I came into this race knowing my work was cut out for me . Since I am hoping to cat. up to a 3 before CAN-AM, a prestigious juniors race in New Jersey, I don't have a whole lot of time to waste on anonymous pack finishes. My strategy going into the race was to stay in a good position the whole time, and start a breakaway by the 3rd and biggest hill of the last lap.
The race started easily and I stayed in the top 15 for the first few miles. I dropped back and moved up several times after that until the opportunity represented itself on the last hill of the 2nd to last lap when I got into a break with 2 other riders that lasted about one and a half miles. Unfortunately we were caught right after the crest of the next hill. I then settled back into the peleton to try to recover for my planned breakaway. I got to the base of the climb thinking that I couldn't get away after seeing other breaks getting swept up by the pack, but nonetheless put in a max effort and hoped for the best. Thankfully, my attack did create a split in the field and drew out my teammate Andy Hart, and another rider. We shared pulls for a minute or so, but then were caught. After that I tried to stay in the top 15 and recover as much as possible in time for the finish.
Up the last hill the pace was fast and 2 riders got away, Andy again being one of them. They dangled right in front of the field for about half a kilometer, before being caught by myself and about 5 other riders. Since I knew that I didn't have a good chance in the sprint and was slightly ahead of the pack, I just went as hard as I could. With 200 meters to go I was in 2nd, but was swarmed at the end and got 7th. This was also my fastest cat. 4 RR ever, with an avg. speed of 23.1!
All in all, I am very happy with my result, and also just being a factor in a cat. 4 race, something I never could have imagined last season. Tomorrow is the crit, which I 'll try to post by Monday.
that sounds like the same that happened to me expect I was boxed in at the finish and couldn't sprint to a better position and got 7ish I'm not exactly sure but its my guess
ReplyDeletei was riding juniors/College D and i got first out of the juniors... good job!!! I'll see you at the crit
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteNice riding. In my mind you made the move of the race on that hill. I started the final sprint a little too soon, If I had been more patient you and I could have scored higher, but that wasn't to be.
See ya next time, maybe we'll both be 3's
- dummy
I was racing next to you - you're a strong little man and it sucks even for me to try and ride behind you. Great race down there in NC, eh?
ReplyDeleteBTW - can you hit me up with a link to those pics?
Thanks. Hope to see you again at future races. About the photos, my stepmom took them. Her website is www.tinawronaphotography.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteOops! Actually that was MY comment up above. We were logged in as my stepmom, Tina Wrona, so now it looks like she said it.
ReplyDeleteAgain, hope to see you at the races. And my stepmom takes the photos. Her blog is www.tinawronaphotography.blogspot.com
Thanks Thomas. If you're wondering - on the last picture on your post I'm the guy directly to your left in red/white. (The one suffering behind you, haha, not in front of you.)
ReplyDeleteCheers.