Race at the Lakes #3

This morning was the third race of the Race at the Lakes series presented by Allied Decals. Lining up for Stark Velo in a field of just over 30 riders was Matt Turi, Erik Lesco, Marshall Leininger, Darrin Kert, Tim House, Jim Flesher and of course myself. The plan for the day was to sit in for the first five or six laps, and let others control the race. After five laps, we'd wait to see what would happen, most likely not initiate any moves but try to cover, go with them or when brought back, counter attack. My idea was that the only way a breakaway was going to work here is if the attacks were relentless and the field became too tired to chase them down. Early into the race the need to implicate the plan almost wasn't necessary when a very good looking breakaway of four riders, one of them being Darrin occurred. Since the majority of the well represented teams for the day were present, I figured this was as good as gone. My suspicion was reinforced when you could feel the tempo of the field begin to slow to give the breakaway a fighting chance. And then....one rider, lets just say his first name rhymes with Lug decided to chase down the break, even though he had a teammate in it. Not sure if he didn't trust his teammate to stick with the move, he was greedy and wanted to get up there as well or just didn't know it was sort of bad form to chase down your teammate, but in no time, we were all chasing this rider down and therefore bringing the breakaway riders back.

A lap or two later, I decided to test the waters a little bit, not by attacking, but slowly riding off the front of the field. I didn't have any expectations of getting away, but just wanted to speed things up as the field seemed to be slowing down. I was brought back by the time we reached the start/finish line. Once back in the protection of the group, I decided to really try to attack again and hope this time that someone comes with me. Once we reached the parking lot, I attacked off the right side of the group just like I did in the first race of the series. And just like the first race, they would catch me on the climb. Needing to recover for the upcoming finish, I quickly found a wheel I could hold onto with the hopes of recovering fast enough to try one more attack. My goal for the day was to attack, attack and attack. I'm not able to race next week so I didn't want to leave anything in my legs today. Turns out, I wouldn't get that other opportunity to attack as my mind was telling me to sit in for the finish and try my luck then. I should have tried to make another move because that last lap became really sketchy with people fighting for position and I ended up getting pushed off the road. At the end of the day, I was satisfied that I finished upright which in the end is the most important thing but still I felt a little disappointed that I didn't leave it all out on road. Next race I guess.

Here's the stats for the day:

Duration: 49:01
Work: 725 kJ
TSS: 85 (intensity factor 1.02)
Norm Power: 296
VI: 1.2
Distance: 19.845 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 1040 246 watts
Heart rate: 30 188 168 bpm
Cadence: 29 141 99 rpm
Speed: 4.1 34.8 24.3 mph
Pace 1:43 14:38 2:28 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 363 70 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 982 208 lb-in