Bariani Road Race - Men Cat 5 Masters 35+

Race - Bariani Road Race  

                                                       

Date - 3/27/11

Category/Field Size – Men Cat 5 Masters 35+, 45 riders

Team Mates – Chris Grove (report writer), Rod Rozman, Rob Strong, Patrick Peters

Weather/Course Description – High 40s, Low 50s.  Cold wind, mostly cloudy.

Race Plan – Rod and I cover attacks with Patrick as the designated rider and Rob as the final lead-out and backup sprinter.

Race

The pace of the first lap started out brisk and I didn’t feel ready to race yet.  I think my legs were slow to wake up because I did the Land Park Crit the day before.  On the first few inclines I lost ground to the lead riders but I wasn’t fretting too much.  Rod had excellent position in the top 3-5 riders and Rob wasn’t too far behind.  Patrick was also in the area as well, occasionally shifting from the back to the front.  

As we got to the second lap I started to feel ready to race and started to be more active in moving towards the front and staying close to my teammates.  A couple of attacks went and I thought that they were all reeled back in until some guys started talking about how one guy is up ahead on his own.  I wasn’t sure if they were serious or if that was a ruse.  I thought everyone was caught and I conferred with Rod who was also up front.  Rod agreed with my assessment.  It turns out that we had confused stragglers from the two launches before us (there were a LOT of them in this race) with the guy that was out on an attack.  

We were debating whether to chase or not when Rob makes the key decision to chase him down.  At this point Body Concepts took over the pace of the peloton and started the chase.  Unlike Snelling, other riders came up to continue to drive the pace.  However, while Rob and I thought it was a good idea at the time, we realized that we made a tactical error.  We started the chase right before the base of the KOM.  As other riders came up to take over, we were over-extended as the climb started.  Rod stuck it out and managed to be the first one up and I wasn’t far behind.  However more riders came up to continue the drive and Rod started to fall back.  I came up to close the gap and told Rod to grab my wheel as I went by.  

At this point, the pace was furious.  I was doing everything I could to hang on to the wheel in front of me.  I was towards the back of the massive pace line that had formed so I was constantly in on/off mode trying to stay on in the back.  I couldn’t take time to look to see if teammates were behind me or not until we were approaching the last KOM.  At this point I was scanning the jerseys around me.  Several Victory Velo guys were there, 2 Folsom Bike, 2 Rio Strada, 3 Pen Velo, and I thought there were 2 Golden Wheelman.  (Looking at the results, there was really only one. Maybe there was another jersey that was similar.)  With that many riders with teammates, I thought I was going to be in trouble.  Going up the last KOM turned out to be pretty tame as everyone knew that the finish line was coming up shortly after the KOM and no one wanted to burn themselves out. After the climb, some riders shot out.  There were at least two, maybe three gaps in front of me (hard to tell exactly because we were catching the tail end of the cat that launched before us plus I had to focus a lot on the road because between puddles and pot holes, that final stretch was a mine field).  I was debating if I should stay in the group and conserve energy until the finish or if I should start bridging the gaps in case they don’t get closed.  I decided I didn’t want to finish the race with anything left in the tank so I started bridging the gaps.  It worked pretty well as I was able to separate out from the group and got an 8^th place finish.  I was in the running for top 5 but ran out of gas.  John Metzger, from Folsom Bike, edged by me right before the finish line.  Interestingly, even though there were plenty of teams with numbers, it didn’t appear that they were working together at the finish.  

In thinking about this the next day, there is one thing I could have done a little bit better when I was bridging the gaps.  The last gap was one guy from Taleo Racing.  As I caught his wheel I saw the finish line coming up and went around him even though I was exhausted.  I should have stayed back there a few more seconds to get a brief recharge before the final sprint.  Even though I passed him, I ran out of gas and he passed me to finish 6^th.  

Results

8 – Chris

25 – Rob

26 – Rod

27 - Patrick

Lessons

1.  Try to be smarter on the final sprint.

2. It is good to have teammates.  While I did the final lap alone, it was helpful to have teammates that were able to hold down the fort while I was trying to get my legs going.

Sponsors Note

The Nike Vision Impel glasses continue to be great.  I was worried at first…  I have gas permeable contacts that give my eyes a lot of trouble when I ride.  To protect them I usually find the sunglasses with the biggest lenses possible to shield my eyes from the wind. The Impel lenses were substantially smaller than my Oakleys.  However the protection has been awesome.  Also, they haven’t been fogging up all the time like my Oakleys do.

Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Elite 5, Masters 35+ 4/5

3/12/2011 Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Elite 5

Team: Chris G, Todd T, Felix J

Weather:

A little cool.  Not much wind.  Course was in great shape.  More hills than I thought.

Race Plan:

Felix covers attacks and Todd does a lead out for Chris.

Race:

There were two large teams at the race.  One was the SJBC and they had a LOT of young riders in the 15-18 category.  The other team was a Navy Academy team.   The Navy team rides the course every Tuesday and considered this course their home turf.  As the race got started the SJBC and Navy teams started to go at it.  Each team was launching attacks to break up the peloton.  The Navy team was much more organized in their attacks while the SJBC seemed to attack randomly. 

The barrage of attacks was taking its toll on the Peloton.  Todd told me he was having a hard time keeping the pace and I didn’t know where Felix was (I found out later Felix dropped a chain).  I tried to keep positioning myself in the front so that I could see what was going on with the attacks and try to make sure I was there if something was going to stick.  The problem is that the attacks were very frequent and often involved several riders.  I found myself constantly surging to follow the attacks or to make sure I was at the front of the peloton.  At one point 3 or 4 riders had a gap.  My mind flashed back to Snelling, where a similar sized group got away.  So I launched out to close the gap.  By the time I got there, the peloton wasn’t too far behind so the riders gave up on their break. 

The domino accident…  On the second lap one rider went down on the section of the circuit with long descent.  On the next lap we descend again and got a high speed surprise: we were going about 40mph when we turn a corner and find vehicles parked on the course.  Everyone slammed on their brakes and took evasive maneuvers to avoid the cars and each other.  In the process another rider slams into the open door of a race official’s/emt’s car.  His frame snapped into a few pieces and he had to be flown to the hospital.  I am not sure why the race organizers didn’t have someone warning the riders at the top of the hill and I am not sure why the race wasn’t neutralized.  On the next lap there still wasn’t anyone at the top of the hill but everyone is a little cautious given what happened last time.  As we approach the accident scene, there are now 6 or 7 riders sprawled around the road.  I am not sure when Todd got off of his bike, but on one of the laps he dismounted and put his old EMT skills to use.  Kudos to Todd for adding sanity to the accident scene until trained professionals arrived.  At the end of the fourth lap, the race was finally brought to a temporary stop.  Something else I don’t get…  It appears that the race officials have no means of communicating with each other.  How does something like that happen when everyone has mobile phones?!

After waiting for at least 50 minutes, we finally get notified that the race is going to continue as a one lap race.  While I want to finish the race, this is bad news.  The peloton had split with me in the lead group and I had felt like I was in excellent position for a top 5 finish.  This restart had everyone bunched up again.  At the start, the Navy team sent 3 guys out at full speed.  I was behind a guy that was following them at 28mph.  After being stopped for about an hour, my legs felt like they were going to explode!  One of the Navy guys started to falter.  The guy in front of me hesitated which caused the first two riders to get a gap.  I should have gone around him when he hesitated…  Lesson for next time.  The guy in front of me burned up while trying to close the gap which gave the Navy guys an even bigger lead.  At this point I went solo to try and close the gap, but I couldn’t close it fast enough.  Some other riders went around me and I caught their wheel.  Eventually the Navy team just had one guy with a huge gap as his teammate fell off the pace.  The group of us that were chasing him were a little too un-organized.  We were too spread out with individual efforts going after him.  I wasn’t sure which wheel I should get behind so I did several solo stints as well.  Coming down the descent to the final turn, the Navy guy was caught.  I was about 8 riders back, which was a little far, but not too bad if I could get a good sprint going.  No go on the sprint.  I was so burned out from the high speed lap and taking on all that wind, I didn’t have anything left for a sprint.  I passed a rider or two and got passed.  I ended up with an 8^th place finish.  Not bad, but I should have done better.

Lessons:

1.       When a break is going and the guy in front of you shows signs of faltering, get around him ASAP.

2.       Communicate with the other riders to try and organize the chase.

3.       Stay out of the wind.

3/12/2011 Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Masters 35+ 4/5

Team: Chris G, Todd T, Felix J

Weather:

Great.  Not much wind.  Course was in great shape.  Even though I just raced it this morning, there still seems to be more hills than I thought.

Race Plan: 

Highly adjustable depending on first race but we were thinking that Felix and Chris does lead out for Todd.

Race:

From the start, Todd and I were toast.  Felix looked like he was just warming up and darted to the front.  At this point, my thought was to stay with the peloton and see if I can do something to help Felix on the last lap.  That thought ended quickly when a rider turned in towards the peloton and crashed several riders including Felix. 

Next plan…  The peloton is losing me a little on the hills, but I am keeping up and I am easily able to regain position on the flats and descents.  I know I don’t have enough left in the tank to out-sprint the riders that are going to be finishing in the top five.  So my plan is to keep hanging on and try to sling-shot my way up the pack on the final descent.  If I can get in the top 15, I can probably get enough of a sprint going to sneak in at top 10.

Time for another plan…  On the third lap my left calf muscle starts cramping and the peloton starts ditching me on the inclines.  On the forth lap my right calf starts cramping.  Still…  The peloton is moving like a snail compared to the morning race and I have them in my sights again.  If I can just grab onto the back, I might be able to get back in the action.  At this point they are about 15 seconds ahead.  And then they take off.  I try to match the pace but the cramps come back. 

Time for another plan…  I see people falling out the back of the peloton so at this point my goal is to pass everyone that falls off.  Finally, a plan I can achieve!!!  One guy in particular grabbed my wheel as I passed him and rode it all the way to the final turn.  I didn’t know what his plans were but I wasn’t going to let him pass me right before the finish, even if we are racing for 40^th place.  I hop out of my saddle and crank away with what I have left and left him behind.  It probably looked ridiculous, but I will take that victory. 

Team Body Concepts 2011