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ninevirtuesLast year, this was my first road race.
This year, there were 16 total people, and it was a mixed cat 3/4 race (read, I was racing with people who had considerably more experience), plus there were Tina and Carol (cat 4s from our team who are very strong and fast).
You know, in retrospect, a series of incidents make this race interesting for me:
1) Janet, a cat 3 who mentors the cat 4s, set up our race plan. Because there were going to be lots of us (there were six) and only ones and twos of other teams, we were going to send two people up the road at a time, trying to let them get away. In that way, we could wear out the other racers but remain relatively strong ourselves.
Well, what actually happened is that Janet pulled the entire pack around the racecourse for the second lap of said course, plus launched some solo attacks that got caught quickly, then faded to 11th at the finish line after doing all that work. (I should mention here that Janet raced on Thursday, and on Friday. "Machine" is not too strong a word, here.) Some of my team members made sporadic attacks. I did not, because I lacked confidence. Some of my other team members did not, and I'm not sure why not.
2) The only other team that had more than one person on it was DeFeet (in fetching pink and blue kits). At one point, approaching the only significant climb on the course, I saw one DeFeet rider nod at the other one... they lined up one behind the other..... and they did everything but hang up a big neon sign that said, "We're about to try to make a break for it."
What did I do? Duh, I did the smart thing: I got behind them and followed them when they accelerated to try to break free of the pack, so that when they stopped working so hard and sat up, I was right there with them. (Sorry, ladies. Next time, don't nod at each other so loudly, okay?)
3) The End of The Story: It came down to a field sprint, (everybody sees the finish line and makes a break for it). I was 8th of 16.
The multiple morals of that story:
1) I need to be better positioned for the sprint. I was about eight riders back in the pack 1K from the finish line. Whoops.
2) I need to decide, beforehand, when to start my sprint. If I see other people start to sprint and THEN decide to go, that is TOO LATE.
3) I need to practice sprinting more.
This year, there were 16 total people, and it was a mixed cat 3/4 race (read, I was racing with people who had considerably more experience), plus there were Tina and Carol (cat 4s from our team who are very strong and fast).
You know, in retrospect, a series of incidents make this race interesting for me:
1) Janet, a cat 3 who mentors the cat 4s, set up our race plan. Because there were going to be lots of us (there were six) and only ones and twos of other teams, we were going to send two people up the road at a time, trying to let them get away. In that way, we could wear out the other racers but remain relatively strong ourselves.
Well, what actually happened is that Janet pulled the entire pack around the racecourse for the second lap of said course, plus launched some solo attacks that got caught quickly, then faded to 11th at the finish line after doing all that work. (I should mention here that Janet raced on Thursday, and on Friday. "Machine" is not too strong a word, here.) Some of my team members made sporadic attacks. I did not, because I lacked confidence. Some of my other team members did not, and I'm not sure why not.
2) The only other team that had more than one person on it was DeFeet (in fetching pink and blue kits). At one point, approaching the only significant climb on the course, I saw one DeFeet rider nod at the other one... they lined up one behind the other..... and they did everything but hang up a big neon sign that said, "We're about to try to make a break for it."
What did I do? Duh, I did the smart thing: I got behind them and followed them when they accelerated to try to break free of the pack, so that when they stopped working so hard and sat up, I was right there with them. (Sorry, ladies. Next time, don't nod at each other so loudly, okay?)
3) The End of The Story: It came down to a field sprint, (everybody sees the finish line and makes a break for it). I was 8th of 16.
The multiple morals of that story:
1) I need to be better positioned for the sprint. I was about eight riders back in the pack 1K from the finish line. Whoops.
2) I need to decide, beforehand, when to start my sprint. If I see other people start to sprint and THEN decide to go, that is TOO LATE.
3) I need to practice sprinting more.
