This was the first race this year where the weather was nice enough to race in just shorts and a short sleeve jersey. It's hard not to enjoy a race when the weather is this nice.
IVRR is a pretty flat course, with a 2k hill and a 1k hill, neither of which are too hard. Not really enough to drop the big sprinters, without a serious attack.
At the beginning of the race, an Apex and Second Ascent guy rolled off the front. The field just let them go, and they didn't come back. Bummer that 1st and 2nd rolled off so early, without serious challenge.
The rest of the day was quite a bit of fun - felt pretty comfortable moving up in the field, felt great on the climbs, and put in a few small feeler attacks.
The last time up the big climb, a Hagens rider put in an attack, and I went with him. We ended up gapping the rest of the field, and picked up another couple from an earlier break. We worked together okay, but I ended up gapping them on the descent. It just wasn't going to work out - the location just wasn't going to work. The chasers were getting a bit tired, however, so I knew something would roll out - sure enough, it did, but we weren't in it. Looks like the right place to attack was the crosswinds. Ah well - I'm learning a bit.
I was totally boxed in in the sprint - it was super slow, and rather dangerous, so I didn't try to force it.
All in all, I got in a great day of racing, but I'm a bit bummed I missed out on the two important moves of the day.
Race data here.
Mason Lake #3
Not a fun race. I flatted (as did 6-10 other people, in nearly the same spot) about 5 miles in, got a slow wheel change, and started off trying to close a 60-90 second gap.
I didn't even get close, and pulled the plug after 2 laps. Pretty frustrating - the race unfolded nearly exactly how I hoped it would, with a small-ish (32 starters) sprint finish at the end for 2nd place, but I wasn't around to contest it. Ah well - I'll have to try my luck at IVRR and Ravensdale-Cumberland this weekend.
I didn't even get close, and pulled the plug after 2 laps. Pretty frustrating - the race unfolded nearly exactly how I hoped it would, with a small-ish (32 starters) sprint finish at the end for 2nd place, but I wasn't around to contest it. Ah well - I'll have to try my luck at IVRR and Ravensdale-Cumberland this weekend.
2010 - Mason Lake #1
(photo by Bethanie Stallman)2010's first race was, predictably, Mason Lake. It's usually the first race series of the year, and one of the best attended (jokingly referred to as the Mason Lake World Championships). Sort of odd, considering there are no prizes, but everyone's usually ready to put their winter training to good use. Plus, it's the first chance everyone has to gauge where they stand relative to everyone else at the start of the year.
The downside is that it's usually a pretty sketchy experience. The final 1k has a sharp downhill, slightly narrowing roads, and a sweeping 90 degree turn. In previous years, I've just ridden this race to get in some early racing miles. This means I've ridden at the back since I've been too nervous to move myself up, and missed taking part in the sprint entirely.
This year, I had only one goal: don't ride at the back, ever. I shouldn't be back there and I'm fast enough to be at the front. There's really no excuse not to learn to throw my weight around a bit and hold my position in the top third. So as the race go underway, I took the first opportunity I had to move to the top 10, and waited for a bit for the race to develop. I didn't particularly want to be in a long breakaway, and I had a couple of teammates who were probably better suited to it than me.
A couple of people got off the front in the second lap (of 5), and Eric Peterson and Mike Brown attempted to bridge up. The gap was a little bit big however, and they came back to the group. There wasn't much to do at that point but sit and wait for the field to come back together for the sprint.
On the last lap, the break was predictably caught, and the field started to set up for the sprint. Unfortunately, something sort of weird happened - the field slowed up enough that the four riders in the break stayed at or near the front. This, coupled with the fact that no one wanted to use up energy before the sprint (no one who could put down a serious attack, at least) meant that the last lap was really, really slow. When the pace slows down that much, it fans out across the road and no one can move up. It also means that people have a chance to recover, and fancy their chances in a sprint. Together, it means that the front of the race is slow, the back of the pack is fast, and there's nowhere for the middle to go as everyone tries to get into the same spot.
This is the part of the race where I usually lose spots, but this time, I held my ground as people bounced of me (annoying, but not an issue), my handlebars (a bit dicey), and the people riding next to me. Things stayed pretty slow until 1K to go, when the first few guys hit the gas. Folks ran right into the back of riders going slow, and our field had the biggest pileup I've heard about in the Cat 3's. 15-25 people went down right behind me, and the top 20-ish made it through. I felt very calm, strong, and ready to go - I had to keep myself from starting the sprint too early, since I felt so good.
With about 250m to go, a huge guy (6'6?) wound up his sprint, and I got on his wheel. Unfortunately, his sprint ended at 50m later, and I was a bit stuck. There wasn't really enough distance for me to tuck back in and wait, but 200m at Mason Lake is a long, long way for me to sprint. Didn't have much choice though, so I wound it up and went. When I looked back at 100m, I thought I had gapped everyone, but JD Fette (fast, fast kid) was behind me, and almost came around at the end.
I was pretty excited about this win - it was the first time I've been able to mix it up at the front of a really jostling group, and my first participation in a bunch sprint. Really looking forward to seeing if I can get myself into the front for another - it feels like I should have a pretty strong shot to take some of these if I'm near the front with 175 to go.
Also found out that I had easily enough points to upgrade to Cat 2 for 12 hours, until I lost my points from 2009 Tour de Dung #1 (USCF upgrade points disappear after 12 months). Ha.
Results
Track Cycling Recap
I never did recap how track cycling went over the summer -
Short version: I raced a lot after Leah was born, and even though it was the only racing I was really doing at the time, and I managed to upgrade into the 2's.
Longer version: I really loved track racing. Moving up from the 4's was a little dicey at times, but all in all, track racing feels very safe to me. No brakes and higher speeds means a safer-feeling race. I tried to get in breaks all the time, and it often worked out pretty well. I managed to do reasonably well in the 3's, won the omnium on a few nights, and got a mandatory upgrade after the FSA Grand Prix.
Racing in the 1/2's was a different story. Lots of fun, but I was in way over my head. I'll be interested to see how things go this year with a bit of actual training and racing past April. I can't just expect to ride baseline fitness in those races - too many fast guys.
Short version: I raced a lot after Leah was born, and even though it was the only racing I was really doing at the time, and I managed to upgrade into the 2's.
Longer version: I really loved track racing. Moving up from the 4's was a little dicey at times, but all in all, track racing feels very safe to me. No brakes and higher speeds means a safer-feeling race. I tried to get in breaks all the time, and it often worked out pretty well. I managed to do reasonably well in the 3's, won the omnium on a few nights, and got a mandatory upgrade after the FSA Grand Prix.
Racing in the 1/2's was a different story. Lots of fun, but I was in way over my head. I'll be interested to see how things go this year with a bit of actual training and racing past April. I can't just expect to ride baseline fitness in those races - too many fast guys.
Getting started with track
Just started out at the track - did the first few intro to racing nights, and got upgraded.
Did a few Cat 4 races (http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=6, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=8, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=9), and did pretty well, so I got to move up to Friday night (the big show).
It's a big jump from not having ever ridden on the track to the Cat 3 races on the velodrome for me. First Friday night was a big leap for me - I felt pretty good in the scratch race, but got boxed in. I got boxed in during the miss-and-out and was third to be eliminated. Last race of the night was a points race - I felt good, and tried to get in a breakaway. Unfortunately, I wasn't even close to getting away, so I just toasted myself for the finale sprint.
All in all, a pretty disappointing first Friday night, but I was pretty excited to be able to upgrade so quickly.
Here's a picture of thee points race:
Did a few Cat 4 races (http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=6, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=8, http://velodrome.org/mva/node/64?results=night&id=9), and did pretty well, so I got to move up to Friday night (the big show).
It's a big jump from not having ever ridden on the track to the Cat 3 races on the velodrome for me. First Friday night was a big leap for me - I felt pretty good in the scratch race, but got boxed in. I got boxed in during the miss-and-out and was third to be eliminated. Last race of the night was a points race - I felt good, and tried to get in a breakaway. Unfortunately, I wasn't even close to getting away, so I just toasted myself for the finale sprint.
All in all, a pretty disappointing first Friday night, but I was pretty excited to be able to upgrade so quickly.
Here's a picture of thee points race:
Longbranch Road Race
I hadn’t planned on racing Sunday, but since I won on Sat, I felt obligated to show up and try to defend my lead in the omnium. There were a lot fewer people in this race (about 38), so I knew who I needed to watch. The course featured two hills - a long, steep, 39x27 hill (2-3 minutes), and a shorter, rolling 39x25 near the end. Not enough to really split the field, but by the end, we were down to 20 of the 38. I was feeling pretty tired during this race (not having ridden much for the last couple weeks), but AJ was fantastic in chasing people down.
Last couple laps, I led the field up the major climbs as a way to stay near the front, and was feeling okay (but not great). AJ was around to lead me through the field, and lead out the sprint, which meant that I was actually in a good position for once.
I knew the Lenovo guy I was watching for the omnium was stronger than me, so in the sprint, I watched him closely. Unfortunately, I tried to come around him in the sprint on the right, where there were inexplicably a couple of women’s riders. I don’t know if we were just passing their field, or if they happened to finish at the same time somehow, or what, but in either event I almost ran one of them off the road, and had to sit up and try to sprint again. It was my fault, I should’ve been looking further up the road, but they were going so much slower that it all happened very quickly. Managed to stay upright, managed to start sprinting again, and ended up 6th. I was a bit peeved, since the finish suited me so well (I love uphill sprints), but it was enough to take the omnium for the weekend.
Big thanks to AJ and Smoothie for showing up on Sun and sacrificing for me to take the omnium - it was actually sort of important to me, and I’m thrilled it worked out.
Anyone know where there are pictures? Never did find any for either day.
Last couple laps, I led the field up the major climbs as a way to stay near the front, and was feeling okay (but not great). AJ was around to lead me through the field, and lead out the sprint, which meant that I was actually in a good position for once.
I knew the Lenovo guy I was watching for the omnium was stronger than me, so in the sprint, I watched him closely. Unfortunately, I tried to come around him in the sprint on the right, where there were inexplicably a couple of women’s riders. I don’t know if we were just passing their field, or if they happened to finish at the same time somehow, or what, but in either event I almost ran one of them off the road, and had to sit up and try to sprint again. It was my fault, I should’ve been looking further up the road, but they were going so much slower that it all happened very quickly. Managed to stay upright, managed to start sprinting again, and ended up 6th. I was a bit peeved, since the finish suited me so well (I love uphill sprints), but it was enough to take the omnium for the weekend.
Big thanks to AJ and Smoothie for showing up on Sun and sacrificing for me to take the omnium - it was actually sort of important to me, and I’m thrilled it worked out.
Anyone know where there are pictures? Never did find any for either day.
Glenwood Road Race
This was my first real race since Leah was born, and my goal on the line was just to finish. On a wet and rainy day, with 80+ in the field, I figured I’d be stuck in the back with no hopes of moving up (I really need to work on my pack positioning skills). Fortunately, I was able to line up at the front of the race, and once we got rolling, I managed to stay in the front 15 for the first lap, covering some attacks and blocking for a few of ours that got a bit up the road. I was feeling generally good, even though it was raining, and started to feel comfortable at the front again. Of course, I got shuffled to the back for laps 2 thru 4, and had great deal of trouble moving up. I started to feel nervous racing again (lots of brake-fistfuls on some of the mini-descents), and was just hoping to make it through the race without touching wheels. Brian got shuffled to the back when he missed a turn (thanks corner marshals!), and started ranting excitedly about how we need to be at the front. Weirdly, this is what I needed to hear to make moving up through the field sound like something I actually wanted to do. I made it about 1/2 way up, when I got stuck again. Fortunately, Randy launched an attack and the field stretched out just enough for me to move all the way to the front.
Since there were only about 6 miles left to go, and Randy’s attack had come back, I went to the front to try to string it out for AJ in the finale. I pulled hard by myself on the front of the field for about 2 miles, and then we went around a left hand turn up a small riser (53x23), and I ended up pulling away from the field a bit. A Starbucks guy came with me, and I decided to just keep pulling for a bit to make some other teams chase. We only had about 5-10 seconds, then all of a sudden the elastic snapped, and we had about 400 yards. We were sharing pulls evenly, and I was doing my best not to get over-excited, since the finish suited me precisely (200m uphill drag). With 1K to go, I knew Recycled had it locked, and sure enough, on the finishing straight, I was able to knock it out by a comfortable margin. I was really thrilled to be in a break this way, in such a big race - Wes (from Starbucks) and I took pretty even pulls, and really cooperated all the way to the line. It was great to have such positive racing, and I think Wes and I were both thrilled that something stayed away.
It was great for the team to get our first USCF win in the Cat 3 field this year in an important race. It was great for my form to finally start coming around (along with my confidence racing/positioning, etc). I’ve felt reasonably strong all year, but I haven’t been able to put myself near the front of races where it would really make a difference. It worked out this time though, and all the Recycled guys really controlled the race for the first 5 laps. It’s great to ride with a fantastic team - we had lots of ways to win, and it felt like we were in the hunt all day.
Since there were only about 6 miles left to go, and Randy’s attack had come back, I went to the front to try to string it out for AJ in the finale. I pulled hard by myself on the front of the field for about 2 miles, and then we went around a left hand turn up a small riser (53x23), and I ended up pulling away from the field a bit. A Starbucks guy came with me, and I decided to just keep pulling for a bit to make some other teams chase. We only had about 5-10 seconds, then all of a sudden the elastic snapped, and we had about 400 yards. We were sharing pulls evenly, and I was doing my best not to get over-excited, since the finish suited me precisely (200m uphill drag). With 1K to go, I knew Recycled had it locked, and sure enough, on the finishing straight, I was able to knock it out by a comfortable margin. I was really thrilled to be in a break this way, in such a big race - Wes (from Starbucks) and I took pretty even pulls, and really cooperated all the way to the line. It was great to have such positive racing, and I think Wes and I were both thrilled that something stayed away.
It was great for the team to get our first USCF win in the Cat 3 field this year in an important race. It was great for my form to finally start coming around (along with my confidence racing/positioning, etc). I’ve felt reasonably strong all year, but I haven’t been able to put myself near the front of races where it would really make a difference. It worked out this time though, and all the Recycled guys really controlled the race for the first 5 laps. It’s great to ride with a fantastic team - we had lots of ways to win, and it felt like we were in the hunt all day.