Another race, another good team result. I didn't have a good ride today, it took about two laps for me to get at all into the game, then a couple more to really get going. If you were blatantly disregarding the yellow line rule, as a ton of people were, it was real easy to get up front. If you paid it any mind at all, it was a bitch on wheels to move up. Is the lesson there that you just ignore the line? I put my hand on a rider's arm as he was blowing by the field outside the line, held him in place and said "look down at where you are on the road. Cut the crap." Shockingly, he went back and found a spot without being a d-bag. Anyhow, our collectivve not as good as usual positioning somewhat negated our plans to be more aggressive than we wound up being, although Newport and Parrish both got up and made stuff happen.
As he'd planned, Nathan W got in a promising 3 man break with about two to go and they stuck it. They never had a lot but they had what they needed. Fortunately we had 4 guys ready for the counter (by that point I'd gotten myself out of the cellar of the field) if they had been swallowed up. Parrish nearly took the field sprint for 4th but settled for sixth. I had good position up the last hill, top ten down the downhill and through the curvy section, up the last rise and onto the finishing stretch, but lost a ton of ground by choosing the doomed left side. I should have grown a pair and moved way up when it started to get wierd in front of me, but I hesitated. He who hesitates is lost and sometimes has to brake hard to avoid the two people now going sideways into the cornfield. Coulda woulda shoulda, cue the violins.
The last half of the race didn't seem nearly as hard as the first couple of laps, but the overall numbers of the race bear out that it wasn't a very hard race. Probably because I played pack fill for the first 4 laps.
I'm at that spot now where I'm not going to get dropped from any race, and can play a role at almost every race, but need to get that extra push over the cliff to get some good results. Intervals, here I come. Also, I need to get better at the head game. I had the cajones to get myself where I needed to be 1/4 lap out, then at the critical moment I blinked.
3-4 races are pretty much just as sketchy as 4 races. It's bike racing, shit's going to happen
5 comments:
Yeah, the yellow line. I liked when the official said something at the very beginning of the race and one rider told him to cut us a little slack. I think he cut a little too much. I had a guy trying to pass me on the hill on the wrong side of the line, I couldn't go anywhere to the right, and the guy told me to watch it, I was pushing him out. I told him he was already out and just kept on riding.
How about that last little stretch to the finish? Thought I was going to get taken out. I heard nothing but wheels and spokes in front of me and somehow nobody went down. After that I jumped and it turned out to be a little too early and just pulled over to the left to try not to interfere with the sprint. I think the 200 meter mark was just a little off as well.
Nathan is a beast! He did a lot of work on the front today.
Wrob got DQ'd for cross the yellow line. He might have been the only to get caught.
Actually, the Cat4 race wasn't bad at all. A couple squirrelly guys.
R
stephen - wtf was with that non-crash? it was really loud, really sideways and then nothing happened except that the floodgates opened up on the right side and my position went from hero to zero.
ray - i'm glad to hear that they at least regulated someone. the last time up the hill i would have deserved regulation myself, but i couldn't just sit there and have my pockets get picked a 7th time up the hill.
Another good race for ya'll. The only place the yellow line seemed to understandably go out was on that hill.
The "non-crash" put me and another rider in the farmer's field on the run in to the finish as the whole pack moved left. Very bizarre indeed.
i felt like i got a bum rap. i kind of got pushed out going up the hill and really had nowhere to go. Honestly, i think the moto thought i was somebody else.
it wasn't the best day for Bike Doctor. A few of us had bad luck including dropping one self from winning break.
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