Louis
09-02-2007, 09:21 PM
As I posted a while back, this weekend St Louis hosts four days of crit racing. Friday starts in the late afternoon and ends under the lights. In fact, it was around the park in the really neat Lafayette Square neighborhood, which is just a stone’s throw from DD88’s house. The course is a 0.9 mile rectangle with four 90* left turns. There is essentially no climbing at all.
As it turned out, the first race of the day was the most exciting. It was the Men’s Citizen/Cat 5. 40 min + 5 laps. During the 40 min period you get a free lap for mechanical problems, but no free lap in the last 5. Each lap took them a bit over 2 minutes
After about three laps one guy had a 5-10 second gap and for every following lap he increased the lead by around 10 seconds until it was around 45-60 seconds, where it stayed. Shortly before the end of the 40 min period, after the leader went by, the guy on the PA calling the race said something like “Hey it looks like Todd (I think that was the name) has a soft front tire.” The next time around I looked and sure enough it was starting to loose air noticeably, but that it might make it to the end. At that point the gap was 45 seconds. The next lap was the start of the final 5 lap portion. Either then, or at the four laps to go point Todd decides to pit. At this point NO FREE LAP. But he had a huge lead. So he goes in and stays there, and stays there, and finally after 30 seconds (!!!) he’s back out on the course. At this point the peleton, who haven’t seen him since the start of the race now have him in their sights. Every lap they got just a little bit closer. When they came around the penultimate time I think the lead was a bit over 5 seconds. So around they go for the last time. I couldn’t see the start of the last straightaway very well, but when they came out of turn 4 it looked to me like he had a bit of a lead, but they were right on his tail. So down the stretch they come for the final sprint and manage to pip him at the line!!! The poor guy ended up in about fourth place.
Two lessons: 1) Pit when you can get a free lap, 2) Don’t trust the SRAM neutral race support guys to be very good, and finally, if he was that much faster than the field he probably didn’t belong there riding with the 5’s. After the race, after they had gotten some more info, the announcers said that Todd was a triathlete, so a) he was perfectly happy to TT the whole race, b) he did not want to ride with a bunch of sharp elbows around him, and c) who knows what kind of sprint he had.
Turns out that all the other races I saw Friday night had no breakaways and ended in massive sprints. (I had to leave before that Pro/Cat 1,2 race.)
Louis
As it turned out, the first race of the day was the most exciting. It was the Men’s Citizen/Cat 5. 40 min + 5 laps. During the 40 min period you get a free lap for mechanical problems, but no free lap in the last 5. Each lap took them a bit over 2 minutes
After about three laps one guy had a 5-10 second gap and for every following lap he increased the lead by around 10 seconds until it was around 45-60 seconds, where it stayed. Shortly before the end of the 40 min period, after the leader went by, the guy on the PA calling the race said something like “Hey it looks like Todd (I think that was the name) has a soft front tire.” The next time around I looked and sure enough it was starting to loose air noticeably, but that it might make it to the end. At that point the gap was 45 seconds. The next lap was the start of the final 5 lap portion. Either then, or at the four laps to go point Todd decides to pit. At this point NO FREE LAP. But he had a huge lead. So he goes in and stays there, and stays there, and finally after 30 seconds (!!!) he’s back out on the course. At this point the peleton, who haven’t seen him since the start of the race now have him in their sights. Every lap they got just a little bit closer. When they came around the penultimate time I think the lead was a bit over 5 seconds. So around they go for the last time. I couldn’t see the start of the last straightaway very well, but when they came out of turn 4 it looked to me like he had a bit of a lead, but they were right on his tail. So down the stretch they come for the final sprint and manage to pip him at the line!!! The poor guy ended up in about fourth place.
Two lessons: 1) Pit when you can get a free lap, 2) Don’t trust the SRAM neutral race support guys to be very good, and finally, if he was that much faster than the field he probably didn’t belong there riding with the 5’s. After the race, after they had gotten some more info, the announcers said that Todd was a triathlete, so a) he was perfectly happy to TT the whole race, b) he did not want to ride with a bunch of sharp elbows around him, and c) who knows what kind of sprint he had.
Turns out that all the other races I saw Friday night had no breakaways and ended in massive sprints. (I had to leave before that Pro/Cat 1,2 race.)
Louis