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Race Result

Racer: Richard Gendron
Race: Tysons Corner Circuit Race
Date: Sunday, April 6, 2008
Location: McLean, VA
Race Type: Bike - Other
Age Group: Male 40 - 44
Overall Place: 16 / 37
Comment: Lessons Learned - Tune Up for Kinetic



Race Report:



Event: category 5
Result: 16 (official) of 38 (started)
Time: about 30 minutes
Speed: 23.1 mph
Teammates in the race : 4
Weather: 40, raining

I woke up, looked outside and thought "there is going to be an early break that wins today". The 38 CAT 5s that showed up proved me right. With the rain, the pack was nervous going through the last turn every time - you could hear the brakes on wet wheels.

I got a decent warmup, 15 minutes on the Trainer and then two full laps. In retrospect, for a short, fast race like this I needed a longer and more intense warm up. Given my vision of the race I decided to stay very near the front and police the breakaways if I could. On the first lap I moved to cover an attack and found myself off the front with two other riders. We worked together for about one lap, but the uphill stretch destroyed two of us and we dropped back into the pack. As soon as I got tucked in for some recovery, another attack went and I didn't have the engine to cover or chase.

At this point I was having trouble. I was suffering each time up the main stretch (Hill) and not closing the gaps soon enough for the downhill backstretch. I eventually got caught, two back, on the wrong side of a big split in the field. I stayed patient and found someone to work with and got back to the main pack. I was still suffering on each uphill and was not really paying attention to the break.

With about 3 laps to go, a switch turned and I was, all of a sudden, feeling very niiiice. That just happened to be a prime lap. Colivita came back into the main field and I thought we were catching the rest of the break (we were lapping riders, so it was hard to tell). So up the back stretch (hill) I decided to test my legs for the prime - and I won - Imagine that - except there were two riders 35 seconds off the front. Total waste of energy, but I learned that my legs were nice and springy.

On the last two laps, I focused on finding a decent position and looking for teammates. At the Turn, Colivita jumped again and got off the front. As we turned the corner we had an awesome setup. I had my teammates wheel and he had another - the perfect recipe for a sprint train !! It took a few seconds to realize our leadout man had nothing left, and neither did number two in the train - with about 100 meters to go, I pulled through and sprinted to about 16 - There were lapped riders, so it was hard to tell. I saw a new Max HR (194) on my Garmin - Didn't want to use my PT wheels in the nasty weather. So much for 220 - Age !

Decent day, crappy weather, I'll get a better warm up next time. This was a great final tune up for Kinetic Sprint Tri