Instead of doing a pointless ITT in Dahlonega at NGSCU, we trekked past Atlanta over to Duluth (really?) to do a big road race. Big fields were expected, and the big guns were finally able to show up and lay it on the line. Weather when I started was raining, 54 degrees, and miserable. It touched the low 60s and partly sunny when joe rolled, and the roads were drying. Totally lame.
In a twist of Karma, I was the one who had to ride off early at 10:30 AM. 53 miles over 7 laps in a field well represented by 5 teams in particular in the Category 3 field. Aarons Cycling Team, Jittery Joes Development Team, Myogenesis, Reality Bikes, and one more I dont remember. We started with 40+ riders.What essentially happened is on the 2nd lap a breakaway succeeded that had one rider of each team. I was in the back half of the field when the breaks went, and while I could have bridged up to them, I foolishly decided to race a safe strategy in the pack and bank on a sprint. The Aarons riders in particular rode like morons, not riding on the front and controlling the pace, but scattered through the pack and riding slow randomly. Once the breakaways' success was confirmed, all the teams just sat up. We averaged maybe 20mph. It was just ridiculous, not even a race. The hilly sections were perfect for me, I would be able to move up easily for the last few miles of the loop. Unfortunately I timed it wrong, ended up on the back leading to the pack sprint. With 7 riders up the road, we were sprinting for 8th place. I moved from 35th to 15th once the road opened up, and that was it. Dumb dumb dumb racing by me, and non-racing by the pack. Since the pack didnt try after the break got away, we ended up letting them gain 26 minutes. Its safe to say I am furious about the packs attitude, and just have to say the A's better be ready to race tomorrow, because Im going for it and going for it early.
Joe's race was equally frustrating in the Cat 5s. The pack started 20-25 strong, and was best represented by Florida State University, who brought their entire Cat 4/5 contingent. After the first lap, it was only about 10 riders. The FSU guys refused to pull, even at all. They marked Joe's wheel and forced him to do most of the work in the race, and everytime he sat up on the pace they would launch an attack, which he would cover, and then be pulling again. It was dirty tactics, but unfortunately the way a team races against a group of individuals. After 4.5 laps of being the pack's bitch, Joe was spent. An FSU rider launched again, and Joe let him go to race for 2nd place. Unfortunately FSU still put the pressure on Joe, and when the sprint came, he was just completely spent. Joe admits he is finally ready to cat up to the Cat 4's, and hence the B's.
More road racing in Dahlonega tomorrow at NGSCU. Collegiate Racing this time :) Looks to be in the mid 30's, snowing/raining and 15-25 mph winds. Bring the pain! Joe and I have poor performances to make up for
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dont be talking shit about my aarons boys sucka. 3rd place and 1st and 2nd in the field sprint = 3 in the top 10. sounds like decent racing to me.
ReplyDeletegood luck tomorrow. cant say i envy the weather. we had a decent crew heading up, but everyone bailed due to the weather/threat of the race being canceled. i'll stick with sunny /80 degree training rides for now. catch you at uga.
oh ill toooootally talk shit about the aarons guys haha. the guys im bitching about got like last in the sprint. they played good teamwork, ill give them that, but once the break was away it wasnt necessary to ride in the middle of the field and coast up the rolling hills.
ReplyDeletei hate you and your weather lol. you guys shouldve come....i would have had more ppl to whine about :)