Bob Beal Crit

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rraymond
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Bob Beal Crit

Post by rraymond »

Since I'm one of the culprits Cratty referred to, I'll start off. I raced the 4/5 open in the morning at Ninigret for 50 minutes. Dave Dz was there too but as he was pulling up to the start line his shifter broke so his race ended before it began. There were a little over 30 of us at the race.

Race started out at a decent speed but was pretty strung out. I was in the back half of the pack and took every opportunity to move up. Until on the second lap someone went over the yellow line on the finishing straightaway (which drops down about an inch) and the genius decides to try to muscle his way back onto the course which results in (you guessed it), a crash taking down a few other riders with him. I was directly behind it but managed to slam on my brakes hard enough to avoid going down. After the race I realized my tire was shredded from skidding. By the time I got clear of the carnage the front of the pack had nearly half a lap on me. No one else was trying to catch back on so I started to chase solo for nearly 2 laps before I caught back on to the main group.

I was able to catch my breath for a minute or two before more attacks started trying to thin down the field further. Alex Franks from BRC was the primary instigator and I put in several attacks myself weeding out the field. Instead of a break forming, the group got smaller and smaller until there were 10 riders left. I definitely did my fare share of time in the wind, probably too much.

At the beginning of the last lap a Columbian rider who had sat in all day put in a big attack leading out his teammate when the leadout man decided to keep going straight onto the grass instead of turning then turned back sharply towards the front of the group so we slowed down so that he wouldn't crash into all of us. By that point his teammate had a good gap and nobody wanted to pull the field up to him. I found out later that the Columbian guys are track sprinters so I don't feel too bad that their only effort of the day paid off.

Rather than risk letting another rider who did no work all day get the best of me in a field sprint, my oxygen deprived brain decided that I should start my sprint really early. So before the final turn I jumped and pressed on the pedals as hard as I could into the headwind. One rider managed to stay on my wheel the whole time but when he started his sprint around me I pushed even harder determined not to let my sprint become a lead out for a different team. At the finish line I still had nearly a full bike's length over him meaning I got second place behind the Columbian rider who was 3 seconds ahead. Very happy to get some upgrade points and be on the podium!
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Mkidd3
Tête de la course
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Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by Mkidd3 »

Well done!! Sometimes not thinking and just muscling through pays off!
Last edited by Mkidd3 on Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Jacob
Peloton
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Location: Arlington, MA

Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by Jacob »

Nice job Robbie.
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pace21
Maillot Jaune
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Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:31 pm
Location: Franklin, MA

Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by pace21 »

Well done Robbie. That's a new tactic -- slingshot your teammate off the front and then promptly crash / almost crash to disrupt any chase. Genius!
rraymond
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Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by rraymond »

Thanks guys! Both of the Columbian riders were DQ'd from the cat 4/5 35+ race later that day actually. Brian was in that race and came away with 5th place.
djming
Chasseur
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Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by djming »

Nice! You must be pretty close on upgrade points, especially looking at all your top 10's.
You gonna sandbag thru GMSR? :D (not that there's anything wrong with that..)
Dave Mingori
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Deltabrian
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Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by Deltabrian »

Columbians were nuts. We forced them to the front during the 4/5 35+ race. They both DQd. One was 32 in a 35+ race, so that was an easy call by USAC and the other was wild in the finish not holding his line. So they DQd him too. Good race, always fun with the wind at Ninigritt. The DQs gave me 5th.

Bring on CX! #crossiscoming
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JeremyC
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Location: Stow, MA

Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by JeremyC »

Nice job guys, and thanks for taking the initiative to write a good report Robbie.

@Chris, no I'm not willing to do the leadout/crash technique for you...
rraymond
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Re: Bob Beal Crit

Post by rraymond »

Yeah I now have enough points to upgrade but I think I'm gonna wait until after GMSR rather than get my butt kicked in the 3s
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