Sunday's awesome race finish (caution: amateur racing content)
Ryan Cousineau
I am such a sandbagger...I went over to Victoria for some leisure and
slotted in a crit while I was there. The race was a "Cops for
Cancer" (against cancer, myself, but I can see the counterargument...)
fundraiser, which meant a flat around-the-park crit but with a low
entry fee and a fully enclosed course, because the cops donated their
time and the race profits go to the charity.
The schedule said there'd be a "B" race and an "A" race, but they had
enough entrants to do a "C" race too. I dithered about which to enter,
but the "C" race bumped the "B" later, and I had other things to do,
so I rode the race that was at the time I had planned for.
Yep, I sandbagged because I didn't want to be late for church.
Awesome.
As a bonus, I saw another Vancouverite (a nice guy but not a club-
mate) at the race, and induced him to change his registration from "B"
to "C", which turned out to be unintentionally hilarious.
A point of form: We both race in the "C" training crits at home, and
neither of us is winning right now. Anyways, we even set up a race
plan: no shooting off the front of the race if we have the rest of the
pack overpowered, and we'll wait until at least halfway before we
attack.
About half of the other riders, if not more, were from one local club
(Tripleshot: pretty blue-and-argyle kit; one guy had his rims painted
in the team argyle, another had an argyle-detailed frame. Very stylish
club. Vaughters should keep his eye on Victoria). The team even have a
mixed tandem in the race, which I find out later is (of course) a
blind-stoker rig.
From the gun, it appears Brian and I are at the sharp end of the
field, but it's not an overwhelming advantage. Things settle in, we're
in the front five wheels, there's one or two attacks that I bother to
get on, but not much happens. We're riding fairly passively until past
the halfway mark, when the Tripleshot riders start making it real.
That's ok, except the one guy who nearly loses his front end while
riding two wheels ahead of me. I pucker, He recovers.
It's the usual: they attack, we hang on, and not long after that, the
race is four bikes: me, Brian, the tandem, and one more Tripleshot.
The tandem starts taking some big pulls, and it's clear he's fast, but
can't quite shake us. Soon the solo Tripleshotter gets shed, and then
the tandem disappears, so Brian and I work together, and negotiate our
finish-line plan while riding around at 36 km/h.
Turns out (as I find out after the race) the tandem just went back to
see if he could bring back his dropped teammate. It works, and
surprises Brian and I, and we're four-up again with 2 to go.
The tandem, btw, was the class of the field in terms of bike-handling:
there were some semi-techy corners (the worst had a manhole cover on
the natural entry line, and a substantially crowned exit), and they
were faster and smother through some of the corners than I.
With 1 to go and still four of us, the tandem attacks. Damn! I jump
his wheel, and then it's Mr. Toad's wild ride for one lap, with the
tandem team trying to snap me. Brian and the other Tripleshotter were
surprised and gassed respectively, and neither made it onto my wheel.
They were gapped within a hundred metres.
I knew the calculus, and kept repeating it to myself: hold this wheel,
and you'll win. The tandem crew couldn't stop attacking, and I
couldn't let them get away. Grim embrace indeed. We must have been
quite a sight on the last lap: a tandem at full bore on a flat course
doing a 2-minute effort, and me drafting behind like a fat red
parasitic fish.
We exit the final corner, and I'm still there. As usual, I sprint
late, but not too late, and the full-gas tandem is pipped at the line.
Brian gets third.
So I feel bad about lapping most of the field. Then I found out the
tandem's captain was going to race with the "A" group later. I didn't
feel so bad after that. And beating Brian was pretty sweet, too.
In conclusion, I'm wearing the bike socks I won right now. Bike racing
is great.
Jim Feeley
eff968b1-e3e3-47bf...@o10g2000prf.googlegroups.com, "Ryan
Cousineau" <rcou...@gmail.com> wrote:
Great fun post. Thanks.
> and then
> the tandem disappears, so Brian and I work together, and negotiate our
> finish-line plan while riding around at 36 km/h.
Man, you WERE sandbagging if you stayed off the front at that speed...
Best,
Jim
Anton Berlin
to them - they snag and run like panty hose and are throw aways after
about a week.
Worst socks I've ever owned.
coterock
> What? The Tour? That was crap. Who cares?
>
> I am such a sandbagger...I went over to Victoria for some leisure and
> slotted in a crit while I was there. The race was a "Cops for
> Cancer" (against cancer, myself, but I can see the counterargument...)
> fundraiser, which meant a flat around-the-park crit but with a low
> entry fee and a fully enclosed course, because the cops donated their
> time and the race profits go to the charity.
>
> In conclusion, I'm wearing the bike socks I won right now. Bike racing
> is great.
Sandbagging or not, that was a well written and interesting story.
Thank you for a positive contribution to R.B.R.
Frederick the Great
<eff968b1-e3e3-47bf...@o10g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
Ryan Cousineau <rcou...@gmail.com> wrote:
Does not a tandem has a physical advantage?
Always a friendly wheel to suck.
???
--
Old Fritz
H. Fred Kveck
Ryan Cousineau <rcou...@gmail.com> wrote:
> and me drafting behind like a fat red parasitic fish.
Nice phrasing there.
K. Fred Gauss
bar
> Good story. You ROCK!!! OWN THE PODIUM!!!
hey, why don't you enter the kids' race next time, bro? maybe you and
LANCE can team up and get a prime.
-b-
Betty
> Thank you for a positive contribution to R.B.R.
Noted.
Novitsky.
Ryan Cousineau
> In article
> <eff968b1-e3e3-47bf-bcdd-25b5bd0ad...@o10g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
> Ryan Cousineau <rcous...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Does not a tandem has a physical advantage?
> Always a friendly wheel to suck.
>
> ???
>
> --
> Old Fritz
Yeah. Typical racing tandems are fast on the flats, because they are
more aero than two bikes, but have the power of two bikes. Mass and
coordination limit their sprinting performance except maybe for the
very fastest, most practiced teams.
Fredmaster of Brainerd
>
> I knew the calculus, and kept repeating it to myself: hold this wheel,
> and you'll win. The tandem crew couldn't stop attacking, and I
> couldn't let them get away. Grim embrace indeed. We must have been
> quite a sight on the last lap: a tandem at full bore on a flat course
> doing a 2-minute effort, and me drafting behind like a fat red
> parasitic fish.
>
> is great.
Haha. Awesome. Well done. Just don't fall too in
love with the socks, it"s a short step from there to
doing races with $10 primes, and the next thing
you know you're a 12k dreamer with a favor preference
among Powergels, and Joe Papp is tapping your
phone.
Fredmaster Ben
Ryan Cousineau
DeFeet socks, with the Oak Bay Bikes logo on them in blue and yellow.
I assume really light sox suffer the pantyhose effect: there's a
tension between sheerness and durability, so the nicest, almost-not-
there sox will also have mayfly lifespans.
Ryan Cousineau
I am limited by what I can get away with.
joep(gm)
I've never tapped a phone w/o the target's permission or knowledge, so
in this case your friend would be safe.
Ryan Cousineau
Thanks Joe. But the part about earning 12k a year still sounds pretty
bad.