Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

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jraguin
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Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by jraguin »

No result here, but this is to remind people to post up race reports of their races.

I was the voluneer at the KOM for the first wave of races and MRC was looking strong out there.
Cat 5: MRC guy (who?) in a 3 man break with <5 km to go. He also won the KOM.
Cat 4: MRC guy was putting the hurt on the field on the final climb up Oak Hill and had about a 5 - 7 sec gap solo on the steep pitch of Oak Hill
Women Cat 4/5: One MRC woman in about 10 riders left in the lead pack.

Wishing Sharon was there with the Womens 1/2/3 because they were all together with a lap to go.
djming
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by djming »

First off - John, those in-race lap by lap at the KOM updates were awesome. Really gave Smudger something to do :D
My mind is pretty well fried from today so I'll defer to Cratty for the Masters report, at least to start.
Pretty darn cool though to see MRC take 3 of the KOM growlers home, with newcomer Tucker taking the KOM/W double!
Last edited by djming on Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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cbusick
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by cbusick »

Masters 40/50+
My job was to get into some sort of break if Brian (BFC) or Nate or Jerry or anyone else went for the long shot.
Since any of these guys could easily drop me on the first steep pitch of Oak the theory was I'd need to get a head start somehow
and hope to latch on on the false flat somewhere.

Lap 2 a couple riders got a gap on Oak and when Nate and BFC bridged I jumped on for the free ride. They never committed fully though and it came back together.


Lap 3 Bobby Bailey was off the front somewhere and the pack was crawling along after the feed zone. I latched onto the wheel of a guy moving up the right who got to the front and pulled over to the front of the line, I thought we might have some sort of rotation going to reel in Bobby so I pulled through and got onto the front. Nobody came through though, so I settled in to keep the pace up and try eating into Bobby's lead a little. The pack overtook me on the first steep pitch and I started packsliding. Apparently BFC was going for the KOM, and the whole pack was strung out. This made it "easy" for me to move back up to the front after recovering from the steep pitches. When I got to about 20 back I could see BFC off the front and Josh near the front trying to chase. Can't have Josh doing work, so I moved up and rolled right past JDZ who was trying to block. I kept driving, slowly reeling in BFC. Tom Francis came up and helped and we worked together until finally making the catch by the top of Pinnacle.
The chart below shows my W' balance. Which is supposed to represent my anaerobic capacity. Riding over FTP "drains" it. Riding under FTP it fills back up as you recover. When it hits 0 I've got nothing left. It hit 0 at mile 29 when I made the catch. At this point I pulled over satisfied that I'd done my work for the day and dropped back into the pack to try and recover/hang on.
Screen Shot 2017-06-03 at 8.15.25 PM.png
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On the right turn off of Pinacle by the Orchard I heard yelling, the sound of overlapped wheels rubbing then the crunch of someone hitting the ground. Found out later it was Nate. Glad to hear he is ok. I drifted back to make sure we didn't loose anyone from MRC but everyone was there so I started working my way back to the front.

Around mile 34 I'd recovered about as much as I would be allowed to. Jeremy came by on the right "Jump on Busick! I'll bring you to the front and slingshot you onto the bottom of Oak!" So I jumped on, and Jeremy put his head down and cranked away, bringing us right by and then off the front. I kept going, got a little gap, and was only hoping to get over the first two steep sections before the pack caught me. But instead of the pack I heard a friendly "Hi Chris" and it was JDZ. How cool is that! Between us we must have like 10 guys to block for us in the pack. It felt just like a WNR trying to hang onto his wheel on the steps then helping out on the flats. This is the drop in the W'bal up to mile 38 when we We worked together, and going through the start finish area hearing the reaction of everyone as they realized it was me and Jerry off the front was amazing.

On Littleton, the pack was closing in fast, but then the gap opened again and there were just 2 guys bridging across. Allan Potter of fitwerx and Mark Paggioli from CVC. Allan came through and did a pull, but Mark sat on my wheel. Jerry moved back to the front and the order was JDZ, Allan, Mark, then me. All three guys ahead of me were 50+, all I had to do was hang on and I'd win the 40+ race. Jerry kept working away on the front all the way to the little step near the top where Cratty used to attack before his retirement. Then Allan and Mark said something to each other and attacked JDZ. I stepped up to try and go with them, but my legs were done. The opened a gap on Jerry, but he clawed his way back on. I was popped off, kept going as well as I could, but got swallowed up on Pinnacle, slipped through the pack and finished off the back at 20th.
-Chris Busick
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by MarkMiller321 »

I had big plan for the Ken Harrod Road Race this year. Actually I had designs on winning given my recent form and confidence. Coming off my best four week block of the year I was confident that I could produce a result and grab some upgrade points. Throughout the week the chatter centered on John Jantz being the rider to watch. Cratty was keen on the idea that if he went that it would be in my best interest to go with him. What we were really hoping for was a break from a lap and a half out to grid everyone down. I was going to ride to the finish solo to the cheers of the crowd, then the race started.

I was surprisingly relaxed at the start of the race feeling zero pressure. I’ve accepted that I’m a pretty terrible road racers and have decided that if I’m going to do anything on a bike it’s going to involve barriers and run-ups. So I joked around as is my nature and mentally prepared to start clubbing some baby seals.

Literally at the whistle it started to drizzle which I thought was pretty awesome. A lot of baby seals don’t like racing in bad weather so I figured that this at least helped my chances a little. The start was fast! I mean it felt crazy fast. Guys were hammering right away so I did my best to sit in and not do anything which isn’t my strength. I found A.J. and P.J. and tucked into their slipstream the first half of lap one. The Jantz kid was going nuts on the front racing like he owned a match factory. Every time he went it looked credible and the classic cat three game of cat and mouse started.

The second time up Oak the kid was still going nuts. We were already flying and he was off the front. A strong group of us rode down the gap and immediately as we caught him he countered his own move with an even harder attack this time pulling along one of the Umpa Lumpas from BoLoCo. This looked really serious and I felt compelled to shut it down asap. I easily bridged across and noticed that we already had a pretty significant gap on the group in the range of ten seconds. Knowing that Jantz had been going crazy all day I let him get on my week and I pulled haaaarrd. Over the KOM past KT Jantz and Umpa Lumpa were laboring pretty hard. I momentarily sat up so they could get on my wheel. As I remember this I’ll bet I looked pretty badass. They managed to get on but I was in that mode where I wanted to make a move so bomb dropping commenced. They couldn’t pull through and were looking at one and other, maybe Jantz wanted some candy but the Umpa Lumpa wasn’t giving up his stash. At this point the gap was out to fifteen seconds. I was off the front as the other two drifted back to the bunch. I had two options at this point. Option one save my matches, keep my powder dry, it was raining after all. Option two. CRUSH! I decided to go with option two.

I really like bike racing and it shows. I love watching cycling, talking about cycling etc etc… Whenever I watch a big race I always marvel at how hard guys go to establish a break. I found that space and hammered as hard as I could to get away. I also had the advantage at this point of being able to take risks in the corners and on the downhills. Through the finish as the rain fell Smudger went nuts on the microphone. Game on.

After the initial chaos wore off and I knew I was established I made probably my only smart decision of the day. I started a new lap on my Garmin and decided that if I had any shot to solo for forty-five miles that it was going to have to be a measured effort. On the flats and climbs I kept it to 335-350 and got as aero as possible on the downhills. Much to my surprise this actually worked. On one of the longer straights I couldn’t even see the group which only emboldened me further. The moto let me know that I was at plus minus sixty seconds so I kept drilling.

At the base of Oak I passed Tyler as he marshalled a driveway and offered his mellow support. This was getting harder by the second and deep down I knew my fate but knew that no matter what that I had to keep pushing. At the town line it dawned on me that it was the KOM lap and that beer was on the line. Instant boost to my spirits and another match gone! Over the top KT was so excited that he didn’t have to sort out results of a sprint as I went by with my big gap. The rain continued to fall with increasing intensity and I stayed lazer focused on the task at hand. Through town the crowd was on my side so I went to the well and found some extra bombs to drop to give everyone a good show. That moment I was living my own personal hell as every fiber of my existence screamed for relief.

Through the flats and feed the gap was still there but it appeared to be coming down albeit very slowly. I was averaging 24.3 mph for the break so I knew that it was going to take a group effort to bring me back. I kept fueling and finding more in the tank and harbored hopes that I could make it to town a third time on my own. As we approached Littleton to moto approached and ruined the whole day. He informed me that I had forty seconds and that was hoping to follow me all the way to the finish. In my experience once the officials start rooting for you it’s usually game over. Sure enough the gap came down after that. Turning onto Oak my gap was down to fifteen seconds so I started soft pedaling. I knew that that boys just had an hour off from the game and they were going to need my help the rest of the way. I ended up being solo for just under fifty-three minutes, professor Cratty is going to pull some gems from the data later.

The group latched on and I drifted to the middle of the bunch with P.J and A.J. They were pretty stoked about the break and were ready to rock the rest of the race. That energy was infectious and I managed to find more in the tank. I was a hurting cowboy at this point and the details get a little fuzzy the rest of the way. There were a lot of attacks and counter attacks. I was a man with a problem but kept finding dry matches in my soaking wet book. A.J.’s energy was such a boost and it make me want to work even harder despite being totally bankrupt.

The last lap is a blurry memory of move after move. Oak was calmer than I thought it would be and then things went bananas. I have no idea how but I found myself on the front on the downhill after the KOM line with a couple of dudes that were making their play. Around the sweeping right Roy took a huge dig that looked promising that got shut down pretty quick. Onto Pinnacle I had a great line and dropped the hammer with everything I had and got a small gap. I knew the boys were in good shape and if I could make everyone chase that it would increase their chances of success. I have no idea how I got the gap and tucked hard on the downhill before the final right hander. Up that little kicker I got swallowed up and our boys were dropping watts left and right. I was still hanging on somehow and wanted to be on the front to lead out the sprint. Somehow I managed to get there and tucked the living hell out of the downhill. I was so tired and knew that I needed one more match in the sprint. Out of the tuck and into the sprint I thought I had a shot for like half a second as the man with the hammer finally showed up and said no soup for you.

I rode through the line and doubled back as quickly as possible, bunny hopped the curb, (#crossiscoming) and found a nice patch of grass to die on. I propped myself up on a tree as the guys filtered in. Within minutes the adrenaline wore off and I was in a world of hurt. Warning lights were flashing all over the place on my dashboard and I knew I was about to pay. I felt my stomach start contorting and I went into full dry heaving mode. The next five minutes of my life was terrible. I honestly thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head because of the intensity of the heaving. At that moment it dawned on me that typically this sort of effort only comes in a cross race. Sixty-one mile cross races suck.

Hanging out with the crew was awesome. Everyone had a great day. My bomb dropping brother Tom took the KOM in his race too so everything was perfect in its own way.
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peterkuhn
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by peterkuhn »

Cat 5 Men's

Going into this race I knew I had at least two people to worry about: Chris Devine, because he's beat me soundly a couple times in the past, and Tucker, because I saw the KSR results. The plan was to stick with these two and help out Tucker if he need it (doubtful). I felt good. I even tapered, sort of.

So we set out on the first lap of three and it was remarkably conversational. There was a guy from Cycle-Loft pushing away on the front and this was fine. The climb was slow, and this was also fine. Lap 1 done and we moseyed along the back stretch again. It was really easy to keep tabs on Tucker and Chris because they were chatting the whole time. I thought, some folks will go for the KOM, and I'll let them, and the group will catch them after, just like last year.

So then we hit the KOM lap climb, and things got a little stretched out. Tucker made his way up to the front and I got stuck in the middle of some non-moving dudes. Over the rises at the beginning, I spotted a group of maybe seven producing a lovely gap. As it turned out, exactly what I had predicted was coming to pass, except the KOM group was composed of guys who were currently blasting watts at the rest of us with the force of a thousand suns.

So we harried after them, and over time and pain a chase group of 9 formed, including a couple from the lead group, which was now down to Tucker, Chris, and a guy named Paul. Folks on the roadside kept telling us they were 20 seconds ahead or so, which turned out to be wildly optimistic. They might've been saying a minute 20, and I was just mentally blocking the first part out. A 545 guy who may also be a drill sargeant was enthusiastically and loudly organizing a paceline, hampered by my own malicious compliance, which turned out not to be necessary as other members of the chase had differing opinions on the best pace and amount of time to spend at the front before pulling off. A smoothly functioning paceline in a cat 5 race is really more of an aspirational goal.

Anyway, by the bottom of the 3rd and last climb the only way the front group was coming back was by a very selective tornado, so I started watching for attacks in the grand battle for non-podium positions. Nobody made any moves after the orchard or anywhere else on the climb, so at the hard left onto pinnacle I dumped it and opened up a small gap. Staying off the front on the flats is really not my thing, and I was Extremely Buried, but I held onto it until the last possible place I'd expect: Somebody passed me on the steepest and fastest part of the descent before the line, cranking away at like 45mph, while I'm doing my finest skinny-guy aero tuck. This was the most fortunate possible way to get caught: I tucked in behind him, launched my sprint on the hill when he ran out of gas, and sailed effortlessly (wheezing, grunting) to the showers of cash, women, and accolades that accompany a cat 5 4th place.

Here is my own w'bal, which may need some updating:
wbal.PNG
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cbusick
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by cbusick »

Nice write up Peter. Yeah that negative 5 in the wbal is a little suspect but I bet it really hurt!
-Chris Busick
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pace21
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by pace21 »

Solid prose Peter... and nice finish too!
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by JBurgel »

Busick deserves the hero of the day award - he crushed it. Cratty was a superb captain - making it to the end with the group, and directing the entire way. My ride was relatively boring - trying to stay off the front, marking BFC, and knowing my team had my back...then, it became really exciting when, after the group reeled Chris in, I found myself on the front slow pedaling up the OH steep bit after Pinnacle when Cratty jumped around me to lead me out actually sling shotted the swamp train ahead, dropping us back about 20 spots with about 1500M to go. Sh&%$t! Started to crush the watts over the crest of the hill accelerated me into the group for the 50 mph descent and, knowing-the-sprint-is-a-little-longer-than-most-expect I upshifted and hit it hard, thinking I'd made top 15 maybe. Disappointed I'd let all that work down, and having to go back to Dad duties, I slunk off. Results showed there were a bunch of 50+ riders in the sprint, so 5th it is...minor redemption? Still trying to figure out how to work the sprint (any insights?) - but at least I'm consistent (5th last year as well). Looking forward to Purgatory.
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by JBurgel »

MarkMiller321 wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2017 7:59 am Sixty-one mile cross races suck.
Great write up. Solid seal-clubbing effort too. Makes me wish I'd been marshalling to see it.
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PJ McQuade
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Re: Ken Harrod Memorial 2017

Post by PJ McQuade »

The team certainly rose to the occasion to represent on the home court. Mark excellently retold the Cat 3 race in the tradition of a Russian novelist, but I'll hop in for the final lap.

It was clear the energy of the remaining pack was zapped at this point as, a) two super fast guys and another unknown rider were off the front with an out-of-sight advantage and. b) folks were exhausted from endless surges and from reeling in Mark. So the pacline me, AJ, Mark and Ray started to organize at the feedzone quickly fizzled out; it was clear the only way the three amigos were coming back was if they imploded. The final Oak Hill was the most merciful of the day (thank god!) and then things heated up shortly after with the moves from Ray, AJ and Mark.

This is around the point in the race I died last year with another guy (we attacked at the top of Oak, held it for a few Ks, then blew on the descent into town and got rocked in the sprint). Knowing that strategy was a no-go, I decided to hide and wait for the sprint.

I knew I wanted either the far left or right side after scouting the lines on previous laps and saw a chance to shoot up the right side as we stormed down the hill. I wasn't at the front of the group, which was perfect actually, because I saved a match and stayed close enough to get pulled to the front as the road began to rise into town. The right side was pretty clean and I put down everything I had left to take 2nd in the sprint. McCormack/HotTubes had me by a half a bike length, but it was good enough for 5th. Best finish I've had in a while. The festive atmosphere and team camaraderie were the real highlights though.

Well done Dave and the rest of the race staff!
To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.
-Shakespeare
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