2016 Plainville Crit #1

[pcollins]

Plainville Spring Series Crit #1 13 March 2016
After an awesome week in California with a great group of guys, I thought I’d put all the hard training to the test at the Plainville Cat 3/4 Crit, the first race of the road season for many. I was excited to race and it was great to see so many familiar faces again. After looking at the race predictor I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning, so that was my goal. Winslow lined up with me and kindly agreed to provide support. Overall, the race was pretty tame and all attacks were quickly covered. I tried to stay near the front for most of the race, as the field was decently big with 55 racers. The only breaks that got more than a few seconds gap were the two times Winslow was off the front. Although they only lasted about a lap or so, it forced the bigger teams like Community Bike and Cannondale, which both had ~4 guys, to chase while I just sat in. When we were all together I decided to counter attack and was followed only by Greg Colby, I looked back and the pack was strung out, which means they were going hard and covering the break. I knew it wasn’t the break to be, and we were quickly caught a half lap later going through the headwind finish straight section. I decided the smart thing to go was to sit in and wait for the sprint. With 3 to go I was mid-pack, got on Winslow’s wheel and told him to “hit it” and bring me up to the front, which he greatly did. I was in decent position, about 10th wheel, on Winslow, with 1 lap to go. Winslow was gassed from all the work he did, and gaps were starting to open as everyone was attacking. I jumped/attacked from Winslow’s wheel with ~700 meters to go and passed ~9 people before the last corner. Maher, a great junior CX rider from Race CF, was on my wheel going into the sprint. We started to sprint into the headwind, neck-and-neck sprinting as hard as we could, he tried to come around but I buried myself so that he wouldn’t, and I got him by less than half a bike length. The winner made a sneaky move on the tailwind section, that I didn't see, to get a winning gap of about 1 second. All-in-all, a great start to the road season with a podium and great vibes from the teamwork with Winslow, who went on to crush the 4/5 race immediately after the 3/4. I requested a Cat 2 upgrade, but haven’t heard back yet, I’ll update when I do.
On the published results for USAC and RoadResults.com, it says that I won, which is probably just an error, or maybe the winner was DQ'ed for some reason? http://www.road-results.com/race/7069#r37733

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Plainville Spring Series Crit #1 13 March 2016

After an awesome week in California with a great group of guys, I thought I’d put all the hard training to the test at the Plainville Cat 3/4 Crit, the first race of the road season for many. I was excited to race and it was great to see so many familiar faces again. After looking at the race predictor I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning, so that was my goal. Winslow lined up with me and kindly agreed to provide support. Overall, the race was pretty tame and all attacks were quickly covered.

I tried to stay near the front for most of the race, as the field was decently big with 55 racers. The only breaks that got more than a few seconds gap were the two times Winslow was off the front. Although they only lasted about a lap or so, it forced the bigger teams like Community Bike and Cannondale, which both had ~4 guys, to chase while I just sat in.

When we were all together I decided to counter attack and was followed only by Greg Colby, I looked back and the pack was strung out, which means they were going hard and covering the break. I knew it wasn’t the break to be, and we were quickly caught a half lap later going through the headwind finish straight section.

I decided the smart thing to go was to sit in and wait for the sprint.

With 3 to go I was mid-pack, got on Winslow’s wheel and told him to “hit it” and bring me up to the front, which he greatly did. I was in decent position, about 10th wheel, on Winslow, with 1 lap to go.

Winslow was gassed from all the work he did, and gaps were starting to open as everyone was attacking. I jumped/attacked from Winslow’s wheel with ~700 meters to go and passed ~9 people before the last corner. Maher, a great junior CX rider from Race CF, was on my wheel going into the sprint. We started to sprint into the headwind, neck-and-neck sprinting as hard as we could, he tried to come around but I buried myself so that he wouldn’t, and I got him by less than half a bike length.

The winner made a sneaky move on the tailwind section, that I didn't see, to get a winning gap of about 1 second.

All-in-all, a great start to the road season with a podium and great vibes from the teamwork with Winslow, who went on to crush the 4/5 race immediately after the 3/4. I requested a Cat 2 upgrade, but haven’t heard back yet, I’ll update when I do. On the published results for USAC and RoadResults.com, it says that I won, which is probably just an error, or maybe the winner was DQ'ed for some reason? http://www.road-results.com/race/7069#r37733

[Webmaster (gentle) General Note: please break up large blocks of text into smaller paragraphs, it's really hard for readers to keep their place and focus in large blocks of text (I broke this up for you, Patrick). If in doubt, no more than 2-3 sentences per paragraph. - Russ]

[cbusick]

Way to start the season off in style Patrick and Winslow!

[KTeves]

Awesome start to the season guys! Congrats to Winslow and Pat!

[Bradford]

Nice job on the early season points grab boys!!!

Only the very beginning...

[ahamilton]

Only the very beginning...

I have to second that. I predict many more podiums this season.

[rusto]

Off on the right foot, well done!

[JeremyC]

Nice job guys! Patrick nice knowing you in the 3s.

[pace21]

I looked back and the pack was strung out, which means they were going hard and covering the break. I knew it wasn’t the break to be, and we were quickly caught a half lap later going through the headwind finish straight section. I decided the smart thing to go was to sit in and wait for the sprint.

Patrick this is next level cycling IQ. So many times folks will drive in a break until the bitter end and only succeed in burning a bigger match. The trick is to know sooner than later whether the break is a successful mix. And kudos for identifying the strung out field. You are wise beyond your years, congrats on your upgrade.

[pcollins]

Wow, thanks for the kind words Pare, and others!
I just received my Cat 2 upgrade confirmation today! Looking forward to racing with the big boys on the road now! I'm also looking forward to seeing some more teammates join the Cat 2 ranks this season.
Winslow, lets hear that race report from the Cat 4/5 race.

[djming]

Congrats Patrick!! Well deserved and well done!