Monday, February 16, 2009

Tradezone #1

We did the B race and it was what it was and tends to always be. We rode out from the Hill prior to the race and got there with enough time to sign up, empty the system and do a lap in reverse to check the wind before lining up. We agreed that we'd attack and counter as training and then see where everybody was with a couple of laps to go for the finish. Somebody filmed the finish straight every lap, pretty cool stuff:

Here

Joel went up the road on the back stretch on the second lap and got caught right before the final turn, so I countered hard and got a little gap rounding the turn and up the home stretch. I figured I'd just hold on for as long as I could or see if anyone came with me. An Evo guy came with me (you can see it pretty good in the video) and we stayed away for a couple of laps. I think I was the week one out of the two of us as he was taking the lion shares of the pulls, especially into the wind. It didn't help that I think I had at least a foot in height on him (at least it didn't help me...) :) The rest of the "race" was uneventful. A good move by someone from ABRT and some guy wearing black/red went up the road and the ABRT and the other guys teammates kept going to the front of the group and sitting up and blocking. Now, I understand this is a race tactic, but it's a lame one. I've done it before too, but have never felt good about it. What I did notice though is that nobody seemed to want to do anything about it except us (R1V). At one point we tried to get a little chase train going with about 3 of us "driving" it, which was good practice, but didn't seem to do much (fitness isn't where it needs to be and all of us seemed drained from earlier moves). I hope this doesn't become a standing practice of a move going up the road and then us being expected to bring it back.

Anyway, with one to go I moved up to the top 4 and positioned myself with Brigham and Brandon in tow. I was going to try to get us to the last turn first and then let the Lumm brothers take it from there. The first part of the plan worked okay, but we were all gassed to make anything in the sprint, when the group came around me (at the bottom of the hill leading towards the line) I just sat up. What was funny was that a lot of the people that contested for the sprint hadn't done much during the race...which makes sense I guess, but how much fun is it to sit in for 20 laps and sprint for 20 meters...Aces!!!

We didn't stick around to watch the A's and rode back. All in all it was a 70 mile day with a good hard effort in the middle. There is a little dust that needs to be removed from the R1V 3 team, but it's coming...

Cheers..

3 comments:

RayMan AKA StingRay said...

with your new colors, none you guys look like you did last year in Red.

If you read Kyle's blog, you'd know he was one of the goof balls trying to get to the front and sit up.

Dude, you got to drop all the sprinter wanna bees.

I might come out on Sunday and mix it up.

Jesse said...

I don't (or didn't) have the fitness to really push the pace. Plus the B race is nothing like the HP lunch time ride or the 7 am/ 8:30 ride where all the strong guys just roll off the front into the distance...two guys go or three guys go and then tucker out and the pack catches them.

Plus, there is so much "down" time during the race that it kind of bores people into apathy until the end. After the couple of laps I went off the front with the Evo dude I was apathetic for the rest of the race...maybe the course, maybe the time of the year...who knows.

I am looking forward to seeing RayMan out there again though!!!

Kyle Jones said...

If rayman shows, the rayman will get dropped. I will make sure of that. I will gap you on the back of the pack rayman. Haha.

Actually if ray came out that would be great. You guys ever need a place to shower after the race I live like 15 minutes away.