end. For the most part I followed my friend Lloyd around the course. I did so because I know he's pretty sneaky and efficient about moving around within the pack and always staying near the top 15.
For the most part this worked for me. With three to go it was getting squirrely, as expected. Coming thru the start finish I moved near the front and then after the chicane I move to third wheel on a group the was setting tempo and stringing out the pack. We did this for about a lap, on the second time around I could sense the pack was getting ready to surge so I move to the front to keep up the temp and pulled for a lap.
The effort was taking it's toll and as we came around for the final lap I was gassed and as the pack was swarming me, I saw Jeff dragging Ryan up to the front for the final go around. I managed to grab back on to the pack and that's about where I finished. Nothing spectacular, but I felt that I put in the one good effort I had in me to keep it safe during the final laps.
Personally, I felt much more comfortable in the pack. I sucked wheels like a mofo and took turns in the middle of the pack even though it scared the shit out of me at first. As the race progressed, I felt more comfortable riding shoulder to shoulder with peeps. Not too bad for my first race of the season.
Sunday-
For sunday we had a larger crew: Josh, Ryan, Sam, Hank, Paul, Ed, Jeff, Nick and Liam. The plan was to keep Josh, Ryan and Sam protected so that Josh could be led out for the Win!
First lap was pretty uneventful. I worked on moving around the pack and chatting with people. The plan to get Josh to the front in the final lap was to start stringing it out as we made the left off of Cox Ferry road and onto the left-right-right-left of Keyes road.
So the second time around people were waiting for the Mice to do something. I also felt like when we were riding in the pack that peeps were purposely boxing us in. I had to work pretty hard to get out of the shelter of the pack.
At about mile 37 attacks started happening and the Mice took control. I remember seeing Hank, Paul and Nick go after stuff. I could tell the pack wasn't letting it get away as they accelerated to swallow the break, so I stayed in the pack saving my legs for the last few kms. As one attack after another was swallowed I realized that we would have to get decent positioning even before Cox Ferry road. By the look of my HR profile there were 4 surges before Cox Ferry.
Once on Cox Ferry there was a few more surges and the biggest hill. This is really when I knew the Mouse would have to take control well before the turn off of Cox Ferry onto Keyes road. I remember Sam saying something about take control or something to that effect. At that point Hank, Paul and myself started driving the pace at the front. Things simmered down and we reintegrate with the pack.
Then another surge takes place. I'm by Ryan's side and he asks me to let him out of the pack. I do and then follow his wheel. He goes to the front and set a fierce tempo, I let him know I'm on his wheel and to let me know when to take my pull. He continues on and then I take my turn then a few Paul or Hank. At this point the pace is high and am frick'n redlined and all I know is we have to keep the pace hi. I wonder to myself, how many more surges do I have left in me?
The pack is still pretty much together. Before the turn onto Keyes road and I know we have to be moving up. I starting calling to the Mice and charge to the front. I believe it was me and another couple folks we were first through the turn. I'm unbelievably in the hurt locker and looking for somebody to take a pull. Can't remember who it was, but somebody did and I'm resting a bit. The pack starts coming back together and before you know it the 1k sign marker is coming up. I'm positioned ideally for the final left hander before the final hill. I hear Ryan or Sam say go now. Already in the hurt locker I dug deeper than I can remember and entered the pain cave and drilled it. We made the left turn safely as I merged onto the wheel of one of the godspeed guys. My vision is blurred and i'm sitting and churing as hard as I can to keep moving. We hit the hill and I completely and utterly implode. I'm standing, grunting, swaying the bike to keep moving up hill. I'm swarmed by the pack and I only hope the Josh, Ryan and Sam made out of there.
I finish the grunt up the hill and spin as fast as i can to recover and then stand to sprint, but nothing comes out. All I could do to cross the finish line was to stay standing and use my weight to mash each pedal stroke to help me cross the finish...whew. That was about one of the hardest efforts I can recall putting out!
Josh, Ryan, Sam....I'm sorry I didn't have the tiny bit of juice to get us up over that last little hill. Damn it! I'm pretty sure you guys would have gone 1-2-3.
After beating myself up quite a bit I realized that road racing is about racing as a team. And that getting tactics to pan out as planned is really difficult. But on the bright side, we had a plan and we were so god damned close. The fact that Josh, Ryan, Sam and I were in the right position near the end is awesome. That hasn't really happened for me before.
Now I know that it is only a matter of time before we get the Mouse train dialed in. Not only that, but we have quite a lot more new mouse horsepower this year: hank, paul, liam, ed and nick! I'm proud and excited about this effort and it's only the start of the season!
Nice work fellas! Ladies you rock and the results speak quite loudly!
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