Tuesday Night at the Oval

The threat of rain kept the field size a bit more manageable last night, with 21 riders starting. Notably absent were the CMU team and Rob L. (a reliable motor at the front of bunch), but another strong rider who wasn’t around last week was back. I had two plans going into the race:

1. Be very active at the front and not worry about the sprint.
2. Don’t be very active and worry about the sprint.

I ended up with a combination of the two. I spent a bit of time at the front, including taking a pull or two, and worked to bring back a break or two, but otherwise, I spent a lot of time about 10-15 wheels back, making efforts to move up when I sensed a selection might be in the cards. When we were chasing, the group at the front was very well-organized–tight paceline, short pulls–but once we hauled in the break things quickly became disorganized. The issue last night seemed to be that people were willing to pull (a switch from other weeks), but they pulled for too long and the pace would drop. Chatting with a few people last week, we decided that unless you’re going for the MAR or your name is Paul Carson, you’re better off taking a 3-5 second pull and then swinging off (the biggest issue with this plan is that it’s often difficult to jump back into the paceline, which is odd, considering that most people don’t really want to pull, so why not let somebody in front of you since you don’t want to be at the front anyway). My pulls were short, and based on a few quick glances at my computer, I was able to keep the pace reasonable high.

With about 15 laps to go, I settled into the group. With about six laps to go, I swung outside and moved up, hopefully into a good position for the sprint. Going into the bell lap, I was in a good spot, and I felt very good. Coming out of turn 4, I saw a clear sprinting lane in front of me, so I jumped. I was maybe 10 wheels back, but I quickly started reeling riders in. Then I noticed the guy in the black jersey to my right moving in my direction. Under my breath, I started chanting “please hold your line, please hold your line.” As he moved closer, this became louder, until finally he nearly moved in front of me and I yelled “number 2! Hold your line!!” I sat up (he was moving slower), then he realized what was up and moved out of my way. I sprinted again, and pipped at least a few wheels at the line, managing 8th place. I reckon top 5 would have been pretty reasonable without having to sit up, but hey, there’s always next week. The rider apologized after the race, and it’s all good.

Takeaways:

  • I probably should have been a bit more active during the earlier stages of the race. There’s no reason to not take a flyer early on, since there’s plenty of time to recover.
  • Third place in the MAR required taking only five laps. That sounds pretty reasonable, I think.
  • I should move up further before the sprint next week. There are maybe two or three guys who are really fast sprinters, so there’s no reason to think that if I’m right at the front heading into the final turn that I can’t hold a good position. Otherwise, it’s just a crap shoot in the pack since inevitably someone is going to cut you off or sit up in front of you.