Tripleshot Cycling

C'mon folks. Spill!

I hear Mr. de Vos won his race. Chapeaux...!

well all I can say is that when you act like a Team then Adam gets to win by hundreds of meters!!! We had a plan and executed it. I was feeling ok so I was marking each attach and ended up in the break (4 guys 45', 39.7km/h avg) and it was looking good until I flatted. That left only 2 in the break (#4 had "withdrawn" a few minutes earlier) with about 4 laps to go. Adam and Josh made up the gap with 2 to go with Josh leading most of the 2nd last lap as no one was prepared to face the awesome power the TSC boys could unleash. Finally Roalnd had enough and with a 2-3K to go turned into Big George Hincapie and drilled it taking Josh and Adam to about 1500m at which point Josh absolutely BURIED himself for Adam dropping Adam off with so much time and room that Adam stopped pedalling about 200m before the finish and had all kinds of time to figure out his salute.

Big lessons here were the value of teamwork and how instead of Josh and Adam fighting each other for the points we got a TEAM win through TEAMWORK and saw an awe inspiring performance by all three of Josh, Roland and Adam. Chapeau Team!

I wont comment on the C race and instead will leave it those who raced to tell us how it went (but it was also great for us).

REALLY looking forward to a new set of tires and Race #2 next Saturday

Peter

P.s. we really could have used a Gavendish out there - that could have allowed for a sweep....Next Week -its on!

Very exciting. Well done guys. The mind starts racing contemplating the possibilities!

JT

So very beautiful.

Here`s what I remember of the C race;

Malcolm, I know you were in there too, but I had trouble eyeballing your non-TS kit, sorry!

Anyhow, Laps 1-2, Dylan, Dave and I sat mid-pack and waited for everyone to settle down. Lap 3, Dave suggests moving up the pack after the second corner, presumably just see how hard it would be. Turned out not to be very hard. Hmm....

Laps 5-6, Dave and me are sitting in the top third when we spot Dylan pedaling (effortlessly) at the front of the pack for most of a lap, looking disappointed that nobody would step up and join him. Ah, to be 18(?) again.

Lap 7, we re-group, as much as is possible in a group of 50+ soloists. Midway through Lap 8 the first real jump happens (i.e. ignoring the joker who sprinted off the front, alone, for about 20s each time on laps 5, 6 and 7. Seriously, WTF?).

On the last lap, we were in the top 10, with everyone taking turns trying *not* to be on front until the second last corner. Then Dylan got boxed in, as did Dave on the run to the final corner. I ended up near the front through the last corner and managed to finish 6th. I put it down to the fancy TS carbon wheels that Dave loaned me.

J.

John D wrote:Laps 5-6, Dave and me are sitting in the top third when we spot Dylan pedaling (effortlessly) at the front of the pack for most of a lap, looking disappointed that nobody would step up and join him... Midway through Lap 8 the first real jump happens (i.e. ignoring the joker who sprinted off the front, alone, for about 20s each time on laps 5, 6 and 7. Seriously, WTF?).

Are you sure he was a joker? What if Dylan had sprinted with him to see if he really wanted to go, and buried it for a lap, instead of riding at the front at pack pace? If no one wants to work, launch and make them work, especially with a couple of teammates in the pack. It's an early-season training race. Go for it! Good work, anyway! What's the plan for next week? Who's in? Both races with a sleepover or one race?

Yeah, that was fun riding as a team. The plan from the start was to try to set up Adam for the win, unless we ended up with someone in a break that stuck. The race was 13 laps, just over 80km.

The pace started off pretty slow, everyone easing into their first race of the year, taking corners pretty carefully as there was still some moisture on the road at start time. After a couple laps, people started trying to make some moves, and Peter kept an eye on most of them. Finally a break went away with Peter in it. Right away I got to the front and stayed there for about 1/2 a lap, keeping the pace solid enough that no-one would pass, but purposely let the gap open up enough that they were away. After that Adam and I just sort of rode up towards the front 10 people in the pack and passively (no active blocking or anything like that) discouraged the pace from really chasing.

There were a couple guys who were trying to rally a chase, but nothing really seemed to be getting organized, and nobody really wanted to work. It seemed like the break really might stick, as I didn't see that bunch of guys getting it together and organized in time. At one point Adam turned and said "this is going well, huh?"

Then we came around the corner and Peter's on the side of the road with a flat. Aw, CRAP.

We spent the rest of the next lap trying to get some info on how far ahead the remainder of the break was, and how many people were left. Around the next lap, we got told at the start line it was 1:15 up to the leaders. Not long later we reeled in one more of the breakaway guys who had fallen off, and came up on peter riding it in after his flat. Peter told us there were two more up there, so we decided to really start trying to get a chase going. Adam and I went right to the front and started trying to get a paceline rotating, but it kept getting interrupted by people not wanting to pull through and help work. I started getting vocal trying to get some buy in, but nobody wanted to pull through and keep the pace high.

There really only seemed to be two other guys out there (orange kits, can't remember the team name) that wanted to work. Finally I turned to one of them and said "Noone wants to work, I think the 4 of us could probably just TT away from this pack if we wanted to" He said. "I'm game", and so the 4 of drilled it. That was when the pace finally picked up considerably, and 5 or 6 of us ended up with a gap. Before too long, it was only me and Adam and one other guy trading pulls, with two or three more sitting on. Eventually the front end of the pack reeled us back on. By then we could see the last two breakaway guys, and they had no real hope of staying away.

With a lap to go I told Adam to get on my wheel and stay there. We came around the front and nobody wanted to pass us, I kept letting up and letting up the pace while sitting almost on the center line, until we were going probably just over 30km/h, but nobody would come around. I wasn't too worried, as even with my head in the wind at that speed I figured I had enough in the tank to give Adam a good jump to follow. I ended up on the front for half the last lap, until halfway down the back stretch (3K to go) Roland came around and picked up the pace. Perfect.
Roland led down the back stretch, and right before turn 3 some girl came around him to take a pull.
She started to fade before the corner, and I saw my chance. Turn 3 was the tightest corner, and I'd gone through there in the lead a couple times during the race carrying some speed, and came out with large gaps, without too much effort.
I turned to Adam, and said, "OK, we"re going!" and I jumped inside and past the girl with him on my wheel, and drilled it as hard as I could out of the corner with probably 1800 meters to go. Adam was great. He kept yelling "we've got a gap, go, go!, keep going!" The 1km marker went by...I was in pain. I was thinking of Gavin's contorted body as he led me out for half a lap on one of the Caleb Pike races last year.
We came around the last corner, and at just before the 500m to so sign, Adam came around me. I sat up, thinking my work was done, turned around and realized I had about 50 yards on the next guy, so I tried to put my head down and start going again, even though I was DONE, thinking for a few seconds maybe I could still ride it in for 2nd place.
I ended up getting swallowed up about 150-200 yards out, but got to watch Adam sail away for the win. Teamwork like that felt every bit as good as going for the win myself. I was grinning like a fool as I came across the line.

Josh.E wrote:Teamwork like that felt every bit as good as going for the win myself. I was grinning like a fool as I came across the line.

Awesome! I'm grinning like a fool just reading it!

From deep in the Arizona desert a BIG congrats to all the racers! From the reports I could feel the action, even from here. Love the teamwork. You guys rocked!

My data is here: http://connect.garmin.com/player/71724481

Make sure its on "Total Time" as I didnt have speed/distance for the first couple of laps. A few things that spring to mind as "interesting":

1. You can see each of the 4 attacks I marked where my hr spikes.

2. The attack that "stuck" was one I initiated at the point that the entire pack was going stupid slow. The start of the break coincides with my lowest hr for the whole race. To my mind that is "perfect" the pack is going slow, not motivated and I am going fast, very motivated - a good combination.

3. When I went I went hard! The start of the break is the start point for my highest HR of the race at all of: 5sec, 10 sec, 30sec, 1min, 2min, 5min,10min, 20min and 30min You can also see how after the break was establshed I was able to get more and more rest as shown by drops in hr but in the first 10' or so I was constantly pulling through to keep it going so it shows a more level and high hr

I was reading "Dog in a Hat" by Joe Parkin (which I highly recommend) and he talked about how soft we are trying to set up breaks and that to make them work you really have to commit so I tried to really commit. That combined with teammates policing the front of the bunch made it possible. We were gaining 15 secs a lap on the bunch until I flatted.

So I found this to be a good "coachable moment" sort of race for me and the data shows what I would want it to show which is nit always the case!

Next race is SATURDAY on a more rolling circuit in Abbotsford. We can expect the same sort of race so if were to get a few more folks out we could really put the hurt on ....

It is also fine to go over on the 7am ferry (we actually made it back on the 3 but would easily make the 5) so its not totally horrible in terms of destroying the weekend.

Who is in?

Congrats guys - always nice to see all that hard work pay off. It also makes me feel a lot better about getting dropped by you guys each Friday.

Wow. Well done. Congratulations all. Great race report, Josh. I really felt the excitement of the last lap. Overall, how would you compare the effort of those windy 80k to a typical Saturday sufferfest?

Ryan

Great reports Josh, Peter, etc. Nice to see the team work working out. Kudos to Adam for trusting his teammate and having the awareness to check the gap, report to Josh, and patience to let Josh do his lead-out. Nice choice of the corner to jump too.

Also agree with Pete on the need to really bury yourself to get a break away, and how it eases after a bit. (The web site was down, so I couldn't check how long it was.)

I think intervals in groups of 2-4 might be interesting training for this. Learn to really hammer, with others, for 3 to 6 minutes, short fast pulls. Maybe 1-2 laps at UVic or Beacon? Groups would have to be well matched tho. Maybe alternate with hill days? We've done something similar with the high school group by sending off pairs to chase each other at Beacon Hill circle, for 1 lap. You have to practice going that hard and getting on the back to know how to do it without getting dropped at race pace. 'Seemed to be motivating for the kids too. Lots of chatter after about how to improve.

I'm surprised the easy part lead to the break though. I've found when everyone's recovered, they tend to respond and chase you down. Any other factors? Four stronger guys in it? Lots of attacks before that didn't look like much? Was the bunch snoozing? Or did Peter just impose his awesomeness on the quivering bunch, take the break by the scruff of the neck and drag them away?

@Ryan
It wasn't nearly as hard a pace as some of the saturday sufferfests can be, especially when Shawn is around. The rotating paceline with Adam and the other guy while we were chasing down the break was pretty hard (only three of us were willing to keep trading pulls), but also pretty short lived, and we had our gap reeled in long before it started to hurt too bad. It also gave me a really good indication of where Adam and I stood for fitness relative to the pack, and got my confidence up for trying that long leadout move later on. Honestly, I think we could have both easily hung with the A race, although they got destroyed by a couple two man breaks, so that wouldn't have been nearly as fun, and Adam wouldn't have points towards cat 2.

@Lister
The group was just snoozing for the first couple laps. Early season race, nobody really awake and ready to work yet. the jumpy guys all went with the break, and the few strong guys that were left couldn't get any organization, plus Adam and I weren't about to help.

Congrats to everyone! What a great race report. I loved reading it

Everybody else has done their race report, so I figure I should do mine.

I hadn't been feeling well for the last week, so I was trying to decide whether to race B and be useless or race C and be a mentor. Somehow I got guilted into racing B - which was the right choice.

Contrary to the other race reports, the race started quickly as two dumbasses attacked right from the gun. They were brought back quickly, then it settled down. My highest speed in the race 50.3km/h was on the first lap.

The race was boring at times, I remember calculating how many minutes were left and hoping it would be over soon.

Other times it was insane, like when I dropped back while eating and the pack surged when I was 5m off the back. Dumb I know, but I blame the TS wind vests without pockets. I ended up moving my food to my sock.

I tried to stay near the front and ride tempo when Peter was in the break. Take pulls, but no too hard.

Once Peter flatted and the chase started in earnest I almost got blown off the back due to being on the wrong wheel and the wrong time. I had to jump across several gaps to get back to the lead group. After that it took me a few laps to recover.

Once the pace slowed to silly slow, I moved back to the front and took one last pull for glory and then sat up as Josh & Adam rocketed past. I saw them round the last corner with a huge gap and rolled across the finish line about 30 seconds behind the pack.

Compared to the TS A ride, I'd definitely say it was easier, while it was very fast at times, it never stayed fast for long. The difference was it was 2:09 instead of just over an hour. I also found the jumps out of each corner and the accelerations much more taxing on the muscles than the TS A ride which is more taxing on the cardio.

It was fun. Would race again.

Hey guys and girls,

If this sounds over the top, just attribute it to post-race euphoria (and I wasn't even there): Maybe we should require a login for access to the race section of the forum. No need to tell everyone who is marking breaks and who is being set up for the final sprint.

JohnT (with a 24 hr flu I hope)

They put results up. They only go 5 deep.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key ... OV0E&gid=0

Lister Farrar wrote:Also agree with Pete on the need to really bury yourself to get a break away...

Like this?
http://youtu.be/1uFNvaPfV-w