Mystic Velo Cat5

[Tfrost]

This was a fun race, weather was perfect, 55s mostly sunny. 10-15mph wind. I felt good, was looking to get in the sprint finish, was hoping justin coelho wasn't there as he had one twice on this course already this year and is pretty damn fast. But he wouldn't miss out on a three-pete and was there at the starting line.

Race starts, first 5-6 laps are pretty good, take note of sketchy riders, some pretty lame paced laps in there as well. There was a few minutes where the field was going under 20mph. At roughly the 6th lap someone on the front who apparently was fed up with the cuddly kitten pace decided to put in a good turn and the field got strung out. At one point I look behind really quick only to notice a 25-40 foot gap behind me I decide to see if I can get this front group away. I gun it and get out ahead, I had let up for a few seconds so the front 5 riders catch on in hope we can work together. I continued my big pull and after about a minute pull right and flip my elbow. Look back and they all moved back on my wheel, I did it again, twice, and nothing. We just lost about 5 mph and had perhaps 15 seconds on the field and by the time anyone took over we were already caught. All in all a huge match burned for nothing.

The next lap was prime 1/3 and some people started contending for that so I slipped back to rest up a bit, and figured I would get forward again after the prime...But then Prime 2 came, and the field started getting strung out. Then sure enough the 3rd prime. the field was stretched over 150m or more with me closer to the back, I was in no position to try and watch the front. The four guys up front got a gap from their sprint, and by the time I realized how many were away they were already working together and increasing the gap.

The peloton starts a chase but there were only 3-4 guys who were all that strong/willing to help chase. With the exception of mystic velo who had a rider do an amazing job managing the pelotons speed to protect their guy in the break. I waited two laps before I did any work at the front, hoping someone would start hauling them back but nothing, and mystic velo's riders kept quieting things down. I dont think many people understood what they were doing. I took a few jumps that almost everyone latched on too, but as soon as I would pull off to let someone else hold the pace it would be the mystic velo guy on my wheel who would slow it down. I tried to get a some other people to help but no one seemed interested and the gap was 30+ seconds at that point with 3 laps to go. (.9m laps) So I sat in and prepared for the sprint for 5th.

A rider in the lead group flatted with 1.5 laps to go. I didn't noticed till at one point I only saw three in the lead, but that didn't change any thing for me. There was a crash on the last lap, not sure what happened but I was far from it. I tried to find a wheel of someone who looked fresh and good to go. Unfortunately my choice of wheels didn't get going as fast as I had hoped and the group did a little clockwise flow and starting around the 2 O'clock area was getting pushed to the back, in hindsight I took too long to get off the wheel and start my sprint. With only 100M to go I started getting forward, no time to grab another wheel, managed to pass about 5 riders in the sprint but only enough to get 8th overall. I was really hoping for a top 5 this race, but wasn't the least bit surprised to see Coehlo won once again.

Overall I now have some different ideas about how to approach the primes so I can potentially be in that break instead of chasing it. This did an ample job of making up for Quabbin.

[rusto]

Great job Toby!

[swawersik]

Very nice job Toby. We're preparing a spot for you in the 4's

The peloton starts a chase but there were only 3-4 guys who were all that strong/willing to help chase. With the exception of mystic velo who had a rider do an amazing job managing the pelotons speed to protect their guy in the break. I waited two laps before I did any work at the front, hoping someone would start hauling them back but nothing, and mystic velo's riders kept quieting things down. I dont think many people understood what they were doing. I took a few jumps that almost everyone latched on too, but as soon as I would pull off to let someone else hold the pace it would be the mystic velo guy on my wheel who would slow it down. I tried to get a some other people to help but no one seemed interested and the gap was 30+ seconds at that point with 3 laps to go. (.9m laps) So I sat in and prepared for the sprint for 5th.

BTW, what you're describing is called blocking. Too many people hear the term and think it's lining up a bunch of guys across the front so nobody can get through, but it's really a matter of integrating yourself into riders driving the chase and disrupting them by slowing the pace slightly, allowing gaps to open, etc. It can also consist of jumping onto bridge attempts but not pulling through, the idea being that the bridging rider must make a decision to either tow you up to the break (where you'll presumably work with your teammate who's already up there) or give up.

Kudos to you for recognizing what the Mystic guys were doing.

[JeremyC]

Nice job Toby. You mentioned a problem I've had in group sprints, picking the wrong wheel. There's not much you can do about that other than launching your own move. I'm finally learning in the 4s and 5s your better off going early because the reaction time of most of these guys is lacking, and more often than not, they aren't strong enough to close down the early gap. I expect (hope) the higher up in the Cats you go, the more predictable the wheels become. IMHO

[Tfrost]

Stephan: I am excited to move up to cat 4s by the end of the season, I am taking a little racing hiatus in may, but will likely be eligible for cat 4 by mid to late july. I know the term blocking, I just need to work on utilizing my biking vocabulary more effectively. There are things I should have done differently in that race, one major one is as soon as I couldn't get the peloton to help chase I should have just tried to bridge instead of drag along a non cooperative peloton.
Jeremy: I was purely basing my tactics on the fact I have never seen a pro race where the first guy to launch in a field sprint wins the race. So I am glad you pointed that out, it would have probably taken me three more races to come to that conclusion. The two people who I picked out as strong sprinters pre race were with the break so I had to guess. I think I will take your advice and launch my sprint earlier from now on and go on my own terms.