Attleboro Crit, Kevin Hetherington Young, July 8
My personal goal going into today was to a win the field sprint in at least one of the three races I was to contest, breakaways be damned. I knew it probably wouldn’t be the third race as that would be after 125km of crit racing. I have a few strengths and a number of weaknesses as a rider so I knew I’d have to race patient and smart.
Kids 4/5 (age, not cat :) ): My son Max raced his first race. It was
one lap around the grass crit course, for which we weren’t properly prepared. We didn’t know it was grass. Oh well. He’d just have to manage with those training wheels. He managed a great start and got around in about 6th place out of about 15 despite the training wheels. The Pearl Izumi shorts and jersey were a hit with him as well. Can’t we get an NEBC kit in his size?
Masters 35+: 35km and a lot of fun. The course was great! Plenty of fast stretches with some semi-technical turns thrown in. The turns afforded a lot of passing-for-free oppotunities – aggressive riding was rewarded. I wasn’t planning on going for any primes, but the first one was announced for $40. I tried an odd tactic for me which was to attack before the second-last turn. I gapped the group and rode just hard enough to maintain that gap to the last turn and sprinted in for the prime win. After the race, they told me it was only $20, so I figured I mis-heard it. They later gave me another $20 saying they hadn’t realized the announcer decided to combine two primes. :) During the race, a group of about six riders (I think) rolled off the front. I helped a bit in trying to reel them in and we even got close a couple times. We didn’t quite make it however. With ten to go, I decided not to burn any more matches and waited for the sprint, whatever place it would be for. Setting up for the field sprint, I had Mike Norton’s wheel on the backstretch and decided to
try the same tactic that won me the prime. Lesson: prime sprints and field sprints are totally different beasts. I gapped the pack with my early attack and hit the last turn in first. I faded, however and five riders or so got around me and I finished sixth or so in the field for 12th place overall. Jim Burke wasn’t far behind me.
Masters 30+: 40km and even more fun. I took the first prime attacking on the inside of the last turn which gave me a nice gap – enough so I didn’t have to sprint all the way to the line. Why burn the match to win by an extra four or five meters? The lesson here was to take that inside line as it allows for a free-pass of riders ahead or a nice gap on those behind. Remember this for the finale. Likewise, protect that line to keep others from using it on you. I later took another prime reeling a rider in five meters from the line going striaght up the right curb. My sprinting speed and tactics were starting to come together. By this point, a four-man break was off and Sunapee was doing a great job shutting down the chase. I gave up trying to help bring it together or bridge and saved it for the sprints. I can’t but wonder if we coordinated our team efforts a little better at keypoints if we couldn’t have reeled in the break. Oh well.
With about ten to go, I told Gary that I thought I could win the field sprint and he offered to get me into position. We hooked up for the last six laps, which is, to my mind, the right way to go. Even though we were back pretty far at this point, we wouldn’t lose each other and knew we could get up front as necessary. Gary did an awesome job. I indicated that the priority was to be within reach of the front the entire last two or three laps and to fight for position. Those are small matches worth burning. The last time up the hill, there was the inevitable surge on both our left and right. Gary punched through it before they closed in front of him on the corner and got me through in fourth wheel. He worked us up to first and second wheel before turn two and I told him to turn it on on the downhill. He did exactly that giving it enough speed to keep everyone happy sitting behind us.
As we exited turn three, I dove inside of him and sort of pre-attacked the sprint. I wasn’t trying to lead it out from there, but my main concern was not letting someone else get the initiative. I used the turn and Gary’s presense to gap the guys behind and make them work to get back to my wheel. Remembering what I learned in the prime sprints, I checked the inside line for turn four behind me and saw someone aiming for it behind. I shifted my line to protect that inside and kept him out of there. He ended up taking the long way around the outside. From turn four in it was a drag race with a rider on the far left. My jump did the job of getting a gap and I held it to the line to take the field sprint for fifth. Personal goal accomplished. Thanks Gary!
Lesson: a good leadout to get you into position is obviously a prerequisite. In the first race, I probably had that leadout from another team and blew it with an early attack. In the second race, I got a great leadout from a teammate and thankfully delivered with a little more patience. I certainly feel more pressure to deliver when a teammate does such an awesome job getting me there and perhaps that concentrated the mind. Speaking of which, sprinting is about a lot more than sheer power. More importanly, just don’t forget to remain aware of what the other riders are doing and how the course might allow them to bamboozle you. It only took a small shift of my line and an acceleration going into the turn when other riders are busy setting up for it to protect the inside and get a gap with efficient energy expenditure. Just keep paying attention and keep thinking allthe time. In sprints, things happen fast and you have to adapt quickly. Practice it as much as you can. I recommend the track. (shameless plug: www.leadcycling.com).
Cat 3: Not much to report. My legs were spent and I spent 50 km mostly sitting in just trying to stay hydrated and finish. I did so successfully. I’ll leave the race report to one of our other esteemed cat 3 riders who almost all beat me – Scott Cole, Scott Brooks, GaryDouville, or Dave Chiu. I hope I didn’t forget anyone.
Kudos to Gary. I was hoping to win the tough-guy competition with three races, two of which were back-to-back, totalling at 125 km. Gary one-upped me. He did three in a row including the feature event. P123/Masters 30+/Cat 3 – all back-to-back for 150 km! You win toughguy. :-D
Kevin