Lots of Mice at the track last night: Mateo, Jake, Jeff, Frederico, Ashley, and Cathy. It was a good-sized turnout in general, with a large Bs field (21 starters for first race and 19 for the second), somewhat smaller Cs field, and a fairly small As field.
Bs format: 36 laps, sprints every six (for both races).
This was my third Tuesday out and I wanted to take the racing more seriously and put together some of the lessons from previous weeks. Namely, I didn't want to do max efforts for the first two sprints (that gassed me last time out) and I wanted to do a better job of marking the real threats. For the latter, I looked at the sign-in sheet to see if there were any names I recognized from recently winning on Tuesdays. Mostly not.
We had 5 Mice in the Bs, so actually circled up and did a bit of planning. Tim Felon and Scott Davis were out as well and we included Tim in the general plan, which was to attack into or after the second sprint, with the goal of getting a break going with Jake and/or me. Tim and Mateo were going to make the pace hard to set that up.
The pace was really slow to start, but Tim got to the front and ramped it up with about two laps to go, to make it safe. We had a train of Mice at the front and just pulled through. With 150m, I was sitting fourth without jumping and consciously decided not to make the effort and a few came by. In the end, I probably could have used that point. A Metromint guy (don't recall name but cat 3 on road) attacked a ways out for the second sprint and held it. I went at 200m and got second.
After #2, the hammer was down and moves were happening, but out of the 21 starters, there were enough strong guys that everything got caught back within a half lap. I was out of position for sprint 3 (think I got 6th). Somewhere in here, one of the Webcor guys (who ended up going 1-2) pulled for a lap or two pulling back a guy off the front--I was impressed and digging a bit just trying to hold his wheel. Sprint 4 was my biggest effort of the night. I was sitting third wheel at the bell, on a Webcor wheel. Tim was pulling us around. I jumped just before the 200m, but didn't come around Webcor guy fast enough to shut the door and he started going as well, pushing me high. We were side by side to the finish and he took it by half a bike.
A lap or so of recovery and regrouping, then a big attack. I saw Mateo there and told him now's the time to shut it down. I got on his wheel and Mateo drilled it. Really drilled it. A bit too hard for me and he started pulling away after 50m. Here's where I should have shouted "steady" (Larry said after that teamwork is about constant feedback), but instead I kept my pace, he kept hammering without me for a half lap, and we wore ourselves out for no good reason. It would have been a great setup for a counter otherwise. I wasn't feeling so hot at this point, and just tried to reintegrate. Didn't have it and missed the bunch. Sat up and rolled off the track rather than using energy for a chase.
Results: I got 6 points for 5th. 4th got 7 points, so a fourth place in the first sprint might have been worth the effort. Jake pulled a strong 3rd, behind the two Webcor guys. Good night for him... His attacks were really explosive.
The Webcors did the As race, so that definitely changed things a bit for our second race. The pre-race chat was that breaks weren't going to stick with the big strong field, so we'd be smarter about going for individual sprints and marking threats, like the Metromint guy. This race was generally a bit more steady, but there was a attack into sprint 1 that got the pace pretty high and it was sustained for a while. There were moments when I felt like I was spinning out just holding a wheel, but I wasn't doing much work, just following wheels. I took some wind to maintain position when the paceline got really long and I didn't want to go back more than 6 wheels or so after coming off the front. That ended up being worth it, if I recall, as it positioned me to catch a move coming up high. I picked up a 4th in sprint 2, then 2nd in sprint 3.
Then a great opportunity landed in my lap. I was sitting 4th or 5th wheel heading into 2 to go before sprint 4 and when the guy on the front drifted up track, the other guys followed, then started to fan out. Tim was making a move high on the track and shouted at them. In the confusion, I dove down the track and drilled it to get a big gap. Held it for a lap and a half to win 5 points. Grabbed onto the nearest chase group, since the pack splintered a bit, and recovered, sitting out the next sprint. A guy was attacked with 2 to go for the final sprint and had a big gap. Scott Davis (often races 4s on the road w/ Tim and us) went shortly after. I was marking Metromint and let him chase a bit, then waited for the bell to attack and was making up a lot of ground on Scott. Was sure I was going to catch him, but Scott kicked at the end to hold it by a few lengths. So 3rd in the final.
Results: 11 points for 1st.
The second As race was super small, just 6. After a few laps Larry called out to those in the warming circle to jump in. Metromint and I got back on the track. I sat in for a bit and mixed in two sprints, for 3rd and 4th (no biggie, since in this race seemed like only two guys would really work for any given sprint, going for the big points). But my calf cramped up in the middle of the second effort, so rolled off the track.
Then cupcakes and celebration for Cathy's birthday and we were off.
In case it's interesting, here's a link to my speed/HR data shared on TrainingPeaks:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/tny.aspx?a=sw&key=HHistskDS7dKjxz76gEyjeixYjz2xZPG
I haven't bothered to install the Garmin cadence or speed sensor on my track bike, so the speed numbers are pretty jaggy. Need to get some zip ties.
No comments:
Post a Comment