Apr 14, 2013 at 12:00 AM
I wonder if the Waffles & Dinges dude is Angelo Calilap...
Congrats Adam, sorry for the bad luck Vlad!
Battenkill
Apr 14, 2013 at 12:03 AM
So are any of our guys racing tomorrow?
Apr 14, 2013 at 12:52 AM
I went to watch the races finish after crashing out at mile 6.
Pro/1 - Garneau-Quebecor owned that race. Two of them came across holding hands with close to a minute on the field. Then some straggler from another team, likely shelled out from the winning break, crossed. Then Garneau-Quebecor won the field sprint getting Myerson by a wheel. 1st, 2nd, and 4th - je me souviens!!!
Cat 2 - Evan Murphy wins by about a bike length out of 20ish man final selection sprint. Interesting note: the guy who opened up the sprint early only to die just as Evan finished could be heard yelling a very loud and long FUUUUCCCCKKKKK as he crossed. Bully for Evan.
Cat 3 - Cluster. 3A started 10 min before 3B, yet a solo Setanta win from 3B crosses first, then 15 man 3B field sprint, the 35 man 3A field sprint with some beefy/fat Dave Jordan dude winning. Almost kind of glad I crashed out of that one, but not really.
Pro/1 - Garneau-Quebecor owned that race. Two of them came across holding hands with close to a minute on the field. Then some straggler from another team, likely shelled out from the winning break, crossed. Then Garneau-Quebecor won the field sprint getting Myerson by a wheel. 1st, 2nd, and 4th - je me souviens!!!
Cat 2 - Evan Murphy wins by about a bike length out of 20ish man final selection sprint. Interesting note: the guy who opened up the sprint early only to die just as Evan finished could be heard yelling a very loud and long FUUUUCCCCKKKKK as he crossed. Bully for Evan.
Cat 3 - Cluster. 3A started 10 min before 3B, yet a solo Setanta win from 3B crosses first, then 15 man 3B field sprint, the 35 man 3A field sprint with some beefy/fat Dave Jordan dude winning. Almost kind of glad I crashed out of that one, but not really.
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:13 AM
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:35 AM
I raced a really hard race. Field was down to about 30-40 guys by mile 20 before the triple stair-step and thinned out to about 25 guys after that. 1 guy from United Health care took off to never be seen again and finished a whole 2 and a half minutes ahead of the 9 man group that I saw slip away towards the end of stage hill road. I ended up with 3 others chasing and gunning it for the line including a guy from Pawling, Erik Lavoie and a teammate of his from Waffles. I skipped some pulls cause i was suffering notoriously and recovered enough in the last km to jump and take the sprint out of that group. finished the race in 3:01:50. 30 seconds behind the leaders.
There were times where I honestly wished I had a flat so I didn't have to endure the pain any longer. I felt really good on meeting house road though. I think my mistake in training for this was not enough long rides after getting back from California in late February, I've been focusing too much on threshold and short intervals and the racing I've done so far has been much shorter. I clearly had the legs but not for the whole duration of the race. Still happy with my result but I'm looking to improve on this.
There were times where I honestly wished I had a flat so I didn't have to endure the pain any longer. I felt really good on meeting house road though. I think my mistake in training for this was not enough long rides after getting back from California in late February, I've been focusing too much on threshold and short intervals and the racing I've done so far has been much shorter. I clearly had the legs but not for the whole duration of the race. Still happy with my result but I'm looking to improve on this.
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:37 AM
Solid work Yoshi, very impressive.
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:39 AM
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:40 AM
Nice result, Aly.
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:47 AM
Huh. Who knew.
Road Results
Apr 14, 2013 at 02:48 AM
results bro-
thanks. i lowered my saddle right before the race and now I have a bit of patellar tendonitis...shit- I hope this goes away quick.
thanks. i lowered my saddle right before the race and now I have a bit of patellar tendonitis...shit- I hope this goes away quick.
Apr 14, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Before we get to the other write-ups, I wanted to give a few observations from the back of the race. It starts with Jeff White and me running out to Vlad with my spare wheels, thinking he made need one, but Jeff came back and mentioned the pedal and cleat - Vlad, I wish we could have helped, that it was just a flat. We were at the house right next to the bridge. We did see a couple of guys knocking into each other at the bridge, and getting flats, and knew to stay to the left going through it.
We got to the start when they called 2 minutes. I think that's when my My heart hit its highest, as we were scrambling to be part of the start.
Everything went well the first few miles, everyone calling out 'slowing' as we bunched up, people saying hello to friends and teammates.
I watched Jeff move up to the other Kissena's near the front. I was 3/4 back, not where I wanted to be, considering I knew the group would splinter into a top 25 and eventually a top 12 and fewer.
Those first two hills sent my heart pounding into my mouth and I could feel it beating against my helmet straps, and that's where I moved up lots of spots as the bigger guys just dropped back.
We eventually came to a fast downhill where a trooper had a flare burning. We all slammed on our brakes and I smelled carbon around me. I fishtailed as the guy in front of me slowed hard - that was my only near crash of the race. There was a guy down, blanket over his legs, a piece of paper over his face (to keep debris off? because he was cut?). One of our racers pulled out and asked if they needed a doctor. They didn't. After that was a hard, sweeping left turn up hill and that's where the group splintered. Between mile 6 and 11. With a couple of hills imprinted onto my legs already, I tried catching up but once I was off the back, I was out of the group for the race.
The rest of the story is about solo riding in lovely countryside, and pacelining with guys wearing all different numbers. I met up with my friend Joe Albo from CIS and we rode together for about 8 miles before he took off. A guy from my field on a cross bike, Matt showed up and we pacelined for about 10 miles, caught up with Joe who rode with us for a while, but I was stronger on the hills and kept going. Matt showed up a few more times - he said he was good on the downhills - and eventually fell back.
I spent the rest of the time spotting jerseys in front of me and going as hard as I could to catch up to them, trying to remember I was in a race, occasionally being passed by an 8 man paceline which I would jump onto until it would splinter on a hill.
Locals were out at the tops of hills, ringing cow bells, clapping, and generally lifting spirits. And of course photographers were out at the last hard hills, where I was tired, had snot sweat and tears(from the downhills) streaking my face. I tried to give them my best hi-mom face.
I timed my food by knowing what the mileage meant to me on my rides - 18 miles is the GWB so I had a Gu, etc. Also, Mark, Joe and I drove the last 25 miles of the course the day before, which greatly helped me figure out where I was and what I could expect.
I looked through my strava and, after my crash in March, just didn't get in enough long rides. 3, and they weren't fast rides. I want to do this again next year, and while I can't avoid something preventing me from training, I do know the type of long-distance and hill training needed.
Thanks to the group for the support, to Joe for great info when we drove the course, and Mark for being our driving captain up and back.
I actually had a lot of fun, it was a good challenge, and while I'm disappointed with my time, it's the first race I've gotten to finish so far this year (not walking across the finish line), so I'll take that as a great start to the season.
Apr 14, 2013 at 03:27 PM
Some strong racing there guys. Nice work! Sorry I wasn't there to join in the fun.
I was racing out here in Oregon --see my race brief on Kissena West - Kings Valley RR.
Apr 14, 2013 at 04:25 PM
I had a good experience in BTK cat5A (together with Mark and Ros), however, it was kind of a rollercoaster for morale.
We started reasonable quick and everything stayed together up to Juniper Swamp. Unfortunately, i was dropped from the main 20 guys or so on the way up and couldn't get back on the downhill / flat...After cursing to myself for a couple of minutes, I tried to keep pushing on my own in order to come back or to be taken over by a large second group.
But.. the large second group never came so I found myself time trialing on my own for almost an hour. I decided to make up targets of to keep motived and avoid "gran fondoing" to the finish line. My favourite game was awarding points for taking over people (1pt for different field, 2pt for my field). Around km 50 I finally found a "friend" we rode together up to Stage rd. My new objective was to drop him there and then ITT to the finish. This went well and i saw a lot of people on the horizon; excellent opportunities for grabbing additional "points". The icing on the cake was when, at 500m togo, I overtoke a group of 5 guys from my field, of which i finished 2nd in the sprint.
Overall 20th / 43, in line with my expectations but below my "upside" scenario and slower then i expected.
Big thanks to all the experienced riders with their tips and tricks on the forum and at the event. Doing the race with proper fuelling and without cramps was great.
We started reasonable quick and everything stayed together up to Juniper Swamp. Unfortunately, i was dropped from the main 20 guys or so on the way up and couldn't get back on the downhill / flat...After cursing to myself for a couple of minutes, I tried to keep pushing on my own in order to come back or to be taken over by a large second group.
But.. the large second group never came so I found myself time trialing on my own for almost an hour. I decided to make up targets of to keep motived and avoid "gran fondoing" to the finish line. My favourite game was awarding points for taking over people (1pt for different field, 2pt for my field). Around km 50 I finally found a "friend" we rode together up to Stage rd. My new objective was to drop him there and then ITT to the finish. This went well and i saw a lot of people on the horizon; excellent opportunities for grabbing additional "points". The icing on the cake was when, at 500m togo, I overtoke a group of 5 guys from my field, of which i finished 2nd in the sprint.
Overall 20th / 43, in line with my expectations but below my "upside" scenario and slower then i expected.
Big thanks to all the experienced riders with their tips and tricks on the forum and at the event. Doing the race with proper fuelling and without cramps was great.
Apr 14, 2013 at 08:38 PM
Meh. Came 4th. Unfortunately the podium that Dieter got for this race only had space for finishers 1, 2 and 3.
Whatevs.
Apr 14, 2013 at 08:41 PM
Dude, 4th is no joke. Quite impressive really. Orange helmet time?
Apr 14, 2013 at 09:34 PM
Can someone please dope slap anyone who gets 4th in a bike race, any bike race, ever, and says, "Meh."Adam said:Meh. Came 4th. Unfortunately the podium that Dieter got for this race only had space for finishers 1, 2 and 3.Whatevs.
Congrats on a strong finish. Enjoy it!
Apr 14, 2013 at 09:49 PM
SLAP!
Apr 14, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Where do I put this?
Quote from Gilbert about today's Amstel Gold Race:
" I myself drank ten, [five liters] and that's a lo. You can risk stomach problems, but if you don't then you risk getting cramps. . . I saw that Sagan was looking very sweaty and his face was streaked with salt with about 50 kilometers to go, and I knew he wasn't on a good day."
Quote from Gilbert about today's Amstel Gold Race:
" I myself drank ten, [five liters] and that's a lo. You can risk stomach problems, but if you don't then you risk getting cramps. . . I saw that Sagan was looking very sweaty and his face was streaked with salt with about 50 kilometers to go, and I knew he wasn't on a good day."
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:24 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:27 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:28 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:30 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:31 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:33 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:34 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:34 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 01:41 AM
Apr 15, 2013 at 03:01 PM
@Marc
When I say 'Meh' to describe my 4th place, I simply mean that I was not aiming for a top 10, I wanted to win this race. Hence, in that light, my result wasn't in line with my target. Also, the last race of 2012 where I was actually trying to win I came 4th. Getting bored of that. The podium's ugly sister position!
Race went well and all. I went off the front 3 times so wasn't just sitting in. FIrst time me and one other rider got a rather impressive gap on the really steep paved climb (the steepest in the race after about 25 miles, I forget the name) but when we crested with 300m on the group, we chatted and sat up. We were 40 miles from the end. We waited for the first chase of about 10 but as immediately after that climb there was about a 4 mile descent or so others managed to get back on, so we had a group of about 30 after a short while. No dice there.
I went to the front and went for it at the beginning of two off-road sections (I got the Paris Roubaix 2010 DVD for Christmas and fantasise about crushing my opponents on the 'cobbled' sections like Canc did so elegantly in that race). I don't like to look back when I attack. So after a km or so doing this on one of these sections, I get to this off road climb that must be somewhere like 12%. At this point, I'm still on the front and I'm in a 39/28. I swear I was going really, really slow, not as I'd blown up but due to both the gradient and as the mud was sucking a lot of my tire at this point. I then decide to look behind, thinking to see a big group but in fact had two with me and a gap of 100m. I suppose it's not how fast you go, but how much faster you are going! Again, had a chat with my companions and as there was again, a friendly descent straight after, this didn't really work out. Also, we had about another 30 miles. Well, got the field smaller again. Maybe down to 25 or so.
End of the race was pretty savage, two guys got away on the rather innocuous paved section before Meeting House road. A chase then sort of slowly came together. As we hit Meeting House that's when the chase picked up then it was full on to the end. These two heroically stayed away until Stage Road, with the group hectically chasing and shedding riders mercilessly. On Stage, tempo goes up and we close on them and go past one (poor fucker got a flat! 5 miles from the end, off the front with a decent gap. Similar thing has happened to me so I know his frustration.). On the run in we are chasing a lone gunman who is off the front, me in a group that got cut down to 8 riders. We are really trying, going for it and people are taking pulls, trying to work. Just couldn't catch the dude. He teased us at 20 seconds, moto-umpire besides him, but we just could not close that gap. He eventually got in ~30 seconds ahead of our group.
I've been in a lot of sprints after a long race from a small group so was able to get my thoughts together and focus on our finish. There was a right turn onto the wide finishing straight at 300m. My plan was to come in about 3rd/4th wheel, jump behind someone and then go myself at 200m. I think that's every sprinter's plan, right?! I know my sprint pretty well and it follows the same pattern every time: really nice acceleration for 50m, I can hold speed for another 150m, then I gradually start to fade after 200m. Hence, the plan. As we turn and line up on the straight I'm 3rd wheel, nice. Dude in front drills it from the turn which was what I anticipated. Nice, perfect place. Unfortunately, the guy 2nd wheel a bit off to my left decides at 250m that he's going for it; a little early. At that range I had to react. I go past out of the saddle on the right. Overtake the guy who was first wheel with my initial acceleration, then speed past the dude who went left and triggered my jump. OK, so now I've used my acceleration, with still about 180m to go. I held speed nicely but unfortunately two guys who had been a bit further back pipped me with less than 50 to go as they nicely used the slipstreams of me and the other guy to hold off their jump until later, hence, I came third there, 4th overall. My sprint went perfectly to plan, it was just 50m or so too early but that wan't really my fault, I went when I had to. Oh well.
@Jeff C - In the last 11 months I have acquired 25 upgrade points but not really put too much thought into moving up. WIll think about it. But in answer to your direct question: no, I will not be wearing one shit looking orange helmets, no matter which category I am in.
Apr 15, 2013 at 03:13 PM
@Adam they say you have to be willing to lose in order to win; it sounds like you played your hand exactly as you wanted to - in a race this difficult that's not easy to do. Chapeau!
How did the eating, drinking & cramps go?
Apr 15, 2013 at 03:20 PM
Eating was a success actually. I've been riding consistently with groups hitting 50-60miles per session so have been keeping an idea of nutritional requirements for that in mind of this race. Plan was to have one gel on the start line. Additionally, through the race I was to eat two further gels, two bars and drink my two bottle. Did everything according to plan. By the end I had eaten and drank everything as per the plan. No cramps in sight.
Yep, race went fine, I did everything I wanted to. I was beaten by a stronger man who came first and the cards in the sprint didn't quite fall my way but no complaints. Stayed rubber side down, didn't have any mechanical issues and both my cleats stayed on my shoes and not in my pedal a la Vlad.