Yeah, I removed my post right after posted it because everyone has a right to comment. I guess the guy does deserve some flaming. You are right though. He needs to get on a team and not stress so much.

Haven't checked the message board in the last week or so and it kind of fired me up. Mostly because I hate anonymous postings that are a negaitive barb at anyone......

NH

Quote:Disgruntled Sprinter wrote:
the worst lead out attempt in the 4/5 race.

I guess the early bird clinics failed to mention that a lead out train is set up to lead out your sprinter. Fanning out four of five wide into the final turn not only robbed your guy and everone else near the front a chance to win, but it almost caused several serous accidents.

I applaud your desire to lead out like the pros, but please follow through and deliver your man to the line.
Boo friggen hoo! I ride with and know most of all the Squdera guys and they are smoother than most in the group. I have no worries being on a (Squdera) wheel and I can't say that about most of the "crash 4's" You sound bitter and looking to blame someone else for you poor race "position" or fitness or both. if your so bad ass you should of just rode eveyone off your wheel for the last 200-300 meters.

Also, Squdera is frequently makeing the race animated and do real teamwork. Sometimes it works sometimes not, but they try and I admire them for it. Are you on a team? Do you know what teamwork is? I'm glad to have them in the group.

If you want to post some construtive or just plain criticism step up and use your real name.....

P.S. Good sprinters find there own way to the line, teammates or not.... Marinate on that.

Nick Hanni

diskzero wrote:Cool. It would be nice if we could use the magic of digital pictures and the internet to post the results here as placeholders until the official results are posted.

I am usually not that concerned if I got anywhere from 11-900th place, but I know some people are and might value seeing the pictures.

To prevent some of the results posting errors in the past ( like not posting separate 55+ results at the Early Bird RR) Robert L wants to look over the results first before letting the results be posted.

Cool. It would be nice if we could use the magic of digital pictures and the internet to post the results here as placeholders until the official results are posted.

I am usually not that concerned if I got anywhere from 11-900th place, but I know some people are and might value seeing the pictures.

diskzero wrote:The results should be here when they are posted:

http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2006-160

There is nothing there yet, however. I don't know if there are any other results. I wasn't around to see if results were posted at the race itself.

Yes the results for all the categories were posted at the race site.

The results should be here when they are posted:

http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2006-160

There is nothing there yet, however. I don't know if there are any other results. I wasn't around to see if results were posted at the race itself.

Are the results posted anywhere?

diskzero wrote:The previous guest post was from me. Now I am an anonymous poster! I need to select the "always log me in" button.

Not sure why I didn't bother to register before. I suppose it's because most messageboards require it. In any case, i'm the jerk from Squadra who strung out the bunch a little in the headwind section but didn't bother to pull the whole field the entire way up to the line. My bad.

Adding to diskzero's post, if there's one thing I can't stand about Cat4/5 racing it's the whining you hear from behind you, yelling at you to "ride faster!" These people are rarely the ones pushing the pace, but always the ones hoping to benefit from other's work. It's a simple equation: if you want the pace to pick up, then get to the front and drive the pace. No one is stopping you. Otherwise, join a team that is willing to work for each other in races so others can sacrifice to keep the pace high while you maintain your protected spot in the group.

And I offer this to anyone with whom i'm lucky enough to race.... if i'm going too slow for you in front, do come around. You have an open invite from yours truly, Raymond.

Anyway, i'm close on points so hopefully i'll get to say goodbye to my Cat4 friends soon and say hello to some more positive racing in the 3s.

The previous guest post was from me. Now I am an anonymous poster! I need to select the "always log me in" button.

Cool. I appreciate your hard work. I am one of the Los Gatos guys that usually tries to string in out as well by taking some hard pulls and I did my best yesterday to do the same. This strategy worked a lot better last week for me and could have worked this week, but there is always random elements that affect the outcome. Anyone who is up near the front is interested not only in their safety, but the safety of others. It may seem counterintuitive to a lot of racers that sit in the back for most of the race, but keeping a steady, fast pace is better for everyone.

As the season progresses, you will notice a pattern. The people who are always near the front, working, taking some pulls will start taking wins and placing. This is the way it is. Guys can roll the dice, suck last wheel the whole race and try to come to the front in lap two, but unfamiliar faces seems to have a hard time finding a spot in the front. Strangely, the people who have been setting the pace don't want to let them in.

Sprinter, you are bummed and want to vent. That is ok. I am actually glad you did it here and not right after the race like someone mentioned. We don't need anymore 2x4 assaults. We all get amped during and after the race and a lot of us set high expectations. The thing about racing is that you can prepare and be in top shape and still not do what you intended. You can get a flat and it is just as helpful to yell at the tube as it is to yell at a fellow racer. If you think there was a serious safety incident, there is a process to handle that. Let's face reality; unless you are an 18 year old hot shot with a bright future in racing, we are all doing this for fun. You need to keep it fun and stop being stressed about not taking top place at Industrial Waste Park Four Corner Crit. Sure, there are some difficult personalities out there, but most of us are having fun, like our fellow racers, train and ride with them and set in race rivalries aside after the race. Create a real login on this board, get to know your fellow racers and be part of our small community. If you want to talk to me in person, my name is Gene, I am part of LGBRC and am at most bike races. Also, you can join Squadra and be part of their lead out train next time!

I'm just happy that everyone stayed upright this week in the 4 and 5 experienced race. Interesting to note that the Cat 5 experienced field rode just a bit faster than the larger Cat 4 field. THe Cat 5 field was started 1:15 behind the Cat 4s. The Cat 5s quickly made up 15 seconds on the Cat 4s and then pretty much maintained the same speed as the Cat 4s.

Also this is the first year I can remember where we didn't have any accidents in the final sprints in any of the groups during the whole series.

diskzero wrote:I was up near the front right behind the Squadra guys. I don't think there was anyone out trying to cause any trouble, but compared to last week, the field really did slow a whole lot. Last week the people who were in position
out of turn three stayed up in front and sprinted out of turn four. It didn't work out that way on Sunday and if you were unlucky like me, you got caught with no way around. It did cause a lot of bumping and wheel shimmying and some hairball moments.

There wasn't really a headwind though. There was a crosswind and a massive tailwind into the finishing straight. Last week the conditions weren't as windy and I was able to sprint out at around 33 mph for 2nd with no lead out. I really don't know why people slowed into the straight. That is just bike racing! I consider each finished crit without an accident a success. If you meant a headwind down the backstraight, I understand.

Anyway, original poster, sorry to hear you had a bad time. The season is long, you didn't wreck and there will be more races. If you win some, you will move up a category and the racing will be faster and harder.

Yes, I was the guy in front on the headwind section, not the crosswind section. The field had been averaging about 18mph in this section all race long. I knew that people would try to get position here since you're barely working if you're in the pack, buy you're busting a gut if you're pulling up front. All race long you'd here people in the pack yelling at people in the front to "pedal faster!". Interesting but I never noticed any of these people sticking their noses out in the wind to keep the pace up. They just wanted others to work for them. For that reason, I wanted to try to keep it as strung out as I could so no one could come around our sprinter here on the last lap. It was a hard effort, and I didn't have much left after that to further tow the field around in the crosswind section as well. If there were no wind here, I certainly could have lead him out to the finish.

Anyway, i've been cutoff, put out, bumped off, blocked in, etc. in every other crit i've ever done. In bike racing, you make your own luck. If you're not top 6 or 7 near the end of the race then you're usually out of luck and there's no good that comes out of sprinting for 25th place. If you were top 6 or 7 then you certainly were getting blocked by me unless you enjoy sprinting from 450 meters out, two inched from the gutter.

I was up near the front right behind the Squadra guys. I don't think there was anyone out trying to cause any trouble, but compared to last week, the field really did slow a whole lot. Last week the people who were in position
out of turn three stayed up in front and sprinted out of turn four. It didn't work out that way on Sunday and if you were unlucky like me, you got caught with no way around. It did cause a lot of bumping and wheel shimmying and some hairball moments.

There wasn't really a headwind though. There was a crosswind and a massive tailwind into the finishing straight. Last week the conditions weren't as windy and I was able to sprint out at around 33 mph for 2nd with no lead out. I really don't know why people slowed into the straight. That is just bike racing! I consider each finished crit without an accident a success. If you meant a headwind down the backstraight, I understand.

Anyway, original poster, sorry to hear you had a bad time. The season is long, you didn't wreck and there will be more races. If you win some, you will move up a category and the racing will be faster and harder.

I hope this board doesn't turn into a place where people anonymously slag others' riding at races. If you have a problem with how a team is riding, maybe the best thing would be to wait until you've cooled down a bit, put away your bike, have something to eat etc, then go talk with them. If your goal is to change someone's behaviour, *calmly* talking with them face to face is probably going to have better results than anonymously whining on a message board.
FWIW, I had a team mate in that race finish in the top 10 and his race report didn't mention anything about Squadra impeding sprints.

The Jesster wrote:Got to agree with Squadra on this one.
If you want a clean lead-out, get your own team to the front and pace it out. It's not game to complain about people in your way on the sprint. They're in front of you. It's your job to pick the best wheel, unless your team creates it for you.

And by the way, Squadra is one of the few teams to actually do lead-outs in the 4/5's. (I remember a fine, fine job in the 4's at Lafayette last year). And they've earned a lot of grace points from me for that.

Postscript: This was an Early Bird. Great job everyone for trying tactics, having such desire, and riding so damned fast you left me nothing for the 1/2/3's! You guys are going to have GREAT YEAR!!!

4/5 EB Mentor

Thx Jesster. I do like to think that our team rides aggressively, takes chances, and makes the race more often then letting the race make us. But just for gitts and shiggles Mr.Disgruntled, the plan was that we would have two guys and not just one for the leadout starting with the headwind section. We hoped to have one more guy to drill it after I pulled off. This would have kept the race fast and safer for everyone. However, our 3rd guy let himself get out of position and got swarmed so he could not contribute.

So, when I pulled off and our sprinter wasn't still drilling it on the front, no one behind him wanted to come around and keep the pace high. It was every other rider who "fanned across the road", not us. None of these riders wanted to risk sticking their noses in the wind (like I did), and ruin their chances for the sprint before the final turn. So the the pack behind swarmed from both sides and ended up taking up the whole road.

Anyway, sorry you have such hard feelings about this one but that's racing.

Got to agree with Squadra on this one.
If you want a clean lead-out, get your own team to the front and pace it out. It's not game to complain about people in your way on the sprint. They're in front of you. It's your job to pick the best wheel, unless your team creates it for you.

And by the way, Squadra is one of the few teams to actually do lead-outs in the 4/5's. (I remember a fine, fine job in the 4's at Lafayette last year). And they've earned a lot of grace points from me for that.

Postscript: This was an Early Bird. Great job everyone for trying tactics, having such desire, and riding so damned fast you left me nothing for the 1/2/3's! You guys are going to have GREAT YEAR!!!

4/5 EB Mentor

Disgruntled Sprinter wrote:the worst lead out attempt in the 4/5 race.

I guess the early bird clinics failed to mention that a lead out train is set up to lead out your sprinter. Fanning out four of five wide into the final turn not only robbed your guy and everone else near the front a chance to win, but it almost caused several serous accidents.

I applaud your desire to lead out like the pros, but please follow through and deliver your man to the line.

Guess what? I'm the guy you're talking smack about. We had exactly 2 guys in front, not 5. So how did we fan out 5 wide? I drilled the headwind section just to keep my guy in front. When I was cooked, I went straight into the gutter. I'd love to see you take on this headwind section by yourself at 28.5 mph and then have something left for the finish. This is one of the widest crit courses on the whole calendar so there was more then enough room to pass. And yes, I did hear someone yelling behind me that I had ruined his sprint..... for 27th place. We weren't even on the finishing stretch yet. Deal with it.