TS Dove Creek Masters Project

[Lister Farrar]

Tripleshot is pleased to announce a racing development project aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at the club’s masters membership.

All good training plans start with a goal, so we have picked the Comox Dove Creek Omnium two day, July 14-15. It’s a two day three stage (TBA, prob tt, crit, rr) race with an overall standing by points. There are three categories there, A, B and C, so any rider in TripleShot should be able to take part.

The program will run twice a week until Dove Creek, and be primarily tactical development to help riders prepare for attacking, small breaks, chasing, blocking and lead-outs.

The main venue for this will be the regular Tuesday and Friday TS rides, but with drills and coaching. The drills are probably best for A and B groups so newer riders can enjoy the regular C ride.

Riders not wanting to take part need not fear the rides turning into full-on races. The drills are designed to isolate a few skills, and have constraints so that the competitive spirit doesn’t get out of control.

For example, on Tuesday sprint days, the lead-out teams will be learning how to accelerate as a group and deliver a sprinter to the line. But teams will not be allowed to interfere with each other, as the main challenge is learning the pacing, timing, and communication. Robbie McEwen head-butting is strictly frowned on.

The break and chase sessions will be similarly controlled so that the emphasis is on learning to jump together, get a gap and work to keep it. And the chasers learn to work together to pull them back. The chasers will spot the break 10- or 20 seconds, then try to organize the chase. Later, blocking will be added, but only as a sporting, sort of getting in the way, if the chasers fail to employ a doorman.

Riders not wanting to take part (at first; you’ll all want to eventually ) can ride in the group and watch and not find it too crazy. And of course like all good learning situations, we’ll adapt as the groups develop.

I will introduce the drills, and there will be a coach riding with each group to offer feedback. Bryson and Luke are on for Tuesday. Debrief at coffee.

Tuesdays: Lead-outs.
Teams of 3-5 riders. Lead-outs start after second last corner. Sprinter job rotates.

Fridays: Breaks and chases
Two teams in each bunch. One is the attacker, the other the chaser. Half the attacking team will jump and try to stay away. The other half will sit on until the break is caught, then counter attack. The other team are chasers, and must organize to chase the break. But we will spot the break 10 seconds so they can suitably exhaust themselves before being caught.

Progressions include adding blocking, and adding a doorman role. Probably after week one.

[bill]

Can't wait Lister.

Thanks for setting this up.

[gab]

Very exciting, can't wait!

[Paul C.]

This sounds great...I look forward to learning more about riding and racing with my B+ and B- teammates. Thanks Lister and others for putting this together.....Paul C.

[jj12]

Sounds great lister!

[rhughes]

No idea what most of that means, Lister--cool!

Ritchie

[Lister Farrar]

Lead-out: when a team provides a high speed but steady pull for it's sprinter in the last part of a race. So the sprinter doesn't have to fight for a wheel before the final 200 meters, and to position the sprinter so he/she can use their strength to win the sprint, not chase others.

Attack: An acceleration to open a gap on other riders. So they have to fight the wind to catch you. Has a few parts: analyzing where to do it (IE when your opponents are disadvantaged), timing during the race (beginning? middle? end?), finding allies, the acceleration, communication with break mates, and settling down to maintain and build the lead.

Chase: The effort to bring back an attack. Can be random blasts, jumping across the gap, or better, organizing like-minded folks to take turns pulling until you catch the break.

Counter attack: An attack right after another has been caught.

Head butting: Usually an aggressive move to keep others away in sprints, but sometime purely defensive, protecting your bars by leaning or pushing your head against the shoulder of a rider encroaching on your handlebars. Important tactic in games of survivor for the middle school team . *

* Survivor is a circle on grass in which riders try to force each other out of the circle and become the survivor. Good balancing and defending drill. Very fun too.

[Lister Farrar]

Looking for feedback on the lead out drill this am.

Stuff I saw:

The 2 teams of five in the B2 group seemed motivated to pick a sprinter and make a plan. Tall Brian's team decided on a rotating pace line (vs one big pull each and then drop off), with the sprinter staying at the back.

When Richard's team started their lead out, Richard realized he was in the small chain ring, shifted to the big ring, then dropped his chain. But as he got it back on, the team kept going and opened a huge gap on him. He chased, but by the time he caught them with 200 metres to go, he was gassed, and Brian, who had stayed on his leadout, won fairly easily.

Lesson: lead out train riders need to shoulder check often to make sure their sprinter is there, especially while learning. When one of Richard's team finally looked back, the gap was too big to recover from. And sprinters do get blocked and taken out of contention. So the train needs to have a plan b, such as one of the leadout riders sitting on and saving a bit for the sprint.

In the second sprint, Richard's team had started fast, but were being passed with about 300 metres to go. Richard felt his team was cooked, and moved across to get on the wheel of the sprinter, but hung out in the wind between them for a bit. (Likewise tall Brian didn't stay firmly in Hugh's draft). Turns out Richard's team did have something left, but needed Richard to tell them to respond. Even if you think they are cooked, tell them 'Venga Venga Venga' (or suitable signal) anyway, so they know it's time to accelerate or get out of the way. And for Brian, the trick is to stay on your leadout's wheel until the last minute, maybe 50-100 metres to go. Takes patience. Vanessa won for her team by waiting until ~20 meters to go .

Stuff I heard:

Bill E.: "There wasn't much talking in the A's." (Maybe they knew what to do?)

Rob M. "I think I'm more of a sandbagger than I thought. I'm not used to being asked to pull. That was hard."

Jenny S: "That was the first time in months I have done the Beacon laps. But I didn't want to let my team down." and "I liked that people had to think about someone else, and not just their own performance. That's good for all group rides."

Peter L: "We need clearer rules, on passing other teams and after the sprints in Beacon."

Here's some ideas we discussed for some rules:

• Keep your head up, especially when hurting. Wobbles happen when you drop your head.
  Shoulder check before moving either way. Don't expect the last rider in a paceline to tell you they are 'last'. Shoulder check. I got told by someone they were last today, and they weren't.
  Pass on the left, unless absolutely necessary (such as when passing left would mean crossing the yellow line.)
  Say "On your left" or "On your right" when passing. You're not just responsible for passing safely yourself, but also for those following you.
  Keep your line in the sprint. Lead out riders, don't pull over until you shoulder check and it's safe.
  After your sprint in Beacon, keep tight to the right, no more than two abreast. Shoulder check before moving left to coffee at Mile 0.

Other feedback welcome.

[barton bourassa]

That was an interesting experience. Always having my dear wife's admonition to stay upright I was glad to be in the 2nd B group with just 10 of us, two teams of 5. Not as many riders to watch out for as I fade stage left! I appreciate Lister's comment about being responsible for shoulder checking to make sure you have indeed reached the end of the pace line. I think I might have been the one to tell Lister last wheel when in the 15 seconds between checking to see if I really was and Lister drifting behind me, the gap that was there closed when Lister came by. Heads up, always checking. A second set of eyes in the back of my head would be great!

It is quite tricky. This reinforced in spades the absolute necessity to stay focused and aware even when the eyes start to roll into the back of your head from exhaustion.

[luke.koolman]

Thoughts from the B1 group,
I would first like to appologize for not being able to make it to coffee to give everyone direct feedback, but I had to make it back for my 8:30 class. Next, great work everyone! I was very impressed with the enjoyment and positive attitudes everyone had towards making themselves hurt so much.

As for the group breakdown, It was good to see everyone talking in there groups and picking positions before we made the third turn and start working. I did however find that the talking quickly trailed off as the pace got higher. I guess this is expected when breathing becomes the most overwhelming concern, but a quick "steady" or "up" can make all the difference.

Another big thing I noticed, was gaps and riders loosing contact with the wheels infornt of them. From riding with the pack im sure that most of us understand the fundimentals of drafting, but when the speed is high and you start to get hit by the wind, it can really open up large gaps faster than you would expect at normal riding speeds; staying close, alert, and making constant changes with help to minimize this problem. I find it similar to driving on the highway, in the sense that you should be keeping pace with the car infront of you, but also looking 2 or 3 cars ahead to anticipate what is going to happen next (being proactive instead of reactive).

Lastly is suffering, the end of a race is a sufferfest. As tough as a sprint finish may be it is nothing without the pain you put into that bell lap or final km. Holding wheels, finding positioning, concerving energy is a lot to think about but are all fundimental in just getting to the final sprint.

Great work everyone!

Luke

[jpauly]

From my perspective that is the most fun the majority of the B1 group had for a long time. Lots of talking and strategizing and exhaustion on completion. While we did get close at times it is also a great experience to race in those close quarters and not crash. One comment I would make is for the leadout to hold their line and let the sprinter go around. The dodginess was not knowing where the leadout riders were going. The other thing I observed was the number of riders still with the group all the way to the sprint. Impressive.

Looking for feedback on the lead out drill this am.

Stuff I saw:

The 2 teams of five in the B2 group seemed motivated to pick a sprinter and make a plan. Tall Brian's team decided on a rotating pace line (vs one big pull each and then drop off), with the sprinter staying at the back.

When Richard's team started their lead out, Richard realized he was in the small chain ring, shifted to the big ring, then dropped his chain. But as he got it back on, the team kept going and opened a huge gap on him. He chased, but by the time he caught them with 200 metres to go, he was gassed, and Brian, who had stayed on his leadout, won fairly easily.

Lesson: lead out train riders need to shoulder check often to make sure their sprinter is there, especially while learning. When one of Richard's team finally looked back, the gap was too big to recover from. And sprinters do get blocked and taken out of contention. So the train needs to have a plan b, such as one of the leadout riders sitting on and saving a bit for the sprint.

In the second sprint, Richard's team had started fast, but were being passed with about 300 metres to go. Richard felt his team was cooked, and moved across to get on the wheel of the sprinter, but hung out in the wind between them for a bit. (Likewise tall Brian didn't stay firmly in Hugh's draft). Turns out Richard's team did have something left, but needed Richard to tell them to respond. Even if you think they are cooked, tell them 'Venga Venga Venga' (or suitable signal) anyway, so they know it's time to accelerate or get out of the way. And for Brian, the trick is to stay on your leadout's wheel until the last minute, maybe 50-100 metres to go. Takes patience. Vanessa won for her team by waiting until ~20 meters to go .

Stuff I heard:

Bill E.: "There wasn't much talking in the A's." (Maybe they knew what to do?)

Rob M. "I think I'm more of a sandbagger than I thought. I'm not used to being asked to pull. That was hard."

Jenny S: "That was the first time in months I have done the Beacon laps. But I didn't want to let my team down." and "I liked that people had to think about someone else, and not just their own performance. That's good for all group rides."

Peter L: "We need clearer rules, on passing other teams and after the sprints in Beacon."

Here's some ideas we discussed for some rules:

• Keep your head up, especially when hurting. Wobbles happen when you drop your head.
  Shoulder check before moving either way. Don't expect the last rider in a paceline to tell you they are 'last'. Shoulder check. I got told by someone they were last today, and they weren't.
  Pass on the left, unless absolutely necessary (such as when passing left would mean crossing the yellow line.)
  Say "On your left" or "On your right" when passing. You're not just responsible for passing safely yourself, but also for those following you.
  Keep your line in the sprint. Lead out riders, don't pull over until you shoulder check and it's safe.
  After your sprint in Beacon, keep tight to the right, no more than two abreast. Shoulder check before moving left to coffee at Mile 0.

Other feedback welcome.

[wonger]

Like Jim said, that was the most fun I've had on a Tuesday ride in a while. We had four groups of four which made for a great dynamic in the sprints. The overall ride wasn't too different - same average speed, same size - but I felt that the intensity was way higher, especially in the sprints.

I was our sprinter for the first one around the box. It went pretty well, we got ourselves organized on Caddy Bay and as we turned onto Landsdown it seemed like everyone was in pretty good shape - groups together working their plan. We turned onto Henderson in the front or very close to it and tried to be patient, just taking the pace up a bit, but as others start to come up to you or by you, the pace goes up and up.

As a couple of groups came up the left side, moving toward the front, I could see that we were getting boxed in on the inside. Richard was on the front of our group and from the back I could see that he was going to be stuck there, so when I saw an opening coming I yelled at Jenny to GO and she got off Richard's wheel and into the hole. Even though she was pretty worked by now, I saw another one coming, yelled again, she jumped and like that we were in a way better position. We took the corner onto Cedar HIll X at speed, I hollered at Quentin to go like hell and he weaved through a bunch of people, hammered the whole way down the stretch with me sucking his wheel, yelling "go, go, go!". About 70 or so meters to go, I sprinted and go to the line first.

You can tell by my race report style, I was pretty stoked on the whole thing. I don't think I've ever sprinted so hard on a Tuesday ride. It really felt like we - me and my team mates - had something on the line, so you didn't want to do less than your best. That's what I enjoyed most about this morning - it mattered a lot more because of the team aspect.

On our second box sprint Richard was our sprinter and we did okay. I asked Luke what he saw afterwards and he observed that we were well organized, had a good lead out routine, but we were the very last group when things got moving on Henderson, so we had to do a pile of work to get to the front and deliver Richard. As a result we got him a couple hundred meters from the line and he was on his own. I think he was caught by others but I was too far back to see it.

Communication was also really key. As the sprinter I found you had more time - and more responsibility - to look around and tell your team what was going on. I think that in exercises like this awareness and communication are really key not only to being effective in your own group, but keeping everyone safe.

I agree with some of the earlier comments - that we need to have established rules such as passing on a designated side when we are all lapping around Beacon Hill.

I also think we need to incorporate feedback into the sessions - foot down after the second box sprint, same after the finish at Beacon - for a 5 minute debrief. Personally I want to hear from Luke/Lister/Bryson so that I can learn from the experience. Some don't have time to go for coffee so this would help.

I think we should be clear that not everyone has to do this. If you just want to go for a ride and don't want to take the time to debrief or work on tactics, you should be able to. But the race training should be able to focus on the training with a few extra minutes for discussion, in my opinion.

And, personally, I think that anyone who is taking part in these coached sessions needs to be a member of Tripleshot Cycling. It's $20, you can do it online, and you just will not get this kind of value anywhere else. I'm not saying this because I want anyone to leave; it's exactly the opposite. I want as many people as possible doing these exercises with me. It's going to make all of us better racers and improve the level of racing locally.

One last thing - a huge thank you to Lister, Luke and Bryson for taking this on. Can't wait for the next one!

[jj12]

This is just on Tuesday sprints?

[Lister Farrar]

Lead outs Tuesday's, attacking and chasing drill Fridays. See details above

[steve]

Thanks to all involved in organizing this session, great experience and learning opportunity along with being good fun. Couple of things I noticed:

-Lots of communication and organizing within teams.
-People gutting themselves for the team rather than just thinking about themselves.
-Little chaos with the different trains going and people falling to the back - I think both lead and following riders have to be aware at all times and watch for people pulling off.


Looking forward to Friday! Geoff is right - $20 bucks goes a long with this club!

[Lister Farrar]

Can't make Tuesday am; thought I could get out of my daughters class camping trip but they need three adults with criminal record checks. (must be a tough class )

The plan was to refine last Tuesday. Keep having fun! I've asked Peter, Luke, Hugh and Geoff if they can lead groups.

Safety: no sudden sideways moves, shoulder check before moving to the side, say " on your left" or "on your right" when passing other teams.

Leadouts: when leading, shoulder check team mates are there, sprinter should direct the team, ensure acceleration is smooth to avoid gapping the team.

Regroup after sprints and hills so teams can do the leadouts in both sprints and in beacon.

See you Friday.

[Lister Farrar]

I received a preliminary version of the race bible, not yet posted to the web. Anybody wanting one, let know by email to listerfarrar(at)telus(dot)net.

[Lister Farrar]

Race bible is up. http://comoxvalleycycleclub.blogspot.ca/ This looks really good for all levels of Tripleshot riders contemplating racing. 3 stages. Four categories A, B, C and u17. Courses are moderate difficulty and in picturesque places. You can do all three stages in about a 36 hour, 1 night stayover mission if you want. Or just do 1 or two stages. And the tt is first stage, so you can race, see how strong you are and pick a category. (confirmed directly by organizer)

Re accomodation: The juniors families are probably camping.

I will likely ride b and will be available to help any tripleshotters at each stage.

Heres the chance to launch the Turquoise Express! Who's in?

[Lister Farrar]

A few more tidbits of info:

Apparently in the past the masters 30+ and 40+ have ridden the A category according to Barry McKee. 50+ have done B. But I think the organizers prefer masters ride by ability, not age. My sense of the categories is that the A will be slower than VCL A, etc. I will check and post.

Finally, I will be providing race day support.
For each of TT, crit, RR
• Transport and erect TS tents.(byo lawn chair for hanging out)
• Provide trainer for w/u and spare wheels, tools, workstand
• Lead course preview ride. Review challenges.
• Obtain and post start order.
• Review meeting

Race feeding will be from families. I will ride B to provide feedback there.

Who's in?

[Stéphane Tran]

By some miracle, I have the green light to go away for the weekend for this event. I can't take my car, so is there anyone who is going that I can hitch a ride with? As this would be an overnight trip, I will most likely stay in the Travelodge or something similar and would be willing to share accommodation. So, the question is: who else is in?