April 24, 2004
Last race in this series... which has been fun and educational. The first race had a huge turn out, and the lots of teams, but none strong enough to control the race. My second race had a smaller turn out, and Snake Bite had enough savvy to effect the race, and bury me... well, I dug the hole, they just let me jump in and threw some dirt on top.
So, what will today hold? The weather was the big question mark. Forecast calls for scatter thunderstorms. I now understand the race will only be called for ice on the roads, and thunderstorms. I'm hoping the storms will be widely scattered.
Prep
Geoff and I are car pooling. When I get up, it's raining... lightly, but wet none the less. Peter had told me that it rained on Tuesday night for the Westlake series, and it was a crash fest. I REALLY don't want to crash, so I'm hoping the rain lets up.
I picked up Geoff and we arrive around 8:05. The race starts at 9:30 (or so), so we have time to do a couple of warmup laps. I met another Cleveland Chaos rider in the lot, Larry is a cat 3 who has not been riding a lot for the past year or so. He'll be racing in the masters field... which means he'll be in the B race. They don't do any other splitting of the fields for this except A and B. So the B race is Masters Cat2/3, Cat 4/5/cit. The A race is Cat 1/2/3/4. Turns out the A race sheds guys like crazy.... a bunch of single riders laboring away. I'll stick with the B's until I can consistently hang with and effect the race.
They've filled in a lot of the pot holes with a sand/gravel mix. No more bunny hopping holes, but the roads may now be more treacherous. The organizer was out sweeping the corner at the bottom of the decent as we were doing our warm ups.
Right before we line up, the rain starts... nothing torrential, just annoying. Then it stops... just enough to wet down the roads some more. Shower in the pack today. Once the rain starts, I quickly decide to add another layer. I was going to go without warmers again today... until I got a little damp. Knee warmers and a long sleeve base... hopefully, that'll be the right choice. I also baby oiled my legs.. what a bike geek. Temp is right around 60 again.
The Race - Snake Bitten... again!
The field is pretty small today compared to the other 2 races, maybe 30-40. First thing I notice is Snake Bite has 6. Pyro has 2, Honey-Stinger has 2, Orrville has 3 (maybe 4), StarkVelo again has 1, PDQ has a couple... and there are about a half dozen unattached riders.
Brett Davis (Snake Bite) is here again, even though he's sick with a cold from racing in the rain on Tuesday.... and I call the day saying, "you've got numbers today". I should really listen to myself. Geoff was even more on, he looks at Todd Bolgrin, and says "That guy is really strong. he should be catting up this year."
Off we go, lots of chatter as we get moving. I'm sitting around mid pack, with a bit of nerves. Lots of riders, and I don't trust a lot of them to know how to handle wet roads. So, I'm going to see about hanging at the front today... not to far up, but out of trouble up.
Tiffany Kenny is in the group also. I pointed her out to Geoff... always nice to race with a pro. Even if it's not her ride of choice..
Snake Bite certainly had a plan today. They sent Todd up the road immediately after we cross the finish line at the start of the first lap.. First lap action! That was the end of the chatter, we're here to race!
As we come around for the first lap, I started working my way up. It becomes pretty obvious who I should watch out for. There is one big PDQ who is all over the place. Another Orrville rider that is a little wiggly, and another older PDQ that was working the chase with us last week that I do not like to be behind. The rest of the scary people stay behind me, but these guys keep getting in front somehow. I keep tapping people as I move through... letting them now not to come over any more. I'm such the Patron of the pelaton.
Through the first lap, and the pace vehicle driver has to jump out and flip the lap card. He gets back in with plenty of time, but now I'm concerned about the finish... we're supposed to have two primes. Last week the first prime was on the second lap. No bell, so now what?
Through the hills, and I notice Larry is in the front through the covered bridge turn. Probably the smartest place to be, as people brake hard through there. I passed through the group and start working up to the front. Snake bite is up there, but they really haven't shut anything down. And Todd is just dangling out there a short gap off the front, which seemed weird.
As we make the turn onto Riverview, an Orrville goes and joins Todd up front. Then they both dangle there. Then a Honey-Stinger goes up... this is were things got weird. I was next to the other Honey-Stinger that I worked with last week, and made a comment about how his mate looked to be in a good move. (duh!) The problem was the Honey-Stinger guy wanted to get to work... so they let him do it all... and he blew up.
I moved up to second or third line while he was working, and had a little chat with Cat 3 Larry. me: "Think this is early for a move to go before we start the 3rd lap?" Larry: "I'm trying to figure out the tactics... Snake Bite is still really chasing even though they've got a guy up the road. And they really aren't making any distance. If they can't open this gap with their own guys on the front..."
Last week I got hammered by chasing on the first lap so this week I figured I'd be smart and conserve. Somehow I decided it was OK to nap here.
The Honey-Stinger popped and came back to the group. And I was sitting in the same place. Following Larry's wheel. I saw 3 or 4 Snake Bites come up to the front and camp out. Somehow I missed the move of another Snake Bite and another Orrville joining the original 2.
Start of the third lap, and the bell rings for the prime. The line is now got someone on it, so at least I know what's happening there. Larry is on the front again through the hills and the corner again. I'm sitting about 3rd or 4th wheel. And I feel really good.
After the corner, Larry and I are behind the Snake Bite train. Somehow the break has opened up more of a gap. I'm not overly concerned until the wiggly Orrville gets on the front with Pat from Snake Bite.... and they have a little chat. Damn... that means they've both got riders in the break!
Through the 3rd lap. Larry does some pulls, and I sit behind the Snake Bite patrol. The prime is gobbled up by the break, so we roll through... another prime on the fourth lap.
Larry is really driving the group through the hills. I'm not right on his wheel, but any time a gap opens, Pat closes it. If Larry opens, and I fall back a little bit, and Pat closes it up for me... This time it's Larry then me through the the bridge turn.
Pat is working really hard at the front. Brett is there trying to tell him to go slow... Larry and I are working the front to get the group moving but Snake Bite is really being effective.... and no one is willing or able to come up and help bring back the break.
Along Riverview I asked Larry if he wanted to try to bridge on the last lap... I don't know if he heard, or if he didn't think we could, but I was willing to try it. Through the line and into the last lap.
Again Larry and I through the turns with Pat in the mix. At one point the three of us got a gap when I was on the back. I called the gap, but it got closed down before we got anywhere.
At one point the wiggly Orrville rider comes up next to me near the front, and I ask him if he's got a guy in the break. He must have seen me working, cause his answer is "I'm not working, I've got 2 guys in the break". After clarification, I found out there were 2 Orrville and 2 Snake Bite up the road.
So I was sitting on the front Peter pulls through. I would have liked to get Peter, Larry and I all together with maybe another guy, and had a run... but it never worked out. Every time I had one of them the other was in the group somewhere.
We were picking up lots of A riders, I kept Larry informed on this. He thought the break was coming back. We lapped one B racer, who told us the break was WAY up the road, and we were racing for 5th. So I'm driving another chase group. This time the chase is the main field though.. so I guess that's progress.
On Riverview, I had a nice pace on the front when the popped Honey-Stinger guy came up. I waved him through and let him pull a little, then I did a turn, but the group shut that down pretty quick also..
Finally before the Riverview rise, I did a pull with Larry on my wheel. He pulled through, but 2 Snake Bites were stuck on his wheel. I should have moved in and taken Larry's wheel... I told him we had baggage, but I didn't play the move right. After a pull, Larry drifted back behind me as I was trying to close a small gap on the two Snake Bite riders. Larry said "We're racing for 5th place!" I think he was frustrated that they wouldn't let anything go. He was right next to the big squirrelly PDQ guy that started laughing at Larry's comment... and drifted left.... right into another guys front wheel. Dropped him instantly... I looked over my shoulder, and saw the guy on the road left of center. According to Geoff, he went down hard. The Snake Bite riders heard it to and sat up. I half expected them to drill it then.
After that, I pretty much just waited for the sprint for the scraps. Snake Bite had shut down the work as well. We passed the school yard going pretty slow, and hit the final stretch. I was about 5th wheel, and the front riders started coasting down the hill to the finish... I just said "forget this", and went, probably a way to early, but I'd had enough of this slow stuff. Geoff thinks my sprint cadence was to low, that maybe I could have stayed away if I was up over 100. Anyway Pat (Snake Bite) came around me and picked up 5th. I ended up 14th, (so lots of guys came around...) I wasn't overly concerned... though I would have liked a top 10.
Post
Overall I was happy with my race. Snake Bite got 2nd and 4th. So even though they did all the work behind, Orrville capitalized with a better sprint.
Only the one crash... which I really think is thanks to Snake Bites control. They played a good tactical game and kept the pack from really racing. We got sprinkled on a little, but I think most of the wet was coming up from the road... more rain, may have cause more wrecks.
I learned a lot on this race... hopefully I'll figure out how to use it soon. Talking with Larry during the cool down laps was really cool... he gave me more tactical advice, and some ideas about racing with the A's at Westlake. I've got to ride with more Cat 2/3's somehow. I know I'll get shelled but the learning curve has got to be huge. It was yesterday.
Average HR was 161 which was pretty low considering the work I was doing. My average for the race was 23.5. Which was pretty quick considering everyone was tentative on the corners, and there was a fair amount of blocking. My guess is the break was really strong, probably guys ready for Cat3. So the blocking didn't have to be super effective to work for them.
It's all tactics. Last week, the group was too big to stay away, and I went. This week, I should have paid attention to who was in the group, and tried a bridge. I felt good, and I may have been able to hang with the break.
We don't learn nearly as much from our successes as we do from our failures. Not because we can't... but because we don't analysis the success as thoroughly as we do the failure....
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