State RR Report

Well long time, no racing. Today was my first race since the Watermelon Crit, and it would be my first race since upgrading to a Cat 2. The race was to be around 90 miles long and we started with 57 riders. The course is a long circuit of 18-19 miles, that consists of mostly long flat roads. However there is one little section of climbs on the far edge of the course. The finishing straight is around 2-3 miles long without any turns. The important part is downhill heading into the last 300-400 meters where it kicks up into a sweet uphill finish. I have always liked this course and have always done well here(2nd last year, 13th but 1st in field sprint the year before that). However I was figuring on a different story this time around. It was brutally hot outside, temperatures were hovering around 90 degrees by the end of our first lap. The race followed a typical road race format. A breakaway was allowed to go on the first lap and quickly got out of sight. All the big teams were represented aside from NorthEastern. After the break rolled away the rest of the field was just chillin. I was content if for no other reason than I really wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I was not feeling up to a breakaway and since it was only myself and Wade representing the Beacon squad we really didn't have the man power to do anything about it.

  The next 60 or so miles would be spent at a very relaxed and comfortable pace. So I rolled up my sleeves and attempted to even out my tan lines a bit. During our relaxation there was one crash that happened right in front of me that I managed to avoid. Relaxing was enjoyable but in this time that we spent relaxing would be passed by the Cat 3 field not once but twice. After the second time they were on their last lap so we were told not to pass them. The field seemed to be getting a little more eager, people actually appeared like they wanted the pace to go up. We were biting on the heels of the Cat 3's all the way to the finish. They finished and we got our bell lap. 

Having rolled through the finishing straight four times already I was nervous about the sprint because the downhill leading into the sprint was really fast. I was figuring on not being worth much in the sprint but still I would give it my best. The elevated pace had brought back two members of the break, a Van Dessel rider and Mike Lynch from Mambo Kings, this left just a few more riders up the road but gave us two more teams that would give chase. The pace was intense over the two climbs which opened gaps and shelled some riders. I managed to stay up in the front group, but I was hurting. We caught the break as we came onto the finishing straight. Now it was my turn to try and find a good wheel for the sprint. I saw a Van Dessel train forming on the left hand side of the road and jumped onto the back of it. This is where the real fun begins. Van Dessel had a sweeper that wanted the wheel I wanted. (A Sweeper is a rider that sits on the sprinters wheel and sits up as the sprinter takes off, thus opening a nice gap on everyone else.) At first he tried to gently move in and take the wheel from me; I puffed out my elbows and made it clear that I wasn't budging. Well that surely wouldn't stop him, so he started to get more forceful, and again I resisted. At around 800-900 meters the train began to take off, the sweeper then hit me so hard that my bike was at 40-45 degree angle off the ground. I got gapped as people shouted at him to knock it off, I chased down the gap as quickly as possible but I was really under-geared at this point. I lost that wheel and jumped to another, I cant remember who. The sprint opened up and at this point my legs are screaming at me, I stand up and turn my gear over as fast as I could. Once the gear was turned over I sat down and just spun it out, again as fast as I could. I was gaining as we crested the hill but it was too late. However I ended up finishing 6th.

My first race as a Cat 2, 90 miles, 3:33 min and a 6th place finish.(With Jr. gearing) I was really pleased with the way my race went. I picked up 4 points towards my Cat 1 upgrade and ultimately it was an awesome race. 

Til Next time,

        Patrick

Watermelon Crit

It's been awhile since my last real race. Last weekend I decided to race the NJ State Individual Time Trial. Not my favorite event. I really don't like time trials. I have two reasons why; the first being that time trials are very boring, and the second being that I don't have any of the equipment. Oh well I finished 4th in the Jr. 17-18 event. I'm alright with that, still my power outputs were not the greatest and for that I was definitely disappointed. Life rolls on.

Today I took the short trip up to Rutgers for the Watermelon Crit. The only event that I could race was the Jr. 17-18 race. However it would be fun because my teammate Ross would be in the same race, just scored separately for his age division. Our plan for the race was to make it fast. I wanted to get a little cyclo-cross practice in so I planned on jumping off the front from the whistle. After that we were going to trade attacks.

The whistle blew and I was off. I got the holeshot. On the backstretch a Colavita rider bridged up to me, and so I eased off through the second corner. Once out of the corner I quickly gave it another go, this time I got a gap. I pushed the gap out over the next few laps until I was out of sight. I wanted to keep it up and hopefully be able to help Ross out in the field sprint. Sure enough with around 10 minutes left in the crit I had bridged all the way back up to the main group.(Which was only around 8 riders strong.) Shortly after I bridged up we were given 4 laps to go. There were a few attacks before this which Ross had covered perfectly. Things were all together, so I got Ross on my wheel and went to the front. I knew that if I could set a false tempo that it would discourage attacks, and ultimately make things easier. The laps ticked off with no attacks until we were coming through the finishing striaght to get the bell. A CRCA rider attacked out of the last corner, but Ross did an excellent job of letting me know what was going on and I covered the move. Shortly after that a Colavita rider started to move past me on the left. I knew it was now time to set a real tempo and string things out. I took it up to 26-27 mph on the backstretch and through the second corner. I jumped out of the corner and kept the pace high. Finally right before the final corner I started my final effort. We flew through the last corner and gave it about another 75-100m and dropped Ross off with around 200m left. Ross kicked out a nice sprint to take the victory in the field sprint and in his field. I took the overall victory as well as the victory in my field.

All in all it was a great race, Ross rode excellently and our tactics worked perfectly. We made the race and did exactly what we aimed to do.

Peace and Love,
Patrick