First, I have to give a shout to Rich with the Red Rose Races or All That is Good races, or whatever he is calling himself this year. The event was run very well with the only glitch being an excruciatingly long wait for the TT results on Sunday.
I rode this race last year with Westwood Velo in the 3/4, but was no where near prepared like I was this year. I definitely enjoyed it much more this year.
Pete and I rode up Friday, and boy were we glad for that. The road race course was way different than last year and pre-riding the course was a huge advantage as I watched a number of guys slide out in the unswept corners with some serious gravel.
Road Race:
The road race started off like normal, neutral and I rolled out about mid-pack. Moving up took forever with the yellow line rule and by the time I did, a Bike Rack guy was off the front solo. We let it sit there for almost a whole lap before another Bike Rack guy moved out of the pack and up to him. With a well established break of about 15-20 seconds and the only full team (6-7 riders) represented, time to get into that break and make it stick.
I launched 4-5 times, but was marked immediately by Bike Rack guys dragging the pack up to me if I got any gap at all. A couple other folks did the same and those moves were also marked. That insured one thing - the break wasn't going to stick. I'm convinced that had the Bike Rack guys let 2-3 riders out of the pack one at a time, the break would have stuck. But, their insistence on keeping the break to only their riders only kept the pace of the pack just a little bit too fast, so as we cruised through the S/F of lap 2, the break was over. One guy did get up to the break eventually, but it only lasted about 3 miles with the two of them.
Bike Rack attempted to keep the pace up with half a lap to go and into the technical finish, but it just didn't happen. The pack collapsed on them a number of times through the technical sections inside 2km to go, and pretty much how you came out of the S-turn @ 300 meters out was pretty much how you finished. I was 12th, and settled in to watch the other races.
TT:
Pete and I drove over the TT course Sat afternoon and then rode the technical portions on the TT bikes. It made a huge difference knowing where we could take turns in/out of the aerobars and knowing what was coming. But at the end of the day, I blew the TT. I held back WAY too much and left too much in the tank. I was close to 50 watts off my goal power for the TT, and ~30something seconds too slow to take the win. On the other hand, my TT position and with full aero equipment gave me a 30 second faster time than last year at almost 40 watts less average power than I put out last year. Lesson learned, and now to train TT pacing going into the TT season of the summer. 3rd in the TT was simply not good enough.
Crit:
Knowing I had too much left in the tank, and watching the chaos in the tight crit course of the Cat 4's, I made a decision early to get out in front. 2½ laps into the race, I attacked. Absolutely no one went. I spent the next 12 laps off the front alone. One rider bridged across and worked with me for a lap, but it was too little too late, the chase was inside 10 seconds and closing fast.
I settled into the pack and held a top 20 position in the pack getting some recovery. Came through two laps to go and started to move into a position to launch again. Moving into turn two, chaos ensued in front. Photos tell the tale, as Rider A dropped chain (how in the good Lord's name you'd have to change chain rings in that course is WAY beyond me). I saw Rider B swept from his left to right in a completely different line than the rest of the pack - apparently to avoid Rider A now coming to a stop in the turn. Rider C (Rider A's teammate) goes down, even though wheels never touched. Rider D lays it down and Rider ME runs straight into Rider D now on the ground.
I got up, dusted off, checked gear and did a lap and a half solo to not be the DNF of the day. Even with that I still wasn't DFL either. I was DFL-1
GC:
Points from Road Race and TT put me in contention for GC, and finishing the crit (even DFL-1) kept me as the last paid out GC contender at 8th.
The Good
- The road race course itself ROCKED.
- The TT position is good on the bike.
- Raced with some great guys and got to know a bunch more. Look forward to racing with a bunch of these guys more in the future.
The Bad
- Blew my pacing plan
- Rode too conservatively in the road race and TT
The Ugly
- First crash in 2 years in a race.
And with that, no racing until June. On the training plan for May is a quasi-Build phase. After letting up a little bit this week, I'll focus specifically on threshold training on the TT bike, at threshold. None of this 91% SST stuff. 100% threshold efforts. I must fix my suffering in position on the TT bike.
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