November 19, 2005
http://www.teamlakeeffect.com/
Week 3 of the series, and the weather has turned in Cleveland. It screwed up my training, as my off day was the one nice day of the week, then I didn't ride on the other days because of the forecasts... which didn't materialize the way I had anticipated. That and life collaborated to give me a total of 50 minutes on the bike since last Sunday's race.
Forecast for today was sunny and 45. We've been in the 20s for the last 3 days, and the race day weather is almost balmy. Evidently some people didn't appreciate it, as we had lower turn outs this week.
The Course
We return to Cahoon park in bay village. We were here for race 1 of the series, and it hasn't changed much. They did add a nice little twisty section heading toward the run up that had the effect of scrubbing any speed you had to carry into the hill.
Even though we've had some snow, the course was only moist in the grassy sections.
B/C Race
Very different results in the B field. With 32 racers, down from low 40s, series leader Matt Weeks and Jeff Craft racing down for the week went off the front after two laps. A chase group of 4 including my teammate Brett and the other top B riders worked the whole race to bring them back to no avail. Behind them the normal placings were pretty mixed up.
In the end Matt powered away from Jeff in the last section. Brett was in the thick but had nothing left and rolled in for sixth.
Pat was also working with one guy throughout the race, and ended up in 14th for the day.
A Race
I tell you, it's really hard moving up. The last two weeks watching more than half the field power away from me in the first lap has been pretty humbling. So, when they posted the last weeks results, I went into analysis mode. I took my average lap times, and compared them to the B race length. All things being equal (they wouldn't be, but I have to start somewhere) I had good enough times to win the B race. So I guess I'm in the right place.
I had a good race last week, aside from still not making it to the mid pack placings. So I was hoping to improve more this week. My wife had even predicted eighth place, based on my previous 12th, and 10th. I called her right before we started and joke about there only being 9 racers in the A field... imagine my surprise when there really were only 9 on the line.
Since I had gone pretty well last week, my goal was to push it a bit harder in the first lap, and see if I could hang on a bit longer. I'm going to try to remember how I started in this silly game. Chasing all the fast B's 2 years ago.
So I'm the first guy to line up. Not that it matters with only 9 racers. The last guy to the line is local super fast, Paul Martin. My race will be against Jeff from Honey-Stinger and John Lorson from Orrville. If I'm going really well, I might make it up to Ross from Solon again, but I'm not optimistic since he's feeling much better today than last week.
Off we go, and I'm fifth in the line around the first set of turns. I'm feeling comfortable and I'm going to work to hang on. It's not long before Paul comes through and starts the action at the front. By half way through the first lap, I'm in seventh with Jeff right behind me, and John opening up a gap in front of me. Through the barriers, Jeff comes around me, and I'm fighting to hold on.
Through the first lap, and I'm recovering a bit, so I come around Jeff and tell him we can catch Lorson. Then I get to real work. Through the whole second lap, my heart rate was pretty high, but we made progress as I pulled to within about 100 meters of John. Then I let Jeff come around, and my intent is to hold his wheel as he finishes the job. Unfortunately, my legs/lungs have a different idea, and Jeff bridges nicely up leaving me in the same position.
Ugh! Now I've got to get up there, or I'm on my own. I keep them close for another half lap, but then the gap starts to open, and I'm sitting all alone in eighth place.... out of nine.
The rest of the race was pretty mundane. I knew there was still one guy behind me, and I kept waiting to recover so I'd be able to make it back up to John and Jeff, but it never happened. With about 4 laps in, I started to see the guy behind me. This concerned me, and I was able to push it a bit more to try to avoid getting caught.
With three to go, I saw Paul Martin. My goal for this year was to avoid getting lapped by Paul, and it wasn't looking good for today. I was able to see Paul catch Dave in ninth, and Dave gave an effort to hang on his wheel. If he could hold on, then even my eighth place would be in jeopardy. So I poured on some more to try to stay away. It wasn't long before Paul had left Dave, and I only had to worry about holding off getting lapped.
Paul caught me about 3/4 of the way through the lap... and I come through with only one to go now. Not happy, but I decide I'll do my best to not let anyone else pass me. With only one lap left, my only hope to move up is to actually catch and pass Paul. Instead my goal becomes finishing the race strong, and at least be able to say that I was only caught by one guy.
At the finish, guys trickled in one at a time. Paul still put a minute and a half into me before the end of the lap, and I finished a minute ahead (and one lap down) of Zak in second place. The most exciting finish was for 6th place. Jeff attacked on the last lap and held off John, which made me happy as I had a hand in getting him to John's wheel.
Post
So eighth place, just like my wife predicted. The good news is the low turn out has me in sixth place on the series points. The key to this is only showing up every week. So if I can make the next four races, I may be able to hold onto this The down side of low turn outs is that I'm not racing against anyone. With another 10 guys in the field, I probably would have fallen into another chase group and been able to recover a bit, and maybe make it back up a place. It wouldn't have been for eighth, but it would have been more fun than a lonely time trial for 5 laps. And I may have been able to remain on the lead lap.
Unfortunately, they didn't post finish times for the B race this weekend. So I can't compare my times with how the B race went. Well, maybe that isn't so bad. I'm not sure I want to know.
Stats
| Time | 58:02 |
| HRM (min/avg/max) | 148/163/197 |
| 7 Laps | 12.8 miles |
Next week is the 'cross extravaganza! Three races in one weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And the weather forecast? Cold and snow! Looks like we'll get some real cyclocross conditions this year. I'm planning on getting on the bike a bit more this week, so hopefully I'll have some legs. I wonder what they'll feel like on Sunday. Could be a painful weekend.
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