Bariani Road Race, March 12, 2017

Result
13th of 39

Teammates
Mark Massey (12th), Gregg Marioni (29th)

The Race
This is my third race of the season and I'm realizing now that I didn't file a report on last weekend's Snelling Road Race. Well, I did a little better this weekend. 

My fourth time at this early season event, it’s usually a training race for me. This year, it wasn’t until Saturday night that I knew whether I’d get to race, due to a family health issue. Things improved at home, and I let teammates Mark Massey and Gregg Marioni know I’d be there.

With Larry Nolan (cat 1, NCCF/ Team Specialized Masters), Clark Natwick (cat 1, Pen Velo Racing/Summit Bicycles), and last weeks’s Snelling winner Joe Foster (cat 2 ThirstyBear p/b Akamai), I expected many breakaway attempts by guys who didn’t cherish the thought of letting these guys take the bunch sprint.

I couldn’t connect with Gregg for long before the race, other than to say "hi", and didn’t have time to discuss plans, but Mark and I conferred and decided to mostly stay sheltered as much as possible. We're just a tiny squad and can't execute a big plan.

The wind from the NW was stronger than NOAA billed, and I think it shifted to NNW by lap 2. Warm temps and lots of pale legs spinning.

As I get smarter about racing (I hope), I try to avoid doing too much work. But since there would be significant mid-race attempts to hurt the sprinters, I wanted to play a role in that. Also, this is a training race for me, so I wanted to get into at least one breakaway. During laps 1 and 2, I got into two short-lived breaks. One by bridging up from 6th wheel within seconds when I saw Jon Ornstil (cat 3 Hammer Nutrition) and a couple other guys go (that one came back after a mile or so), and again just as we came through to start lap 2. We had about 5 guys this time, but with a group that size, I think the pack reacted quickly to the threat and our organization in the break didn’t materialize in time before we were caught.

There weren’t any teams with numbers (except Sierra Nevada), so the collaborations were ad-hoc, and it was becoming apparent that this pack was going to stick together. I drifted back to the middle, looking for where Joe and Larry were hiding and started marking them. There were several more solo attacks, but riding the subsequent surges felt smoother farther back in the bunch. Though you do have a higher risk of a split happening–but Larry and Joe aren't going to let anyone get away.

Final Lap, up the ramp to swing west into the wind onto Rd. 19, John Marengo (cat2, Team City) attacked, probably hoping for company, for one last-ditch effort to avoid a bunch sprint, had a 25-second gap by the turn north onto 89A. My teammate Mark Massey joined an effort to bridge up along Rd. 88. They came back, then I saw Tim Davis go off–he never does that… usually stays sheltered and gambles that the break won’t stick, and competes with the best in the sprint.

Marengo got caught just after the turn east onto Rd. 14. On the rollers, Craig Lindberg (cat2 ol'Republic/SERT) attacked and managed to stay away until the pack drilled down the frontage road in the wind-up for the sprint. He still managed 8th.

At the turn south onto the home stretch, the pack was fanned out across the road and while I was near the back, I knew I could move up before things got speedy. Everyone was looking at each other to see who would start something. I was on Mark’s wheel on the left side of the road about mid-pack. Traffic started getting thick over here though. The pace picked up on the right half of the road but a slow blob of guys in the center blocked access to that attractive locale. I couldn’t find or get to my marked guys in the crowd (Larry, Tim, Joe and Clark), and would’ve had to go backwards to come around on the right. Making the decision early to stay in the lee of the crosswind sealed the deal that I’d be stuck in traffic. Mark (12th) and I (13th) came across in at least a bit better position than last week. Larry won, Stephen Gregorios from Torrance (cat 2, Corridor Recycling) and Joe Foster 3rd.

My takeaways from this race

• Balance–racing aggressively vs efficiently. The two approaches don’t often work together, but I do what I can. One thing I do after a race is look at my HR zones (again, no power meter). I was thrilled to see a real balance for the first time: about 40-odd minutes each in zones 2, 3 and 4. I often used to spend much more time in zones 3 and 4. One thing I retained from a clinic with Michael O’Ruorke (cat 2 Peet's Coffee Racing) was his evaluation of the power/HR data from the racers he coaches. He said he could tell they were racing smarter when there was either a balance of time in zones, or preferably less time in the higher zones.
• Threading–Threading through the pack as it shapes up for the sprint needs work. Got to mark the right guys and get on them early.
• Pokerface–The third thing I'm working on is coming along too–when there's a gap to close, I'm making someone else do it. Last season, too many times in breakaways or chase groups, I was the guy who made it too obvious that I was most dedicated to working my little heart out, and the other guys take advantage of that. I'm getting better at dropping the wheel, or at least not reacting as though I'm worried. It's a poker-face thing I guess.  

First Race of 2017: Red Kite Bump Circuit Race

Sorry, no photos yet.

Date
February 5, 2017

Field
Approximately 30, a mix of 45+ and 55+ cat 123s (45/55 race together but picked separately at the finish). 13 of us were registered as 55+.

Result
7th of 13

Course
3 laps on 7.3 mile loop, plus a couple of miles to reach the start/finish of the loop (about 24 miles total). Each lap has about a 350 ft ascent. Good roads, no technical turns.

Weather
52°, overcast. This was the one dry day between winter rain storms. Wind was gentle until after our race.

My Goals
This is my first “shakedown” race of the season. I know I’m not fit enough yet to attempt getting into a breakaway during this short race. I plan to resist fretting about the surges on the front, conserve energy, shadow 3 different guys that I know to be brilliant bunch finishers, and hope for a top-10 finish.

The Race
There was a separation off the front on lap 1. I couldn’t see who was in it but I could guess. I hear there were possibly as many as six riders off the front, but ultimately there were three: Dan Shore (Cat 1, Hammer Nutrition), Cameron Birky (cat 2, R4R-Make A Wish) and Tom Lyons (cat 2, ThirstyBear p/b Akamai). 

As lap 2 evolved, the gap to the break grew, but it seemed that no 55+ racers were in it. There was no real effort by 45s to catch.

Most of the final lap seemed slower. Everyone was watching and waiting for a move. Coming down the long backside of the “bump” on Cross Rd. I heard a familiar racer negotiating with a couple of different guys on a plan to go extra hard on the last time up the ascent of Patterson Pass Rd.

By the turn from Greenville onto Patterson, I realized I had allowed myself to drift back to the rear, well behind my marked guys. But expected attacks out of the turn onto Patterson didn’t happen and I was able to coast up into about 9th wheel, next to my marks again.

The last ascent of Patterson wasn’t very fast after all, but the pack was stretched just thin enough to allow a good alley along the shoulder of the road. I heard gears shift and a lunge behind to my right, and saw 2016 NCNCA road champ Robert Pasco (cat 1, SAFEWAY Cycling) fly past with only about 1 km to go. I was in perfect position and jumped on his wheel instantly. It was clear right away that I was too ambitious. Pasco was accelerating incredibly and I couldn’t truly settle into his draft. I was left on my own with about fifty meters ahead of the pack. They weren’t reacting to Pasco or me, so I cut off the power, then reinserted myself at 4th wheel. There wasn’t quite enough time to recover before the entry to the last turn, and I slid back to about 13th wheel.

The short uphill sprint comes right after a slight dip. I knew right away that my earlier surge cost me a shot at the top 5, but I found a line up the right side, through fading riders, hoping to pick of just enough for a top 10 in the mixed pack. The gear I chose would have been perfect, but the pavement turned bumpy for the final 20 meters and that sucked all of my power. I maintained my position but came across approximately 13th in our pack.

Luckily that was good enough for 7th place among the 55+ riders.

Takeaways
The two things I felt I did right in this early season run-through:

• I felt like I was smart to stay conservative. I prefer to help make races interesting for the pack by participating in bridging efforts, or joining attacks, but I need to focus on being smarter, and more efficient for a few more races.
• I also felt comfortable moving into slots through the pack. If there wasn’t an opening, I was able to make one without causing a problem.

The main thing I’m ambivalent about is that in hindsight, it's undeniable that attempting to catch Pasco’s wheel was the wrong move, and took me out of contention for the bunch sprint. Still this could have been exactly the right move to go with if I could have stayed with it. He was a 45+ and if I had enough power to stick with him a little longer, I might have won the 55+ race. So yes the attempt had a direct, negative effect on my result, but the circumstance was a good lesson in recognizing a good move and jumping on it quickly. I’d rather take a shot like that than just wish I had.

A slight revision of this has come to light after reviewing one of Greg Beleira's photos of the race. In it I see what I missed, is that Pasco was chased down and swallowed up by the front of the pack in the sprint. So I definitely made a mistake trying to join his attack.



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