EMC Criterium
Race Report: EMC Criterium
Date: 5/7/06
Course: 1 mile office park crit with a 200~ meter finish
Category: Elite 4/5
Field: 100
Teammate: James and Josh.
Place: 3rd/ 26+ mph avg speed
Results: http://www.ncnca.org/road/2006/EMCCritResults.html
I went into this race knowing I wasn’t 100% (bit of sore calf muscle) and short on race fitness. The main goal was to finish in the top 5, which would get me the remainder of points needed for my upgrade to Elite 3. I wasn’t sure if Josh or James would make it to the race but they both did. If possible, I wanted to help them out if they felt good.
I got to Pleasanton and jumped on the trainer. I got to watch the 3’s race while warming up, very cool. The sun was out and looking like quite a nice day really. I lined up on the front and chatted with James a bit. At the whistle… we’re off. I got the hole-shot and figured I would pull a lap, to warm up. I looked down and saw 25+ mph on the clock and though sheesh I feel ok. Still… I pulled off after the finish line and slipped into the top 10, I looked back and it was all strung out. I was hoping to take the pressure off James and Josh by doing a lot of work up front, hoping they might get to sit in. Well a quick sip of water and back to the front. I was feeling good and not riding over my head. After what seemed like a few laps, I peeked at the time and saw 20 min. Cool… I was feeling o.k. and running the pace at the front without to much bother. I focused on being attentive and going with all the prime surges. I was away with every one but sat up and coasted across for the primes. It was good, I basically got to do a few trial “runs” into the finish and it paid off later.
Well, I’m now down to the last lap and I was alone at the front and getting banged up quite a bit from some riders. Oh, ya, did I mention it was a 4/5 race? I am stoked to not have to do any more mixed 4/5 events. What a relief. I got into good position on the last lap and maintained a top position. I knew I had to be 3rd or 4th at the very least, out of the last corner. I was 4th and on the inside but coming off the corner I lacked the snap I had at McLane and the Ronde. I powered it up and sprinted into 3rd with a good bike lunge. I wasn’t sure if I got 3rd across the line or not, it was a tight field sprint for the top 5~6.
I got a lot out of this race. I felt confident that I was riding a good race and upped the pace more than once. Did this hurt my sprint? No.. I haven’t been sprinting at all and you need to be 100% to do sprint training or you will end up ruining yourself. Once I can ramp up the Tue Port rides, the sprint snap will come, just in time for Burlingame I hope!
Props to James and Josh-->(suffering the after effects of food poisoning) for coming out. Next weekend: Get myself in good shape for Berkley Hills RR and maybe ride Cat’s Hill on Sat.
Fusion Hup!
Date: 5/7/06
Course: 1 mile office park crit with a 200~ meter finish
Category: Elite 4/5
Field: 100
Teammate: James and Josh.
Place: 3rd/ 26+ mph avg speed
Results: http://www.ncnca.org/road/2006/EMCCritResults.html
I went into this race knowing I wasn’t 100% (bit of sore calf muscle) and short on race fitness. The main goal was to finish in the top 5, which would get me the remainder of points needed for my upgrade to Elite 3. I wasn’t sure if Josh or James would make it to the race but they both did. If possible, I wanted to help them out if they felt good.
I got to Pleasanton and jumped on the trainer. I got to watch the 3’s race while warming up, very cool. The sun was out and looking like quite a nice day really. I lined up on the front and chatted with James a bit. At the whistle… we’re off. I got the hole-shot and figured I would pull a lap, to warm up. I looked down and saw 25+ mph on the clock and though sheesh I feel ok. Still… I pulled off after the finish line and slipped into the top 10, I looked back and it was all strung out. I was hoping to take the pressure off James and Josh by doing a lot of work up front, hoping they might get to sit in. Well a quick sip of water and back to the front. I was feeling good and not riding over my head. After what seemed like a few laps, I peeked at the time and saw 20 min. Cool… I was feeling o.k. and running the pace at the front without to much bother. I focused on being attentive and going with all the prime surges. I was away with every one but sat up and coasted across for the primes. It was good, I basically got to do a few trial “runs” into the finish and it paid off later.
Well, I’m now down to the last lap and I was alone at the front and getting banged up quite a bit from some riders. Oh, ya, did I mention it was a 4/5 race? I am stoked to not have to do any more mixed 4/5 events. What a relief. I got into good position on the last lap and maintained a top position. I knew I had to be 3rd or 4th at the very least, out of the last corner. I was 4th and on the inside but coming off the corner I lacked the snap I had at McLane and the Ronde. I powered it up and sprinted into 3rd with a good bike lunge. I wasn’t sure if I got 3rd across the line or not, it was a tight field sprint for the top 5~6.
I got a lot out of this race. I felt confident that I was riding a good race and upped the pace more than once. Did this hurt my sprint? No.. I haven’t been sprinting at all and you need to be 100% to do sprint training or you will end up ruining yourself. Once I can ramp up the Tue Port rides, the sprint snap will come, just in time for Burlingame I hope!
Props to James and Josh-->(suffering the after effects of food poisoning) for coming out. Next weekend: Get myself in good shape for Berkley Hills RR and maybe ride Cat’s Hill on Sat.
Fusion Hup!
posted by Nick at 20:52
1 Comments:
Nick,
Nice work at the EMC crit. Looks like you've been finishing in the top 5 consistently. Sounds like you are ready for your cat 3 upgrade. Nice!
I'm gonna have to pick your brain about sprint strategy. So far, I've managed to finish decently in crits, but this is due to brute strength not strategy. I know I won't be able to pull that off in the 4s.
I wanted to do the EMC crit, but with a bit of coaxing from Meredith, I decided to take a weekend off racing. The combination of my mountain and road race interests amounts to basically racing every weekend. So a mental break was in order and we did a supported century, Wine Country Century, in beautiful Sonoma County. A nice place to ride.
Wow, what a perfect day for a century. Cloud coverage burned off leaving us with a sunny day with temps form the high 70s to the mid 80s. Even though this was not a race, there were a few hammer heads on the ride. So I didn manage to get in a few hard efforts. After the efforts I would turn around and return to my group. This way every body was happy!
I'm doing Cats Hill this Saturday, followed by a pre-ride of the Skyline Park mtb course later that day.
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