After a good fast day in the saddle during yesterday’s crit, it was time for my preferred style of racing in the road race. The race was 2 laps of a 45mile (72km) lap. The course was nice and rolling, with no real big hills. The wind today was unfortunately pretty minimal. There was a fair few little potholes, bits of sand, gravel and roughed up roads, but not enough to upset the race to much.
The day started off very unusually today. Unusual in that we were the first to arrive at the race, as opposed to running a bit late. We even got to park closest to the start/finish line, and right by the road for a quick exit. It was an early start for us heading off at 8am, and when we arrived at the race it was still dark. We met up with Eric, who was kind enough to feed us today. This would be more important today with the longer race, and since it was so cold in the morning, the extra clothes we’d have on even when it got a little warmer. Though pulling off arm warmers ain’t too much of a hassle.
Just before the race was due to kick off we met up with Dan and Phil (Phil missed yesterday’s crit as he was ion CA, but flew in time for the RR) ad were having a chat as the rest of the bunch were staging. As we sat there talking, we heard a gun go off. Is that our race? Oh s***!!! Next thing you know the four of us are chasing down the moving peloton as they ride away on the course.
The first 5-10mins were a pretty slow steady pace, as I tried to move up the peloton, which was quite hard with the yellow line rule. Pretty soon I came near the front, and the pace was picking up a bit. Not long into the race we took a right hander and some rider hit the deck. He prob took down a few others with him, but I couldn’t see. I just followed the line I was taking and moved back into the slipstream off the riders in front. Shortly after that we hit a couple of rollers, and the attacks really started to heat up. The peloton was hitting it over a hill as I saw Phil follow a move. With a teammate up the road, I wasn’t too concerned in chasing them down, but soon after I did have to boost round the side to make sure I didn’t miss a split. The bunch really was blowing to bits. I was then hoping the pace would stay like this while teams that weren’t up the road try to get across, and the race would be thinned down to a lot less than started. But no, instead everyone stopped pedaling, the bunch came back together and the race for first was effectively over for all those not in the break. We then had a big peloton, not quite as big as when we started, but still bigger than it could have been.
The next portion of the race was a pretty easy affair. We just cruised along pretty slowly. There were at times a few guys who decided it was an easy race, and would attack solo. This would generally last a km, a couple at that most, before we returned to a pedestrian crawl. It wasn't until the last 10-15km that the pace began to ramp up as everyone was going for the sprint. I was still feeling good, and tried to get into a good position for the sprint. With about 5km to go I was perfectly placed, but it only took about 3 sec for a big swarm to come round me on either side. I lost position and had to start all over again. I kept trying to move up, but couldn't quite get in the right place, then just rolled in with the remainder of the bunch.
The day started off very unusually today. Unusual in that we were the first to arrive at the race, as opposed to running a bit late. We even got to park closest to the start/finish line, and right by the road for a quick exit. It was an early start for us heading off at 8am, and when we arrived at the race it was still dark. We met up with Eric, who was kind enough to feed us today. This would be more important today with the longer race, and since it was so cold in the morning, the extra clothes we’d have on even when it got a little warmer. Though pulling off arm warmers ain’t too much of a hassle.
Just before the race was due to kick off we met up with Dan and Phil (Phil missed yesterday’s crit as he was ion CA, but flew in time for the RR) ad were having a chat as the rest of the bunch were staging. As we sat there talking, we heard a gun go off. Is that our race? Oh s***!!! Next thing you know the four of us are chasing down the moving peloton as they ride away on the course.
The first 5-10mins were a pretty slow steady pace, as I tried to move up the peloton, which was quite hard with the yellow line rule. Pretty soon I came near the front, and the pace was picking up a bit. Not long into the race we took a right hander and some rider hit the deck. He prob took down a few others with him, but I couldn’t see. I just followed the line I was taking and moved back into the slipstream off the riders in front. Shortly after that we hit a couple of rollers, and the attacks really started to heat up. The peloton was hitting it over a hill as I saw Phil follow a move. With a teammate up the road, I wasn’t too concerned in chasing them down, but soon after I did have to boost round the side to make sure I didn’t miss a split. The bunch really was blowing to bits. I was then hoping the pace would stay like this while teams that weren’t up the road try to get across, and the race would be thinned down to a lot less than started. But no, instead everyone stopped pedaling, the bunch came back together and the race for first was effectively over for all those not in the break. We then had a big peloton, not quite as big as when we started, but still bigger than it could have been.
The next portion of the race was a pretty easy affair. We just cruised along pretty slowly. There were at times a few guys who decided it was an easy race, and would attack solo. This would generally last a km, a couple at that most, before we returned to a pedestrian crawl. It wasn't until the last 10-15km that the pace began to ramp up as everyone was going for the sprint. I was still feeling good, and tried to get into a good position for the sprint. With about 5km to go I was perfectly placed, but it only took about 3 sec for a big swarm to come round me on either side. I lost position and had to start all over again. I kept trying to move up, but couldn't quite get in the right place, then just rolled in with the remainder of the bunch.
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