Strasburg
Strasburg was a 2.5 hour drive from Arlington. We started at 8:45, so it was an early morning. I think I got up at 4:40. That was horrible. I almost jumped back in bed; I'm glad I didn't do that!
Strasburg was a fun course. The group seemed quite timid. There were literally zero attacks. That made it hard to move up, because the group was just bunched the whole time. I found my way to the back on the first lap, and I spent the next two laps fighting for space to move forward.
Once I made it to the front, I felt obligated to attack. The road was only wide enough for three guys, and one was riding no-hands sucking on a gel while zipping/unzipping his jersey...lame. I hit it hard and was off for around 5 minutes. Once I was caught, nobody countered...lame. So I countered. I was away for another 5 minutes. I was caught, and nobody countered. There was 1.5 to go at this point, and I decided to prepare for the sprint.
People were violating the yellow line rule all day. That sucks. Somehow I found myself mid-pack again at the bell lap. That meant I was around 20-25th wheel, which is not really ideal. There was a bending right hander where the shoulder and parking lot converged at one point. I used this 50 meter section to gain lots of places on the right...kind of hard to describe, but it was legit and a good move. I used the little kicker hills (if you can even refer to them as such) to move up some more.
We had the whole road from about 1500 meters out. With about 2000 meters to go there was a slight acceleration up the right hand side around an uphill bend. This opened up the left hand side. I gave it some really good gas to move up again. I was now 2nd wheel on the left, but I was still a good 10 meters behind the front guys on the right.
With 650 meters to go, we were going at a decent clip into a slight uphill grade. The top of the hill is around 400 meters to go, then there is a downhill chicane which opens 100 meters from the finish. First to the top of the hill would likely win.
I sprinted with 650 to go, and I held off the field. I sat up a little too soon, and it ended up closer than I would have liked. I need to make sure I accelerate through the line.
For the power junkies. The race was dull from a power standpoint. 235 watts AP, and 316 NP. Fortunately, that meant there was still a lot of gas in the tank for Sunday up in DE at the Gundel Crit. If I can find some pictures, then I will add them too.
Strasburg was a fun course. The group seemed quite timid. There were literally zero attacks. That made it hard to move up, because the group was just bunched the whole time. I found my way to the back on the first lap, and I spent the next two laps fighting for space to move forward.
Once I made it to the front, I felt obligated to attack. The road was only wide enough for three guys, and one was riding no-hands sucking on a gel while zipping/unzipping his jersey...lame. I hit it hard and was off for around 5 minutes. Once I was caught, nobody countered...lame. So I countered. I was away for another 5 minutes. I was caught, and nobody countered. There was 1.5 to go at this point, and I decided to prepare for the sprint.
People were violating the yellow line rule all day. That sucks. Somehow I found myself mid-pack again at the bell lap. That meant I was around 20-25th wheel, which is not really ideal. There was a bending right hander where the shoulder and parking lot converged at one point. I used this 50 meter section to gain lots of places on the right...kind of hard to describe, but it was legit and a good move. I used the little kicker hills (if you can even refer to them as such) to move up some more.
We had the whole road from about 1500 meters out. With about 2000 meters to go there was a slight acceleration up the right hand side around an uphill bend. This opened up the left hand side. I gave it some really good gas to move up again. I was now 2nd wheel on the left, but I was still a good 10 meters behind the front guys on the right.
With 650 meters to go, we were going at a decent clip into a slight uphill grade. The top of the hill is around 400 meters to go, then there is a downhill chicane which opens 100 meters from the finish. First to the top of the hill would likely win.
I sprinted with 650 to go, and I held off the field. I sat up a little too soon, and it ended up closer than I would have liked. I need to make sure I accelerate through the line.
For the power junkies. The race was dull from a power standpoint. 235 watts AP, and 316 NP. Fortunately, that meant there was still a lot of gas in the tank for Sunday up in DE at the Gundel Crit. If I can find some pictures, then I will add them too.
posted by Flanagan at 1:07 PM
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