Club Race Report April 10th

[Chris Helwig]

I predicted last week that the first race at Scotland would not finish in a bunch sprint. Tonight that prediction came true on a windy tough night. It was a cool night and with the wind if you didn't have very good fitness it showed as there was nowhere to hide.

The race started slow briefly until we hit the first climb. Carlos did a fairly hard acceleration and the race was clearly on. On the backstretch people were clammering for wheels as the race was already breaking up. I don't recall the exact order as I was in a fair amount of difficulty when the break went. On the home stretch Tony had the misfortune of trying to take his jacket off, and then I looked up and there was a big gap to 7 riders. The 7 riders were Vince, Steve Meyer, Vedova, Kees, Carlos, Brandon and Tom Fernandez.

The group didn't react right away, and by the first corner it was a sizeable advantage. Back in the bunch is was pretty disorganized as no one was working together to close the gap. I think riders in the bunch fell into two categories. Category one was strong riders who didn't have the riding experience to know to move over and form an echelong. Category B was where I feel, which is I knew what to do but was just too stuffed to do anything. Eventually a semblance of organization was achieved as some hard chasing was being done by Tony, Marty Mann, Paul Dean was pulling well, A few newer guys were contributing and Dean Lowrie, Joe Torchia, Mike Forsdike and Julio P. were also doing some decent pulls. Up front the gap hovered, but it was still sizeable. A few riders would go off solo or in small groups, but the only way it was going to come back was if 7 or 8 guys got together and did a good rotation, which never really happened. Craig and Kees came back from the break and I thought the break might come apart, but the other 5 continued to pull away.

I am counting on Brandon or some of the other riders in the break to fill in the gaps on what was happening up front. Even though I wasn't in the move on a windy night like tonight those 5 must have been riding very strong and putting in an excellent effort. Vince flatted which left only 4 for a while and then Vince jumped back into the break. I think the final finish order not counting Vince who flatted was Steve Meyer in first, Brandon in second, Tom in third and Carlos in 4th. (please correct me if I am wrong) A big congrats to all 5 riders in the break for a great effort.

Meanwhile back in the bunch there was some discussion on the last lap if there was 4 or 5 riders away. Either way guys were getting geared up for a sprint. Joe led up the climb until an acceleration was made by Tony, Andrew House and I think Vedova. Joe closed the gap with me on his wheel and what was left of the bunch (maybe 7-8 guys) on the backstretch the pace slowed until Connor Hammond jumped with a number of riders on his wheel. We stopped at the corner for a car, and the restarted into that nasty headwind. Marty was on the right with Ryan Crawford on the left with me on his wheel. The sprint started and Ryan got a jump but Marty pulled away. I tried to come around Marty but he had a good sprint to claim 5th.

Looking forward to some posts from some of the riders in the break to fill in the gaps.

[mann83]

A shout out to the guys in the break. That was one of the toughest club races I've been in and all I could do was watch you guys in the distance. Chris is right though, no orgnization = no chance.

[Throopenator]

First off, great race tonight to all. From my view....my game plan going into the race was just to stay upfront, get in breaks, etc. When Carlos jumped hard in that first lap i figured it'd be good to open up the legs in. I hadn't expected to stay away for the 5.5 laps. Once the break got going everyone was working hard. I thought that Vince pulled really hard until he had that unfortunate flat. Once Vedova and Kees dropped back i wasn't sure that the break would stay away. Tom, Steve and I took turns pulling and worked well together. Carlos seemed to be out of it tonight but pulled when he felt he could. We were glad to see Vince join us again. With a little over one lap to go Vince and Steve jumped and dangled about 200-300 meters in front of us. Carlos, Tom and I couldn't seem work together to close it so i jumped and caught onto the two leaders going into the last corner. Steve attacked at the bottom of the hill and Vince and I didn't have much left to counter. Great work to all the guys in the break. That was definitely the toughest workout i've had on the road this year. Can't wait for the next one.

Throopenator

[2nd2fignon]

The yellow line rule must be inforced strictly. Riders were dangling regularly over the yellow line on the south side of the course. Even worse, there was an attack completely over the yellow line. This stupidity will lead to one of two things:

1. Local residents will be pissed, we will see the police on the race course and in a few weeks there will be no racing at Scotland Drive. Don't believe me? The mt Nemo race was the best training race that I know of (in Canada). It doesn't exist anymore because of the scenario that I just described.

2. It will take one pissed driver who wants to scream by on the left and someone jumping over the yellow line will be hit by a car. Does anyone want to see that happen?

Use your brain, keep it safe. Don't be afraid to face the wind --- it's a training race, hurting is the point of the activity.

[tfernandez]

I agree with Brandons asessment! This was by far MY toughest club race!! I want to say first off that thanks to Vince for pulling off an incredible burst off the front to initate the break. Man that boy has POWER!! Unfortunately Vinnie had a mechanical, but we were sure glad to see him agian, his hard efforts defintely helped us all stay away. Thereafter I would say we all worked together, although to be fair to the young GUNS, Brandon and Steve did slightly more work than the old boys. Carlos you had alot of class not to sprint at the end. Thanks for your on the road tips!! I predict that the races will only get tougher from this point onwards as, other strong riders get more fit as the season continues. Remember that Julio and Graydon were no shows tonight!!

[Chris Helwig]

I need help from riders to police the line rule.

Tonight on most laps I was coming up the right side and trying to get some protection, so I didn't see a lot of the violations. This is VERY serious like Mike said. I have tried to be nice about it a bit and give warnings etc. We need to go super strict on it and immediately disqualify riders. If riders know they go over the line their race is done this would help. I need at least 3 riders from the A group to come forward to police the line rule. You will be given full authority to DQ riders and this will be made clear at the start of the race. If this doesn't work we will have to look at suspensions being handed out as well. This couldn't be any more serious. As was stated if this continues we will either lose the course or worse someone will be seriously hurt.

If you are interested in helping police the line rule email me chris@coachchris.ca

[the Superstar]

As crusty as I am about the break getting away, I have to give them kudos. They must have worked well together, consistently and strongly to have stayed away. Very well done.

Marty Mann is impressive. No BS, he has a good motor.

[OhSoFast]

Great race by everyone, especially my fellow breakaway companions. It was the first time I've ever raced with Tom but I was impressed by his strength, going pull for pull with the rest of us. As always Carlos was the steady hand offering timely advice and keeping things moving smoothly. My fault for the flat tire, just wasn't paying attention and pinched on one of the potholes.

Regarding the yellow line rule I agree it is very important to obey it and I'm glad they showed that at the Good Friday road race, but I think it's a hard call. Like at GF in the senior 1/2 pack at one time or another everyone crossed the yellow line. Like when the pace would suddenly decrease on the front into the wind it bunches up and you just have no where to go, so I'm glad that the commisaires were reasonable about it, and everyone would get back to the right side of the road as soon as possible.

What about areas like corners? It's hard to stick to the right side of the road when you're coming in hot . But agreed if you're in the paceline there is no excuse to cross the yellow line just to get some draft. Learn to move up to the front where you can be protected from the wind in the echelon. But if we have 3 or 4 tattletales in the pack sometimes you get forced a couple inches over the line, I didn't drive an hour to have 5 people jump down my throat because I got forced an inch over the line.

OSF

[Chris Helwig]

All the people who I have in mind to help enforce the yellow line rule are very experienced riders. They know the difference between being pushed out when the pace slows at the front and purposely riding across the line to get a draft or gain position. Before corners if there is clearly no traffic some movement over the line will be allowed. Common sense would say we should be able to give riders the benefit of the doubt and maybe not be so heavy handed. However the yellow line rule has continued to be a problem even after repeated warnings. It is as serious as it gets and we need to take more strict action to ensure it doesn't happen. The riders enforcing the rule will be fair but firm, we have no other choice or risk losing our course or much worse someone getting hurt.

[mann83]

1. These are fun club races that are there for everyone's benefit. Being part of these races is a cheap way for us to get our weekly adrenaline rush out there. We should all be able to see the sense in following a few simple rules. The yellow line rule is there for everyone's benefit.

2. This may also help less experienced people out there or those who simply won't echelon better in windy conditions like this past Tuesday. The minute there is some wind, we seem to be fanned out across the road with people riding the yellow line, instead of working in separate echelons. This is one is one of the reasons the break stayed away this week. When riders in the bunch still had energy early on, it was wasted on trying to stay out of the wind and protected, versus creating a few structured groups and rotating properly.

3. I feel safe in my assumption that if an evassive manuver over the yellow line is the result of avoiding a crash due to a sudden slow or while cornering, those monitoring the race will make the appropriate calls.

Finally, I know I don't want to lay down my ride in a club race and I don't think anyone else does either. Not to mention I like a weekly race series, wouldn't want it taken away.