Myles Standish RR 5/7/16

[ssarah]

I guess I'll get this one started...

Women’s Cat. 4 Race:

The women’s 4 race saw an impressive 30 riders line up under misty rain for 4 laps of the 5-mile course.

A contingent of 3 Pedal Power riders looked to control the race from the start, but with the pace painfully slow and several cagey riders around me, I headed to the front to push the pace. I wasn’t feeling good and hadn’t trained for two weeks, but I quickly realized that this was my ideal course, so I decided to give ‘er from the get-go so as to not be victim of anyone else’s shenanigans. I took a good pull through the winding section of the course, but when no one continued the pace when I pulled off, I sat back to rethink my plan.

After the windy, hilly back stretch, the pace accelerated down the hill coming into the second lap. I was near the back of the pack at this point and mistook the acceleration, which continued through the finish line, for an attack, so I jumped on it. I rushed to the front, yelled at the others, “Let’s go for it!” and took up the pace-making. I think I took the others by surprise since they didn’t follow immediately, but soon they were on me. We had split the pack in about half by then. We continued pushing, and the next time I looked back, there were only 7 of us.

I knew that we had dropped some strong riders, so I was hoping to keep the pace up so that they couldn’t catch us. We weren’t even halfway through the race; it was no time to rest on our haunches. We kept up the pacelining quite nicely, and by the end of the lap, the moto came to tell us we were up 1 minute on the chase.

Somewhere during the 3rd lap, we dropped one of the two Errace riders (which was good news to us, as they were the only intact team in the break), and by the end of the lap we dropped another rider, making us 5 going into the final lap. We were up by 1’25” at that point.

We continued to push it until the back stretch, when we were told that we were 2 minutes up and the wind started whipping. The pace slowed, I started to wonder who was going to make a move, but everyone seemed content to go together until the finish. I timed my last pull to end before the last kicker, but I ended up out in the wind as we headed to the bottom of the hill. I didn’t want to go to the back, but I also didn’t want to be exposed. Thankfully, a rider came up from the back, and I fought for a position on her wheel with another rider. We crested the hill, and the moment I got a glimpse of the final turn, I bolted. I took the turn at nearly full speed, and gave it everything until the finish. I didn’t look back, but I didn’t need to – I won by 4 seconds!

Solid result, only a few more points until a Cat. 3 upgrade. Hopefully I'll be there soon!

[rusto]

Great to wake up and read this with my coffee this morning, great work Sarah!

[cbusick]

Nice job Sarah! (great write up too)

[JeremyC]

We weren’t even halfway through the race; it was no time to rest on our haunches.

I like the way you think. Congrats

[djming]

Awesome Sarah! That was so cool to see you driving to the finish with nobody threatening you.

My objectives for this race were to work for teammates, stay out of trouble, watch some more MRC wins from the backseat, then put in for my upgrade.
The 4A field was pretty fast from the gun. It became apparent that we were completely marked. I decided to do as much work on the front as I could to keep the pace high and still have the reserves to throw in my planned attack on halfway'sh into the final lap. I heard a couple "there they go again" comments during the race. Then at one point where I had put in a pull and think it was Todd J countered me and got a gap with one other guy I slightly let off the gas. One guy beside me says "oh, so now you're going to slow up?" I just looked at him and responded "what do you think?" I was having fun!
On the final lap backstretch an incident split the field so I saw another opportunity to go to the front to lift the pace. Then after a good idea but ill-timed HUGE attack by Winslow that was too early and too hard for me to get on his wheel (as we would have had a good little gap) I went into self-preservation mode and sat out the final Funnel of Death to finish safely with the main pack. Let's now hear from those who took the top spots (1,3,6 a pretty good result)!
Unfortunately the 4A field was marred by two incidents that MRC guys were caught up in. The first with just under a mile to go caused some confusion and temporary splits in the field. As far as I know nobody went down hard there, just broken bike stuff (at least spokes). The one at the finish (or more accurately immediately AFTER the finish) however was pretty serious with a few of us going down hard and KT getting a free ride to the hospital. Luckily for me I avoided both incidents.

Lined up 3 hours later for the 4B. Smaller field and a good number of guys had already raced previously. Took me a mile or so to get my legs going but then felt great (that plus the initial pace was noticeably less aggressive than the 4A). Onto the backstretch hills and I'm absolutely ready to do whatever necessary for Winslow. Then something didn't feel right - crap, that's a soft rear tire. Hand up, coast to back of pack then side of road and sure enough staple right thru the rear tire. 5K and I'm done.

Put in for the upgrade Saturday night, and this morning received the official notice:
"Dear Dave Mingori,

The following request to change your USA/Road category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
Member: Dave Mingori
License: USA Road
Request to change category from Cat 4 to Cat 3"

[pace21]

Men's Cat 3

After setting the record for both "number of pre-reg'ed riders in a cat 3 race" as well as "percentage of the field consumed by one team" it was clear that with 14 riders accounting for 35% of the field all eyes would be on MRC in this race. We didn't disappoint.

The show started with the now-famous Batt-A-tac where Rich goes off the front and solos away for the victory. OK that didn't happen but it did last for an eternity and forced other teams to take up the chase and set the tempo on the front. This is good. Rich was finally caught, but there wasn't more than a minute or so anywhere in the race where an MRC wasn't off the front. This would have been a problem if we didn't have such a deep and strong team, but we do! and that made it a ton of fun. Every single person in the race new exactly what our plan was for the first half of the race, but there was nothing they could do about it except go to the front and set tempo.

Fast forward to the start of 2 laps to go. Rich makes another acceleration and gets a gap through the start/finish which he holds until most of the way up the hill. At one point I was next to Jacob and we were like 3rd and 4th wheel with a non-MRC on the front. We were cruising along OK but nothing crazy and I turned to Jacob and said something like "at this pace there's no way we're catching him" and Jacob says "ayup". But of course then some accelerations came on the roller before the hill and soon Rich was dangling just out of reach. A couple more digs by other guys and Jacob goes with them to bridge up to Rich, I follow. As the so-called "mid/late attack guy" I should have been keeping better track of laps but I momentarily lost count. Oops, do we have 1.5 laps left? Or is it 2.5? Oh god I hope it's not 0.5....

Me (to Jacob who is right in front of me at the crest of the hill): "Jacob, are we on the second to last lap !?!"
Jacob (in a not-at-all-doubtful tone): "YES"
Me (still wanting to not mess up the plan): "So like, we're getting the bell this time around"
Jacob (same tone as before): "YES"

OK then, time to get to work. Attack through the left hand turn and into the wind, hey you're supposed to attack at the hardest part, right? After the hill and into the headwind, it felt like an eternity and I was literally dying a thousand deaths while watching the power meter drop precipitously. After reviewing the data it was laughably short though. Just when I was thinking "no way I can hold this any longer, I've done my job and forced others to chase so let's just let them catch me and move on to Plans B, C, and D, I look back and 3 guys are coming with a head of steam. "Oh crap, that's not the peloton that's a bridge group". Now we're screwed because if I don't get on this train we're basically letting the podium get away up the road. Sprint with everything to join the back of the line and immediately skimp on my first pull, giving the "hey I was just solo give me a minute" excuse. But then things settled in and we did good turns for the next full lap until about half way down the back stretch.

I started skipping turns and pulling way over to the other side of the road to avoid being on the front, basically playing cat and mouse and irritating my break mates. They tried to get me to work but I gave them the "hey I've got a fresh sprinter coming up behind us ready to pounce, I'm OK if we get caught". This got them working again, even attacking the break which forced the other two to chase and I'd just sit in the draft. With that, and some clever positioning going into the last turn (second wheel) the guy on the front (who was the strongest guy in the break) was forced to lead it out. Wait, wait, wait, pounce just before the second little bump, game over. 1st place with 3 really tired guys finishing just behind me.

Some highlights:
Greg's reaction when he realized it was his turn to attack on the first lap -- priceless.
The incessant attacking and always a red helmet up the road. I think John E wins the award for most violent attack, huge gap instantly and stuck it for quite a while.
Jacob's matter-of-fact replies
The fact that we also got 6th and 9th, I'm excited to hear how the rest of the race played out (I hopped right in the 1/2/3 race so missed the post-race banter). I'm sure there was some blocking first and strategizing late.
It was so sweet to be able to drop that line to my break-mates and force them to work, teamwork comes in many forms and is sometimes very subtle


1/2/3 race:
This was for training purposes and it lived up to the billing. Periods of lackadaisical riding punctuated by endless durations of on-the-rivet-lined-out mayhem. Avoided several close calls on the last lap and ended up sprinting for 9th place in the FOD (Funnel Of Death -- Jeremy's term haha). First top 10 in a 1/2/3 race but a lot of it was based on positioning and luck in the last 200 meters but I'll take it. Actually the positioning on the back stretch was the hard part and the sprint was a formality. Even got a sweet $25 paycheck!!!

Here's the strava data for both races, notice the much different character to the power and HR data between the 2 races:
https://www.strava.com/activities/568789349

[cbusick]

Welcome to the Cat 3 Club Dave!
I hope Kevin is OK
Great job Chris!

[Jacob]

I was literally dying a thousand deaths while watching the power meter drop precipitously.

From our viewpoint, you didn't look the least bit tired.

The last 1.5 laps... we permitted a few guys to bridge up to help out and then shut the gate and managed the front of the field. I liked our chances a lot 'cause Chris Pare can race a bike. I tried to get folks lined up for the bunch sprint and did an early lead-out pull. I was foggy, but I think Tyler and Tom were on my wheel, then one or two opponents, then Raguin and Jeremy -- probably others there too. I decided to not quit and raced for myself from the back of the bunch. With a race that short, you definitely want to have as much of the fun as possible. I was focused on not plummeting into the pit of doom on the left side of the finishing gully, so I didn't get a good sense of how the other guys' sprint went.

Congrats to Sarah, Chris G., Winslow, and Dave M. (of Cat 3!).

[jraguin]

Cat 3
A little bit to add from my perspective of the last lap of the Cat 3 race.
Chris is in the break so my designated position of attacking here is cancelled. Mid-lap Jeremy talks about setting up a lead out which I am on board with. At some point I make a big move up the right side to ensure I am at the front. Maybe 2/3rds of a mile to go some guy attacks and Tom goes on his wheel and I go on Tom's. But then I realize Tom was supposed to attack with a mile to go and if I sit up, it may leave Tom & this guy fighting for 5th rather than me pulling the field with me. So I sit up and a big gap opens fast. A LOT of yelling by various people at me. Some people go by me including Jeremy and then I jump onto a wheel (albeit I was a little shook up by all the people who had yelled at me). I go through the chute of death to the finish not really sprinting. Tom got 6th so I feel my tactic was the right one... I think Tom beat out the other guy but he said that there was one guy that caught them.

Masters 45+
Not much to report here. I didn't do much as my legs didn't feel great. A 3 man break got off the front with Tom Francis and was always not far in front (30-40 seconds) but we never caught them as no one wanted to really work to catch them (including me). So the few MRCers in the field tried to lead out Jeremy at the end. One MRC guy started it (Oscar?), I followed up when he pulled off, but I died before I could get Jeremy close enough. A huge group went by with Jeremy in it and I just rolled in at that point as I was pretty spent.

[cbusick]

John,
Why were they yelling at you? I'm not surprised that they were, but wondering about what the particular complaint was.
I'm asking because certainly letting a gap open so your teammate can get away is a totally valid, and in this case successful strategy, and one that we'll probably want to use again.

Were they yelling at you because they were too lazy to close the gap themselves? In that case, I love it. It's surprising how many people got to the level of racing Cat 3 without understanding team tactics.

Or were they yelling at you because you caused a dangerous situation? In that case, could someone explain how to do what he did without endangering others?
I just want to be sure I don't cause a crash when I do the exact thing John did.

[Smudger]

Another fun filled and successful day at the races for MRC. Although Kevin was taken out at the finish of his race all he had to visibly show for it was a great raspberry on his forehead when I dropped his car off at the hospital. His Laser had saved him from anything more serious and his bike had survived surprisingly intact.

Chris and John have nailed the Cat 3 race write up. I just wanted to "Belachick" (do my job) so my DS wouldn't shout at me. Managed to do that by attacking over the top of one of the many "Batt-attacks" and have a GLV guy chase me for a little (trust me it was a very little). I was concerned that Chris's break had 3 other strong guys in it and would be difficult to win but I also knew not to fret to much cause he's smarter than the average bear. On the back stretch of the last lap I think we could have done a better job of leading out the field sprint cause it was obvious that the break would not have been caught but I was not able to assist in that effort and it seems that Tom was able to do it on his own or at least with some reverse lead out gap creation by John.

[jraguin]

I am pretty sure that it was because I let such a gap open. But someone from behind should comment as I am certainly not always the best at not causing a dangerous situation.

Also, congrats to all who raced well, especially Sarah with the great race report!

John

[Smudger]

could someone explain how to do what he did without endangering others?
I just want to be sure I don't cause a crash when I do the exact thing John did.

I'll let John answer the 1st part but the simple answer here is the same for all sprint situations and safety "hold your line"

Sagging off the back of that wheel in a sprint if you know they are going to win is a very effective and legitimate tactic. Slowing down and pulling off to the side is asking for trouble

[JeremyC]

Here's my report (from a racer perspective). I may add some DS perspective later as the rest of the reports flow in from the Cat 4 races (both won by MRC!!)

1. Cat 3 - The strategy worked perfect. As the protected sprinter I had the rare chance to do nothing. I did exactly that, averaging just over 180 watts for the entire race which includes a massive 2 minute effort at the end. In response to John's comment about yelling, that may have partly been me since I was on his wheel and we we're in "lead out" zone, past what I considered "Tom attack zone" and since I was in perfect position for the sprint I didn't want to let a gap go. The result was probably the same as I came over the top and led out my own sprint behind Tom and got 2nd or 3rd in the field sprint and finished in 9th overall. Sorry for yelling. In my opinion, the "let your teammate ride off the front" move is great except during the leadout, but I will admit this was a bit chaotic and not your typical leadout scenario so no harm no foul.

2. 45+ - In the race with the Pirate, Diesel, John Ehrlinger and Ron Garon. We didn't have a strategy since we all had raced already. Still a fun race, John "The Ringer" (yes I just made that up) had some nice attacks, so did the Diesel. Break of 3 got away too early for my taste, never to be seen again. At one point I attacked the hill and got a good gap but was hurting and the Diesel bridged across and we worked for a while in the windy section before getting caught. Then I decided to sit in and sprint 'cause I L.O.V.E the Funnel of Death. I surfed the top 10 down the descent but got boxed in (at 40mph) and had to go back and around. Had a ton of momentum in the last 100 meters and could have shot the gap and maybe won the field sprint, but the FoD closed the door and 4th or 5th place didn't seem worth risking my life. Sat up for another 9th place.

3. I obviously didn't race the Cat 4a but some inconceivable scoring snafu (I.S.S.) had me listed in 8th. Cool, more points to upgrade to Cat 3. Oh wait I am a Cat 3. Oh well.

[pace21]

could someone explain how to do what he did without endangering others?
I just want to be sure I don't cause a crash when I do the exact thing John did.

I do this all the time and it's a perfectly valid tactic. I did it several times in the 3 race yesterday when Rich was off the front and with both Greg and Jacob on separate occasions in second wheel. Rich with a gap to Rider A, MRC rider, me, in that order. Rider A is chasing Rich down and MRC rider (say Jacob) is on his wheel. I'm on Jacob's wheel but I just let him drift away off the front. If they catch Rich, great because we now have 3 up the road with 2 MRC. If not then MRC didn't burn a match (except for Rich).

I even did it in the 123 race when Dean was off the front and Tom was at the nose and I was second wheel. I mentioned to Tom "hey that's Dean, go for it" and let him bridge up while I kept a nice hard-ish pace at the front. Difference was in the 123 race it took about 2.5 seconds for 5 guys to yell "he's blocking!!" and the swarms to come around. I'm not foolish enough to think that Tom or I garnered that type of respect though -- they were clearly watching Dean.

Like Smudger says though it's a straight line move, never swerving.

[cbusick]

Before finding out that it was in fact our DS who was yelling at John to close the gap I was thinking that if it's in a leadout chain and everyone's killing themselves just to hold the wheel ahead and a guy in the middle sits up and slows too suddenly it can cause a lot of overlapped wheels and yelling which would be bad. But pulling a Talanski and swerving out of the line before slowing isn't that much better since there could already be others swarming to get around you. It comes down to just how much of a deceleration "sitting up" is.

[Fintan]

Not much to report on the Cat 5. For me it was an exercise in patients. Sit back in the pack and rest, move up in the last lap and remember that the finish line is further from the turn than you expect, so just hold a wheel for longer before going all in.

[mfwestbe]

4A: We had 13 people line up, which I think people noticed? My job was early attacking, and when a couple guys went off the front out of the gate, I bridged up and they quickly realized it wasn't going to stick. Then, oh what's that? Oh it's a red aeroshell making an attack (I think it was Antony here, maybe Josh?). I sat in the pack a little while watching red helmets at the front, and when I was feeling better went to the front again and started hammering. I think I repeated this course of action.

And it was FUN. Between all of us who worked on the front, there's not a doubt it was MRC that made the 4A race 8 minutes faster than the 4B race. After multiple pulls I was getting fatigued toward the last lap, but I think I still went up front when things started to bunch up again as our sprinters were preserving themselves. Keeping it somewhat strung out to keep everyone an honest and give our guys chances to position well. Worked!

4B: "Oh, there's another attack from Antony" could sum this race up in large part. Plan for me was to cover any attacks, but otherwise for me to keep cool and lead out for Winslow. The last lap showed some other guys making attacks, and I did cover one going in to the back hill, which also produced another attacker. I decided to keep good position in the front 10 or so, and then started trying to find Winslow. I finally did get in front of him heading toward the final incline and turn. Not where we were hoping to start a leadout, but it kept him out of the strong afternoon wind to get him up front and then my legs were shot. He was on his own from there... he's got the rest of the story.

Also, after the 4A race some guy said 'some MRC guy needs to learn how to climb'. Clearly he doesn't know what we consider hills. And I did a pack slide and made everyone work, what of it... and to keep in mind conversation about safety on this, I did hold a straight line.

[KTeves]

I'm not good at this, but here goes . . .

Cat 4A race report:

Lined-up with 12 other MRC for what was anticipated to be an exciting race given the predetermined tactics called for early and repeated attacks. My job was to stay out of the wind and execute a late attack if Dave's attack on the back half of the course didn't succeed.

Keeping to the plan I stayed out of the wind for the first 3+ laps while staying close enough to not lose sight of anything significant happening at the front. At various times MRC was on elevating the pace at the front of the peloton, but nothing was able to get a gap for long AFAIK. Somewhere toward the end of the third lap with what looked to be a fully intact peloton I started to get anxioius that we were going to end-up with a really sketchy finish in the F.U.D.. By the back half of the 4th lap Dave attacked but it was quickly covered then a short while later Josh attacked. I jumped on the wheels of a chaser and a short while later there was a selection going hard at the front with the rest of the peloton chasing. As we got over the first bump in the road the pace started to slow and the peloton started to catch back on. Crap we're getting swamped!

Shortly after and before we got totally swamped someone initiated a solo break. I looked around to see if anyone was going to jump on it but no one went. As the gap started to open I hesitated at first but given that I recognized the guy as one of the more aggressive in the peloton and possibly a real threat, and I was supposed to initiate an attack of my own on the back stretch, I went for it. I was going into the wind and uphill and by the time I bridged I was 'dying a thousand deaths' (just as Chris P. did a while later in the Cat 3 race). I looked back just as the bridge was made and saw others were not far behind. We were quickly caught and I jumped on some wheels to hopefully recover for the mad dash for the finish.

Things got bizzaro when the wheels I was following decided to take a left turn off the course. In my oxygen-deprived state I and a about a half dozen others took the left turn with him. Upon seeing this some of the chasing peloton apparently got confused and when one of them started to turn left then corrected right caused a crash involving Todd. So after dying a thousand deaths bridging I've got to chase the others that weren't idiots. Somehow by the time I got to the bottom of the fast downhill section I was in decent position. I followed wheels and picked my way through until I was nearly able to contend for the win.

I thought I was crossing the line about 5th with only a couple of racers in front of my line, so I thought I had made it through the F.U.D. unscathed. But just after I crossed the line I saw the two in front of me make contact and they went down. I had nowhere to go and no time to react. A millisecond later I heard a mighty whack as my helmet made contact with the pavement.


Final thoughts:

• Congrats to Sarah, Chris G., Nick, Winslow, Chris P. and all MRC for another great showing
• Thank you! Smudger & Action Jackson for getting my car to the hospital
• Huge THANKS! to everyone for their concern and well wishes! It was truly appreciated.

Word of caution / this is why you are always supposed to get evaluated after a head injury:
I thought I was relatively OK after the crash. Heck, I knew my name, where I was, and Obama is the PUSA—I'm okay. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but the EMT's insisted because I had hit my head very hard. They did a lot of X-rays which were all negative so I was released before long. I'm not entirely sure why they didn't do a CT scan of my brain. I drove home from the hospital, and up until the time I went to bed the thing that was causing me the most discomfort was my wrist. But by the next morning I had severe head-spins and nausea from just moving my head. I don't think I'd vomited in the last 30 years, but I was yesterday morning. I had to get downstairs by sliding down them on my butt. Head trauma is eff'd up!

[kenchadwick]

Here's my short version of the 4A. Sat back in 15-25 for the first lap. Started moving up at the second. Went to the pointy end as was requested on the short hill on the back side for a bit. Went too hard though at the first of it and couldn't stick too long. It was nice to see a single file line behind me for a bit. Got caught up in the wrong turn thingy near the end, but caught back up. I was not positioned good for the sprint and got blocked off a bit. I had a lot of gas left in the tank, so I should have done more for the team. I actually felt like I could have blown by most everyone on the sprint if I could have found a lane. I didn't do it intentionally, but I almost feel like I mailed this one in. My fitness might be better than my confidence. I need more races...without crashes!

Also, caught up in "the post-race crash". People were just going down around me when we sat up past the line, tried but couldn't miss it. My back hurts quite a bit, but I think in 2-3 days I'll be on the bike. $100 broken pedal and $100 flat tire, otherwise OK.

Godspeed on the recovery Kevin...

Another great team and individual day for MRC...very nice, so cool!

-Ken

[Jacob]

https://youtu.be/rhQqadK5Nk0?t=1m35s

[swawersik]

https://youtu.be/rhQqadK5Nk0?t=1m35s

Wait?! Myles Standish has smooth roads?

Nothing makes sense to me anymore...

Impressive racing to all. Heal up Kevin - take things VERY slowly, and it's probably worth a follow-up with your doc soon. Concussion is no joke.

[JeremyC]

Heck, I knew my name, where I was, and Obama is the PUSA—I'm okay.

Dude Trump is president. Damn you did get messed up...

[rusto]

Kevin, please give us an update on your condition: have you seen a doctor since? Has the nausea/headspinning subsided?

[KTeves]

I went to work today Russ (after I went for a 1-hour ride ). I'm not 100% (a little 'foggy'/low-grade headache and occasional dizziness), but I fell I'm pretty close now. No nausea.