Turtle Pond

[taudep]

My abbreviated race report.

I signed up for the Turtle Pond circuit race thinking 1) this is a regular race that many of my teammates will participate in and 2) it’s a 20 mile criterium. I learned the errors of my ways on Friday night when I went to bikereg.com to look at the directions on how to get to this race. First, no one else signed up (though Carl came and tried getting in with day of registration), and it was a circuit race, not a crit. I wasn't looking forward to riding 35 miles, though I did ride 62 at Battenkill a couple weeks ago, not sure why 35 seemed that tragic.

Anyway, I had a good race on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Didn't get dropped on the climbs. Well technically I did, but I kept within 100 meters of the 10 or so guys, and I was able to bridge the gap to get back on because they couldn't organize, and lets face it, I'm designed to go downhill fast. We split the field into two big groups though. After I had first bridged I said, "so how many broke away?" Some rider responded, "This is the break away.". Oh, I thought, this is a big improvement for me. I remained perfectly seated in the top 5 for most of the last lap. I did pace setting for 3/4 of the hill on the last lap. With 1K to go, I was sitting 2nd, and then the attacks started. I was quick to cover (because I've never been in this position before) and I didn't wanna see someone ride off the front. I wasted energy covering. In hindsight, I should have exercised some patience, and been back in 10th place so I could see better how the finish would develop. With 200 meters to go, I was still around 3rd place. Then all hell broke loose and everyone was up and around me, and I finished in 14th place, just a couple meters off the winner. I guess this is what is called a group sprint. It was crazy. The next peleton that came was a good 8+ minutes behind, so I'm glad I made it through with the lead guys. First time ever. No upgrade points yet, though.

I should add, since looking at GPS data, that the speeds in the last 500 meters of this race were crazy, up over 37 MPH, which is why the last 500 meters went by so quickly that I hardly had time to think. 37 MPH, and 15 guys in tight quarters...exciting.

I took some photos of the Pro/1/2 race, the women's 3/4, and master's 35+, you can see them over at
Double Hop

[michaelcole]

CONGRATS Todd!!

That's a great learning experience for you. You can't really describe the prelude to and the culmination of a bunch sprint accurately. You have to experience it. Now that you have, you'll know what to expect when you go for the W in your next race.

By the way... the numbers you quoted from the finish, that's a bit fast for a cat 5 finish, but imagine 4 times as many guys still together at the end, going a little faster than that in quarters just as tight and holding it through the final two or three 90-degree corners of a 40 mile crit. That's the masters or cat-3 finish at Attleboro or Fitchburg or Saco or ... you get the idea.

[Bruce]

Todd,
Great job! Way to hand in there. Your self assessment was spot on. You don't ever want to be pulling the pack when you don't have to, especially at the end of a race. There is a real art to pulling off the front and weaseling your way back in several riders back

[taudep]

@MC, the end of this race was all straight, slightly downhill, and then flat (probably a tail wind). Then the last 50 meters or so bumped up an incline. It was insanely fast, though since everything was relative, and everthing happening in such slow motion, I didn't realize the speeds until afterward.

After this finish, going to some of the bigger crits will take some getting used to...

[chindogu]

Good stuff Todd!

[onegeardoug]

Good write-up. Sounds like you learned the lesson at the finish. The trick now is to apply that lesson in the future.

[taudep]

OK, update. I was sprinting with my group for 4th place. There was confusion in our race because we caught the peloton in front of us from a different race. The race officials neutralized the race in front so we could get around. But while we were being yelled at in all the confusion, 3 dudes snuck out. (Or peloton merged with another for a minute until confusion was sorted.)

Bah.

[carlshimer]

This happened last year at Sunapee. Our breakaway (well I think it was a breakaway) caught another peleton. The race official *stopped* us for a couple of minutes - which of course let everyone catch back on. I always wonder how that race would have turned out otherwise....

So I guess the moral of the story is.... keep going until the finish line???