Going into this, I had NO idea what I was in for. I haven't finished a non-master's race in forever, which led to my downgrading to cat 4. Sunday, there looked to be 30 or more cat 4's (I can't count that high) representing several teams. All I can say is that the difference between cat 4 and cat 3, based on this one race only, is HUGE.
Cat 3 attack: One guy takes off big and several follow, working hard to get a gap, then hold the gap. When it gets caught, more take off.
Cat 4 attack from yesterday: 4 pedal strokes from the GUY ON THE FRONT, then slow down. Then the field slows down as no one wants to come around Repeat with another guy a few minutes later.
Getting tired of that, I decided to launch during one of the slowdowns, because I didn't hit the brakes and rolled right to the front. So I took off. No one followed. So I hung out for a little and decided that I'm not going to be able to hold off the group for 30 minutes and integrated back into the field. I do that two more times in the race, but each attack being a little weaker. Still no play, as it seemed completely obvious that the pack wanted a sprint field finish. After the last try, I just stayed toward the back to let the field finish come.
All in all, I was pleased with my performance, because I didn't get dropped and I was able to be aggressive. It didn't feel like that fast of a race, but my powertap showed 24.8mph average for 49 minutes.
49 minutes
20.354 miles
239 watts
266 norm
179 hr ave
24.8 mph ave
1 comment:
I was very pleased with your ride yesterday Bryan. You looked very strong and comfortable!
Post a Comment