After moving my blog to blog.ryanbosio.com from ryanbosio.com, all seemed well. Until I deleted my old blog….and with it went all my imbeded pics. So anything before post #32 will not have photos until I add them back. I plan to start working backwards to rebuild the content since I think the photos and Polar downloads make the posts more interesting. I will update progress with comments to this post….
Saturday AM: River Gorge Road Race.
I have never been able to race this in the past either due to travel or helping out at the race. I have been feeling good and my race went well. The Cat 4 field stayed more or less together over the bumps up to the finishing climb up Raccoon Mtn. I climbed about as well as I could have and ended up a little bit off the pace of the the large group. I placed 31st out of 70. I am very happy with my climb considering that I never get to climb anything anymore living in Memphis.
Saturday PM: River Gorge TT
This 4 mile time trial was held around the lake on top of Raccoon Mtn. The 4 mile TT had a short 1/2 mile hill, but generally was downhill or flat. I self-timed a 25.3 mph average to get a 9:30 time for the 4.0 miles. That was good enough for 24th out of about 50 that raced the TT.
Sunday AM: Criterium
It was a fast and safe course in downtown Chattanooga (Market-10th-Broad-13th). I ended up 29th in the Cat 4 crit (in the field of 50 or so). I also raced the Masters 30/40+ crit and ended up having a flat tire with 1.5 laps to go on 13th street. I rode back to the start and was told I did not need to turn another lap by some officials, but I wasn’t scored in the final results… Anyway, I was in the hunt about mid-pack when I flatted, so I feel good about the race despite my lack of result.
A photo from the 4’s crit (photo by Andrea).
Here is the Cat 4 finish video.
This weekend it was great to see so many women racing. The Open Women’s field was around 45 for the weekend. Here is another good photo that I took of Andrea in her crit:
All the photos from the weekend are posted here. There are just photos of the master’s men 50/60+ and the women finishing the road race (top of Raccoon Mtn) and the Men’s Cat 4 and Women’s criteriums.
The season grinds to an end in a few weeks. I have only two more weekends planned (Chattanooga and Alcoa). Both of which are not really what I would call ideal for me to get a result. I am feeling really good, maybe I can sneak something in….
Season so far. My results mean that I have to get excited about top 15’s, so I bolded them:
I am excited to go back to Chattanooga this weekend, but I am also ready for the season to end.
Finally got around to posting up the photos from the Bike Peddlar crit August 5th.
Here is a photo of me in full chase mode after getting gapped by the guy that just turned off the course in front of me. This is about 3-4 laps to go in the Masters 30/40+ crit. At the end of the 2nd crit out in the hot blacktop, I was feeling it.
Here is a short video of the Meridian Cat IV crit finish. It is a bit shaky, but if you can hold on, here you go….
I had the video embedded, but that did not work as I wanted. The embed tags did not show the controller so I had to autoplay it…which also got annoying… so you will have to click through.
Hot.
Since it was August in Mississippi, hot was expected, but not like this. Saturday it was over 100F for the afternoon crits in downtown Meridian. The Sunday morning RRs were a little bit cooler …probably mid- to upper-90s.
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Crit (Saturday PM)
All the crits were held in the afternoon as the mid and deep south has been going through a heat wave. Despite the heat, there was a stiff breeze out on the course… The Cat 4 crit was at 4pm. Memphis Velo had three reps there, Bryan Marshall and I in the kit, and future member Bill Frogge. Our crit was 50 minutes.
After a few minutes, Bryan was up the road in a break. Since my usual crit start put me near the back, I worked to get up to the front once I saw that Bryan was up. For several laps, some Bob’s Bikes team guys and I were up at the front controlling the pace. Since the course had a few tighter sections and it was so hot, that was pretty easy to do. From time to time, I would try to bridge up, but my legs didn’t not deliver the needed snap to not pull the whole field with me, so I would sit up to not pull everyone up to him. Bryan ended up coming back towards the middle of the crit.
A bit later Aaron Parker (Bike World) rolled off. Some jumped up to him, some fell back to the field, but in the end, Aaron ended up with another 2nd. The field sprint for the lower places netted Bryan a 10th, Frogge a 13th, and me a 15th. After the race both Aaron and Bryan were pretty put out by the heat. I didn’t feel too bad, but then again I wasn’t off the front at all.
The women’s crit was 2 hours before ours. In that crit, Memphis Velo was represented by Andrea Creasy who took out another 2nd to local legend Debbie Milne. Her detailed race report on her blog can be found here. But I wanted to post up the photo that I managed to get with my point and shoot which turned out rather well. It was so bright that I had to use the viewfinder and just snap away. I didn’t even realize she won her sprint for 2nd until later.
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Road Race (Sunday AM)
Before the start of the road race, I decided that I needed to be aggressive. My fitness is to the point where I can be. After lining up 2nd row at the start (narrow course), stayed up near the front for the 3 miles out to the course loop. Passing the feed zone, the field was going pretty slow. A mile or so later, I sort of just started to roll off the front. Subtely I started to speed up and pushed the gap open. I rode solid but within myself since all of this started at mile 4 of a 46 mile road race. I hoped that I could stay away past the steeper hills at 10 and 11 miles and rejoin a shredded field. After I crested the hill at 11 miles, I just kept riding. I looked back from time to time, but could only see the field sometimes. Around 13 miles, I was joined by two riders bridging up. This was an even better development, I thought. We started working together but I was a bit disappointed by the pulls there were making (maybe tired from the bridge up?). We rode as three for a few more miles… another 2 joined us at this point. Somewhere around 16 miles we were reeled in. I later found out that the reel in was finished off by Jeff Peterson from Memphis.
I rode with the field for a few miles. Jeff started to roll off the front and push out a gap during this time. Then a Bob’s Bikes rider bridged up the 100 feet. After seeing that, I turned to Bryan and told him I need to go, and jumped across to Jeff’s duo. A Tria Market rider came out of the field with me and helped me with the bridge up. Once we all were together it looked pretty good with enough teams and a strong rider like Jeff to work the break. Unfortunately, in the long up grade to the feed zone to start the 2nd lap, my legs gave out somewhat and I lost touch with the group. I chased for several miles but could not pull them back and ended up rejoining the field a few miles into the second lap. Jeff’s group changed composition somewhat, but he ended up winning the race. I sat in the field just spent. I didn’t chase the break (although in retrospect, maybe I should have, but I didn’t know that Jeff chased me down earlier at the time). In the end, I was a bit weak in the field sprint and probably ended up 15th-20th in the race in the uphill sprint. I was disappointed on how the race turned out for me, but very happy that I am getting back to the aggressive racer that I have been in the past. I am not a sprinter, so I need to get in a break to be successful.
Photos: [album]
This weekend, I went up to race the Allanti Classic RR&TT / Bike Peddlar Crit up in Nashville. More to come, but here is a short summary (work in progress):
Road Race (Cat 4). The race played out pretty well for me. In past years (2004 & 2005), I have not been able to stay with the field. Up the first climb I was with the group and enjoyed taking the long twisting descent with the group instead of chasing. The infamous Theta hill did put me into a bit of trouble as the field split on that climb. As the climb leveled out, I started to chase the field 1/4 mile up the road. Along the way I picked up a few other riders and helped somewhat, but I ended up doing most of the pulling back. We did not make the catch until about 1-1.5 miles after the sharp left hand descent. Just as we were catching, some riders crossed up in the back of the field on the straightaway. Bottles and bodies flying around. A rider-less bike ejected from the field towards the centerline. After avoiding the crash, it took another 1/2 mile or so to re-catch the field that had surged after the crash. Somewhere along there we had passed the Cat III field (maybe before Theta). At about 25 miles or so, we were neutralized for the III’s to pass us back. We were slowed to about 15 mph for what seemed like a few miles, but was probably less. Our field swelled as dropped riders (10-15) reintegrated. This changed the pack dynamic and made the rest of the race more nervous. For a while there were two guys off the front, but they were pulled back.
Fast forward to the field finish. The last several miles are chiefly downhill, so the speed of the large field was fast on the approach. A few miles out either a high speed blowout (or an nearby air rifle) got the pack’s nerves up. I started to move up and advanced up the right side of the road to around 15th or so place. I was in good position but a nasty crash at 1/2 mile to go put me off the road onto the grass. I kept upright and got back to the sprint but the field was 50 feet away. Ended up 29th [results]. 63 finishers, a dozen or so DNF’s.
Time trial. I was happy with my effort and pacing. Ended up with a 14:34 that was good enough for 17th of the 37 category 4’s that did the TT [results].
Crit (Cat 4). Parking lot crit up at the Titan’s stadium (LP Field). Hot out on new blacktop, but no one went down in the Cat 4 race. Ended up with the field, which strung out at the end. Got 19th.
Crit (Masters 30/40+). Felt good, so decided to race again with an hours break in between. Settled in the field pretty well for this race. A large break of 10 or so established and was unable to get on it / bridge up. Was in a chase group of 8 or so. Ended up losing that group when a racer just gave up and decided to suddenly brake and turn off course. After slamming on the breaks and nearly hitting him, I was gapped. My tired legs couldn’t make up the 30 feet and that gap widened and widened. I ended up around 26th, last of the finishers…
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