Friday, July 10, 2009

Thursday Crit

Had a fun time at the Thursday Crit. Upgraded to Cat 4. They race with the Cat 3's. So starting was about 50 Cat 3/4 riders. The race was 17 laps of the 1.3km course. Other than the Preme laps I spent a whole bunch of time up at the front really enjoying myself... Average speed about 41-42kmh. This is supper flat course with broad curves. So easy to treat it like a track race.


For the last of the three Preme laps I ended up doing a nice lead-out for Ryan Cousineau who then managed to sprint over and take the Preme... Great work!

The commute over went well. I picked Ryan up in New West near Douglas College and we parked just off Westminster Highway in Richmond. Easy half hour ride through mostly flat and rural roads over to the venue. After the race and easy half hour back. Worked well. Just using the 4-Runner to get over the bridge and through bike unfriendly New West and Coquitlam... Saved about a half hour each way, of unpleasant urban cycling..


2 comments:

Ryan said...

That was the second Prime; the third one at about 3-to-go.

During the first Prime, I was trying a similar tactic, but made the bad mistake of letting myself go too far backwards in the pack around the halfway mark of the Prime lap, leaving me too far away from the front.

This time, I was in the top 20, and somehow managed to jump about 10 riders strung out behind you by slipping along the side of them. Then it was just a quick bridging sprint to catch the guys who went early for the prime. The man I caught at the line (I won by a bit more than a wheel, I think) was clearly gassed, and spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder.

For sprinters, the usual error on that course is going too soon. The last major corner is deceptively distant from the finish line.

sl149q said...

Of course in a race like this my mistake re: sprinting is to not go off early enough... like with a couple of laps to go :-) In a (much) longer race against tired opponents I sometimes can follow a leadout and take a 2nd or 3rd place... Thats what I'm hoping for tomorrow for the DoveCreek RR... tired guys (80km I think) and long long flat finish.