Finally made it out to Greenbelt Park last night for the training race. I wasn't really sure what to expect of my own performance and quite frankly I didn't think I was going to be able to hang with the pack and finish the race. Maybe the race just picks up a lot towards the end of the season but at the end of the season last year I was having a much harder time hanging in there. I was also spending my time towards the front of the pack and attempting things while last night I spent the majority of my time in the middle-back and only once was on the very front of the pack.
Anyway, I feel like I handled the accelerations and and herky jerky of pack riding pretty well considering all of the riding I have done lately has been solo time trial stuff. The fitness level I have from everything, biking, running and swimming obviously helped tremendously since the amount of riding I've done lately is pretty minuscule. Glad to see I can get out and at least hang in there.
Overall I was satisfied with the ride, I'll start trying to do more as the weeks go by; beginning with putting myself in a better position towards the front of the pack and working to stay there. Going into the finishing sprint I was in the back and had no shot of moving my way up so I just sat up to watch Chris who was riding at about 3rd wheel. If he could sprint as strong as he can drill he would be unstoppable, especially this year. I think yesterday he ended up around 5th or 6th but they missed him in the results...
I felt pretty fresh at the end and definitely would have liked to have a better opportunity to mix it up in the sprint. But, there is always next week, and with my season pass for the B race I see myself having plenty of opportunities to roll the dice.
There was definitely some testosterone sulking in the pack last night as I suppose is the norm. Some bumping and shouting, maybe a little shove here or there. Folks need to remember it is a training race, there are no real prizes... oh and we're amateurs racing a B training race. Have fun and try not kill anyone.
6 comments:
I always find the idea of a "Training" Race funny. It's Racing! and like you said, testosterone and racing, lookout.
I've been thinking of doing one of these myself, but it so doesn't fit in with my schedule, for work and training. All the fast acceleration/recovery stuff is definitely something I have to work on though, and I bet Greenbelt has plenty of that going on.
Oh yeah, just sit anywhere behind the front 1/4 to 1/3 of the pack and you'll yo-yo like there's no tomorrow!
You should try and swing down sometime, though I understand getting down from Columbia can be a bit of a stretch. This is a great and extremely well run series. Jeff and the rest of the R1V guys really do a great job with it.
It doesn't really make sense to me why Greenbelt doesn't count for upgrades beyond 5 to 4, actually. In any case, it's kind of nice that it doesn't, because (despite what you say about testosterone, etc.) it still seems a least a little less intense then real races to a certain extent. In any case, it was fun last night, and thanks for saying nice things about my performance. Obviously, I need to work more on my sprint! :) I'm not sure why my finish didn't show up on the results, but hey, it's just a training race so no biggie.
Yeah, the testosterone comment basically stems from one incident of some shoving and shouting I witnessed from the back of the group and led to one guy, still shouting riding off into the grass... Not exactly sure what happened there but oh well. I also feel like people are edgy, though maybe thats just general nerves. It takes a bit of joking around during the race to even get a response from anyone.
I agree that Greenbelt is a bit less intense then real races, though it's still pretty good. I think if the upgrading worked differently it'd be a lot harder to show up and race every week; not to mention harder to keep up as well!
Oh and as for you... When you ride as hard and consistently as you do, good things are bound to happen (and be said about you). Seriously, I think at some point we/you need to get a relatively strong group to try a breakaway. I only say you because I don't know how much assistance I'd be for any length of time. I still have the hit it and back off strength somewhat but not as much the go hard and keep going hard thing.
Hey, that sounds good to me.
Oh, and yeah, that guy riding off to the side, cyclocross syle, was interesting. Truth is, it was actually kind of cartoon-like! :)
There was one guy who kept elbowing me when he moved ahead - made me a little wobbly once, as a matter of fact - I'm used to that at this point in races that count, but it DID strike me as a tad bit out of place in the context.
Post a Comment