Weekly World Championships
Weekly World Championships
I haven't been down to the WWC for about 2 weeks because of my taking care of the family and the house and all, so I thought I'd go down this week since Dad's getting much better. I actually wasn't expecting too great a performance for two reasons: 1. My last WWC wasn't exactly spectacular, and 2. I've only ridden 2 time in the past two weeks.
Get down to the course in good time, catch up with J for a bit, and end up doing two warm up laps with a newbie on the team. He seems like a good guy. I try to give him a quick briefing on what to expect since this is his first time.
The race starts, and we do about a lap in cruse mode. I work my way through the pack having a word with some familiar faces. I don't see too many hammerheads, so this might not be too bad. Famous last words. About 12-20 hammers hit the front on lap two and pick the pace up to over 30mph through the tailwind section, and don't let up into the headwind. Some guy about 10 up from me decides that this is too much work too early and lets a gap form. Off they go. A few guys try to bridge up, but I don't think they made it.
So now we have a pretty good sized second pack with enough fire power to to the 25 headwind, and 30+ tailwind. Not too sketchy which is good. Although, the guys up front still don't pull through enough to prevent us from bunching up, and spreading out across the road. This might be a good thing, because its hard to work my way up to the front, and I stay pretty sheltered in the pack.
38 min. into it, a helicopter, police I think, starts shadowing us for about a lap. I start to get paranoid, especially when we pass a cruiser parked on the side. I start to drift back because I'm convinced we're gonna get pulled over. We are on public roads after all, and what we do can be considered a hazard to the public. It ends up being nothing.
50 min. into it, with about 2 laps left, one of the biggest hammerheads appears out of nowhere, takes the front and pulls about 30 mph, for a whole lap. Headwind and all. Incredible. Somehow I end up in the top 10 while he's driving the front. 1 lap to go, he pulls off and his team mate ( a guy I used to trounce 2 years ago) takes the front, and pulls at 30 mph for a half lap, the headwind section no less. Man he's improved, its great to see. When he pulls off, a couple of guys try to keep the speed up. I even take the front right before the last corner. An attack goes up my left side, and I actually have enough left to catch the tail end. The sprint starts, I jump, and some guy starts to fade left, squeezing me towards the edge. A quick yell at him, and I squeeze by, finishing still in the top 10 for the second group. A much better than expected finish.
Cycling can be such a mystery. Good form, crappy performance. Questionable form, good performance....who can predict.
Stats: 25 miles Ave. Speed - 25.4 mph - Max speed - 33.4 mph. (hmmm, I guess that wasn't a sprint afterall)
I haven't been down to the WWC for about 2 weeks because of my taking care of the family and the house and all, so I thought I'd go down this week since Dad's getting much better. I actually wasn't expecting too great a performance for two reasons: 1. My last WWC wasn't exactly spectacular, and 2. I've only ridden 2 time in the past two weeks.
Get down to the course in good time, catch up with J for a bit, and end up doing two warm up laps with a newbie on the team. He seems like a good guy. I try to give him a quick briefing on what to expect since this is his first time.
The race starts, and we do about a lap in cruse mode. I work my way through the pack having a word with some familiar faces. I don't see too many hammerheads, so this might not be too bad. Famous last words. About 12-20 hammers hit the front on lap two and pick the pace up to over 30mph through the tailwind section, and don't let up into the headwind. Some guy about 10 up from me decides that this is too much work too early and lets a gap form. Off they go. A few guys try to bridge up, but I don't think they made it.
So now we have a pretty good sized second pack with enough fire power to to the 25 headwind, and 30+ tailwind. Not too sketchy which is good. Although, the guys up front still don't pull through enough to prevent us from bunching up, and spreading out across the road. This might be a good thing, because its hard to work my way up to the front, and I stay pretty sheltered in the pack.
38 min. into it, a helicopter, police I think, starts shadowing us for about a lap. I start to get paranoid, especially when we pass a cruiser parked on the side. I start to drift back because I'm convinced we're gonna get pulled over. We are on public roads after all, and what we do can be considered a hazard to the public. It ends up being nothing.
50 min. into it, with about 2 laps left, one of the biggest hammerheads appears out of nowhere, takes the front and pulls about 30 mph, for a whole lap. Headwind and all. Incredible. Somehow I end up in the top 10 while he's driving the front. 1 lap to go, he pulls off and his team mate ( a guy I used to trounce 2 years ago) takes the front, and pulls at 30 mph for a half lap, the headwind section no less. Man he's improved, its great to see. When he pulls off, a couple of guys try to keep the speed up. I even take the front right before the last corner. An attack goes up my left side, and I actually have enough left to catch the tail end. The sprint starts, I jump, and some guy starts to fade left, squeezing me towards the edge. A quick yell at him, and I squeeze by, finishing still in the top 10 for the second group. A much better than expected finish.
Cycling can be such a mystery. Good form, crappy performance. Questionable form, good performance....who can predict.
Stats: 25 miles Ave. Speed - 25.4 mph - Max speed - 33.4 mph. (hmmm, I guess that wasn't a sprint afterall)