So here is how the San Dimas Stage Race which included an uphill 3.8
mile TT on Friday, a road race Saturday and a Crit on sunday went from
my prospective.
Well the TT wasn't great. I had a good warm up, I felt pretty good,
and unlike Carter I don't mind TT's usually. However, I've never done
an uphill TT and to make things worse I went out a little too hard.
This is my biggest problem for TTs. I mean I tell myself to relax
don't go out too hard and I don't think that I went too hard from the
gun but it was after maybe 1/2 a K, when I got my 30 sec man in my
sites. Then I started to go too hard I caught and passed him probably
in the first K. I relized however I was going too hard too soon but I
could already see my 1 minute man and I kept the hammer down. I caught
and passed him probably around the 3K mark. So I still felt decent
for about another 20 seconds then I suffered the most just after half
way and before the last quarter of the race and it wasn't a good
suffer. It was the you have too much lactic in your legs and you will
slow down. This is not good because it is the section I should have
been going my hardest. So all in all I ended up with 15:26 in ninth
place. My first thought was "wow not good I hope Ebert doesn't kick
me off the team". Well maybe it wasn't that extreme but I was not
happy. Well it was on to the road race.
In the RR there were time bonuses available on lap 3,5,7 and also on
the finish. The race was very non-aggresive, barely any attacks and
the few that there were, were half hearted solo efforts which would
get chased down almost with easy. This is very different from the few
colligiate races that I've had this year which usually have relentless
attacks fro the gun. Everyone went hard on the climb but crawled over
the top taking time to recover. The pace was constantly up and down
but never that hard. So on the 3rd lap I attacked over the top of the
second climb about 3k's from the finish. I had a decent gap, however
I was caught on the long straight to the finish with about 150 meters
to go. So on lap 5 I took 3rd in the field sprint and then got myself
into the only break of the day that seemed like it might have a
chance. There was four of us and one of the guys was in the top ten
with me. I think we may have had 30 seconds or more at one point and
even put the two's field inbetween us and the main pack. We were
about to catch another large group of riders from another field but my
breakmates lost there legs. One dropped off the back while I tried to
power us over one of the climbs and the other 2 didn't want to pull
anymore. I tried to push the pace taking the lead for the entire
first climb but I could tell they were done. We ended up getting
caught just before the end of lap 7th however I took 4th in the field
sprint just out points/time bonus placing. So I sat in for the final
lap waiting for the field sprint. I ended up in eighth. Not very
good. However I learned some things from these field sprints which
prior to this I haven't had too much exspierence..
1. Enroll in Josh Carter Sprinting classes. 2. I was in too big of
gear for this sprint. 3. I was positioned too far up in the field
with a straight away that is 1k long. Lastly at the end of the sprint
I need to start looking for holes and the line rather than wheels. 4.
Enroll in advanced sprinting tactics with professor Carter.
Sunday the Crit. Well you could say I'm consistant because I took 4th
again in the time bonus sprint and eigth for the stage in another
field sprint. This race was another race which doesn't exactly suit
my tactics. It was decently fast with no real attacks and everything
getting chased down. It seemed as if everyone was content with a
sprint finish. I wanted to sit in and launch an attack with 2 laps to
go however someone stole my thunder and attacked with 3.5 laps to go
and I would have joined him but I was not in position. There was a
large team of Bishop guys there who had a couple guys in the top 5 and
they chased hard and kept the pace high. We caught the rider with
about 500 meters to go. I was a little spent for the sprint finish
because I kept following wheels that where going the wrong direction
so I had to keep excellerating to get myself in position (not making
any friends having to force my way back into line). Needless to say
the sprint was subpar. So a 8th place finish for the stage and 8th on
the GC.
All in all it was a great week in Cali. Great training and good
racing. Also good company, thanks again to Ebert and Rosa for putting
up with me for a week.
Ryan
