Another back-to-back championship event weekend in VA Cycling. I probably shouldn't complain, though, because it was a pair of events that managed to not get canceled this year. That's a pretty sad achievement, and perhaps an indictment of the state of the sport in our region, but grumblings aside, we at least got to race.
Things got rolling Saturday with the Chesapeake Crit, which is the state championship crit for categorized racers (i.e., Cats 1 - 5, not juniors or masters). I'd done pretty well last year, with a 4th place finish and a prime in the Cat 4 event, but last week's Bryan Park training race had been my first crit in over 2 months, and I was racing at a higher level than last year. I didn't feel very hopeful, but at least I wouldn't be in a mixed category race.
It started, as they almost all do, with a feverish first lap. Speeds well into the 30's on the back half of the course, and a mad dash to the finish line for no evident reason at all. But whereas most races settle into something of a rhythm that allows for rests and preservation of momentum, this one never quite found its stride. Cheerbacks brought a small army with the intention of launching their top riders to an uncontested victory. The rest of us were just struggling to make that tough for them to execute.
They got an early break going at about 7 laps in. It was too early to really worry about it, but their freight-train rider came and sat on the front while they rode clear. I watched them get out to about 15 seconds and sit there for about 2 laps before I got tired of it and launched a counter-attack. I brought the group back to them and ended up getting stuck near the front for the next 2 laps.
Sensing another Page Valley disaster, where I had been completely unable to get off the front for several miles, I took the turn before the front straight fast and as tight as possible, eliciting jeers and admonishment from Mr. Freight Train...and absolutely nobody else. But it got me off the front, and put him in the wind. I rolled back through the group to wait for their next attack.
One of the nice things about a smaller race group is that there's more room to move around. Though I'd moved back, I found plenty of avenues and opportunities to move forward. Unfortunately, one of the challenges of a small group is not knowing exactly where the back of the group is, and I found myself at risk of dropping off several times through the middle of the race.
So I moved up again, and again they launched an attack. And again they plopped their freight train rider on the front. This time the group wasn't having it, and started complaining. He let out a tirade of profanities, so I jumped off the front and started another charge, allowing the group to do about half the work this time.
But as soon as they were caught, another attack went. One rider got away solo, and a few laps later another bridged up to him, and together they rode clear of the whole group to the end.
Two more tried to move up but were caught in the last lap, but back to that whole rhythm thing? The whole race was just rolling around the back and laying down huge sprints to the line. Over and over again, with absolutely no point.
I did have a chance to go after the lone prime, but the rider on the front got a great launch going into the turn, and the rider in front of me decided to take a languid approach to the turn, so while I was running him down, it was never really close.
And that was my only real match to burn. The constant sprinting wore me out, and when it came time for the last lap charge, I got pinched in the first turn and had to brake to stay upright, had to work back from the absolute back of the group to the last turn, and just had nothing for the sprint itself. I picked up 1, maybe 2 positions on the way to a 17th place finish.
We managed to put a teammate into the final sprint, and he got 2nd in the bunch, but with those 2 riders clear, he was 4th overall.
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Sunday's PGT TT was just pain. I was really disappointed by my finish at the USO TT back in June, and had bought both a speedsuit and a pointy hat in the interim. Sunday was the first time I'd ever worn either. The speedsuit felt great, but oh my goodness the heat in that pointy hat! To be fair, it ventilated *pretty* well, but sweat just ran down my nose the whole race like I was on an indoor trainer.
But they made a big difference. Though June's race had minor elevation changes and this one was dead flat, my average heart-rate was only 1 bpm different between the two. My average speed, however, was up 1.2 mph. That's pretty substantial. I don't have a power meter on that bike, but I feel pretty comfortable asserting that I put out comparable power between the two events.
Unfortunately my age puts me in a category of titans, and even with all that extra speed, I could only manage 3rd of 4, and caught a lucky break in that the guy in 4th was just having an off day. But whereas in June I was *minutes* off the pace, this time I was only about 40 seconds off.
That is a number that is still surmountable with equipment. As this was the last TT of the season, though, there's no rush to go out and buy anything right now, but the 1X conversion isn't complete: I still have a front derailleur hanging out in the wind. I've read that can impose up to 8W penalty, and I'm still running a pretty shallow front wheel. If I can find a deeper wheel, finish up the 1X change with a proper narrow-wide chainring, and remember to pack the shoe covers next time, maybe (just maybe) I'll get to move up a step on a podium next year.
Not doing it the day after a really tough crit might help, too.
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That's it for the 2018 VA Cycling calendar. There are a few more Bryan Park races, and possibly the Carolina Cup in September, but the season is over. It was more memorable for being a season that wasn't. Between 6 events getting canceled, Whole30 stupidity, and a crash that took me out of racing for 6 weeks, this will be remembered as one of substantial disappointment for me.
The Boy, though? Wow: what a season for him! His crit on Saturday saw his highest average speed to date, with a searing 19.1 mph solo TT effort that saw him lap one competitor and nearly lap another (and in so doing, almost lap the first one AGAIN) in 6 laps. That effort put the 2018 VA Cycling BAR Champ jersey firmly in his grasp, and Sunday's TT was much the same (exactly 1 minute faster than his closest rival, with a time that wasn't far off the winning 13-14 year-old ride), allowing him to also secure the 2018 Omnium.
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