Westlake 5/13/08

I did the Worlds last night. Dave, Tom, Gary and I raced the A race, everyone else was in the SBR race, I mean the Bs. Seriously, it's like half the field of 30 was in Orange and Blue. It's nice to see everyone out.

Word is there were about 40 in the A field including the usual strong teams. RGF, LakeEffect and Spin had big numbers, Torrelli and Inferno had 3, and Paul Martin was there...

Here's how it went. We raced our bikes until a small break went early with Dave. Dave won a prime, and the break was brought back. We went fast again. Small gaps opened and were closed by lots of people.

For the most part, I was sitting in... as were all the big guns except for the Torrelli duo. I tried to watch what they were doing, just in case something interesting developed. But it was pretty thick.

The Inferno guys were riding around telling people how to ride their bikes. Well not everyone, just the guys they thought needed to be told. With a field of 40, and everyone waiting for Paul to do his thing, there was not much room for movement. So Cameron from RGF attacked across the yellow (in an area where everyone goes left of center) and that got quite the reaction from people. Yelling and cussing, and I'm sure Cameron will take every one of those words (and threats) to heart next time he thinks it's time to go.

The race very quickly went into the Paul Martin Zone (PMZ) for Westlake. Small guys go off the front.... and everyone watches, all the big guys stay at the back waiting for Paul. Small guys bring it back. More small guys go, repeat.

Eventually the right combo of small guys go, and no one works. (Read Spin on this night) So the small guys break gets a sizable gap, and everyone complains that the small guys teams (represented in the break) are not racing, but blocking the field... like those guys are going to pull their own back. I know it happens frequently, but don't complain when it doesn't. At least they were keeping us moving at that pace.... if they sat up we'd be going slower.

The PMZ is when no other team will work, represented or not, because they know Paul will put in a two lap pull at about 30+ per, and bring the break back. Then another group will go, and we'll repeat this. Everyone races against Paul. Sure it's fun to sit on while he lines the group out, but it's also extremely weird. Last week, those breaks would have been shut down early by other teams, because the big guys that want the points weren't represented. In the PMZ, Paul decides when they get closed down.

Anyway, I tried to get into a few moves. I had a line on a split, and tried to close it down with an Inferno on my wheel. I looked for him to come around and help, but he decided to attack me instead. So we both came back in short order. Nice. The second one, I was second row with Paul, and made a comment about how everyone is waiting for him to do the work. Then I decided forget that, and jumped to bridge. I was making headway alone, but noticed the break was kind of putzing along in a disjointed rotation... and the field was also keeping my gap constant... so I figured it was doomed, and nixed my continued effort.

With 5 to go it was all together, and we started getting some primes in quick succession. 1 point, 2 point then 3 points. With 2 to go it was all together, so I was thinking bunch sprint, or PM attack. I worked it into the top 10 with 1 to go, and Paul and an Inferno took off. I was on Rudy's wheel, as he jumped with Derrick, and an RGF I think? Anyway, there were Paul and Inferno, then us 4 and we had a nice gap, with half a lap to go.

So I thought this could be it, but I look back and Batke (who had already flatted out of the race) was pulling Ray and the rest of the field back up to us. OK, if it wasn't him I guess someone else may have done the work, but come on.

So, we're caught with 600 to go, and I go from 6th, to 10th to 20th in short order... with 300 to go, I find Tom K on my wheel, so I give it everything for 100m, then pull off and coast in.

High point of the night was Dave getting 2 primes and riding the breaks really well. I got in some more training, and did a good bit of work. The other high point is watch Paul pull at 30per, and sit up for 20seconds when the break comes back, then go again... because he can. I ended up with an average of 26.8 from the start to finish. No wonder my legs were complaining on the stairs today.

Fun, fun. Maybe I'll repeat this again next week.