I assume this is the best wine in the world because after two glasses I feel very warm and fuzzy and happy...even after a questionable day at the office. I recommend it.
Today at Hains Point. WINDY!!!!! Whoa. Big turnout too. I think DCVelo has some organized ride now at lunch...three days in a row I've seen them down there laying the hurt on all us under-cats. Also saw the Mayor out today looking strong. I like the fact that the Mayor of DC rides his bike at HP. Makes me feel good about living in the city.
Today's session of pain included text book race tactics. On the second lap going down the sprint side, Frick goes up the road and opens up a huge gap (that guy is really really strong). Another DCVelo guy attempts to bridge across (Young?), but ends up in limbo land half way between the group and Josh. For the next lap the main group is rotating pretty good, but nobody is really making a move to try to bring back the lone rider up the road. As we round the point and start heading towards the sprint line (with the wind coming left to right with a slight tail wind) the pace picks up and guys start drilling it. The pace picked up to the point that guys farther back started to pop and gaps started to open. I was towards the front going across the line, looked over my shoulder, saw about 6 to 10 guys with me that all lay down immense amounts of hurt on their own, so combined...this was going to hurt bad. There was no rest. We had closed the gap to Josh a bit, but not all the way, guys came around me and kept on going. I chased back on and looked back again and saw that the gap was significant to the next group. If this was a race, this was the "winning move". The next two laps were painful. I tried to hide when we were going into the wind (I was on the rivet and didn't want to pop), and took small pulls when the wind was at our back. I eventually popped once we caught Josh and the sprints started....too much horsepower in the harley/dcvelo legs...still felt pretty good about being able to hang on for as long as I did. Who knows, maybe "fast" will come this year?
Point of the story, make the effort to stay towards the front. Once the pace picks up, guys/gals are going to pop left and right. If you're stuck behind one of them, the effort to get back up to the front group might be too much to then have to hold onto the new increased pace. How much does it suck to chase onto a lead group and upon contact, have one of those mf-ers attack the group and just leave you in oxygen debt and alone on the road thinking about why you didn't make the effort early to stay with the leaders...
Funny how group rides in the MABRA region are "mini-races"....people think of group rides as these italian team rides where everybody rolls around shoulder to shoulder at 20 mph for 60 miles. No sir. Around here it is everyone for themselves until the last man is standing...wasn't me today, but I'll show up to fight another day. :)
Cheers and enjoy the weather....it is supposed to be in the 30s for Tradezone #1 this weekend. Yikes!
7 comments:
You doin Tradezone. And if so which race?
I'm doing whichever race you and Lance are doing...
First of all - White wine? What kind of man are you? Second - it's not pop, it's poop. You havn't gone hard until you soil your shorts. Don't worry, it's a learning process. That's what we are here for, to help.
Strong work on the positioning thing - as G.I. Joe said - knowing is half the battle.
damn...now I can't drink white wine anymore.
Jesse must think white wine is "pro." You know how hung up he is on white.
Good point Chickin...the Muscle doesn't know what he's talking about, white is pro...thanks for reminding me.
The Muscle only drinks WV moonshine. And the blood of little babies. So we will just have to overlook his comments on wine.
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