2024 Ride Sally Ride 35+ (Cat 3/4) Full Race - p5

Strava Activity -   / strava  

0:00 Race Start - Lined up a few meters back to clip in and navigate the holes.
1:05 Kelly Benefits Strategies (KBS) guy is coming up on my hip and crowding, so I push a little to get my bars in front of his before the corner. Jon B (OrthoVA) to my right needs a little space on the inside, so I am on his left shoulder. KBS guy thinks it's a good idea to hug my left side in the FIRST minute of the race and he hits my bars, I unclip my right foot to counterbalance and we roll on. Wait, what?? Did he have 15+ feet of open road to his left? He did. Makes no sense.
2:02 Lap 2
2:30 Brandon (BikeFitRVA) attacks left
3:29 Lap 3
4:51 Lap 4
6:13 Lap 5 - Instruct Tommee to get to Nate's wheel
7:39 Lap 6
9:05 Lap 7
10:22 Lap 8
10:46 Mike (GII) attacks left
11:43 Lap 9 - Mike (GII) and Jon B (OrthoVA) off the front. DC Velo digs a bit to bridge. Verbally encouraging non-teammates can help too haha.
13:03 Lap 10 - Telling Nate to be patient with the break
14:02 I kind of regret telling Nate to hit it here. Told him to bridge thinking if he gets up there, it could be a strong break of 3. It motivated the field behind and once the 2 guys in the break saw everyone closing, they sat up.
14:30 Lap 11
15:01 Brandon (BikeFitRVA) attacks right. GII guy goes with. I don't see it being a threat and tell Nate to let it go and recover. Jon Fattori (NCVC) on the front with DVR guy (who did 0 work the entire race). Derick and Anthony from GII are here to disrupt the chase.
15:30 "Don't get stuck behind GII" - They have a teammate in the 2-man break.
15:56 Lap 12
16:28 "DVR is not gonna pull either" - the break is coming back though.
16:57 "Where's Anthony?" LOL. Jon B (OrthoVA) thought similarly and goes up the left side with a couple in tow.
17:21 Lap 13 - "Nate go! Not you, Mik!" HAHA. Either way, all good. Everything comes back together.
18:47 Lap 14 - Simon (KBS) attacks left
19:16 Chase starts, we follow.
20:10 Lap 15
21:27 Lap 16
22:14 Oh, there's Anthony! He follows an attack by TRC(?) on the right.
23:06 Lap 17 - Brandon (BikeFitRVA) attacks right as TRC falls back and Anthony follows Brandon
24:00 Tomme with some violent shakes LOL eh...
24:29 Lap 18 - I know the pace is picking up, so I motivate Tommee. Anticipating surges is always better than reacting to them.
25:03 Being 10-15th wheel here seems great, but if it's slow, move up with little energy expenditure. Complacency in racing will come back to bite you almost always.
25:20 "I'm here, Nate." "You okay, Mik?" Check in with your teammates. Can boost morale.
25:57 Lap 19 - Tell Mik to get off Nate so Nate can follow a 2-man attack. My communication might have been confusing Mik, but we straightened it out.
27:12 Lap 20 - I tell Nate to get up on the wheel in front of him. If he is going to be there, I figure it's better for him to be in the draft. The race is strung out too, so I am sensing we can rip the field up a bit.
27:52 Brandon (BikeFitRVA) still on a solo break. Told you, DVR did zero work the whole race.
28:44 Lap 21 - Nate still on the front with DVR chillin. It's nice that Nate is so damn strong though. He bridges the gap to Brandon and DVR again, just following. He contributed zero to the bridge attempt also. Good racing tactics, sure, but also very annoying lol. Me? I get to sit in, thanks to Nate!
30:06 Jon Fattori (NCVC) pulling alone on the front, no one in the field wants to help. He does a good job to gutter me and the rest of the field here haha.
31:14 Jon's mating call. "Sorry, Jon."
31:30 Lap 22 - One peloton. Oh, wait. Nate goes again. Who is on his wheel? I don't even need to say it... Jon B (OrthoVA) attacks in sync with Nate and they form a 3-man break. This one is threatening with Nate and Jon together! Two of the strongest break riders in this field. KBS guy identifies the threat and rightly bridges to the break. 4-man break forms.
32:55 Lap 23 - GII train comes to the front and relieves Jon Fattori (NCVC) from his solo pulling.
34:14 Lap 24 - 2 laps to go! GII train in hot pursuit. I come around Jon Fattori (NCVC) because he has been pulling so much and I want to be on the GII train at this point in the race.
35:30 Final Lap! One peloton again.
35:50 Maybe the most consequential decision of my race. I go around Jon B (OrthoVA) on the left instead of tucking in. The wind hit me straight in the face when I went left...
36:22 I know it's to the final corner first. I hop up to sprint and then KBS guy does the same as he comes out to the left a bit. I have a choice to sprint next to him or draft off of him a bit. I chose the wrong one. Simon Eyob (KBS - I know he has a very good sprint), coming up on the left. I don't push past the KBS guy in front of me, Simon dives in from the outside, GII guy dives on the inside, KBS guy corrects his line, I have momentum, I have to tap brakes ARGH. Sad face. Final corner in 5th, cross the line in 5th. I wish I could run it back. Oh well.