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Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit - CycleCriterium


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Upper Marlboro, Maryland
United States
85F / 29C
Sunny
Total Time = 36m 29s
Overall Rank = 13/50
Age Group = Cat 5
Age Group Rank = 13/50
Pre-race routine:

Got up, fed the dog, threw the bike on the car and my stuff inside and drove down to PG County. Got there, got registered and dressed to race.
Event warmup:

Did 5 laps around the course for a total of 7 miles according to my cyclometer. Watched some of the Junior's race. Nice breakaway in that one. Took a Gu ROctane with 45 minutes to go and at 15 minutes to go and washed them down with Gu20.
Bike
  • 36m 29s
  • 14.8 miles
  • 24.34 mile/hr
Comments:

Well, I hadn't done this in a long time and thought it would be fun to see if I could get out there with what little cycling fitness I had and mix it up in a criterium type race (although they did not classify it as such because of the overall length of each lap). The cat. 5 race was 11 laps and I lined up on the left side of the start in the second row. Whistle went off and we all clipped in and settled in. Pace was moderate and no one jumped from the gun which was good because I hadn't taken turns in anger in a long time. My strategy was to just sit in and try to stay somewhat near the front to stay out of trouble and see how I felt at the end. They had announced that there were going to be 3 "prime" laps which are intermediate sprints for prizes within the race. With only 11 laps I knew they were going to come quickly.

Second lap went much like the first with no one really pushing the pace hard and no one attacking. I was still about 20 or so back from the front and getting comfortable riding in a race pack again. On the next lap they rang the bell for the first prime. Okay, this is going to put everyone into game-on mood and I got ready for the pace to really go up. Well ..... it didn't .....

The way the course was laid out, it was a series of long gradual curves/straights and three 90 degree right hand turns with the last one coming within a small rise before becoming a slight downhill into the wind up for the finish. We were about halfway up the straight approaching this last corner and the pace was pretty much lolly gagging and I'm like WTF??? So I'm feeling good and know the course well enough and I just shift up, stand up and nail it to the left side of the road. I hear a bunch of "coming on the left!" and wait for someone to jump up on my wheel. Well, I nailed them off guard and no one could jump to me. I hit the corner on the slight hill and I've got 100 yards or so on two guys trying to catch me. I hammer the corner and the slight hill and attack down the hill all the while looking back to see where I am. The group wasn't coming closer. Sitting down and pushing it with glances back i've got about 250+ yards on the field now and take the prime win solo! Well that was nice of the field! ;)

I was hesitant that I could maintain a lead for another 8 laps so I soft pedaled and tried to catch my breath and wait for the field to catch back up. They finally did about halfway down the next straight. I'm sitting there thinking "Damn, if i was a little stronger I could have been gone and solo breakaway'ed the race." Instead I just settled back into the field and got a few "good work" compliments.

Next few laps saw a pick up of the pace and someone tried to go off the front with all his teammates sitting easy on the front. I pulled through and yelled at everyone to get him and we did before the hill corner. At 5 to go we got another prime bell ....... no way they were going to let me jump like that again! The pace was a little quicker but I inched my way up so that I was in about 15th or so and marked anyone who might be making a jump. There was a guy wearing a U of MD jersey that supposedly was pretty fast and I was watching him well. After coming down the hill there was still no one going for it and I was drifting up the left side in about 8th or 9th. So I said screw it and went again! The UMD guy tried to jump to my right and I was like, "Oh, it's frickin' on!" The two of us were side by side but I was only going about 7/8ths just keeping him slightly behind me. Boom! Got prime #2!! And in a heads-up sprint to boot! Sweet ...

Now we only had a few more laps to go and the two of us settled back into the field. No real break attempts except one dude who everyone knew wasn't going anywhere so we didn't chase. We just rolled him back into the field within a 1/2 lap. There wasn't much to go and they still had another prime and I'm thinking it is going to be right before the final bell lap. Should I go for all 3 and risk blowing my load for the final sprint?? At 2 laps to go they give us the bell again for the last prime. Okay, let's see how it plays out.

The field is going relatively chill and we are all together coming around the hill corner again. People are starting to get antsy but I can tell no one wants to waste their energy with the final bell lap coming up next. At 150 yards no one had jumped for the prime so ...... here I go again! But this time the UMD guy was waiting for me and got a slingshot off of me. As soon as he passed I sat up wanting to get back into the field and recover quickly because they rang the bell for the last lap.

But when I got settled back in it was in the middle/back of the pack and the big team which had about 7 guys in the field (Lattitude from Annapolis, used to be Team Snow Valley who I always raced with) was working on trying to control the pace and keep it high up front. It took me almost half the lap to recover from the prime sprint and by then it was pretty strung out. I tried to move up but hit the hill corner still in about 20th place and it was already strung out going hard out of the corner. Oh well, I'm out of it .... there isn't enough time to get back into the mix.

So I kind of half azz sprint, with a lot of it in the saddle and picked off a few more people to finish where I did. Turns out the UMD guy won and I knew that if I would have been up there in contention that I would have had a good shot at the win, which was a good feeling even though I wasn't there.
What would you do differently?:

Not go for the last prime so that I could have set myself up for the bell lap. Tactical choice. Maybe have kept going after the first prime where I easily had 300 yards on the field and they were no chasing me that hard. Just didn't have confidence that I could hold them all off for 10 miles.
Post race
Warm down:

Did a lap around the course and chatted with some of the other guys. Got a lot of complimnts on my first prime jump and overall work. Back to the car and waited for official results and to collect my prime prizes.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not doing any bike racing in 4 years and even then it was just one race where I got dropped fairly quickly. So no real bike racing in 10!!

Event comments:

As I mentioned, this was my first bike race in quite a while and I was really surprised that I did so well in the big scheme of things. Two first and a second for the intermediate sprints with different approaches to each. Just set myself up wrong for the final as I was too far back. I know I could have gone one on one with the guy who won and possibly have beaten him if I had just been in contention. I beat him in the one on one prime sprint and didn't go all out there.




Last updated: 2008-09-02 12:00 AM
Biking
00:36:29 | 14.8 miles | 24.34 mile/hr
Age Group: 13/50
Overall: 13/50
Performance: Good
No HRM
Wind: Some with gusts
Course: 1.35 mile or so triangular loop around a business park. Three right turns, wide road, numerous small pot holes.
Road: Potholes Dry Cadence: 100
Turns: Average Cornering: Average
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3

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2008-09-15 11:39 AM

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Cycling Guru
15134
50005000500010025
Fulton, MD
Subject: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit


2008-09-15 11:58 AM
in reply to: #1674732

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Master
2356
20001001001002525
Fenton, MI
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit

 ... just like a riding a bicycl .... uh, wait ... no, its exactly like riding a bicycle! 

 

2008-09-15 12:28 PM
in reply to: #1674732

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Master
1678
1000500100252525
Olney, MD
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit

Woah.... This sounds like a lot of fun to watch!!  Is there a listing somewhere of upcoming races in the area??

Nice job  

 

2008-09-15 12:28 PM
in reply to: #1674732

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Champion
5781
5000500100100252525
Northridge, California
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit
Nice job.

So...what'd ya win?
2008-09-15 12:34 PM
in reply to: #1674916

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Cycling Guru
15134
50005000500010025
Fulton, MD
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit

I got a $15 gift certificate to a local shop and a Crank Brothers frame pump.  So basically covered my entry fee.

Traci, you can go to http://www.mabra.org/ to find upcoming local races.  The road racing season is just about over, so after that will be a lot of cyclocross events around here.

2008-09-15 1:48 PM
in reply to: #1674732

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Master
1420
1000100100100100
Reston, VA
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit
Nice job out there Rick - congrats on the prizes!


2008-09-16 9:11 AM
in reply to: #1674732

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Davenport, IA
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit
Nice race! Sounds like a lot of fun.
2008-09-16 9:21 AM
in reply to: #1674732

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Champion
19812
50005000500020002000500100100100
MA
Subject: RE: Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit

Sweet work Rick...you surprised the field twice with the Primes...nice!

Fun for you to get back to what you have done before and do great first race back.

So you going to race Cross this fall? Have you raced it before?

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General Discussion Race Reports! » Bobby Phillips Turkey Day Crit Rss Feed