Two-up tuesday

Race #1
Tuesday night PIR, Cat 4/5 race.

Lowdown: 6 laps, clockwise
Teammates: The Neighbor and Driveby

The Neighbor put out the call for help to win the Tuesday night Cat 4/5 series. Driveby and I were on hand to support him. The plan was to protect Neighbor and restrict the early work to helping out chasing down some of the breaks. I attacked on one occasion but was not allowed to get away. Brad also pulled for a while, although it was a half lap effort and perhaps a little too long. We set ourselves up at the start of the last lap with Driveby in front, me first wheel and Neighbor second wheel. About a third of the way into the last lap after the dangerous RHer, Brad was pulling strongly and found himself at the front in perfect position. He put in a heroic effort down the back straight although at one point pulled off to the side thinking that we were trading 30 sec pull. I yelled ‘forcefully’ at him to get back onto the front and keep going. Driveby took this instruction well and dropped back onto the front and continued.

He pulled us round as a strong steady pace until the start of the last loping corner when he began to fade. I ‘requested’ that he get out of the way - the Wombat-Neighbor train was coming through! I found a high gear, stepped on the gas, and stomped away on the pedals. The Neighbor pulled out from behind at about the bridge and stormed towards the line. KB from BBC was thereabouts as well. Rich nearly got the win and was caught just before the line to finish third. I kept my pace up but faded close to line to finish just out of the points in 11th.

The team had worked well together and executed the plan as we had hoped. Driveby in particular, did exactly what was asked of him and was the one that really set Neighbor up for his podium. I love it when a plan comes together. Now that we have practiced the leadout basics a few times, perhaps it is time to enact some more sophisticated moves. For example, as German pointed out – I could have stayed with Neighbor and blocked those chasing him. We will work on those. Small steps, but we are getting the hang of this racing business.


Race#2
Tuesday PIR Cat 3/4 race

Lowdown: 13 laps (for those coming from the Cat 4/5 race), clockwise, 3 primes
Teammates: The Neighbor and The Kid

After the 4/5 race KB, The Neighbor and I soft pedaled around until the 3/4 field, which included The Kid, caught up with us. Coming round the start/finish line there were 13 laps to go and we jumped on. As with the 4/5 race the weather had kept the field small.

It was my first time racing with Cat 3’s and I expected a challenge. In my mind the pace would be faster and the sprints harder. Actually, this was not the case. The pace and sprints might have been marginally faster but only barely so. Sure, there were plenty of attacks but not much stuck except for the second prime when, notably, KB and another rider broke away in the back straight on a prime lap and no one could be arsed chasing them down. We (and they) assumed that they would be chased down (as I was the previous day). They fought out the points 100M ahead of the rest of the field. This goes to show that the tactic of attacking hard CAN work from time to time.

I got myself into a good position for the final prime. A team Oregon rider went off the front a long way out and, although he faded badly before the line, got the 3 points. I timed my jump well and nearly caught him – taking the 2 points by a gnat’s dick. My prime sprint chase down was encouraging and a sign that, even though the field was smaller than usual, I could be competitive in this mixed category.

Rich agreed to help me out with the final sprint and he did a great job pulling me around. I am starting to get the sprint dialed in. The basic sequence that seems to work for the clockwise races is:

-get embedded in a leadout train with 1 lap to go
-come around the final bend within the top 5 or so
-start changing up into bigger and bigger gears while keeping up with the leadout.
-jump at about the bridge
-stomp it all the way to the line out of the saddle. Prefer to go relatively early and make them chase me, rather than being the one doing the chasing.

Now need to add elements to these basic steps to have more flexibility to deal with other scenarios that may arise during the sprint.

Scored 5th or 6th across the line to finish in (I think) 4th place overall with the prime points. The Kid just behind and The Neighbor a few places back. Good, fun night of racing.