What a rockin weekend of bike racing.
Here's the synopsis, I'll try to keep it short.
First, I've settled on a warm-up routine for crits. As a guy leaned more toward road racing that needs the legs to get warm, I've decided that I just need to get out on the bike for an hour or more of L1/L2 spinning with some rolling terrain or some 30-45 second threshold level efforts to get things rolling. This keeps me from cooling down too fast at the inevitable start line "freeze" waiting for the whistle.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4:
Round and round, got in a couple early moves and watched for a break to get established up the road. Nothing was going and that was really getting frustrating. In typical Cat 4 fashion, no one ever lets a guy get more than 5 seconds up the road. This kept the pace high the whole race. Callahan pulled me up to the front to get me a launch right as the prime lap was called. He thought he wasted but actually it worked out just right. The plan was to launch immediately after the "prime slow down" that happens almost always right after the prime sprint.
Launched it into turn one and got a gap fast. No one came across and with now 10 laps to go, I was on my own. I looked under the arm a couple times to see guys trying to bridge, but no one ever made it across and the inevitable failure of my one-man break happened just after the 2-to-go. Evolution was the force on the front, as far as I could tell at the end, but I take consolation that they didn't place a guy top 10 after shutting me down.
Pack finish after the pace blew up with the Bike Rack guys on the last laps and I never recovered from the break.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4 35+:
The team took a huge win, and - sorry to the other teams - but we man-handled the peloton. We had a good team meeting before the race and planned our strategy. With no breaks sticking all day at Syn-Fit, we didn't expect one to stick here either and planned for our sprint lead out.
I ended up in an unexpected break with an NCVC rider who was clearly suffering (and admitted as much afterward), but that made it easier to just kinda ride tempo off the front without really punishing it as I was supposed to be the last of the lead-out.
We got snagged with 8 to go and let the other teams manage the minor attacks that went from here to two to go. I had enough time to roll to the back, grab the sprinter and pull through to my lead-out's wheel. Gus nailed it through turn one on two to go and began to "stretch the elastic." New team-mate Pete Warner took it from 1 to go, summarily popping the Colavita rider on his wheel and sliding me right into second wheel. At 1km to go I got to take over and jam through the 200 meter mark. Carnage was all over behind us allowing me to coast in for fifth with a fantastic finish by Rich. Rock on Rich! Best race of the weekend was getting the team and teammate the win.
Carl Dolan 3/4:
Tired yet? Yah.. me too. We did a lousy job with strategy in this race, planning way too late. Ahler's still got a 1st place prize payout from the 4's after the split out of the results and I rolled a pack finish. Of note, moto-refs should not try to relegate someone THROUGH the field. yah, that sucked big time.
Carl Dolan 35+:
Powermeter says the 3/4 was just as fast as this race, but I don't know if anyone would agree based on perception. First, the 3/4 race was bunched up all the time, making it really hard to move around. The 35+ was lined out 2-3 wide almost the entire race. That made it really easy to move up on the side away from the wind, but getting away was a whole different story.
Kudos to guys I know - Matt for getting away in that killer break that was probably the only break of the day that had a prayer.
I got to launch off the front a couple times to bridge to the break, if nothing else to get the WWVC jersey out of the pack. This was bad for me, but good for others who took my attacks to that half-way point and then went the rest without me. Dave hooked me up with an attempt to get me half way across, but it just wasn't happening. We got some distance with two others, but Warno took off and I had nothing. My legs were cooked and I couldn't hold on full tilt at any more than 30-45 seconds.
For being "notorious" for crashes, both races were reasonable safe. The 3/4 was a huge field so there were some serious momentum issues. The 35+ was just so constantly fast that the speed alone kept it safe.
What a rockin weekend of racing. The Syn-Fit was a great venue for fast racing, and that team win was one of the most rewarding victories I've had yet.
Here's the synopsis, I'll try to keep it short.
First, I've settled on a warm-up routine for crits. As a guy leaned more toward road racing that needs the legs to get warm, I've decided that I just need to get out on the bike for an hour or more of L1/L2 spinning with some rolling terrain or some 30-45 second threshold level efforts to get things rolling. This keeps me from cooling down too fast at the inevitable start line "freeze" waiting for the whistle.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4:
Round and round, got in a couple early moves and watched for a break to get established up the road. Nothing was going and that was really getting frustrating. In typical Cat 4 fashion, no one ever lets a guy get more than 5 seconds up the road. This kept the pace high the whole race. Callahan pulled me up to the front to get me a launch right as the prime lap was called. He thought he wasted but actually it worked out just right. The plan was to launch immediately after the "prime slow down" that happens almost always right after the prime sprint.
Launched it into turn one and got a gap fast. No one came across and with now 10 laps to go, I was on my own. I looked under the arm a couple times to see guys trying to bridge, but no one ever made it across and the inevitable failure of my one-man break happened just after the 2-to-go. Evolution was the force on the front, as far as I could tell at the end, but I take consolation that they didn't place a guy top 10 after shutting me down.
Pack finish after the pace blew up with the Bike Rack guys on the last laps and I never recovered from the break.
Syn-Fit Crit Cat 4 35+:
The team took a huge win, and - sorry to the other teams - but we man-handled the peloton. We had a good team meeting before the race and planned our strategy. With no breaks sticking all day at Syn-Fit, we didn't expect one to stick here either and planned for our sprint lead out.
I ended up in an unexpected break with an NCVC rider who was clearly suffering (and admitted as much afterward), but that made it easier to just kinda ride tempo off the front without really punishing it as I was supposed to be the last of the lead-out.
We got snagged with 8 to go and let the other teams manage the minor attacks that went from here to two to go. I had enough time to roll to the back, grab the sprinter and pull through to my lead-out's wheel. Gus nailed it through turn one on two to go and began to "stretch the elastic." New team-mate Pete Warner took it from 1 to go, summarily popping the Colavita rider on his wheel and sliding me right into second wheel. At 1km to go I got to take over and jam through the 200 meter mark. Carnage was all over behind us allowing me to coast in for fifth with a fantastic finish by Rich. Rock on Rich! Best race of the weekend was getting the team and teammate the win.
Carl Dolan 3/4:
Tired yet? Yah.. me too. We did a lousy job with strategy in this race, planning way too late. Ahler's still got a 1st place prize payout from the 4's after the split out of the results and I rolled a pack finish. Of note, moto-refs should not try to relegate someone THROUGH the field. yah, that sucked big time.
Carl Dolan 35+:
Powermeter says the 3/4 was just as fast as this race, but I don't know if anyone would agree based on perception. First, the 3/4 race was bunched up all the time, making it really hard to move around. The 35+ was lined out 2-3 wide almost the entire race. That made it really easy to move up on the side away from the wind, but getting away was a whole different story.
Kudos to guys I know - Matt for getting away in that killer break that was probably the only break of the day that had a prayer.
I got to launch off the front a couple times to bridge to the break, if nothing else to get the WWVC jersey out of the pack. This was bad for me, but good for others who took my attacks to that half-way point and then went the rest without me. Dave hooked me up with an attempt to get me half way across, but it just wasn't happening. We got some distance with two others, but Warno took off and I had nothing. My legs were cooked and I couldn't hold on full tilt at any more than 30-45 seconds.
For being "notorious" for crashes, both races were reasonable safe. The 3/4 was a huge field so there were some serious momentum issues. The 35+ was just so constantly fast that the speed alone kept it safe.
What a rockin weekend of racing. The Syn-Fit was a great venue for fast racing, and that team win was one of the most rewarding victories I've had yet.