Rick & Etsu’s Race Reports

Oy, by now everyone probably knows how this story ends, but here

goes.  We had 8 guys in the B race and our plan was to protect Adam

for the probable sprint, but at the same time cover anything that got

away.  The first lap was fairly uneventful,  probably because of the

cold, but around the carousel a couple of NYvelocity guys jumped off

the front and sort of got the ball rolling. That got caught around

Cats Paw I think, although I don't really remember it that clearly.

There were a couple of counters, and Patrick was off the front for a

while after HH as well. I think Todd Brilliant from Setanta jumped

around the hill leading to Tavern, and I followed as well.  Eventually

another Setanta rider, a Sid's, a Foundation, an NYVC, an Organic, a

CRCA rider, and some dude in black joined up. We didn't work too well

together, but since most of the big teams were represented knew there

wouldn't be much of a chase from the pack so I tried to keep the break

moving.

For the first lap we were away everyone worked hard but the paceline

wasn't very smooth, and it things would break up just a little

everytime we went up Cat's Paw or Harlem Hill. On the last lap I could

tell that guys were starting to fade, I could hear it in their

breathing everytime they took a pull. On the last trip up Harlem Hill

the dude in black, the CRCA rider, and I got a little gap. Looking

back I think I missed a chance here.  When I saw that we had a gap I

took a strong hard pull to try to keep the threesome away from the

rest of the group.  I think I should have attacked here rather than

try to keep the 3 man group together. I doubt I could have stayed away

alone for the rest of the lap, but I think I could have cut the group

at least in half.  As it turned out, the other 2 guys couldn't pull

through and the rest of the group eventually caught back on. I kept

working pretty hard to keep the break away, thinking that if I saw the

pack behind I would attack hoping that they wouldn't realize I was

still off the front if they caught the other guys.  I never saw the

group so I sort of stopped working around the carousel to get ready

for the sprint.  We went up Cat's Paw pretty slowly, and I figured

that even though I'm not much of a sprinter I would be strong enough

to beat the other guys in what's usually a long sprint to the Met

finish. Again, looking back I probably should have attacked here. I

felt really good and I was just starting to jump when the dude in

black went down just in front of me to my right side.  I really don't

know what happened, I think something spooked him and he overreacted

and went down. His bike flew in front of me, and I had no escape

route, and rode over his bike and crashed myself.

Of course in hindsight and with a resting heart rate it's easy to look

back at places I could have done things differently to put myself in a

position to win, but I really should have been more aggressive on the

last lap of the race.

In the end I got off pretty lucky, a lot of road rash, and a half-

grapefruit sized lump on my hip which will probably keep me from

becoming an underwear model any time soon. My bike doesn't even look

scratched. Once the anger dissipated I felt a little better about

things and figured it was good experience being in a break that

actually worked. Thanks to the AARF triage team as well.

Rick

Cool Rick.

Here is my attempt to see if we can use this experience to race better

the next time - My report is about change in the dynamic of the

race(break vs sprint) and what went in in my head(mostly)

First of all, it was great to see you Chris Griffin! I am glad most of

the other teammates finally got to meet you!

When the race started, in anticipation of mass sprint, Adam was to

stay in the pack and I was to be with him.

Riding the mid pack sort of suck.  I saw the rest of the guys in some

10-15 riders ahead and thought ,

"ok, I just need to keep Adam in site, save, and make sure stay away

from crash"

I moved up somewhere around 2,3 row after HH to check out the faces of

our competition and decided to stay up there, as the pace was slow and

there was not much action. And front is safer. I would have dropped

back if the pace was picking up and attacks were being launched as

today it was not my job today to cover that.

I don't remember when, but when Rick got in the break, I decided to

join the forces at the very front to block. I wasn't really up there

to offer any legs to counter attack or chase, I was still thinking of

supporting Adam D or being the second sprinter:

"Saaaaave the legs, let the others go!". Man, sometime it is hard to

contain yourself :)

Perhaps going into the third lap? I saw Adam D by the finish

line(flat) and thought,

"Ok, now what do I do? I wonder what the rest of the team is thinking"

- There is a break with one of our guys, and the designated sprinte is

out of the race.

The dynamic of the race was changing. Given that the break had 9 guys

and Rick being very strong at the moment, I think as most of AARF

decided to let it go and work on protecting the break. I don't think

most of AARF thought what we will we do if the break is caught, and I

suppose our reaction would have depended on when/where the break got

caught.

Believe it or not, I thought about that, but knowing there was no

speciifc plan for this scenario, I decided to focus on working to help

the break stay away.

I got to the front and did all I could.

Matt Ricards/NYVelocity and I chatted at the very front:

Matt - "Etsu are you happy with this pace?"

Etsu - "You gotta guy up there right?"(not trying to give much

infor...)

Matt  - "Yeah, Are you happy with the guy in the break?"

Etsu  - "Sure, you?"

Matt - "Yeah. Tell you what, you don't chase my guys and I won't chase

yours"

Etsu - "Sure"

I chased every attempt I could get my hands(legs) on. Metro, Junior,

Blue Ribbon? a few others tried - and as long as I could breathe, I

jumped at them. I was not saving anything, my battle mode changed from

"save for sprint" to "protect the break". There were quite a few NYVC

guys chasing down and some of AARF threw in chase effort. Between the

two teams, we initiated the chased down of every bridge and then slow

the pace down.  I know there were other teams in the break but I do

not recall other teams really taking part in chasing down the attempts

- Setanta, OA or Sids???

At one point as the break got within site, I started to think that the

break may get caught.

"What if the next bridge attempt is so strong that he will reach the

break? I hope my teammates are at the very front so that if that

happens, he/they can jump on it".

Like Shaw said that would make it 2 for AARF. I knew I was not able to

do that at that point, my legs were practically cooked from the

chasing. Albeit the slow pace of the peloton, jump and go action at

the front was definitely eating up my legs.

In the last lap going by TOG, the break was within close proximity,

may be less than 10 seconds. There was one Metro guy in between the

break and the peloton, dangling out there. Matt and I discussed that

the break may get caught and  sure enough the army of NYVC guys

started to launch some attack to quicken the pace little. As we turned

the carousel, I kicked one more time to go around the peloton to the

front and got behind that Metro guy's wheel, just  in case he had last

bit of juice left to bridge as we had approached 20 yards or so the

the break...and if he did, I wanted to make sure to be there to

counter attack. As we came around the Boat House, I think I saw a

Setanta guy go forward,  and as we started go up Catpaw's the entire

front 1/4 of the peloton just went ballistic. The break was just ahead

may be 15 yrds.

I saw the crash just as I crested the hill and was about to get in the

drops. I was about 15-20 place then(see pictures), I knew I had

nothing left, but seeing the break get caught, I tried my best. After

seeing Rick go down,  I thought of stopping if he wasn't moving. Thank

god, I saw him sit up and shake his head, and with that I just rolled

to the finish line.

I think we had a good original plan and we adjusted to the break

pretty well. I think we could have aced plan it if we had a

contingency plan as to how we would try to win, in the event of break

being caught like that. And one thing we could easily adjust is for

all of us to move up to the front when we saw the gap narrowing and

the chance of break being caught so if we want to launch a counter

attack we can , if we want to block we can, if we want to wind up for

a sprint, we could...being at the front at the right time give us more

option.

Just my thoughts. We tried, it was a fun race, there will be another

race next week and the week after!

The post post party at Colleen/David was fantastic!

Etsu