Race Report: fattie master self-esteem sandbag crit!

Due to a confluence of events, it was easy for me to get to tonight's
mid-week training crit, a dead-flat industrial park crit which I favor
because the roads are wide, and did I mention the dead flatness?

Most of the race featured a noteworthy headwind on the start-finish
straight. This was only my second training crit of the year, owing to
rain-outs and scheduling issues.

So, I signed up for the "C" group, a matter of scheduling more than
sandbagging, but I didn't expect to be competitive in "B" quite yet.
Nonetheless, I was curious as to how my fitness would be among the
novices and first-timers.

Dead flat race with lots of wind, so the early action was very limited:
desultory attacks, minimal pace for nearly half the race. I hung near
the front, never dropping further back than about 10th wheel.

I had two capable teammates in the race, and as the prime bell finally
rang, I was still near the front of the race, and halfway around the
short (2km?) lap, I started shouting at my teammates to get in line. At
that point I was about 4th wheel, more or less, with the leaders showing
no interest in attacking.

So I dragged it out, and lead out my teammate for the prime sprint.

You know you're pulling pretty well when you launch your teammate to the
prime and still finish second in the sprint. I'm sure he enjoyed me
yelling "faster!" at him as he crossed the line.

As soon as I crossed the line, I was bagged, and four riders (including
my other teammate) formed up a break. 1:4 struck me as good odds, so I
slipped into the pack to recover, and I came good within a lap.

At that point, I spent the rest of the race near the front of the chase
group with my prime-winning teammate, just watching the leaders gain a
few seconds per lap. They stayed away, with me doing nothing to help the
chasers.

So now it's a sprint for fifth place. Blah blah blah, some guys went
sorta fast, I stayed near the front on their wheels, another guy went
fast, I found a few inches between two guys, I went really fast, and I
walked away with the bunch sprint handily, looking genuinely powerful as
I finished.

My teammate in the break got fourth.

Lessons: sprint is still there. On flat courses, I probably don't
deserve to race with the "C" group now. But hey, I am a fat Cat 4. The
finish sprint looked impressive, but the part I am happiest about was
smoothly leading out my teammate, and recovering from the effort without
blowing up and getting spit out the back. The only thing left to decide
is whether I should sandbag this series until they kick me to "B", or
voluntarily move.

You should come to Vancouver Joseph: the racing would suit you quite
nicely!

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

On May 23, 5:23*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Due to a confluence of events, it was easy for me to get to tonight's
mid-week training crit, a dead-flat industrial park crit which I favor
because the roads are wide, and did I mention the dead flatness?

Most of the race featured a noteworthy headwind on the start-finish
straight. This was only my second training crit of the year, owing to
rain-outs and scheduling issues.

So, I signed up for the "C" group, a matter of scheduling more than
sandbagging, but I didn't expect to be competitive in "B" quite yet.
Nonetheless, I was curious as to how my fitness would be among the
novices and first-timers.

Dead flat race with lots of wind, so the early action was very limited:
desultory attacks, minimal pace for nearly half the race. I hung near
the front, never dropping further back than about 10th wheel.

I had two capable teammates in the race, and as the prime bell finally
rang, I was still near the front of the race, and halfway around the
short (2km?) lap, I started shouting at my teammates to get in line. At
that point I was about 4th wheel, more or less, with the leaders showing
no interest in attacking.

So I dragged it out, and lead out my teammate for the prime sprint.

You know you're pulling pretty well when you launch your teammate to the
prime and still finish second in the sprint. I'm sure he enjoyed me
yelling "faster!" at him as he crossed the line.

As soon as I crossed the line, I was bagged, and four riders (including
my other teammate) formed up a break. 1:4 struck me as good odds, so I
slipped into the pack to recover, and I came good within a lap.

At that point, I spent the rest of the race near the front of the chase
group with my prime-winning teammate, just watching the leaders gain a
few seconds per lap. They stayed away, with me doing nothing to help the
chasers.

So now it's a sprint for fifth place. Blah blah blah, some guys went
sorta fast, I stayed near the front on their wheels, another guy went
fast, I found a few inches between two guys, I went really fast, and I
walked away with the bunch sprint handily, looking genuinely powerful as
I finished.

My teammate in the break got fourth.

Lessons: sprint is still there. On flat courses, I probably don't
deserve to race with the "C" group now. But hey, I am a fat Cat 4. The
finish sprint looked impressive, but the part I am happiest about was
smoothly leading out my teammate, and recovering from the effort without
blowing up and getting spit out the back. The only thing left to decide
is whether I should sandbag this series until they kick me to "B", or
voluntarily move.

You should come to Vancouver Joseph: the racing would suit you quite
nicely!

--
Ryan Cousineau /
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Ryan,

Sounds like fun! We need pics!

I detect a common theme. Yelling! This should not be underestimated as
a motivational tool.

If the racing is good, and the field size is good, I think you should
stick to the C's until you podium. Then you can think about moving to
B. Don't worry about the others, I mean somebody has to lose, right?
If group C is wasting your time, move. But otherwise punish them for a
while.

I'd like to have a go at a race like that. I might wuss out in the
corners, and the repeated accelerations might wipe me out, but not
being worried about crashing into trees, rocks, or oncoming tractors
might put me at enough ease to make up for it.

Joseph

In article
],
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Lessons: sprint is still there. On flat courses, I probably don't
deserve to race with the "C" group now. But hey, I am a fat Cat 4. The
finish sprint looked impressive, but the part I am happiest about was
smoothly leading out my teammate, and recovering from the effort without
blowing up and getting spit out the back. The only thing left to decide
is whether I should sandbag this series until they kick me to "B", or
voluntarily move.

Stay in C learning how to win.

--
Michael Press

In article
,
" wrote:

On May 23, 5:23*am, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Due to a confluence of events, it was easy for me to get to tonight's
mid-week training crit, a dead-flat industrial park crit which I favor
because the roads are wide, and did I mention the dead flatness?

Lessons: sprint is still there. On flat courses, I probably don't
deserve to race with the "C" group now. But hey, I am a fat Cat 4. The
finish sprint looked impressive, but the part I am happiest about was
smoothly leading out my teammate, and recovering from the effort without
blowing up and getting spit out the back. The only thing left to decide
is whether I should sandbag this series until they kick me to "B", or
voluntarily move.

You should come to Vancouver Joseph: the racing would suit you quite
nicely!

Ryan,

Sounds like fun! We need pics!

I detect a common theme. Yelling! This should not be underestimated as
a motivational tool.

If the racing is good, and the field size is good, I think you should
stick to the C's until you podium. Then you can think about moving to
B. Don't worry about the others, I mean somebody has to lose, right?
If group C is wasting your time, move. But otherwise punish them for a
while.

I'd like to have a go at a race like that. I might wuss out in the
corners, and the repeated accelerations might wipe me out, but not
being worried about crashing into trees, rocks, or oncoming tractors
might put me at enough ease to make up for it.

Joseph

The road is only open to the yellow line, but as with most industrial
parks, that half of the road is about 10m wide. The corners are not
really challenging, as well as being smooth and well-paved. I'm not a
spectacularly aggressive cornerer, but these corners were easy and if
anything, I was making time in them. You barely even need to stop
pedaling.

I somehow forgot to mention the most LIVEDRUNK part: I left a
work-related conference a bit early to go directly to this event. The
very last thing I did before leaving the conference was finish my glass
of red wine, and I had nothing to eat from that glass until after the
race (I did have some, sigh, water on the bike).

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."