Wyatt already shared his story of the Mount San Bruno hill climb on New Year’s Day so I’ll take a stab at the Early Bird Training Criterium Series… first of all, people that live outside the bay area may find it shocking that we race in January, but its’ true. In fact, the Early Birds were my first mass start race 20 years ago. Since this 5-week series is so close to my home, because I’m a USA Cycling coach and because I want to help the sport grow I co-lead/organize the mentoring of the new riders. The growth and popularity of this series continues to amaze us all. Numbers wise that means we get about 250 brand new racers to check out this series. That’s a lot of people with no mass start race experience so we encourage the experienced racing community to come out and help with the mentoring. Continuing with the numbers, we have upwards of 50 mentors throughout the long 6-1/2 hour day. And, that’s where my teammates come in. Some are out there all day long, first observing (via racing with) in the 4’s race, then mentoring and observing the women racers and then mentoring and observing the new men 5’s racers before finishing off the day in the 1/2/3/Pro Criterium. Developing early season fitness is fun. Trying to stave off the “bonk” is tricky. Placing in the last race of the day is a dream, but helping new riders find their passion for this sport is literally priceless.
January 7 - In the first lap of the first crit of the new year there was a crash. And, these were the “experienced racers” (4’s and 5’s with more than 5 races) but the field was large (about 80 riders) and the “botts dots” of the Early Bird industrial park course caught its first victim. A rider swerved too much to avoid the dots right near the start/ finish line and took out a rider behind him. Another crash on the very next lap took out another rider and finally a pack of eight went down with the next crash. Three crashes in the first three laps was not encouraging. Thankfully no one was hurt (it helps to wear lots of clothes to stay warm and save your skin) –and- we were through with the crashes… for the time being. The 4’s finished in a field sprint. It is our hope that the 4’s realize that January is the perfect time of year to work on their skills. The women were up next (about 10 with experience, and 30 without) and all went well until the last lap when a nasty fall sent a rider to the hospital. Next up were the men. Amazingly, all of the 120 or so new 5’s racers survived their two races without incident.
Last up was the 100+ riders that made up the 1/2/3/Pro field (thanks also in part to their entry being waived if they mentored). We had fun attacking each other but as usual it ended in a field sprint. Unfortunately, in the last 300 meters big Ken Carpenter had his front wheel taken out and met the pavement. He smacked his hip good but was otherwise okay. Patrick Briggs (Cal Giant) was not as fortunate as he broke his hip.
AMD-Discovery attendance: 4’s race- Marcus Smith (13), 1/2/3/Pro’s- Ken Carpenter, Dylan Casey, Steve Cassani, Billy Innes, Joel Shaffer (15), Daniel Tisdell (15), Wyatt Weisel, and Larry Nolan
January 14- sunny skies and 30 degree weather greeted the cat 4 field. A rare rain (Fremont only averages 18 inches all year) will usually deter riders but there’s a racing fever going on in Northern California and the riders were ready to race despite the chill. Safe racing and another field sprint for the 4’s (and 5’s with 5+ races of experience). I even witnessed a nice wheel rub (and save) and also a rider come unclipped and save it. The cornering drills were well executed in the mentoring sessions (including some of the 4’s coming out for the skills- yeah for humbleness!), and more safe racing in the women’s fields and 5’s race (both field sprints… see the trend?) but there was a nasty spill in the M35 5’s race that stopped them from finishing. Towards the end of the race a single rider had gone down which caused riders to tense up and on the next lap there was a pile up including another broken hip and a trip to the ER. Now, I’m not one to play on the drama of crashes but we can learn something from these accidents. Firstly, they can be prevented. January is the perfect time of year to practice skills. Secondly, this course is too easy with only 3 corners over 2200 meters and sometimes riders become inattentive to their position. We also see riders getting in over their head, putting themselves in a bad position or contesting the final sprint when they are too tired, or don’t yet have the speed to play the game. Overall, there are many more positives with this series than negatives. The accolades just keep rolling in and we can only hope that other promoters and mentors will turn their events towards those that want to learn more about this great sport.
1/2/3/Pro race- these are training races which is to say that they get interesting. Some want to notch that first win of the year, some just want to hang on for dear life after spending all day on their bikes and some just want to have fun and see where their fitness is at. I’ve seen large teams come out to these training races in the past and get a teammate in the break. The guy in the break doesn’t work because he thinks his teammates will be mad that he lost the sprint. The guys in the pack clog up everything so that the rider in the break has a chance. None of the riders get fit for races that might really matter, like the Tour of California in 5 weeks! Yes, some of the guys that will be in that event are out here racing and that makes it fun. After what happened in the sprint in the previous week we talked about taking control at the end of the race. Teammate Dylan Casey suggested we hit the front with 5 to go. I never raced professionally so who am I to argue with Dylan? But, that’s 11km of controlling a bunch of young riders. Then again, the goal was not to lead out a sprint, the goal was to train ourselves to control a race and form a leadout. Mission accomplished. Thanks for your help everyone!
AMD-Discovery attendance: 4’s race- Marcus Smith (13), 1/2/3/Pro’s- Ken Carpenter, Dylan Casey, Billy Innes, Kevin Metcalfe, Joel Shaffer (15), Daniel Tisdell (15), Craig Roemer, Wyatt Weisel, and Larry Nolan
Cheers, Larry Nolan- AMD-Discovery Channel Masters and Juniors Cycling Team
2 comments:
Nice commentary around the early bird events...if it's not a hassle it would be cool if you did a write up like this after every early bird event. It's fun to read about what's happening in the other categories.
The following was sent to the NCNCA list on Jan. 24 (with no responses ;-)
Hi there. In regards to the "threaded paceline" I want to reiterate what Shawn said... this is an exercise (a fun one at that) so new racers should understand that moving through the pack in a race can be a whole different experience than they had in the exercise. Meaning, some riders will be comfortable with your moving up and possibly bouncing off their hips, elbows and shoulders while others could freak out. Please use this new found skill accordingly.Back to the exercise, as Shawn demonstrated in his drawings, the closeness of the riders is key. Let's work to get to that point by relaxing, communicating and protecting our front wheel, just as we have been doing in the last three weeks. Everyone can ride between two riders that are five feet apart, so as we get more comfortable as a group, let's keep the speed down, close the gap between riders on the outside (XX), and thread that pace line.
Quick observations on last weeks racing (Jan. 21):
1) an ambulance free day! That was a relief as I take these crashes as a reflection of our being able to get through to the new riders (the 1/2/3/Pro crashes are beyond our control ;-).
2) we are still seeing 4's and 5's not looking far enough up the road as is evidenced by the "accordion effect" where riders are jumping out of corners to catch back up to the group. Three tips on this point: one- if you want to lessen the # of intervals you do in an event you might want to ride further up in the pack, two- if you are in the 2nd half of the pack its helpful to look through the turn (you can still see the riders in front of you in your peripheral vision) to see what the front of the pack is doing. If they are single file that could be good news as the riders in you could move up more quickly to avoid getting gapped (creating more space for you) and if the front of the field is wedged across the road that could be good news too as you don't need to panic and do another interval. And, lastly, if you are not looking further up the road you could have a tough time in future races as Fremont is not a technical course.
3) even if you don't plan to work to catch a break or contest the sprint you should know when groups of riders are off the front. Train to be observant.
4) one of the reasons we don't see a lot of breakaways in 4's and 5's racing at the Early Birds (not including the two triathletes that soloed off the front of the 5's) is that riders will do efforts at the front for no apparent reason. Yes, these are training races and there are varied motivations but it is wise to be at the front for a reason. January is the perfect time of year to practice breaking away, to develop a sense of good timing, gauge energy output and gain breakaway coordination and skills, especially if you have not yet developed your sprint.
See ya Sunday,
Larry Nolan, AMD-Discovery Channel Masters and Junior Cycling Teams/ USA Cycling level 2 coach/ co-lead at the Early Bird Crits
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