Today we had a nearly perfect example of teamwork, especially at the cat 4 level. In the early stages of the race, a few breaks went off the front, but my teammates were able to shut it down. In the meantime, I hid in the pack, trying to overcome the effects of arriving a whole 20′ before the race and having 1 lap of the 1 mile course as a warm-up. As the race progressed, I felt a bit better. With 3 laps to go, my teammate Brian found me and said he’d get me to the front. I stuck with Brian and we picked up another teammate, Steve. With 3/4 of a lap to go, Brian drilled it and took Steve and me to the front. I lost Steve’s wheel, but was able to slide in one wheel behind, on the wheel of a guy from XXX who I knew to be really strong (he’d eventually finish on the podium). Brian took us the final turn and then Steve jumped. The distance from the last corner to the finish was pretty long (maybe 400 meters?) and Steve faded a bit. I waited too long to jump around him and couldn’t catch the 4 guys who got around us, but was able to hold on for 5th place.
Looking at the file, it’s clear that you don’t need your best power numbers to get results. My NP for the 47′ race was only 232w and my peak 5″ was a measly 703w. The way I read these numbers is that 1) if you ride conservatively in the beginning of the race, you can get away with a less than stellar day physically and 2) I could have pulled off a better sprint by going earlier and really kicking it.
But the most important thing about this race — getting good results is a helluva a lot easier with teammates. Out of 5 South Chicago Wheelmen in the field, 3 of us were in the money — way to go SCW!!
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