A strange race and to be honest I'm not really sure what happened at the end. Basically there was break of five up the road at about 2 minutes, a single rider at about a minute, I was trying to get in a small counter to get away from the bunch but it wasn't really working guys were surging off the front but when I went across to them they then wanted to sit on. In the end I went on my own coming into the home straight took about a lap to catch the single rider and one rider who had fallen out of the leading break of five, now four. I had been well clear of my bunch, but half a lap later six or eight came up sitting on the back of the break from the second race on the road (the younger age group) so my group of three was caught! I was more than a little ticked off with that having made a good effort these guys came up on a free ride! Anyway we jump on and joined the (motor) paced line for a couple of laps thinking will I have another go on my own or will I wait for the sprint, either way I was thinking I had a good crack at fifth for the day.
Wrong! when we were coming up the home straight for what I was anticipating was the bell (although there wasn't actually any ringing, we don't use bells here), we were 50 meters from the line when the chequered flag was suddenly whipped out, giving nobody a chance to sprint. Confusion reigned, nobody was sure what had happened. At first I thought that maybe the lap cards had been for the other race and we had collectively misunderstood but what I think actually transpired was the officials lost the plot, because the bunch from our race came through embedded in the bunch of the younger race behind and were allowed to finish the race. The officials had misplaced us on the road and thought we were down not up, not the first time that sort of thing has happened in a race but annoying nonetheless, still its all volunteer officials that turn out quite a lot during this part of the year to run races. Just to add to the confusion as I was going to collect my money after the race the commentator called me over he wanted to interview the winner of the race! Unfortunately I had to disabuse him.
Actually apart from the finish debacle I was pretty happy with my ride, again the numbers were good particularly when I was out on my own, and I kept it going and I was in no danger of getting dropped from the group afterwards, so hopefully promising as I get a few more races in my legs.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Very cruisy day and a wet race
On Sunday I had a very relaxed day, one hour just cruising on the bike which was great my legs felt really good, except when I had to take myself up one of the small 'bergs', then they were sore! Just to prove I did race hard on Saturday. A quick review of the numbers for Saturday was quite satisfying as well, best 20 minutes (which was the last 20 minutes) was 325 watts, the best 10 minutes (again the very last 10 minutes) was 355 watts. Not numbers to worry any TDF rider but at my age I'm pretty darn pleased them, particularly at the end of a race.
A bit of a strange weekend in the hotel, I was the only guest staying so in order to get a lie in (and not get my breakfast) Jurgen gave me the keys for the weekend, I guess I have been here for a month or so each year since 2008, part of the family.
Monday was a WAOD race at Adegem which due to a wet day and the road works on the major connecting freeway around Ghent, was a bit of a nightmare, waiting in traffic queues is not something I'm used to anymore, especially around Briagolong! I thought I was going to be late but eventually arrived later than I would like but still got signed on and on the road for a sighting/warm up lap OK. A new course to me but pretty nice generally but the first corner was littered with metal manhole covers both on the way in and out which did concern me when I first saw them given it was wet but there are only experienced racers in my races, many ex pro's and nobody does anything risky usually, accidents happen of course but at that corner we managed to get a line in and out of it kept away from the slippery metal. The last corner into the home straight had a small stretch of cobbles but basically you had set up for the turn entering the cobbles so you weren't really turning across them. Apart from those points it was a really nicely surfaced course with the longest straight being perfect hotmix, fast and smooth.
A strange race and to be honest I'm not really sure what happened at the end. Basically there was break of five up the road at about 2 minutes, a single rider at about a minute, I was trying to get in a small counter to get away from the bunch but it wasn't really working guys were surging off the front but when I went across to them they then wanted to sit on. In the end I went on my own coming into the home straight took about a lap to catch the single rider and one rider who had fallen out of the leading break of five, now four. I had been well clear of my bunch, but half a lap later six or eight came up sitting on the back of the break from the second race on the road (the younger age group) so my group of three was caught! I was more than a little ticked off with that having made a good effort these guys came up on a free ride! Anyway we jump on and joined the (motor) paced line for a couple of laps thinking will I have another go on my own or will I wait for the sprint, either way I was thinking I had a good crack at fifth for the day.
Wrong! when we were coming up the home straight for what I was anticipating was the bell (although there wasn't actually any ringing, we don't use bells here), we were 50 meters from the line when the chequered flag was suddenly whipped out, giving nobody a chance to sprint. Confusion reigned, nobody was sure what had happened. At first I thought that maybe the lap cards had been for the other race and we had collectively misunderstood but what I think actually transpired was the officials lost the plot, because the bunch from our race came through embedded in the bunch of the younger race behind and were allowed to finish the race. The officials had misplaced us on the road and thought we were down not up, not the first time that sort of thing has happened in a race but annoying nonetheless, still its all volunteer officials that turn out quite a lot during this part of the year to run races. Just to add to the confusion as I was going to collect my money after the race the commentator called me over he wanted to interview the winner of the race! Unfortunately I had to disabuse him.
Actually apart from the finish debacle I was pretty happy with my ride, again the numbers were good particularly when I was out on my own, and I kept it going and I was in no danger of getting dropped from the group afterwards, so hopefully promising as I get a few more races in my legs.
A strange race and to be honest I'm not really sure what happened at the end. Basically there was break of five up the road at about 2 minutes, a single rider at about a minute, I was trying to get in a small counter to get away from the bunch but it wasn't really working guys were surging off the front but when I went across to them they then wanted to sit on. In the end I went on my own coming into the home straight took about a lap to catch the single rider and one rider who had fallen out of the leading break of five, now four. I had been well clear of my bunch, but half a lap later six or eight came up sitting on the back of the break from the second race on the road (the younger age group) so my group of three was caught! I was more than a little ticked off with that having made a good effort these guys came up on a free ride! Anyway we jump on and joined the (motor) paced line for a couple of laps thinking will I have another go on my own or will I wait for the sprint, either way I was thinking I had a good crack at fifth for the day.
Wrong! when we were coming up the home straight for what I was anticipating was the bell (although there wasn't actually any ringing, we don't use bells here), we were 50 meters from the line when the chequered flag was suddenly whipped out, giving nobody a chance to sprint. Confusion reigned, nobody was sure what had happened. At first I thought that maybe the lap cards had been for the other race and we had collectively misunderstood but what I think actually transpired was the officials lost the plot, because the bunch from our race came through embedded in the bunch of the younger race behind and were allowed to finish the race. The officials had misplaced us on the road and thought we were down not up, not the first time that sort of thing has happened in a race but annoying nonetheless, still its all volunteer officials that turn out quite a lot during this part of the year to run races. Just to add to the confusion as I was going to collect my money after the race the commentator called me over he wanted to interview the winner of the race! Unfortunately I had to disabuse him.
Actually apart from the finish debacle I was pretty happy with my ride, again the numbers were good particularly when I was out on my own, and I kept it going and I was in no danger of getting dropped from the group afterwards, so hopefully promising as I get a few more races in my legs.
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