First thing, there is a lot more red in the Socal Kits compared to the Nocal kits. Did not really recognize any faces, even from the way back when. Of course, that makes for the "hmm, who's got it?" Okay, did know of Mark Noble, and he has got it, but his team blew it (more later). There was some fuschia haired dude that kinda reminded me of my old flame, Tracy (only the hair). And a few more tatoos. This was definitely Socal. But to the race.
The race really was not that hard, and I tried to play all strategic and all, supressing the aggressiveness that usually gets me blown.
Pretty much from the get go, there were two danglers. It seemed perfect for the sit and wait until the last time up the bump strategy. Let the little Amgen guy get all EPO up front, even chasing down his own teammates once in a while, but more or less keeping the two escapists in sight, but also keeping some what of a tempo. Then there was the silly short-lived chase by the Denis King boys (Noble's squad). Any organized chased could have easily tempoed in the break, but the CCM boys went bonkers for a couple of K, but did not quite close it down, blowing themselves 1.5 laps (10miles x 5 laps) to go.
On the penultimate bump before the finish, I pushed it with one of their guys, and thought that it would string out the pack to a select few, but it was too select, just me and that guy. Again, suppressing the aggressiveness, I slipped back to the pack, not wanting to blow myself. Ultimately, this was a mistake. I should have just rode, cuz on the last lap two slipped away and caught the two danglers with a half a lap to go. One was an Amgen guy, and his little teammate finally realized that he should not chase them down. Not having any teammates, I played chicken shit, hoping that the CCM guys or some others would do it. Hollow hope.
Going up the bump for the last time, it was clear that the bear was up the road. Played with the field for a bit up the last bump, but pretty much threw in the towel. No jersey, ah, who cares? I really need to get more competitive.
At the end, I was barely tired. Too much watching, not enough doing.
I also remembered another reason why I avoid Socal, the air. Okay, it was Bako, but there was plenty of yuk in the air. Hack hack.
Anyway, screw this sitting back and watching. I like racing. And now I get to ride to my beatity beat heart's content during the week. On the weekends, attack with somewhat reckless abandon, having some confidence (hopefully) that my legs will respond to my fat head. If not now, by Cal Cup would be fine.
6 comments:
swing for the fences, baby!
but, socal racing? ... meh, not that interested.
Yeah, it is my license that forces me to go bear hunting down south. I might hit up the Manhatten Beach GP, but beyond that, I prefer pestering y'all up north.
You got canned by Dennis King? Holy S*&#, you must suck.
You might like this, he was sitting on the sidelines after a couple of laps shouting instructions. Clearly they worked.
I won't say anything negative about the CCM team because I like them all, but I will say that when I talked to Mark Noble later in the day, he was not a happy camper. First time I ever remember him being anything other than positive after a bike race!
From my observations this year in the SoCal 35+ scene, there is more parity than in many years (Amgen, CCM, Cynergy are all good) and sometimes it seems the teams are hesitant to really lay it down. In years past, Labor could put four horses on the front and bring back any break any time they wanted without fear of a counter attack. They were that much stronger. The guy that won Sunday took advantage of the situation perfectly.
Hey, I felt like an idiot not getting up there and driving. But I did not want to get countered. And, if I would have just gone with Fluss, I think (the CCM guy I split with the next to last time up), that might have worked. But, it was my impression that they could have won that race for Noble if they barely tried. Anyway, I should not generalize from an n of one (geeky stats/research design stuff), but the race was not aggressive. But again, neither was I.
see you at Cal cup...you'll be flyin.
Post a Comment