Williams Crit
· May 7, 06:19 PM
There are probably lots of disclaimers I could throw on this, but I’ll try to be quick with them. Let’s just say it’s been three years since I’ve done a real bike race, and there have been times in my life where I’ve been a lot more comfortable cornering in a line at high speeds.
Start for the 4/5 race (the only one I was eligible for, seeing as I don’t have a USCF license) was at 9, which meant leaving Putney a little after 6. I haven’t been up that early since I stayed up all night last week. And before that I haven’t been up that early since probably Rangeley, which was 2 months ago. I struggled to stay awake on the drive down, and made it to registration a few minutes before 8. Seeing as it was an hour before race start (and a 40 minute crit at that) I was thinking a warm-up might be nice. The organizer’s were barely ready for us (I’d give them a 3/10 on Cosmo’s list), and I managed to find my way to a free bathroom and get on my bike by 8:15.
It was cold. Ski glove cold. It warmed up enough to go shorts and long sleeves for the race, but remember I’m a skier and not one of these bikers thinking they’re in Europe where anything below 70° calls for winter clothes. We got under way right at nine for what turned out to be 16 laps.
The first lap I was pretty much OTB, and had to ride hard up the start straight (long gradual uphill) at the end of the lap to get to the front, but I got there. I rode the second downhill at the front and realized I’m nowhere near as good at this as I used to be. Freshman year at this race (which was maybe the only bike race I’ve ever won) it was raining and I was riding the whole downhill (including 90° left at the bottom) without brakes. Not so much today. The only conclusion I can come to is that I’m a bit of a wimp now or have a faulty memory of then. Actually, the laps I was at the front it was a lot easier to ride it (almost) no brakes, than when I was stuck in the middle of the field.
After about 3 or 4 laps of chasing on along the flat, things settled down with a group of around 12-15. I parked myself on the back and didn’t do any work. My legs are in no shape for that sort of thing. Before the race I’d ridden exactly 230 miles this spring, and if we don’t count the 40 I did on Friday or the warm up today, they all happened between April 13-26. Not ideal build up. The good thing is my lungs are in better shape than the average 4/5 rider. We rode pretty easy until the prime lap with 8 to go. Then stuff started to happen. A group of 5 went for the prime and got away leaving the rest of us straggling.
Surrounded by a bunch of guys Thomas Voeklering all over the place, I decided it was time to get out of there. I bridged about a 5 second gap and towed a couple guys across with me, and then we had a group of 8. During the next couple of laps it became clear that my legs were close to as good as anybody elses, at least for a little while. I could get up the hill no problem, but putting out any sort of sustained power is not something I’m very good at right now. Maybe not ideal legs for solo attacking, but at the same time, I wasn’t real confident of my chances in the sprint (which is what we were clearly headed for).
So I went for it. With 4 to go I poured everything on up the climb (all 15 seconds of it) and got a little gap. I got shut down, but it was one at a time and took most of the lap for guys to get back. So I sat up and waited. With one to go I tried again. Felt the same (almost, maybe 98%) going up the hill, but it wasn’t enough. When I looked back when we hit the bottom flat and there was a line of 5 behind me (I burned 2 guys off!) and suddenly it was “oh shit.” Ski racing tactics fail in bike racing. Being at the front with 800m to go is not ideal. Especially if half of that is gradual uphill with a headwind. Want to guess how many people came around me? Well 5 did, but it was all in the last 200, and they weren’t coming by to pull. My legs were done and I didn’t have a sprint.
So one of two things happened. I either didn’t have the legs for my tactics, or didn’t have the tactics for my legs. Maybe it’s just a different take on the same thing. I think I would have done better sitting in 5th and waiting for the sprint, at least I might have taken home some merchandise. But oh well, it’s all fun and games for me on the bike. If I get into another race this year I’ll remember then and try to set myself up a little better for the finish.
I stuck around afterwards and watched a couple of the other races. The women’s race was pretty good until about 6 to go when Amy W and another girl got off the front and the chase group started chatting. Then those two started chatting. It’s nice to talk with the racers, but I can wait til they’re done. But, given that they only started with about 13, having half of them in the race for most of it is not too bad in the end.
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If you can’t get away solo and you can’t win a sprint, you’re going to have to get away with a small enough group that everyone has to work.
At Williams, at every opportunity I would attack the downhill and bottom flat in the hope of splitting the group. Then I would try to make sure someone pulled through on the climb.
And yes, we rode it no breaks in the rain. I washed out but that was on the next 90o at the bottom of the climb. Maybe it isn’t age/wimpiness, maybe the pavement was better back then.
— Tom May 17, 11:56 AM #