Minuteman Road Club

We are treating the upcoming WNR as a race simulation.

Basics:
Same starting location as the normal WNR leave at 5:30.
Ride out to Harvard as a group.
Take a couple minutes to make teams and come up with strategies.
Race 2 laps of the KHMRR course.
Ride back to the start as a group.

Has anybody ridden the KHMRR loop recently? How are the roads? I would be open to using a different course, there are plenty of good options in the area.

All MRC-Covid group ride rules will apply.
Riding safe is mandatory! We are on open roads, so even though we are "racing", please keep traffic in mind.

Here is a segment of the full lap that starts and ends at the finish line.
https://www.strava.com/segments/25080498?filter=overall

Warm up route: https://www.strava.com/routes/2723225607629885684

In my experience 2 teams isn’t really enough. Once a break gets away with equal numbers of both teams it becomes a group ride. What about a hare and hound? Form C, B, and A groups and stagger the starts, goal is to catch the group ahead. We could go so far as to not allow mingling of the groups (if a catch happens) to keep things distant.

I agree, 2 teams are not enough. We had the same issue with the first LockDown ThrowDown.

I would suggest that we split up into smaller teams. Maxing out at 4-5 people per team. with some teams of 2 or 3 and even some racing for themselves (Yes I would be a team of one). That way there should always be someone motivated to chase and mix things up.

Edit: instead of teams of 1, I think it would be better to have domesticate riders, where their results wouldn't count, but they would still be on a small team. (Me, Pare, AJ, Cratty).

How does that sound?

Either way, we will do whatever has the most interest.

Anyone who wants to ride Wednesday please post up with your preference.

Regular WNR.
Hounds and Hair TTTs.
KHMRR Simulation.

I'll cast my vote for the KHMRR race sim.

I hope the weather stays as forecast because it's looking great.

In

In, I'm up for whatever you guys decide. Last year the race sim didn't go so well for me, but I really don't care, I just like riding my bike.
It's hard to have small groups mixed with different abilities and expect the slower riders to not get dropped quickly and have to ride solo for almost 2 laps.
Depending on numbers maybe a couple guys could leave 2 minutes after all the groups and sweep up the dropped riders and countiue that group as a no drop ride for the two laps.

Or find a not-so-selective course which is admittedly very hard in metro west

pace21 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:11 pm Or find a not-so-selective course which is admittedly very hard in metro west

How about this? It is closer to the start and much shorter so we could do a warm-up lap plus a 6 lap race.
It is about as flat as I can make it. Plus, there is a shortcut in the middle for anyone who gets gaped off of the main group and wants to try to rejoin the race. We would have to decided a finish line.

https://www.strava.com/routes/2722251641452897298

Briana wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:08 pm In, I'm up for whatever you guys decide. Last year the race sim didn't go so well for me, but I really don't care, I just like riding my bike.
It's hard to have small groups mixed with different abilities and expect the slower riders to not get dropped quickly and have to ride solo for almost 2 laps.
Depending on numbers maybe a couple guys could leave 2 minutes after all the groups and sweep up the dropped riders and countiue that group as a no drop ride for the two laps.

Good point. If we took the stronger riders and turned them into purely domestics, would that help? AKA, you and I could be a 2 man team (or find one more person for a 3 man team) and my result wouldn't count, but yours would.

Having a sweeper would be a good plan though.

remad wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:47 pm

Briana wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:08 pm In, I'm up for whatever you guys decide. Last year the race sim didn't go so well for me, but I really don't care, I just like riding my bike.
It's hard to have small groups mixed with different abilities and expect the slower riders to not get dropped quickly and have to ride solo for almost 2 laps.
Depending on numbers maybe a couple guys could leave 2 minutes after all the groups and sweep up the dropped riders and countiue that group as a no drop ride for the two laps.

Good point. If we took the stronger riders and turned them into purely domestics, would that help? AKA, you and I could be a 2 man team (or find one more person for a 3 man team) and my result wouldn't count, but yours would.

Having a sweeper would be a good plan though.

Maybe but a two man team like that is a little weird. Basically you just drag me around as fast as you can while I hang on. I guess it would be like Moto pacing which would be fun.
I like the 6 lap short route option, where you could jump back on with a short cut if you had too.

I like the short loop option too.
TTT would be my preference if we have enough folks.

I’d keep it on the Harvard course IMHO, we’ve done it a few times, there’s basically no traffic, and don’t think Oak hill has been that decisive. Berlin center has a descent amount of traffic, hitting that at race speed could be chaos.

I do like the idea that you could have 3 or 4 fast guys as team captains and they aren’t allowed to win. Could be very strategic.

Now that Brian mentions it, I suppose the race sim didn't go so well for me either. If I remember correctly I got dropped from the chase group on Oak Hill then found myself in no-mans-land between the chase group on the others. So the last lap+ was an ITT. I don't think the group behind me even did a second lap.

JeremyC wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 9:36 pm I do like the idea that you could have 3 or 4 fast guys as team captains and they aren’t allowed to win. Could be very strategic.

That does sound like it could be interesting.

In

In (minus the mullet ).

Significantly increased drag for anyone on my wheel.

The 6 lap short course suits me better, but I am in for whatever.

So far the shorter, 6 lap course has more popularity. I don't think traffic will be a problem there either. Both railroad crossings have been repaved and should be really smooth as well.

I will recon the loop today for a finish line and make sure there are no other issues with it.

I'm in as long as caught up with class, will post up if I have to bail. My vote is that we merge the 6-lap plan with the KHMRR plan

remad wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:54 pm So far the shorter, 6 lap course has more popularity. I don't think traffic will be a problem there either. Both railroad crossings have been repaved and should be really smooth as well.

I will recon the loop today for a finish line and make sure there are no other issues with it.

Luckily the RR crossing on Linden was just recently improved because you definitely would not have wanted to hit that at high speed before the repair. I guess it could have made for good bunny-hopping practice. I don't think the RR crossing on Crosby has been repaired. At least it wasn't as recently as last week's FMR. It's not bad anyway though.

KTeves wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:10 pm

remad wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:54 pm So far the shorter, 6 lap course has more popularity. I don't think traffic will be a problem there either. Both railroad crossings have been repaved and should be really smooth as well.

I will recon the loop today for a finish line and make sure there are no other issues with it.

Luckily the RR crossing on Linden was just recently improved because you definitely would not have wanted to hit that at high speed before the repair. I guess it could have made for good bunny-hopping practice. I don't think the RR crossing on Crosby has been repaired. At least it wasn't as recently as last week's FMR. It's not bad anyway though.

You are right, I was confusing it with the crossing at the mid-point short cut.
Anyways, the one that matters is on Linden, hitting that at speed (before it was repaved) wasn't fun.

I am suddenly having flashbacks of being in gym class when teams are being picked.

eboos wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2020 2:02 pm I am suddenly having flashbacks of being in gym class when teams are being picked.

I am thinking teams will be assigned instead of picked.
I am very hopeful that we will have 4 teams, the captains being: Me, Pare, Cratty and AJ (if AJ can’t make it, we might do 3 teams, or have someone else take his place)

In

Sounds like a blast! But it may be too early ...