@GregStreiff and anyone else for whom this geographically makes sense – want to meet up at GAP at 7am to ride up there? That should be enough time to get there, check the conditions, sign in, pin numbers, have a little pre-race pow-wow.

the sun is out, and i've made the appropriate sacrifices to the evaporation gods. all 5 of them.

just no one look at the "feels like" temperature for tomorrow morning...

If only we had this much discussion before every race!

So let's say it stays dry and everybody who registered for the 4s goes ahead and races. How do we want to help put Sean on the podium? 

So I think the wind is going to play a huge factor tomorrow. If its a head/crosswind I think it will be good for me as I can get smaller and hide and punch through 150m before the finish if it comes down to the sprint.
 
I also think that a windy day on a decently technical course could see a break stay away especially with some of the riders I see signed up. This would be my preference for me(or anyone else), and if that happens block, block, block and keep that sh*t eating grin on your face while getting harassed by others.

In the more likely than not chance I'm/ one of us isn't in a break. I would like to nominate Jeff as road captain, see what he has to say but the best chances we have are as follows imo:

#1- which I think is going to be the hardest a 2-3 person leadout and we need to be together almost the entire race to pull it off. if 3-4 of us are there- take the inside line going into the last corner one person pulls for about 100m, next one about 150 and then its all i got to the finish  

#2 - someone block me from the wind as long as possible and I'll my best with some decent legs

Please pipe up if you have any ideas/ think we should do something different/ I did not finish many races the way I wanted to in the past 12 months so I'm sure someone can come up with a better plan for me or for someone else

@JohnMalcolmson, thoughts? you know more about winning this race than anyone on here

SeanMiles said:

Please pipe up if you have any ideas/ think we should do something different/ I did not finish many races the way I wanted to in the past 12 months so I'm sure someone can come up with a better plan for me or for someone else

I expect it will be windy as well.  But the direction of the wind will make a huge difference.  If you have a head or head-cross on the finishing straight, that will be where the attacks succeed.  You'll also have to shorten the distance for the sprinter to travel--not 200m, but 150m or less.  

If it's coming northwest at you, then people will hug the inside line, and you won't want to get stuck on the left.

If the tailwind is there, no attack will work if it starts there.

UlrikeGlaser said:

TessMichalik said:

@UlrikeGlaser we're going to be racing together in the women's cat 5

Hi Tess, that's great! Since I have no idea about racing in the US I'm open for any advice!?
I'll do the 3/4/5 race as well. Since I lost a lot of shape during the winter my plan was to go active, but as energy-saving as possible.

@UlrikeGlaser ! This will be my first race ever! So I was hoping to get some advice from you. I lost a ton of fitness too. My only plan was to stay up front with you lol 

@Tess I hope you don't mind me jumping in here with some advice... For first race—and totally this is just a suggestion—staying up front is a great goal—I'd say target sitting behind Ulrike and following her wherever she goes. You will learn a ton. Don't do any work for the first half of the race except hide there. Do not ride on the front of the bunch (unless Ulrike asks you to). Second half of the race, I'd suggest you could start covering stuff for Ulrike—jumping up to any dangerous looking attacks and then just sitting on and not working, or if a break is away and Ulrike isn't in it get on the front and work to neutralize it. Ulrike has a good sprint, so the winning scenario is a bunch sprint which you should also do! Good luck!

i no longer see snow in the forecast tonight for my zip code which is just north of the race venue, yay!

@JohnMalcolmson thank you so much! This is all good to hear and much appreciated. 

Anyone think the wind tomorrow is worth taking off my deep section carbon wheels and throwing on my alloy trainers?

BenFinoRadin said:

Anyone think the wind tomorrow is worth taking off my deep section carbon wheels and throwing on my alloy trainers?

how deep?  my thoughts are you should just be sure to draft properly, keeping in mind the wind direction, and the wheels will be a net benefit.  

another part of me says first crit of the season, surrounded by people who've been riding trainers all winter locked securely to their floors, not a day for a set of wheels you don't want to lose to an early-season-jitters pileup  the zwifters haven't turned in a group in months!

@BenFinoRadin Depends a lot on the wheels, but I would say keep the deep section as long as they're not 85mm and older than 5 years. Newer wheel designs are less effected by cross-winds. It's going to be either side or side/head @13mph. 13 mph is no biggie in my book, and the watts you'll save during the race are worth marginally trickier handling. 

I'm too fat to consider crosswinds in wheel decisions.

@JohnMalcolmson cool thx! 

Total bummer, I'm out. Took my temp just now, have a fever and seeing stars/dizzy getting up.

FYI during our recon ride a few weeks ago, my 45mm front wheel felt like it was getting blown around at the first corner with the wind snapping down Riverside and hitting the rim square on the broad side.

how's the course?   too lazy to pop down there right now, my race isn't until 12:50

Course is totally clear. Just finished Cat 5 - it's fucking freezing. Feeling pretty gross so I'm skipping the 4/5

I'm sitting this one out. I wouldn't be a useful teammate anyhow as I've been a bit under the weather all week and training has not been good. But more to the point, I have no interest in racing in this weather! Bon chance, brothers and sisters!

@BenFinoRadin youre a freaking stud for racing today. Everyone else racing today as well, you guys are hardcore. Much respect.

Full race reports to come for sure, and still waiting on 5's results, but this just in: Ulrike took 2nd in the women's 4/5!!!

Never experienced that much of cold in a bike. Ever. 
Besides all, it wasn't too bad, course is clear, wind is not extreme. Good training experience though!

booooooom @UlrikeGlaser takes 2nd in women's 3/4/5 as well.

Two podiums, not a bad start to the season

Oh helllllllllllls yeah @UlrikeGlaser !!!!!!!

My attempt at a race report:

Temp was cold, but bearable until I took off my puffer and lined up. It. was. Freezing.

The plan? Ha! Maybe next time

At the line we had @GregStreiff, @GiacomoVischi, @Will Kalbacker, @SebastianVidal, and myself. Unless I didn't see you @JohnOlsson?

The pace out of the gate and for the first couple laps was surprisingly easy – I think it was a combo of A) a fair ammt of newbies, and b) caution to scope out the course for ice before giving it any real gas.

I was super frustrated by the inexperienced riders… you can ride that course without touching your breaks once, and yet *every* corner the majority were braking *a lot*. Some sketchy handling as well – I almost got taken out on the first corner. 

In any case, I stuck with the top 15 for a few laps (and had a proud moment where 1) I asked myself where I was, and realized I was only in the top 20 or 25, and 2) asked myself where I needed to be (the top 10-15), and 3) asked myself how do I get there (answer: surf some wheels and maneuver through). I was doing my best to keep my nose out of the wind, but could have done a better job staying to the left after the U turn.

At some point (not sure when) there was a break, and looking at the results you can see that it was caught by a group of about 12. I was in the chase group for a while, but just couldn't hold the wheels. Again, looking at the results, it seems the chase slowly spat riders out. I was then stuck with my nose in the wind. At the time, I had no idea where I was, so I just kept hauling ass. Turns out there was a group not far behind me, and the sensible thing would have been to just chill, let them catch me, surf some wheels to recover, and then finish strong. Instead I spent at least 2 laps eating wind. Not smart. I felt a lot better though when I saw Giacomo was in the group that gobbled me up. On the last lap, after the U turn I was watching the group of 7-10 or so to see who would go first. I saw that Giacomo was riding second wheel (I was on the back), so I decided to have a little fun and turned on the gas early. The guy next to me started to go, a few others caught on just before the temple, and then before the riders on front knew the sprint was on I hollered to Giacomo to go – which he did, and he finished neck and neck with the other guy on the front of our little pack. Turns out @SebastianVidal was 11 seconds up the road from us – which was surprising, I hadn't seen anyone that close to us.

Greg sadly had issues with his rubbing tire again, so was DNF. Not sure where @Will Kalbacker finished.

I don't think it impacted my riding, but I made the dumbest newbie mistake – I had a big breakfast. Why did I do that for a 30 minute race considering I don't eat before training in the morning? No idea. Felt a horrible knot in my stomach for 30min after the race. Lesson learned: next time, doing my usual coffee before, plus just a gel. No need for anything more than that for a short race in the AM. I skipped the 4/5 – the stomach thing really F*ed me up, and I knew I just didn't have it in me. The cold was realness – my voice was scratchy for at least a couple hours afterwards. 

All in all, everyone looked strong out there – I think we need to do a better job of sticking together and working together from the jump. The Kissenas were pretty scattered throughout the field, except for some moments where Sebastian and I were hanging out. I think if we can improve on this, we'll be a lot more powerful. I'm going to be racing as much as possible (within reason) this season and look forward to working together and with our aces development director @Jeffrey White on improving.

Sorry couldn't stick around for Dino @JohnMalcolmson – a few more hours in the cold just didn't seem very appealing

Mini update: 4th in 4/5 after the most painful half hour of my life in the 5 race

SebastianVidal said:

Mini update: 4th in 4/5 after the most painful half hour of my life in the 5 race

YeeeaaahHHHHH! I thought you were looking particularly strong out there.

Really curious to hear your perspective on the diff between the two races.

M4 race

Only part of me that was bone chillingly cold was my left middle finger. No idea why. Started to throb so I hung out on the back of the group for laps 5-16 for the most part trying to play with my glove and warm it up. Followed a move up and was inside top 10 crossing the line with one to go. Ok. maybe this could turn out aright.

Stayed on the inside going into the roundabout, got a nice sketchy inside pass right before that cone on the left and had to grab some brake. Thanks Dave Jordan, appreciate it. whatever. Kept on the inside and tried to fake an early move as there was no way i was beating the group of 6 guys to my right on my own. Was hoping to get a couple to jump and hop on their wheels.

Smartly, no one bit, so I relaxed a little but threw caution to the wind at about 250 out when some others started going to try and surf up.  Felt like I burned a half a match too much the last couple laps. The break took the podium and with no real chance of a leadout and knowing that this probably isnt my best spot for a sprint as its more or less pure watts I'm satisfied. Wound up 13th. I'll take it. Got some training in, no frost bite.

Sorry Brendan. Bailed on the 3/4 but I just wasn't feeling hanging out in the freezing cold and my instincts were telling me to shut it down,

Sebatian, great finish. Congrats.

Ulrike - Crushed it, nice to see a Kissena on the podium.

my preliminary race report: extremely disappointed. maintained acceptable position until beginning of final sprint, then mysteriously just sort of...didn't sprint. not sure if i didn't have the legs, was in the wrong gear, or just mentally gave up, but for whatever reason when everyone else jumped i just sort of lingered and then began drifting back.  i think i might've been trying to recover after expending too much energy on bell lap trying to close a gap after my wheel was chopped on a corner (granted, i did try to take the inside line, so it was 1/2 my fault). maybe i was overgeared and in the wind?  in any event it was the most shameful sprint finish of my recreational cycling career.  SAD!  #notmysprintfinish

the wind near the church was ABSURD. every lap we would turn that corner and i couldn't breath.  i've never had to deal with that before, even at floyd.  at least 3 laps i literally couldn't breath on that part of the lap.  i wonder if the gopro captured me gasping for air.  nose wasn't really working for inhale due to congestion

luckily the gopro got it all so there will be a nice video from me

edit: re-watched the video and i just did a shitty job in the sprint. i put myself in the wind (which was coming from the right side of the finish) and then let a gap open up.  good example of what not to do, actually!  will post when it's converted

Looking forward to the vid