Author

Luke Seemann on Jun 12, 2010

Race name: Sherman Park Criterium Race date: Saturday, Jun 12, 2010

Masters 30+

If we had our druthers, a hundred riders would have entered the 30+ race at Sherman Park and XXX Racing-AthletiCo would have been a small part of the field like everyone else. Instead, the field had but 19, with eight of us on the home team. What this would mean is that a break would be a certainty, and in order to improve on our numbers we would need to be at least half of it.

From the start Tom Kamacinski set a good tempo, Davy Jones was active marking moves, and Chris Kinonen and Randy were particularly aggressive in trying to get away.

Each attack was followed by a counter, and then another, then another. After about 15 minutes, a Start2Finish made a strong move in the start/finish. I covered Marc Zionts of Alberto's as he jumped in tandem. I had to bury myself to keep up, but once all three of us were together, we had a good gap. "Let's keep rolling," I said, as if these experienced riders needed me to tell them.

We took short pulls, but after a few rotations, the Start2Finish rider who'd started it pulled off. I was surprised, because he was looking strong and smooth. We surely could have benefited from his presence and the blocking of his teammates, but we kept rolling.

Soon marshals were telling us we had a gap of 7 seconds. Then 12. Then 15. Having friendlies stationed every 50 meters was like having our own private CyclingNews ticker feeding us information. Very helpful.

Marc and I have been in this situation at Sherman Park before. Two years ago we were in a break with two others. So I knew that he was someone who would work hard and long. And he know that I was someone who couldn't sprint.

It was great being off the front and knowing I had so many teammates behind me. I knew that if we were caught, one of them would be fresh and could counter or sprint for the win. And I understand that Davy was especially instrumental, spending many laps at the front setting the perfect tempo: Slow enough so that we could stay away, but fast enough to discourage attacks.

With Davy's help, our gap held steady. Finally we started hearing gaps of 30 seconds and more. Now it was time to think about how to win.

With one and a half laps to go, I put in my first attack. Opening hostilities in a break always entails heartbreak. You've been best friends with this person for the past 30 minutes ... but now you must betray them. That's racin'.

It didn't take long before Marc was back on my wheel. "That was early," he said. I shrugged sheepishly.

For most of the final lap Marc sat on my wheel like a wily match sprinter. I put in more attacks, trying to model them like the tabata workouts my coach has me do: 20 second-sprint, 10 seconds rest, repeat four times. A few times I feinted out of the saddle, hoping to fool him into coming around, but Marc is too smart for that. Finally as we approached the final corner he launched an attack of his own, and it was no match for me. I rolled in 2nd, and Randy was able to take 3rd. (He actually finished 4th after successfully marking the field's best sprinter -- a sprinter who, unbeknownst to Randy, had been relegated for missing the first lap with a flat.)

It's a shame I couldn't get the W for all the team's work. Maybe I should have tried attacking earlier? Maybe I should have sat up and counted on Randy to win the sprint?

Maybe I should just ask Marc how I can beat him? Hopefully he can give me an answer before we are in a break again, which I hope is soon.

P/1/2/3

Given the luck I'd had the week prior, it was appropriate that I was given E1 for a race number. As everyone knows, when you are given E1 it is very important to pin it right-side up. It's unlucky to pin it upside down.

This field was larger, about 35 strong, despite a light rain, but again we had good numbers. I was happy to see teammates attacking even before I had clipped in. Not sure who it was, but it was an honorable way to kick things off, like a baseball team sprinting to their positions at the top of the first inning.

A break in this race is inevitable, so the first 30 minutes were very fast as everyone vied to be in the move. I put in a few efforts, but mostly to give the guys with fresh legs something they could counter.

Finally a break got off. I wasn't sure how many, but it looked like around seven. I was told we had JT in it. (Turns out it was 12, and we had both JT and Peter. Excellent representation, but obviously I need to pay better attention.)

At that point we joined ReCycling in controlling the race, and the speed finally settled down. I enjoyed being able to have conversations with some riders I hadn't seen in awhile.

After about 20 minutes we started to hear the pace car behind us. And here's where we made some boneheaded moves. I'm not sure why we did it, but several of us started launching solo attacks. I got caught up in it myself. I figured maybe we had decided to start the race for (break + 1)th place, and I have to admit it was kind of fun coming after 20 minutes of boring riding. None of it was successful, however, as a Geargrinder at the front kept up a pretty good tempo that reeled in each of our dalliances. I hadn't noticed him earlier, but I figured that he was just frustrated with the way the race was going and wanted to get a good workout in.

It turns out that this Geargrinder rider, one Ben Damhoff, had in fact been in the break, and he was the only one who had been able to lap us. Our attacks, then, were counterproductive. We should have just sat in a little bit longer and kept the peloton as physically long as possible, the better to facillitate JT's and Peter's catch. And besides, at this level, we should never race for (break+1)th place. We should race for 1st.

Chastened, I sat in. And I soon noticed that the pace was much faster than earlier. In fact, it was incredibly fast. Soon a big gob of snot dribbled out of my nose, joining all the grit from that had sprayed up into my face. I couldn't wipe it off, however, as I was clutching the handlebars for dear life.

This kept up for another 30 minutes. It was incredible. I've never seen a single rider tow a field around like that for so long. I was running out of gas just sitting in the draft. We kept waiting for the rest of the break to catch so maybe it would let up, but they never did.

It turns out that the break had gotten to within 10 seconds of the catch but proceeded to break into two. In fact, we caught the second half on the final lap. Only JT and five others were able to stay off the front, meaning the field was racing for 8th. There were many of us in the field, but we never quite organized a leadout for the sprint. I tried to free up the others by putting in a hard effort between Turns 3 and 4, but we had to settle for 10th, 11th, 12 and 13th.

So, not the greatest of results, but a very memorable race, and I'm glad to have shared it with so many teammates.