VBW Smackdown 2008 race report

Virginia Beach Wheelmen Smackdown
March 15, 2008
Suffolk, VA

Cat 3
Nothing to see here. I dropped out about 20 minutes into the hour-long race when the main field got lapped by a group of about 8 or 9 riders. I could see it coming from the start. Many of us had already raced earlier in the day, and I think all of the fresh legs except a few went up the road, and those of us who'd already cooked ourselves in an earlier race weren't able to respond. But... I have a good excuse:

30+
Go! From the gun, a couple of riders are pulling away. I latch on and we work for a few laps, but there's one problem- there's are a couple of women in our race (which I am all for, don't get me wrong) and one is in this breakaway, and she refuses to work. So every time the other rider pulls off the front she follows, and I have to jump from her wheel to the front rather than just riding from her wheel straight through. This is not efficient, and wastes a lot of energy. I think we stayed out for about 4 laps.

During the whole of the race, there were quite a few small breaks and a few splits in the field. If I wasn't in the break, I bridged. If I wasn't in the front group, I went with anyone who tried to bridge. If there were 10 moves in the race, I wasn't in 2 of them. I chased solo, I chased with one guy, two guys, three guys... whatever. I made sure if I wasn't in the break there wasn't going to be a break.

I felt good. I had good legs and was covering everything, moving up when I needed to, and sitting in when I needed to recover. I probably could have gotten by with letting some other riders do the work- but if you let it come down to that, you may be letting the race get away, and my style is and has always been to sacrifice myself for a shot at a good placing rather than racing for a possible 10th and not trying to make something happen when the race is up the road.

Late in the race one guy gets away, and actually has a pretty good gap. I can see that there's a little bit of apathy, and there are only about 6 laps to go on a short course. I give chase, and collectively, we catch the guy with just 3 laps to go.

I'm in a great position with 2 to go, and I'm on the inside. I'm not shielded from the wind, which I'd like to be. But I also get to take the shortest line through the final turn and not have to worry about being pushed wide, which is good. I prefer being on the inside because I know I can corner better than most, and I can ride through fast, keeping my speed up.

With one to go I'm moving up even further, and I'm in about 3rd wheel coming into the final turn. I go through the turn and see the sprint starting straight out. I am in a perfect position, and even though I missed my last shift into a higher gear (my fingers were completely numb from the vibration of the road surface, and I couldn't feel the shift paddle!) but was able to get on top of the gear quick, and make a run for the line. I was moving up the whole time, but came up about 6 inches short at the line.

I finished 2nd in a mass sprint (I'm not a sprinter, I swear!) I can honestly say this was one of my best races ever- the amount of work I did, and the ability to position myself well when I needed to was exactly what it should have been. I probably did too much work, but I helped make sure I would have a shot at the sprint.

2nd is my best placing in a criterium other than a training race. I am motivated now, but I am also going to be a marked man in the next race.