yup, that cat 4 field was strong. When we masters tried to make it fast to pass, it took a LOT of making it fast.

When we passed the cat 4 pack, a break of 4 riders (i think) had about 10 seconds on the pack. Unfortunately, we masters had to pass at a time that impacted the cat 4 race. That sucks...but, that's bike racing.

I did notice one guy from the break in the 4's rode the draft with the masters 1/2/3 pack, even after a few of us masters told him it was against the rules. If that break stayed away and any of the riders intentionally drafted with the threes (again, I only saw one rider do it ... can't remember his number of team ... maybe orange colored kit?) ... then they deserve relegation.

I do NOT know if any of the other riders rode in the masters draft intentionally, though. Nor do I know how other, if at all, the cat 4 field was impacted by our masters 1/2/3 passing.

Overall, just want to say thanks to the groups we masters had to pass out on the roads. We tried to make it as safe and fast as possible to not impact your race, but ... everybody seems so damn fast nowadays!

later then,
mhernandez
safeway/GA Comm geezer squad

These might not be exact, but I think they're pretty close. From my powertap file:

Lap 1: 36:35
Lap 2: 32:01
Lap 3: 31:12
Lap 4: 31:32
Lap 5: 32:43

I sat up at the 1k sign on the last lap, so the main group was faster. I'm actually surprised at how consistent it was. And yeah, the group was pretty good (last lap was a bit sketchy :shock: ), it was a great race, weather was perfect. I'm also curious to see if any rulings were placed on that break. That was too blatant. Pretty weak.

It was a great race, but I did see a poor job of the field to respect the fact that we were being neutralized. The officials didn't seem to be agressive about shutting us down, and riders didn't seem to care much anyways. That part was a shame, but nevertheless it was a good race.

I wasn't able to get my lap times (and flatted out before the last lap) but laps 2-4 seemed really moderately paced. Did anyone keep lap times/speeds for all five laps?

Anonymous wrote:I was in the 123 group and some of the 4s in the break took wheels of the 123s which is against the rules - they did not go neutral. A couple guys in our group told them of the rule and at least two of them kept riding in our group for awhile so they were warned. Later, one of them in a Webcor jersey (think it was a 4 and not Sr. 3) jumped on a break in our group and took the wheel I was going for. That's about all I noticed as we had a pretty intense race.

Jason

I was in the same race.

We tried to ride a hard tempo past them and as we did 4 cat 4's jumped into our pack. Michael Hernadez and I tried to get one of them to stay to the right and he gave us a Very PRO reply, basicly we got told.
They rode at least one whole lap with the M35+ 123 field.

I hope they feel like they "earned" their placings. Very un-man like.

MS

Most def - that was a good race. I was the Eastside guy trying to get a chase together or go off the front or whatever (nice working with ya!), but I gotta give it up to SqOv for showing the pack how blocking is done effectively. Nothing stupid or dangerous, just hopping on the wheel and breaking the rhythm - the guys working to stop the chase deserve the t-shirt as much as whoever was up the road. :lol:
As for using other fields and taking advantage of things getting neutralized, ach, whatever, it happens.
Good race and a good vibe - gotta love it when a break stays away in a flat Cat 4 race.

I was in the 123 group and some of the 4s in the break took wheels of the 123s which is against the rules - they did not go neutral. A couple guys in our group told them of the rule and at least two of them kept riding in our group for awhile so they were warned. Later, one of them in a Webcor jersey (think it was a 4 and not Sr. 3) jumped on a break in our group and took the wheel I was going for. That's about all I noticed as we had a pretty intense race.

Jason