First race of 2016!!

[JeremyC]

In our Monday night computrainer class we decided to skip a structured workout and race instead. We had 8 sweaty guys duke it out including:

DJ Skinnyphat
MC Pace
Gary Busey
Pat from SNL
Riegel Beagle
Fintan Dufner
PB&J McQuade
Mo-money

After a nice warm up we started the undulating 24 mile course. Mo-money was day dreaming and was instantly doing the reverse TT (sorry FNG). The Dufner was dropping watts for a while, but his eyes were bigger than his legs and he dropped off the pace. Down to 6 guys with 20 miles or so left, the pace was downright painful. Busey was a marked rider, and for just an instant his mind wandered and he lost contact. Call it negative tactics, or call it smart racing, we dropped the hammer in order to get rid of one of the strong guys. It worked and we're down to 5. PB&J had the highest average power of the group up to this point, and since he is a skinny mother-f%^&* we knew he could be at risk. Low and behold we were down to 4. Myself and the Beagle were trading big pulls as MC Pace and Pat sucked wheels (yes there is drafting in a CT race). My "encouragement" to MC Pace worked for a bit but then he was back again conserving energy. On the last hill the Beagle dropped the hammer over the top and had what seemed like an insurmountable lead coming down the stretch. MC Pace and I worked together to ALMOST close it down (Pat we could have used you!). On my last pull I got us in striking distance and MC Pace slingshotted across the gap to take the highly contested sprint. I sat up like the professional domestique and let Pat take the 3rd spot on the podium.

All in all it was way harder but more fun than 60 minutes of sweetspot. Racing can't start soon enough!

[KTeves]

Sounds like s pretty awesome race. Entertaining race report from Skinnyphat as usual.

[cbusick]

The "drafting" is much more significant than on Zwift. If you are between 7 and 40' behind the next rider you get a 20% discount in power.
There were 5 of us trading places at the front, but most of the time we were within 7' of each other, so no draft. I noticed that one of us was sitting in 6th place always around 20' back from whoever was in 5th. Effectively sitting in and maximizing the draft effect for himself. It seemed like a good idea to me, so I drifted back, but he just kept drifting back staying at least 7 feet behind me. Now, in retrospect, seeing as he was the one advocating for using this software for the virtual race, I should have just assumed that he knew all the tricks, left him alone, and tried playing his game from 5th place, sitting in on whoever is in 4th. But instead I started a game of chicken. Things got close to a trackstand as we went slower and slower, the gap to 4th place growing, then he took off, quickly opening a gap on me. 1-4 saw his surge, and surged as well, making it harder for me to close back within drafting distance. Then the course went downhill. I had just put on a new cassette when I got to the bike barn and I couldn't get anything beyond the 53X14 to run right. By the time the course went uphill the distance was too great for me to close, and I settled in for a 40 minute sweet spot interval.

It wasn't a waste of money, since I got my 2016 PRs from 10 minutes to 1:15, but it would have been more fun to stay with the group a bit longer.

[pace21]

Who's this mystery guy you're talking about? He sounds like a real jerk.

And I just heard the race jury awarded The Beagle the red number for most aggressive rider for next week's stage.

[Bradford]

Brilliant!!

Riegel Beagle with shots fired! Nice job leading the chase back boys.

[PJ McQuade]

That was the most fun I've ever had without laughing. Also maybe the hardest indoor ride I've ever done. Like Busick I hit some power numbers that topped 2015 numbers, so imploding was worth it I guess. We need to do one more of these before the barn series concludes.