Tripleshot Cycling

Fun B race tonight. With Avia West riding A, we had a chance to try some teamwork. The hastily made plan was to work for Matteo as it's his last race before retunring to Italy. Basically we talked about take turns going off the front, and letting others chase. And if others got away, chase them for Matteo so he could stay out of the wind.

We had three or four moves off the front, notably Bryan and Adam away for three laps, and John T had several goes, one good one with Matteo, Steve too. Variable success at forcing others to work, but I think everyone got the basic idea. But then with a lap to go, Matteo got last lap fever and sort of attacked/accelerated/towed the bunch three time before the downhill, leaving not much left for the sprint. Bryan tried to lead out Matteo for the sprint but inadvertently brought up a chunk of the pack, and neither Matteo nor Bryan had legs left to do much. Alec was the beneficiary though; he got third in the sprint in his first race! Congrats Alec!

For next time, things to note:

• We need to talk to all TSr's before the start so they know the plan. Alec and John didn't hear about it.
  Counter attacking pairs need to be ready to go as soon as the previous pair are caught, to go when it's been hard. Psychologically it's hard, but that's the best time. I got caught too far back to counter a few times.
  It's really hard in the break, but harder for the chasers. We need to think about that and revel in their suffering
  The designated guy needs to be patient.
  Attacks need to be hard enough to open a gap; otherwise we're just motorpacing the opposition.

Great to analyze the race, but let's not worry too much about how it could have been done better. Poor Matteo was worried about is mistakes afterwards. Was this his 3rd race? I thought he was giving me a lead out!

I've got a racing/training book by a famous Polish coach - I could look up his name, but I'm too lazy. Anyway, he comments that you want to be the guy that no one notices until you cross the line first - Alec got pretty close to being that guy!

Thanks to Stephanie (Adam's mom?) for space in the pick-up. Thanks to Jeremy for the cookies and thanks to Al's family for all the support from the side-line - and for making sure that Peter had an exciting finish Bill, Sarah and Joe were there too. Sorry if I missed anyone.

JT

Lister Farrar wrote: The designated guy needs to be patient.

Lister Farrar wrote: Matteo got last lap fever and sort of attacked/accelerated/towed the bunch three time before the downhill, leaving not much left for the sprint.

I was too exited because I wasn't dropped, crashed and disqualified like last time...
So I felt like I had to do at least something stupid before the end.

Sorry about that... I wasn't really sure about what we were going to do in the last lap...
The team worked well though, great job Brian and Adam.

matteo wrote:

Lister Farrar wrote: The designated guy needs to be patient.

Lister Farrar wrote: Matteo got last lap fever and sort of attacked/accelerated/towed the bunch three time before the downhill, leaving not much left for the sprint.

I was too exited because I wasn't dropped, crashed and disqualified like last time...
So I felt like I had to do at least something stupid before the end.

Don't worry about it Matteo. It was a very rushed plan, with my last minute decision to abandon my ailing wife. (For which I will be paying for weeks!) I'm just glad I got the last chance to see you race. It's easy to forget you started this what, about 8-10 weeks ago? And I know I defintely don't want to ride up hurricane ridge with you.

The A race was fairly slow pace tonight. I tried to spend a fair bit of time rotating in the front paceline, letting gaps form and then bridging hard to try to shake people off my wheel, trying little attacks of the front, etc. Trying stuff out to see what might work, or how and when you might have good legs is definitely a lot more fun than sucking wheels and waiting for the sprint in these races. Even if you end up burning a lot more matches in the process, you really start to get a sense of the rhythm of things that might work for you during a race.
Bruce was up front a fair bit of the time too, and got himself into a 4 person break that was in danger of sticking for a while.
There was definitely some guys riding toward the front of the pack, but refusing to put their noses in the wind, which got a little annoying after a while. The paceline would come around, and then get disrupted as guys wouldn't pull through when they got to the front.
Sprint was a pretty standard Caleb Sprint. There was a big IRC leadout train tonight, and I came down the hill 5th wheel. Those guys all went left, so I jumped right and thought I had a really good holeshot for a second or two, but a lapped rider veering around the middle of the course caused me to have to check my speed, go right and teeter on the edge of going into the gravel, after which I found myself in too hard a gear coming over the rise to accelerate back up. I tried to power through, and I think I ended up 6th.

My first race report! Hopefully this goes better than my first race...

Well, let's chalk that one up to a learning experience. That way I can sound positive and nonchalant when in reality there were a few times I actually envisioned crossing the finish line and pitching my bike into the bushes (I get a little competitive sometimes).

I held on for 5 laps then got pitched off the back. This was purely my fault as I didn't follow Peter's advice ("don't ride at the back of the pack, don't let yourself get dropped"). Also, the accelerations out of the corners are going to take some getting used to.

Frustration is the main thing I'm feeling right now, however ask me Friday morning what I thought about it and I'll probably have gotten over it and will tell you that it was a blast

Hey guys,

That was a great race, I had a fantastic time. I think I counted 11 TSC members in the B race and another 4 in the A group. I really like the way we as a club threw out some attacks and pushed the race without doing any negative racing. I looked around on the final lap and think I saw 8 of us in the lead pack of about 15. I learned that I should make a move towards the front of the pack before the big descent down the hill otherwise you get stuck at the back.

Well done Alec, Adam and John who all got points. Paul, Barry, Ian and Alec all did there first race and looked good out there. Ian, dont be too hard on yourself, its your first race!

Matteo, great effort out there! Thanks for yelling at me in Italian.

Peter, my apologies for Marissa being on the road at the finish - there were a number of guys standing in the middle of the road and they all thought the race was over. One of them asked her for a timbit and she was running over to give them one. Thanks for not running her over.

Steve

The race started fairly slow and maintained its pace for quite some time, Adam and I managed an attack off the front about 5 or 6 laps in and maintained a gap for about 3 laps which was awesome! I must say Adam did the majority of the work at this time, my cardio just isn't there yet. The pack finally caught us after a while, and the pace was moderate until the end. On the final bend before the descent, I did my last efforts to pull Matteo to victory, but like Lister said, I managed to pull half of the pack, "Including the fast guys" up to Matteo with myself. As we hit the hill I went all out, but my legs could barely make it to the top, and I saw people speed by me left and right . Overall it was a great race! Awesome turnout by triple shot, great hot weather, and most importantly it was a good learning experience in knowing my limits, focusing on holding a line, teamwork, and communication. Also congrats to Alec for coming 3rd in his first race!

Even without Gavin we are...

I nominate that as the official TS victory salute. Just the right mix of bravado, celebration, and raspberry.

Thanks for all the support guys, I had great advice and a lot of luck for my first race! For those not there who might get the impression I instantly acquired the experience of a veteran of the pelaton, here's the race from my perspective:

I started off in the neutral lap desperately trying to clip in before the group disappeared. When we passed the finish line for the first time I thought that was the start of the neutral lap, so got halfway round the loop impressed with the speed of the B group on a meaningless lap before being told the race had actually started. Slowly got used to the idea of gently forcing yourself into a group for the turns, but it really made me appreciate tripleshot rides where the group is more forgiving/ordered!

The two 90 degree corners were big challenges; I felt uncomfortably close to the ground on the lean and still swung wildly towards the center line each time. As a result, I spend the next 10-30 seconds after each corner sprinting to catch up the rider in front of me (I remembered being told to stay in the middle of the group, so each acceleration was probably terrible for group coherence) and the next 10 seconds apologizing to riders I had cut off behind me!

On the bright side, still had good legs for the finish thanks to the stellar workouts on the TS rides. Those who have been out on Wednesday hills with me will know I have at lovely compact gear set on my Trek 2.1, perfect for hammering down the hill at the back of a fast group then jumping left at the bottom and popping instantly into a light sprint-up-a-hill gear. Lifting too hard with my arms at the top of the hill had my handlebars jumping side-to-side in the sprint but hung on reasonably straight and probably worried those behind into staying there!

Thanks to everybody who gave me tips during the race and sorry for completely missing the pre-race briefing on team strategy (not that I had enough energy/experience to be too much help) but I benefited from Bryan/Adam and everybody else who kept the rest of the group working hard. Looking forward to the next try, hoping my luck holds!

Alec

Hey, why don't the As get a neutral lap?

My goal this week was to survive a little longer than last week. Things started off well, I was moving up the pack every chance I got. Sometimes as high as 2nd or 3rd position. My cornering is poor, I did a pedal strike on the first corner, but luckily didn't take myself or anybody else out. Other corners were going ok, but not great. I was losing less ground in the corners than on previous weeks. Around lap 6 or 7 I was near the back when the rider in front of me let a gap open, I tried to close it but no luck. I opted for a DNF rather than 8 laps on my own.

He may not have won...but at least Matteo got VCL points for the first time so he will be forever ingrained in the history of victoria cycling

AdamD wrote:.but at least Matteo got VCL points for the first time...

That's my second time!!!!!

hmm it appears that your right. good job in anycase!