It used to be that CBR held roughly half of their Sunday crits on this course, the dead-flat Hughes Park one. It is natural to think of it as "easy" since there's zero elevation gain, but the speeds are pretty insane. The 55/60+ event was well attended, I'd estimate about the same sixty or so as the first race. Not much to say, I attempted one attack, somewhat later this time. It falls into a pattern. A three-man formed with riders from Swami's, Santa Clarita and Velo Allegro. Since all these teams had solid representation in the pack I couldn't let it go and jumped the gap quick enough that I brought nobody with me. When I got there the news was bad, the Swami's guy was a strong TT rider, but I think he was mainly just pushing the pace for his team so no other break could form. The VA rider is a ruthless sprinter who is notorious for ducking pulls in a break (you know who you are!) and the Santa Clarita rider wasn't Fred Hoblit so his teammates would most likely be defending third or fourth, which may not cut it.
Sure enough, after two laps Fred jumped the gap without bringing anyone up. Unfortunately, he's got kind of a target on his back and the pack wasn't going to let that stand. We got reeled in. It's too bad, I had high hopes for forming breakaways in some sort of coalition with other teams, but Swami's isn't gonna play and they seem to have come prepped to kill breaks if need be. The pace stayed very crisp with a few let-ups. I don't know, does 25.7MPH seem fast. given riders over 55 and four corners every .8 miles? It wasn't a killer, but it's faster than I expected when I moved up. Anyway, I found a path to the front after turn three on the last lap. I was close to the front going into turn four but had to maneuver around some guy I didn't recognize who was doing well up to that point and somehow decided it wasn't worth it. I finished seventh, which is good enough to hold seventh overall (I think, standings not yet posted) and maybe move up to sixth.
I then rode the 50+ and then 40+ 1-3. All that needs to be said is that the average speeds were 27.1 and 27.5 respectively. Couldn't even break the top 20 (out of maybe 65) in the 50s and was only just holding on for the workout in the 40s. I generally get better as the season goes on so I'm still hopeful for top five overall in the 55+ division, but that's not guaranteed by any means. At least I have a goal.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
CBR Now Energy Bar Criterium 2011 (2/20/11)
After several days of rain it dawned clear and cold here in southern California. This was yet another crit at the Dominguez Hills site run counter-clockwise, which I like. Going this way consolidates the uphill run almost totally into the straight from the third to the final turn. This rewards fitness, no sucking wheel to the bitter end and breakaway opportunities abound. It had rained the night before making the surface wet and clean. Warmers, knickers and fingered gloves comprised the uniform for a 7:45 AM start in the forties. The 55+ pack was small, but the contenders were mostly present.
In the rain I think it's a particularly good idea to stay at or near the front. A few riders jumped immediately, but were swept up on the backstraight. Everyone slowed down and I led through turn three and hammered hard up the little rise to the last turn. Just then a black cat ran across my path. I must digress. In 2005 I crashed badly in a Tuesday night CBR race. When I finally came back to racing I joined CBR's "Insider's Club" which entitled me to a permanent number. I chose 13. I wear it right-side-up and have raced around 130 times on the road without crashing. Anyway, I took this as a good omen and took off in hopes of getting a group together and taking off. I stayed off alone for three more laps. When caught, dropped into third, caught my breath and hit it again. This had the desired affect and I went off with three guys.
CBR has a 10-race points series and there's a points prime in each race. When the bell rang for that Fred Hoblit jumped the gap, but didn't have enough left and I got it. Going over the line the prime bell rang again and here's where I went wrong. I sprinted for that one too. I was momentarily confused (read: tired) and thought maybe the second one was the points prime. A note to promoters: when announcing a prime to a 55+ pack do so loudly. Some of us used to go to 70s rock concerts and are a might deaf. I should have let the box of NOW bars go and focussed on the breakaway, we had a chance. After two sprints in a row a couple of the guys began to fade a little.
I recovered pretty well after getting caught. There were attacks after that which I joined in. At one point a group of us sprinted for what we thought was a prime, but turned out not to be. It was odd. I think that we heard the bell for the Women's pack which was on the course at the same time. My wife said that one lap later the pack just rolled over the line and they picked some guy who probably doesn't know he won it. Stuff happens. At that point there were four laps to go and I tried to recover best I could. I faded to ninth in the print which was disappointing, but the points prime helped and energy bars you win taste better than the ones you buy. Currently I believe I'm standing seventh overall in points, the official results aren't on the website but I think that's right. All in all, not as good as I'd hoped starting out but I was somewhat under the weather for the first race back in January.
Swami's Blue Mafia holds the top two spots. Not surprising with the sprinting duo of Luedtke and Birditt. They usually have two or three teammates to chase breaks so moving up will be hard. Next time is the table-flat Long Beach course, which bodes well for the pure sprinters. Craig was not one hundred percent fitness and Greg had the flu, so maybe next time I'll have more help. Maybe Velo Allegro will take a bite out of Swami's since the next race is being run by their club, although CBR sanctioned. CBR is moving the Dominguez Hills course to the other side of Wilmington. The obvious rectangle will not be all that different, but may be slightly safer. All the uphill should happen in 200m before the finish line, which is good for me. Looks to be about 3 percent grade so if the big boys can still beat me, so be it.
In the rain I think it's a particularly good idea to stay at or near the front. A few riders jumped immediately, but were swept up on the backstraight. Everyone slowed down and I led through turn three and hammered hard up the little rise to the last turn. Just then a black cat ran across my path. I must digress. In 2005 I crashed badly in a Tuesday night CBR race. When I finally came back to racing I joined CBR's "Insider's Club" which entitled me to a permanent number. I chose 13. I wear it right-side-up and have raced around 130 times on the road without crashing. Anyway, I took this as a good omen and took off in hopes of getting a group together and taking off. I stayed off alone for three more laps. When caught, dropped into third, caught my breath and hit it again. This had the desired affect and I went off with three guys.
CBR has a 10-race points series and there's a points prime in each race. When the bell rang for that Fred Hoblit jumped the gap, but didn't have enough left and I got it. Going over the line the prime bell rang again and here's where I went wrong. I sprinted for that one too. I was momentarily confused (read: tired) and thought maybe the second one was the points prime. A note to promoters: when announcing a prime to a 55+ pack do so loudly. Some of us used to go to 70s rock concerts and are a might deaf. I should have let the box of NOW bars go and focussed on the breakaway, we had a chance. After two sprints in a row a couple of the guys began to fade a little.
I recovered pretty well after getting caught. There were attacks after that which I joined in. At one point a group of us sprinted for what we thought was a prime, but turned out not to be. It was odd. I think that we heard the bell for the Women's pack which was on the course at the same time. My wife said that one lap later the pack just rolled over the line and they picked some guy who probably doesn't know he won it. Stuff happens. At that point there were four laps to go and I tried to recover best I could. I faded to ninth in the print which was disappointing, but the points prime helped and energy bars you win taste better than the ones you buy. Currently I believe I'm standing seventh overall in points, the official results aren't on the website but I think that's right. All in all, not as good as I'd hoped starting out but I was somewhat under the weather for the first race back in January.
Swami's Blue Mafia holds the top two spots. Not surprising with the sprinting duo of Luedtke and Birditt. They usually have two or three teammates to chase breaks so moving up will be hard. Next time is the table-flat Long Beach course, which bodes well for the pure sprinters. Craig was not one hundred percent fitness and Greg had the flu, so maybe next time I'll have more help. Maybe Velo Allegro will take a bite out of Swami's since the next race is being run by their club, although CBR sanctioned. CBR is moving the Dominguez Hills course to the other side of Wilmington. The obvious rectangle will not be all that different, but may be slightly safer. All the uphill should happen in 200m before the finish line, which is good for me. Looks to be about 3 percent grade so if the big boys can still beat me, so be it.
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