What can I say about the races? Exciting as always.
What can I say about Merced? America... F#@k Yeah!
-DAY 1-
From what I saw of the cat 4 race there was a large field. I could only see the mob flying by in the distance since I was on the trainer warming up for the cat 3 race. From what I heard over the loudspeaker...Godspeed Courier was on the front! There is something about having your name blasted to the public as you accelerate past the S/F line that gives you visions of stardom. Or is it just stars you're seeing from being on the rivet and losing oxygen to your brain? Either way, it means you are a bad ass when they read your name off the start list and then try and say something cool about your team name.
Great job to ALL the 4's who mixed it up at the front of the pack for a bit and an especially good job to Godar for his lead out attempt with 3 or 4 to go. He also got to practice his victory salute with one to go! I heard there was some sort of neutralization of the field after a crash towards the end of the race which may have caused some confusion with the lap count.
Happy to see everyone stayed upright after the last crash on the final lap.
The cat 3 race was certainly not a full display of fireworks for the spectators, yet Deuce and I made our presence known in the field with his success in winning a prime and my early leg stretching drill of flying off the front through the s/f section. More air time for team GS.
My legs felt good after the practice so I sat up and fell back to my position of sitting in for the final sprint, 24 or so laps still to go. After placing 3rd in this race last year, I was looking to give it my all for another podium finish. As it wound down towards the end, I started to move up and held my position well with 4,3,2 to go. There had been a couple of late attacks from riders looking to get away, which was good for keeping the field stretched out, but they were pulled back by the bell lap. I was in an OK spot going into the first couple turns and maneuvered through the sketchy turns well enough to stay up front. Approaching the second to last turn I had moved up a bit more on the right side, which would end up being the wind side on the section before the last turn. Unfortunately no one was on the go in front of me and I had to stay out on the outside and in the wind coming out of that second to last turn. At that point I could not wait for a wheel to open up behind the 3 or 4 riders on my left or risk getting swarmed into the last turn. So I was unable to take the shorter, inside line, and went around the outside and just had to go for it with no draft. It was hard to tell but I think I was like 5th out of the last turn, and I'm sure there were riders further back who had more momentum on the inside. I had moved behind dude from Z Team during the sprint and felt like I could be pushing harder but just couldn't spin faster. I really could have used an 11 tooth cassette. My bad for not being prepared. I fell like I could have been spinning an 11 just as fast as the 12. Now I know I have the power to do that, I'm looking forward to the next crit. Anyways, I couldn't hold on for the points and got passed by a few other guys right before the line. Good for 9th.
Deuce was not far behind as he was able to pick his way through on the final straight for 11th.
-Day 2-
Happy that it was not raining Sunday morning. I'll have to say...I had a quality breakfast at the Quality Inn. Waffles came out perfectly! After packing up and leaving the room I chuckled over the 24oz cans of Bud Light laying on the ground behind the Pine Cone. Dried up puddles of puke not far from them. The night before we experienced a terror of noise from the popular Merced lot. It was a good ol' night of "my crotch rocket is louder than yours", after last call
at the infamous Mongolian BBQ/Night Club. Next time I'm bringing ear plugs.
Well the cat 3 road race went pretty much as expected, however I did not think the early breakaway would be as large as it was. I told Deucey I would work for him and he should just follow my wheel and let me do all the positioning until the end. If I were to get in a breakaway, he would just sit in as I would not do any work to make the break stick. I jumped out on a couple early moves within the first 10 miles, but it seemed like the field was prepared to chase everything down. So, I fell back a little and decided to start eating my Cliff Bar. That is when a group of 9 got off the front. Immediately Fusion sent guys to the front to block and before we knew it they had a substantial gap. I jumped across with a few guys trying to bridge but we only got half way before the field reacted and came up to us and stopped the chase. No one else wanted to keep it going and I'm sure many riders hadn't realized Fusion was blocking. So I went again to try and bridge and at least keep the field moving fast enough to hold the break at a safer distance. Finally a couple riders from Roaring Mouse started to help the chase and a dude from Sexual Camel also hit the front. I had to recover a bit before making my next push and that's the way it went for the next 40 miles. Only 5 or 6 out of 70 riders would do the work to chase and almost that many Fusion riders thwarting the chase by not pulling through at the front. I was a bit stressed to say the least. I should have been more attentive on the first lap and been in a position to make it in the break. Since we had to worry about the chase for so long I was not thinking about talking with Deuce about what the plan would be if we caught them. I just kind of assumed he was clear as to when to assert himself at the finish. On the last lap, I took a huge pull through the feed zone and down into the first roller section. I was starting to feel the effects of my work and tried to recover again. When we made that first hard left off Keyes, Mike was now towards the front and was helping with the chase. Travis T from Metromint was also up there now and we started to see the break come a little closer. I went back up to the front and took a few more hard pulls. My last effort brought the break back close enough for the rest of the chasers to finish it off in one or two more pulls, and at last we caught them! I had to take time to recover after all that and fell towards the back to sit in for the final miles before having to move back up for the last 2 Kilometers. As we started to approach the biggest hill that leads into that fast descent before the hard left (and onto the Snelling course section) I started to move back up and was trying to reach Deuce so we could reconnect before the finish. I should have made it up sooner, cause he was starting to feel frisky and pushed to the front just before I got to him. He made it to the top of the hill first and decided to keep it going on the descent and got a gap going into that left turn. It would have been a good move on the next hill (Snelling feed zone) or even a bit further down, but I think Mike thought the finish was a lot closer at that point. When he got caught he was still able to stay near the front, but there were a lot of guys who sat in the whole race who started to move up. I was a bit tired and tried to get up there, but once again it started to get wild within the last 2k and I could only make it up so far before getting stuck behind dudes who were blowing up. The last 1k of that race is always crazy and so easy to misjudge the distance before the line. Mike was able to finish in the top 16, while I sat up after getting stuck behind 2 riders who quit on the rise before the finishing straight. I think we still did well considering there were only 2 of us. Fusion had a bunch of riders, had someone in the breakaway and pretty much controlled the field and still did not manage to get a top 10 placing. We were able to play a big part in shutting down Fusion and that in itself was a good achievement.
All around I think team Godspeed performed very well. The cat 4's were also at the front of the race in the final miles on Sunday. I think we just need to work on our timing a little bit and have a more detailed plan for different race situations before the race begins. Everyone who came out has shown good form and I am looking forward to the upcoming events.
See ya's
