gatineau grand prix strategy?

[fancy]

hey i was just wondering for those of you that have done the race what is it like. what kind of strategy do you take into a race with that much climbing. superstar, you have done it before what is you plan for the day. is there lots of attacking in a race like that or does it naturally just break up on the climbs. anyway if anyone has any insight in to the race or would like to share there tactics in that race that would be great. thanks

fancy:confused:

[2nd2fignon]

Make sure you check out the course the day before your race. It is hilly and there are enough twists and trees that breaks get out of sight easily. The camp Fortune climb is the long one but the rest of the course is up and down making it tough. Add the fact that this race is actually in Hull, Quebec (meaning losts of super fit riders will be there) and what you get is typically a very tough race.

Back when the Hull Festival had a stage in the park, this was a brutal race. 160k and a bunch of national teams (back when there was still 'amateur' racing).

I hope you climb well. That 3k climb will be a show stopper if you can't keep up.

Good luck.

[Chris Helwig]

Fancy,

The race will be more riders coming unglued at the back than big breaks going up the road. Stay in the first 20 riders at all times if possible. Definately make sure you are near the front when the climb starts so you can practice the florida drift i.e. start near the front and drift back a bit on the climb so you are still in the group. Once you recover from the climb start to move up again to get back in the first 20. Don't get in the wind at all. There will be lots of riders who want to ride at the front. Stay on a wheel, but of course near the front. Don't worry about breaks going up the road. Unless it is more of a split with more than 8 or 9 riders just let them go.

There is my advice for Gatineau.

Chris

[fancy]

that makes sense, i am going to try and get a good place to start at the line, as it looks like there will be at least 100 in my class. thanks for the advice.

fancy

[2nd2fignon]

Fancy,

The race will be more riders coming unglued at the back than big breaks going up the road.
Chris

The 'un-gluing' of riders at the back only really happens on the first couple of laps. These are the riders who have no business being in this race because they can't keep up on climbs. My comments regarding breaks are more releveant to the decisive moves in the race. I'm assuming you're not one of the riders who won't be able to stick in the second time up the climb. I'm pretty certain that you won't have more than 40 in the lead group after the 3rd trip up the climb.

As for the 'drift back' technique, it's fine for short climbs but it isn't going to work on a 3 km climb. Check out who's looking strong on the climb the first couple of times going up the climb. When the pace gets hot, make sure that you keep them in sight.

[fancy]

yeah, i am imagining that the pack will get smaller as the race goes on i looke at the 3-4 finish results from last year and there were like 30 riders that survived in the main group. and no breaks managed to get off the front. there were number of smaller groups behind. i have ridden in the park about 6-7 times in the last month and a half doing loops of the course. the fortune climb is hard and long but easy to maintain a high tempo if your fit. i am going to take your advice and find the strongest climbers and keep them in my sights as the race progresses. the up down part of the course is the hardest as you tend to cool on the down. what are the descents like, are they in a tight pack or does it tend to stetch out a bit. the going down makes me more nervous than the going up. how did they normally do the feeds? thanks for the advice and insights.

fancy

[2nd2fignon]

Glad to hear that you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with the course. It's a little late for this piece of advice but you should becareful of riding only tempo on longer climbs in training. You get a little too used to riding at your optimal speed. The problem is when the race blows up and you still want to go at tempo. Often, you just have to follow the pace even though it puts you in aworld of hurt. Try to mix up the speed when you're riding longer climbs in training. Remember that cycling is a sport where you feel good 10% of the time (if you're lucky) and crap 90% of the time. The problem is that someone is always feeling good (and they want to go fast) ... often when you're not feeling well. There is an old expression in cycling that goes something like this, 'anyone can ride fast when they feel good, champions ride fast when they are feeling bad'.

As I remember, the descents are not steep and have sweeping turns. The road used to be in good shape. If someone looks squirrely on a descent try to distance yourself from them (they'll probably do something dumb again, and again, and again ...). I stay away from people with squeeky brakes. Either they're jumpy on the their brakes or they don't maintain their bikes. Both are bad.

In short, look up the road to see what's coming up, try to relax and ride smooth
lines, and finally keep track of squirrely riders (and stay away from them).