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What Garry saw:
Category: 1/2/3
Result: Back of pack
1 1/2 hours drive to Sacramento under blue skies and fluffy white clouds but a little on the chilly side, especially compared to last years scorcher.
I pre entered the Masters 35+ 1/2/3 and was one of 80 lining up for the 1:00 kick off. Plenty of names in the pack, Brian Macguire from the Olympic Club, a couple of USPS plus some others I know by face and reputation but not name yet. I was really looking forward to the 55 minutes + 5 lap race.
The race was o.k., I was in the top 15 for several laps but following a lack of concentration found myself drifting towards the back. With about 10 minutes to go I went to the front to make an effort in pulling back a breakway which contained Macguire, did about 10 seconds on the front and nearly died from the effort. I swung off and let the long, long line of 70 whizz by. I barely managed to get back onto the rear of the pack. I checked my HRM, expecting to see a reading of about 190 but was astonished to see only 175. Oh oh, I thought, i'm in trouble here.
Anyway, I skulked at the back for the remainder of the race and made a very poor attempt at sprinting. With no breaks, it was a mass charge for the line and Peter Allen of USPS took the honors.
Anyway, to make along story short, 2 hours after the race my HR had still not returned to a normal level and I was feeling real tired. So I drove home, called Brian to tell him I would not be racing at Lighthouse and went to bed. I woke up 12 hours later!
So what did I learn. Listen to your body, I had had signs that i was not well before. And CONCENTRATE.
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What Tim saw:
Category: 4
Result: Back of pack
I was hoping to follow on my success at Cherry Pie by placing at Land Park, which I have also never done. It was the first race of the day. Good group, Winkle , Caldwell, Nitz, Elgard (sp), Parker, Black, etc etc, I would have been real happy for a top ten. Long story short, after Winkle and Parker broke away, there was a major surge on the last lap, I went for the inside as I didn't want to get stuck in the pack, the guy in front of me also moved to the inside which moved me to the extreme inside and into a mud filled gutter. I didn't fall, but by the time I got out of the gutter they were long gone! I was well positioned prior to that. I even pulled in an early break. Oh well.
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What Santiago saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
Well, another day on a fast crit. It was sunny but cold, as Gary said, there were 64 riders at the start line. It started going fast from the very first lap, we were lapping riders with only 5 laps into the race. Anyway, as usual stayed in the top 10 the whole race, jumping on any attempt of breakaway, so with 5 to go, move to second-third position, then, when I thought we had 3 to go, they announcer said 2 to go, I thought good, they cut down one lap, so the 5 of us that were in front picked up the pace again, we were through the line and thinking we had 1 to go, and we went like hell for the sprint..... but surprise, we have one more to go.... well, I stayed there close to the front, on the inside, and with half lap to go, I was perfectly positioned (so I thought) on third, but the guy in front suddenly died and a bunch of riders came on the outside, so there I was, stock again behind a dying rider, so I rode my way to the outside, now with around 15 riders in front of me, and there we went for a super long sprint, never made it again to the front, wasted to much time and speed trying to get out from behind those guys, but finished somewhere in there. We average 25.5mph, not bad for a cold morning.
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What Jeff saw:
Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack
Hello Hello, Saturday's Land Park Crit was my very first real race. A very costly crash on my first Early Bird crit made me extremely timid. Also, I didn't ride much during the winter so the rest of the Early Birds really turned into time trials. I didn't do Early Birds #4 and #5 because a lingering problem from Early Bird #1 caused me to destroy my rear derailleur. You might say I was a bit nervous about Land Park...
All I really wanted to do for this crit was stick with the pack and avoid crashing. I slept in Berkeley the night before. That helped a lot since I had some extra time to sleep and my girlfriend drove me to the race so I had a bit more time to sleep. My legs were really soft on me. I had butterflies in my stomach, but it felt like they'd also found a home in my legs. I did hill sprints the day before because I needed a fast workout and I think I got about 6 hours of sleep the night before.
I got to the course about 2 hours early. It was as cold as those after-rain winter nights when the wetness felt like ice on your skin. I didn't have any leg warmers so I did my warmup in sweats. The Masters' races before mine looked pretty fast and I'd wondered if those rides since the Early Birds would make any difference.
I did good 1K warmup with 2 jumps. I started feeling a bit nauseous but this was good since I could backoff and let my knots in my stomach loosen up. Better then than at the back of the pack.
I think I was OK at the start. I checked out the large teams and planned to mooch off of them if the started a breakaway. I think the SGW had 6 guys and there was a group called Peak Cycling with some Chinese ideograph on their jerseys. They numbered 8. I squirmed my way up to the outside and the front.
They took it easy for the first lap at the behest of the official. The speed up on the 2nd was fast but by then I was in the middle and it was mostly easy cruising. The pace was ridiculously slow. I think my HR was 110 for most of the race. I really wanted to call out and tell people to speed up. Land Park has barely any curves, but the pack kept braking. I knew they were braking because I heard brakepads and "Slowing!" Maybe it was the SGW people in the front trying to keep people from a breakaway. Maybe people were nervous.
It started to feel really easy and it occured to me that I could actually win if I got lucky. I inched my way to the outside and sped up. I think I picked the wrong places to do this because by the time I was up, we were turning on the course and I was always caught on the way outside. It was kind of futile jumping from the middle to the front does you no good because you don't have any energy left to start or catch a breakaway.
Land Park had some interesting characteristics I think a lot of people didn't notice. There was a slight slink just behind the finish where the outside had some very nice smooth pavement. The pack had a tendency to keep tight on the inside so this was a good place to surge ahead. You didn't lose much to the wind since you made up for it in lower rolling resistance and slightly less course to cover. Right after the finish line the pack tended to leave the inside open. Also, another good place to pass.
At the -4th lap, I was passing on the inside when a group of about 4 looked like they were breaking away. I was in the front and I chased them and hung on tight. They all got burned out very quickly and the horde swallowed them back up.
As the race came closer to the finish, people got more dangerous or winded. There was much yelling about lines and breaking. A parked gardening truck appeared and people cursed their way around it. Did I mention braking?
I somehow ended up in the rear by the -2nd lap. I guess it's what happens if you're on the inside and you don't watch the edge of the pack. The pace started to pick up and it was a lot of work to start passing again. The pack opened up and I started passing folks who had jumped way too early.
Suddenly, a crash.
The guy in front of me just had his bike just fall out from underneath him. It looked like he got knocked over by the guy right next to him. Just too close for sprinting. I was about 10 feet behind so I naturally swerved. I looked down at my wheel as it narrowly cleared his helmet. I slowed a bit, looked behind for a moment and sprinted the rest of the way.
My final place was 37 out of 51. I was quite happy though. I didn't burn at all, avoided a crash, and finished with the pack. Pretty good for a morning of weak legs. I think if I keep near the front at all times I should be in good contention. I really wonder if hills will make a difference in later crits. Or how many people it takes to breakaway. I have no clue how to coordinate with strangers and not tip off the rest. Maybe we can do it if there's 4 of us in a 5's race?
Oh well, next stop Sea Otter! Anyone doing the Sea Otter Sr. 5 Circuit?
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