Sunday, February 17, 2008

Tradezone #1

We went into the B race with the idea that we would attack and counter attack as often as possible. Scott was off the front by the first turn, when he was caught Brandon was off the front, when he got caught, Joel, then Brigham, then myself, repeat...etc. It was great. For the entire race there was only a couple of moments when a R1V jersey wasn't off the front.

As training races go, this was perfect. A good ride out and back with some serious effort in between. The total was about 72 miles from door to door. I saw Evan, Pico, Eva, Spiff out there working hard too.

Some observations from our race:

1) Even though we attacked well, I'm wondering if it could have been more productive attacking in pairs. The effort to get away was good, but sustaining that effort against a pack that wasn't too keen on letting a break get away. I got into a little two man break for a couple of laps...and that was a lot easier than going out on my own. I assume that the problem with going in twos though is that others would be more inclined to bring you back.

2) With one to go, Brig and I went to the front to try to set up Elder Lumm for the finish. We ended up 1/2 up front with waaay to much distance to go. On that course I think if we had waited till about half way between turns 3 & 4 to make the effort we could have controlled the finish a little better. Too early (same thing happend at Turkey Day last year I think).

Brandon ended up 5th...and considering the amount of effort he put in during the race...well done. I don't think anyone went into this thinking about the finish...more just the efforts during.

It was a great day.

5 comments:

Bryan Vaughan said...

You guys animated the race well. I was going to try to find you and see if you were up for a real break but it didn't work out. It was like groundhog day: me chasing down the red swarm! I guess I should be used to it by now ;) How many Cat 3s do you guys have now that I have to contend with anyway? I need to get mentally ready.

Jesse said...

There are a handfull of us...I think around 6 or 7. Hopefully a couple of the 4s will cat up by mid season.

That race was a blast...

Bryan Vaughan said...

Only 6 or 7? Whew. I was thinking more like 10. I think I can deal with that (maybe). Think of me as your "friend" in blue who also wants to see fast, hard racing, ok?

RayMan AKA StingRay said...

if you really want to neutralize the field, you should try to set up an attack with an NCVC rider since they like 20 riders in every field. But then again, they'd probably chase their own rider down.

If I race Tradezone on Sunday, I'll go in a break with ya. I'm always game for trying stuff.

Jesse said...

Bryan, Don't worry about the 6 or 7...you only need to worry about 1. ;)

Rayman...I don't know about going off the front with you, we'll trade turns at the front and even when I'm drafting I'll be taking a lot of wind. ;)