Last night was a great illustration of this. Before the race Rooks and I talked about trying to make some stuff happen, as opposed to just sitting in. We talked to Ritchie and Joe and some others before hand. With advice from Joe we decided we'd maybe try for a breakaway, but we'd most likely end up in a field sprint where we'd try to work to put Ritchie over the line. So I took it at the start that my main assignment was to help lead Ritchie out.
The race started with me, Joe, and Rooks up front. We took off hard enough that there was a bit of a gap formed, but just a bit. It's kind of fun being off the front. Very quiet. Even more quiet is when you're in no-man's land--off the front but drifting back from the breakway--which I soon was. I realized if I was going to finish the race I needed to not completely cook my legs at the start. I drifted back and followed Peter Lawless's advice about not drifting back too far, so I could sit in in the middle of the pack without fear of getting shelled.
The next several laps hurt a lot. I DNF'ed the Cat 4 Bastion Square race because I couldn't hold on for the fast first 5 laps. This time I reminded myself to just hold on and that I'd get my rest eventually. I did. I started feeling a little more comfortable and worked my way to the front again. I helped to chase down one breakaway, which was kind of fun.
Still, I wasn't very good at observing what was going on around me. I wasn't always sure who was in the breakaways. If I was pretty sure there wasn't argyle, I'd chase. But even then, I should have known who was in it in order to assess how much of a threat it was. The other thing I didn't do was keep track of where our riders were. Ritchie especially.
But the biggest mistake I made was not keeping track of time. The format was 25 (?) minutes plus 5 laps. I knew there was a time/lap counter on the home stretch, but I kept forgetting to check it. I'd be caught up with my nerves about cornering or avoiding bumping wheels and I'd hit the (slightly downhill) homestretch and take a little rest, like the rest of the group, and before I knew it I'd passed the information board without looking. I finally thought, "We must be getting close to 25 minutes, so I should check the board." On the next lap around I saw the number "2". I thought, "Great--2 minutes to go, then 5 laps. Where's Ritchie?" And then I thought, "Why the hell is everyone moving to the front so fast?"
It wasn't 2 minutes--it was 2 laps. We had just two laps to go. I didn't fully realize this until I came around again, and the bell rang. Now I was in the back 1/3 of the pack, with Ritchie nowhere in sight, and I was supposed to be leading out already. #%*&!
Needless to say, I didn't do anything for Ritchie, and I barely did anything for myself. I had a fair bit of gas left in the tank, but no room in front of me to sprint with. The best I could manage was what seemed like a mid-pack finish.
The good news is that 1) Stephane nearly won it all with a breakaway that was only caught at the finish line; and 2) Ritchie got second! Turns out he didn't need us.
Lessons for next time? 1) pay attention; 2) for a race that short, don't carry water. I get too wrapped up to drink so it was just deadweight. A full bottle accompanied me across the finish line.
Someone who was paying attention should write the real race report!
Martin
. Before the race we identified Richie as the one who should try to get to the podium and he did it! He was gonna do pretty dam good anyway but it still felt like a team effort overall. I got out sprinted, head to head, by Shannon Baerg at the line for an 11th place finish.