I did my first race(s) this past weekend (VOS). The TT and Crit went pretty much like I figured (average performance). My big hope had been to differentiate myself in the RR. When I looked at the past RR times (41 miles) I realized that the average speed was around what I had completed the Tour de Tucson in (109 miles). I figured that was where I could make up some TT and Crit time.

About 7 miles into it I started pulling away expecting that a few other go-getters would join in, or that the whole pack would speed up (which I also thought would be to my advantage, being more of a long haul sort of guy). After about a minute I looked back and it was obvious no one was going to join me (oops!), so I backed off. The next time was even worse. On the King of the Hill climb I was feeling like everyone was sandbagging or pathetic so I figured maybe I could break the group up here. I started to accelerate fairly hard about 1/4 of the way up, saw no one else was coming and thought/hoped that they weren't up to it (thats when I got suckered into blowing up early and got dropped like a bad habbit).

Now after getting dropped I and about 10 other guys managed to rally together a rotating paceline and rejoined the pack before the final climb (we were seriously moving!). I ended up only 30 sec behind the leader which was a good save, but not the way I had hoped to ride this event. I feel like if a similar grp had been willing to form ahead of the pack that I/we could have stayed out in front.

So how do you make it happen?

I did my first race(s) this past weekend (VOS). The TT and Crit went pretty much like I figured (average performance). My big hope had been to differentiate myself in the RR. When I looked at the past RR times (41 miles) I realized that the average speed was around what I had completed the Tour de Tucson in (109 miles). I figured that was where I could make up some TT and Crit time.

About 7 miles into it I started pulling away expecting that a few other go-getters would join in, or that the whole pack would speed up (which I also thought would be to my advantage, being more of a long haul sort of guy). After about a minute I looked back and it was obvious no one was going to join me (oops!), so I backed off. The next time was even worse. On the King of the Hill climb I was feeling like everyone was sandbagging or pathetic so I figured maybe I could break the group up here. I started to accelerate fairly hard about 1/4 of the way up, saw no one else was coming and thought/hoped that they weren't up to it (thats when I got suckered into blowing up early and got dropped like a bad habbit).

Now after getting dropped I and about 10 other guys managed to rally together a rotating paceline and rejoined the pack before the final climb (we were seriously moving!). I ended up only 30 sec behind the leader which was a good save, but not the way I had hoped to ride this event. I feel like if a similar grp had been willing to form ahead of the pack that I/we could have stayed out in front.

So how do you make it happen?

You either get lucky, you have teammates, or you communicate with some folks before your attempted break. If you have a passive field (and many are), then there's no other way it's going to happen. When a solo rider goes off the front, most folks are thinking "Fry mother f/er." If the field is smart, they will purposely not make the catch right away and, instead, just let the go-getter dangle off the front as long as possible until every last match in his book is burned. Then, they'll not only catch him, but also up the pace as soon as the catch is made and drop him for good.

Usually, in a Cat5 race, everyone thinks they're the strongest rider out there and if a breakaway attempt goes off the front then it will be chased down almost immediately. Often, the folks that take it upon themselves to chase down an early-race break are mistakently thinking that they are the only folks with enough fitness to pull it off. Really, they are the only person foolish enough to help out the peloton.

and don't try to break up the pack since I have a chance in the sprint and my endurance is not the best.

I've seen teams break up the pack. A simple way is to have a couple of rabbits attacking the front. If a couple of teammates go off the front together the peloton will usally take it seriously and chase. Even if a single teammember goes off the front with the reputation of being able to pull off a breakaway, the peloton will chase. The rabbits go chasing off the front, and the peloton chases. Then another rabbit shoots off the front. Then another. After awhile the peloton reaches it's endurance limit and fragments. The team causing the chaos often has a good rider or two camped in the front of the split that are rested up and ready to run as soon as the split occurs. Strong cross winds are a great time to attack. So are big hills. In one race I do, which is notorious for massive pileups, attacks occur at the wrecks. If, or actually when, a wreck happens beside you or behind you, the pack guns it to split up the field.

I have taken flyers off the front when I thought the pace was too slow, but only have done those early in the race and have set up and rejoined the pack well before I was outside of my endurance limit. It's kind of fun getting chased down, but not really a good strategy for me, since I don't have the endurance to pull a break off.

Solo, you are quite limited in your options unless you can do a solo break and pull it off.



I did my first race(s) this past weekend (VOS). The TT and Crit went pretty much like I figured (average performance). My big hope had been to differentiate myself in the RR. When I looked at the past RR times (41 miles) I realized that the average speed was around what I had completed the Tour de Tucson in (109 miles). I figured that was where I could make up some TT and Crit time.

About 7 miles into it I started pulling away expecting that a few other go-getters would join in, or that the whole pack would speed up (which I also thought would be to my advantage, being more of a long haul sort of guy). After about a minute I looked back and it was obvious no one was going to join me (oops!), so I backed off. The next time was even worse. On the King of the Hill climb I was feeling like everyone was sandbagging or pathetic so I figured maybe I could break the group up here. I started to accelerate fairly hard about 1/4 of the way up, saw no one else was coming and thought/hoped that they weren't up to it (thats when I got suckered into blowing up early and got dropped like a bad habbit).

Now after getting dropped I and about 10 other guys managed to rally together a rotating paceline and rejoined the pack before the final climb (we were seriously moving!). I ended up only 30 sec behind the leader which was a good save, but not the way I had hoped to ride this event. I feel like if a similar grp had been willing to form ahead of the pack that I/we could have stayed out in front.

So how do you make it happen?

bimini, it sounds like your just the type of guy I was trying to get away from :)

I've got endurance, but am not a great sprinter, especially uphills (go figure at 6'3" and 195 lbs). I wanted everyone around me to be tired for the KOH and final sprints, not fresh as daisies. The first 20 miles of this ride were less taxing than some of the grp rides I do on any given weekend. Your post verifies for me that at least my "strategy" was probably not flawed, just my execution.

Shhhhh! I dont' want people knowing how to break up the group.


Seriously though, the most frustrating to me is when the teams start to get involved. They can successfully break up the pack.

In Sundays race (yes before I was sick) we dropped 1/3 of the pack on an overpass! I never new it (in the front) but heard about it when my best friend came in seven minutes back (he he)

They lost contact and never could recover. Another reason to stay in the front.

The race really blew apart on the climb when one guy attacked the hill from the back! This guy was gone and since the finish was close the the climb no one had the will to give chase....everyone me included did not want to sacrifice a possible 2nd or third. By now we were a smaller group.

The ONLY way yer gonna be able to break up a pack is to get a coalition of different teams' riders working with you. That way, the teams won't chase (in theory, I HAVE seen teammates chasing down teammates!) the break.

OR if you're the strongest dude in the pack, go OTF solo and hope someone bridges.

Problem is that the lower cats will usually chase everything and the upper cats will let that solo rider fry in the wind on his own.

The post above 'splains why its a GOOD thing to have a functioning team in the lower cats too. That way, you ALL have a job to do. One guy covers, one guy sprints, one guy is the leadout/protection, etc. When you've got several good riders willing to attack to set up either a break with them in it, or to split the field so their field sprinter can have a go it makes things LOTS easier.

DAMHIK

M

bimini, it sounds like your just the type of guy I was trying to get away from :)

I've got endurance, but am not a great sprinter, especially uphills (go figure at 6'3" and 195 lbs). I wanted everyone around me to be tired for the KOH and final sprints, not fresh as daisies. The first 20 miles of this ride were less taxing than some of the grp rides I do on any given weekend. Your post verifies for me that at least my "strategy" was probably not flawed, just my execution.


Just from this post saying the first 20 miles was easy says that it was a pretty hard race and guys were going to let breaks go and increase the pace as the race went on. Think about it, there's no reason to push the pace early on a difficult course, as the fast guys will likely accelerate towards the end while going for the win. I think you would probably be better off waiting for the attacks to come in the second half, and try to stick with the front group.

As for cooperative groups forming, it's a lot easier when everyone wants to get back on, or their race is over. A guy in a breakaway might be a really good sprinter, and therefore not particularly interested in whether or not the break succeeds. If he's behind the pack though, be certain that he'll do some work.

Silas

I did my first race(s) this past weekend (VOS). The TT and Crit went pretty much like I figured (average performance). My big hope had been to differentiate myself in the RR. When I looked at the past RR times (41 miles) I realized that the average speed was around what I had completed the Tour de Tucson in (109 miles). I figured that was where I could make up some TT and Crit time.

About 7 miles into it I started pulling away expecting that a few other go-getters would join in, or that the whole pack would speed up (which I also thought would be to my advantage, being more of a long haul sort of guy). After about a minute I looked back and it was obvious no one was going to join me (oops!), so I backed off. The next time was even worse. On the King of the Hill climb I was feeling like everyone was sandbagging or pathetic so I figured maybe I could break the group up here. I started to accelerate fairly hard about 1/4 of the way up, saw no one else was coming and thought/hoped that they weren't up to it (thats when I got suckered into blowing up early and got dropped like a bad habbit).

Now after getting dropped I and about 10 other guys managed to rally together a rotating paceline and rejoined the pack before the final climb (we were seriously moving!). I ended up only 30 sec behind the leader which was a good save, but not the way I had hoped to ride this event. I feel like if a similar grp had been willing to form ahead of the pack that I/we could have stayed out in front.

So how do you make it happen?

That course is really hard to get away on. It's not a terribly difficult course, it's easy to catch back on if you get popped on the hill. Sorry, I hope I didn't blow your confidence on your chase back.

The one thing that you probably could have done is kept going on the first attack and see if you can get the time gap up to around 3 minutes. When it hits a minute the motor ref should tell you the gap. Then you put your head down and keep motoring and hope that the pack continues to sleep. It sounds like you picked the correct spot on that hill to go.

My team in the 3s tried making it as hard as possible for the field at the VOS RR. We had 6 strong riders that were constantly on the front pulling or attacking. We were able to get one break up the road to soak up the time bonuses because the other significant teams were represented in the break. On the last lap we pulled hard into the wind. And then set what felt at the time like a blistering pace with 3 guys rotating on the front going up the hill. We popped one by one and there was still a sizable group left with about 600 meters to go up towards the finish. We were attempting to keep our guy in the leaders jersey. We kept it after the RR but he crashed in the crit with 4 laps to go so we lost the over all.

Breaking up the field generally requires an interesting course feature, like a short steep hill, a killer headwind, lots of tight corners, something like that. If you don't have those things, it's coming down to a sprint.