Wells Ave B Race - 8/29/10

This is the first race report I’ve written in a long time, mainly because I don’t race much and I haven’t had anything worth writing about. This week’s Wells Ave was a bit different than normal so I thought it deserved a report.

This week in the B race we actually went into the race with a plan and some team strategy. Several people responded to my call for domestiques for Julian so we started with six of us in the B race; Julian Eliz, Karl Sineath, Kieran Lynch, Jamie Riehle, Dave Anderson, and me. The goal of the race was to help Julian win the elusive Shaklee prime. Unfortunately Tony Vallentine wasn’t at Wells this week so the Shaklee prime was not to be. Not to be discouraged, we decided that we would just try to help Julian win as many primes as he could. The other objectives for the race would be to make sure BRC was represented in any breaks, to try our best to block for any breaks that did have BRC in it, and to generally just have fun riding like a team.

The race started uneventfully as everyone was finding their legs. There was a fairly strong headwind blowing down the finishing stretch throughout the race which discouraged too much attacking. At three laps in, the field slowed dramatically coming out of turn 4, maybe due to the wind but more likely just due to someone in the field doing something stupid. I was sitting near the back on the outside of the pack so when the field slowed I just drifted to the left rather than braking. I immediately moved up almost to the front without even trying so in a moment of absolute stupidity I committed myself to a break. I was hoping to draw out a handful of riders to actual have a chance of staying clear for a while, but nobody seemed interested. I looked back and saw some BRC jerseys at the front blocking for me so I figured I’d just stay clear as long as I could and hopefully someone would bridge up and help. Next time through the start finish the prime bell was rung so I knew I was doomed. I was caught on the back stretch just after turn 2. I spent the next several laps at the back trying to get my heart rate in check so I can’t comment much on what went on up front, but I know Karl worked like a dog for Julian by leading him out for every prime. Julian managed to snag an early muffin prime and was close on a handful more.

The rest of the race unfolded as most B races do; a few short breaks but nothing that had enough horsepower to really stick. Julian spent a couple laps off the front with one other rider and we did a pretty good job blocking for him. A car disrupted one of the primes while Julian was out in front so I don’t think he was able to snag any more primes. Karl continued to lead out Julian for any prime he could, while Jamie, Dave, Kieran and I did our best to get into breaks, block, or contribute wherever we could.

At about six laps to go Karl drifted pack with Julian and we talked about what to do for the finish. Karl and Julian told me that they would lead me out if I was interested in contesting the finish. With three to go the three of us started moving up the outside so that we could go into the final lap in good position. With just over a lap to go Karl started winding it up with Julian on his wheel and me on Julian’s wheel. On the back stretch Karl peeled off and Julian took over. We got swarmed a bit into turn 3 and I allowed myself to get forced off Julian’s wheel just coming into turn 4. The rider that forced me off was a bit sketchy throughout the race and I just didn’t have it in me to really fight too hard to keep the wheel. The sprint started in earnest just after turn 4 and it was the typical drag race to the finish. I managed to hold my position and finish the sprint roughly where I started it in 5th place. I’m not sure I could have done much better even if I had held Julian’s wheel so I was pretty satisfied with that.

The rider that forced me off Julian’s wheel apologized to me after the race, but that’s racing. He never made contact with me and didn’t do anything wrong, he just wanted that spot more than me and fought for it just that little extra bit.

I have to say that I haven’t had that much fun in a Wells Ave race in a long time. It’s the first Wells that I’ve done in a long time where we’ve actually gone into the race with a game plan and worked pretty well as a team. Being the beneficiary of a lead-out for the sprint was also a great experience and I just wish I had the legs to carry through on everyone else’s hard work.