May 05, 2013 at 03:46 AM
Strange dynamics, at least to me, for the old man's race today. We got in some good licks, our Kiwi sprinted well for the intermediates, and some more, but the field just didn't want to play. Guess this is how the 40+ rolls.
Looking at the start list, there were plenty of breakaway guys and many of them had teams that could help let breaks go. But three that I'd put in that camp, Brauer, Blue Ribbon, Bicycle Planet, didn't make any real effort to foster a break. With the first, it's probably because they put everything on Gary Steinberg winning a field sprint. Blue Ribbon, I'm at a loss for their riding other than they don't have the fitness. And Axis, in retrospect, was only interested in the intermediate competitions. I was pretty surprised that they didn't have at least Paul Carbonara going for a breakaway.
Likewise, Dioslaki still has a good jump, but he's dying when he's off the front. I tried getting away with him on several occasions and it was as if he was slowing down when it was his turn to take a pull. Jeff Cline was still good for attacking and I got in some pulls with him, but it felt like there were no series of attacks. There'd be an attack, a chase, then the field would cruise a bit. I tried breaking this up, but I'd get pulled back and the field would sit up.
We were mostly up front most of the time, with two weaknesses. Too often, when I'd get pulled back, twenty guys would pass before a Kissena rider would pass. This is too far back. Just positioning better can pay dividends in terms of splits and attacks. The second is we didn't attack when one of our guys was brought back enough. Giving the field a breather works as a reset.
As for the finish, I knew Eric and John were close to me and I was stoked when Condon rolled by. He steadily rode to the front of the field and kept the gas on. He went until he was done. I did the same, probably should have tried to pull out another 10-15 seconds so John could have gone to about 200m. Another person for the train and we can lead it faster. It's a pity Eric wasn't there to finish it off, though strikingly, of the early picks of who would be good in a field sprint, only Chris Loehner was able to finish well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymucqmjJs20
