Coming to a field sprint near you...

lowracer1 - (aka Hottalk) writes:

I ride with the racing crowd all the time. They've come to accept me and don't make any crude comments since they know that I can whoop all of them silly. I must admit however that last night on a hilly 52 mile course with a bunch of cat1 and 2's, that I got dropped on a big hill and it took me the last 7 miles to catch back up to the pack. I did manage to just come back up on their tails as they were turning into the parking lot. This group of guys I have beat really bad many times but also they've beaten me pretty bad a number of times also. Last night I made the mistake of making a break from the pack too early. I sprinted away from the pack that was already doing a pace of 28mph. I wanted to gain some ground on them in an attempt to get to the top of the toughest climb before they got to the hill. It took a 30 to 32 mph effort for a couple miles to get far ahead of them. It wasn't enough of a lead. They caught me half way up and I was out of gas to do their pace up the hill. After the top of the hill there is a 4 mile stretch of all downhill in which I can maintain 40 to 45 mph. The pack usually holds 35 mph on this downhill stretch. They got enough of a lead on me on that climb that it took me 7 miles to catch back up. I passed a few other riders that also got dropped on that stretch like they were standing still. In order to beat them, I'll have to maintain my past method of sticking with the pack saving some energy to hammer up the climb with them. Once to the top and even if they get a 100 yard lead on me, 2 minutes later they are toast when I fly by them. Then its hammer time all the way back to the parking lot 7 miles away. I averaged a final speed of 23.8mph for the 52 miles.Tonight my legs were toast or so I thought for the 30 mile fast ride with another group on a mostly flat course but through large fields where there is always some wind. I got to the ride a bit late and was still unloading my bike when the pack started out. I had a 4 minute deficit to catch up on. It took roughly 7 miles for me to catch the pack. Once I caught them I hung at the back for a couple miles to recover a bit from my high speed effort in catching them. Once recovered I passed the paceline and got into a good 28 mph pace ocassionally touching 30mph. I was pretty whipped from the night before and the pack did catch back up to me about 5 miles from the finish. A couple riders attempted to get passed me, but this was all the encouragement I needed to do a 35mph pull away. Once I felt I had enough distance between myself and the pack, I eased my pace back up a bit to the 27mph range. It was enough to not even have to sprint for the finish line if it hadn't have been for John Foltz sneeking up on me near the end. I had my best average speed tonight with a 25mph flat for the 30 miles. John said he ended up with a 24.1mph average and he rode with the pack the entire way except near the end where he outsprinted the guys.This ride I normally about mile 2 sprint out ahead and solo the 28 remaining miles as far out in front of the pack as I can. On a good night I can usually beat them back by around 4 to 5 minutes.Nobody there thinks my bike is dorky. They are afraid of it though. :)

Frickin Dorks!