Rolling thunder CX in Missoula was this past weekend and I
felt I really needed to write about it. This is for a couple reasons. One, it
will go down as a significant percentage of the race time I’ve had this year,
it’s always an awesome race, and the clarity and decisiveness with which I
raced and remember the race can serve as an excellent example of the strategy
that exists in CX.
So let’s start by talking about how awesome of a race it is.
The race is in Missoula, MT. Right off the bat, its’ going to be fun. As of the
writing, I have yet to be within eye sight of Missoula and not have fun, so I’m
convinced it’s impossible not to have fun in the general vicinity. This year
was a little more chill because they only had a Saturday race. My girlfriend
and her sister came out to watch and partake in the festivities, so we spend
the day hanging out and checking out downtown Missoula. Good to relax and see
some cool shops. I was particularly impressed by Liquid Planet, everything from
coffee to beer, and liquor, very cool place. After that, I hung around a little
more and packed up ready for the race. As was the case last year, the beer at
the race was provided by Big Sky Brewing, as well as the course grounds, and
the beer was on tap, free. I cannot think of a better way to get people to come
check it out, and it did not fail. As the sun began to fall below the
mountains, so the fun began, the large groups of those who’d race earlier and
those there to catch the P/1/2 men and women started to assemble. Right off the
bat, I was impressed by the women’s race, super fun to watch. The crowds were
already getting rowdy, and the women provided an exciting race to cheer for.
Gaps were small, and every racer from point end back was chasing the rider in
front of them full gas.
As for the men’s race, I was expecting a few things. First
off, this year, as you might know, has been a little tough for me in trying to
adjust to having a part time very physical job. I’ve been struggling to get to
races, and as a result, I’ve been struggling to stay motivated to train. The
fitness is low, but by some miracle, I’ve been holding on to race speed and
motivation. Last year, Kevin Bradford-Parish and I had an epic battle Saturday
night going back and forth lap after lap. Attacks, catches, counter attacks,
and responses. It was a blast to race, and I hope to watch as well. In the end
Kevin got me, but I was pretty confident that things would be different this
year, as I wasn’t at that same level, let alone stronger. But to my surprise, I
didn’t see him on the start line. But I did catch glimpse of a rider, Alec,
which I’d raced against a the Cougar Cup in Pullman a couple week earlier. I
knew I could beat him, but I knew he’d be one to watch as I’d have very little
room for error. He pushed me to my limit last time. I started second row, and
taking a look at the starters on the front row, I knew I had a lot of work to
do as it was filled with a lot of talent. Each rider had the ability to put me
in trouble, and if things didn’t go right, I’d be battling against all of them.
So here is where the lessons come in. I knew I had to
measure my efforts, the big moves always come in lap 2 or 3, so on the start
you have to burn only what you need to stay relevant. Off the line I was a lot
farther back than I wanted. Maybe 10th wheel, not a loss, but
vulnerable for sure. I was keeping my eye on Alec, and the 3-4 riders who at
that point had made themselves prominent.
With one eye on them, and one on the passes, I tried to make smart
passes, looking for opportunities where riders were missing lines or trying to
rest and getting the wheel. Very measured effort to move up. On top of all
this, they had a 2nd lap prize. First rider at the end of lap 2 had
a $100. So I made sure the lead was within a hard effort of contact for the
entire first lap. I was beginning to
think that prize was out of reach, but as traversed the off camber section
known as the stegosaurus for the first time, I had the leaders in range and on
the long bumpy pedaling section I was able to not only make contact, but get in
3rd wheel. Coming around a slick paved corner, I pushed the line,
and had my elbow into the tape in an attempt to make full contact with 2nd
wheel. As I accelerated out of the corner, I heard that unmistakable sound of
metal and carbon scraping behind me. Looking back I saw Alec (who was on my
wheel) sliding out and slowing or worse, the riders behind him. This was right
before a couple sections where I knew I
had an advantage. With a gap established I burned a couple matches to solidify
the gap and tighten up the lead group as we began to set a nasty pace going
into lap 2.
Its worth noting here, that the presence of the gap, the
effort I had to put in (but the ease with which I could move through traffic)
was in large part due to the pace at the front. The pace was high so I had to
maintain a high pace to move up, but at the same time the high pace meant
riders were on the limit, and in single file. So efforts to make passes we
abound because the traffic was thin. This also meant that the riders on the
front where full gas. Often times you can take advantage of this by riding fast
but smooth, allowing small gaps to open before corners and then nailing the
corner and hitting high exit speeds and hard sustain efforts and saving the top
end accelerations for passes and attacking later. Meanwhile the guys at the
front are burning those matches and putting themselves in debt.
As I hit the front group in the first couple corners of lap
2, I sat on, followed the wheel. But the pace remained high and I could see the
rider in from of me putting those little effort that means he’s full gas. I was
on my limit, but not over it, so I sat on taking some much needed rest. I
followed through the net third of a lap until we hit the long pedaling section
again. I went to the front and lifted the pace just a little bit. I took
control and make the pace I wanted. Through the running barriers I went the
pace I was comfortable at, which was clearly just a little over what the other
riders liked. Final, coming into the hopping barriers just before the end of
the lap, I pushed the corner, and accelerated hard into the barriers, hoping
them smooth and fast and sprinted hard out of them. Followed those up with a
series of 2 180 corners where I was on the limits of grip and accelerating hard
out of, I put in 2-3 seconds of time on second. Coming into the finish
straight, the decisions was either sit up or go for it. Knowing how hard the
last lap was, the gap I had, and the fact that Alec and most of the field was
already chasing hard, it was a pretty easy choice for me, it was time to go for
it.
Not only was the situation perfect for the move, the long
game always suits me. I normally have some pop, but the lack of efforts in training
had my top end and repeatability in question. But regardless, staying
consistent, putting in smooth, fast laps is what I can do. The thing that you
learn from doing Over under intervals, or tempo with burst intervals, is that
when setting a pace and feeling it out, you need to look at not only the effort
you’re putting in, but what effort you’ve already put in. Coming off of a
couple hard laps, I knew the pace would feel a little harder than I wanted it
to, but I would be recovering even though it hurt. So I kept it in gear,
putting in a second here and a second there on the riders behind.
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I focused on
keeping the laps consistent and each lap I tried to sprint in a new section
that I hadn’t yet, looking for time to be made up, and looking to have negative
splits. I doubt I did, but having something to focus on helped me to keep the
as on, without blowing up. I did have enough to time to grab a quick beer going
through the final lap, through the barriers, near the beer stand. So thank you
to the unaware gentleman who’s beer I grabbed and chugged. It seemed only
fitting.
So before I close out this post, I want to discuss some of
the mistakes that the other racers made, how I capitalized on them, and
hopefully this will highlight the importance of being aware of the subtitle
strategy involved in a cyclocross race and the importance of being prepared to
take advantage of mistakes quickly. I’ll also spend some time talking about how
these are different for shorter races, such as cat 3, cat 4, juniors, and such.
If you’re racing for the win at a race, it’s important to
remember that you’re not going to win the race in lap 1 or 2. Especially in a
60 minute race. No one is tired enough to get a meaningful gap, and everyone is
still able to recover from their efforts.
This was one mistake, the riders went all on, trying to win early. At
the very least they rode like it. You can take advantage of this by sitting in,
following the wheels and doing some research. Look for their trouble spots,
allow small gaps to open up if you know they will close (especially in turny
sections), and let them waste energy. As you see them fatiguing, roll past, or
blast past depending on the situation. The riders going hard are making you a
bet. They bet that the pace they are holding is hurting you at least as much as
it’s hurts them. If two riders are equal, the rider pushing the pace is going
harder than the rider following. So this a place you can gain an advantage.
When the race hands you gifts, take them. A crash just off
your back wheel, as dirty as it feels, you gotta go. At the very least use it
to give yourself some rest, but really you should be upping the pace. The
riders that went down will have to chase hard, and the riders who got caught up
will be overly nervous and making mistakes and wasting energy, all you need to
do is encourage that to get a big advantage. But you can’t count on these. What
you can do it be ready to take advantage of them and make sure you’re not in a
position to be caught in a crash. This means riding far enough up to avoid
these, staying off wheels you think might crash, and leaving a gap so you can
avoid them if possible. It all depends on the pressure behind you.
Something that’s important to keep in mind is this is all
based on 60 minute races. In a 60 minute race fatigue is much more a factor.
But as the race gets shorter and shorter, you can’t rely on fatigue as much,
you need to be more aggressive. Rolling thunder was a 5+ minute lap, I made my
move after 2 laps which was very early in the race, but if the race had been 30
minutes or 40 minutes, that would have been a significant portion of the race
gone. With more than 45 minutes left to race, I could afford to take risks to
open up the gap a little bit on laps 3-5. But with a shorter race, you want to
focus more on consolidating your advantage, because if you make a mistake you
won’t get a second chance as often because the race will be coming down to the
final much quicker. This is why a lot of racers struggle to adjust to the
higher categories. In the earlier categories, the races are so short, so being
aggressive is beneficial, but when you move up to the cat 3 race, or the cat 1/2,
you will be punished for the earlier aggression. The racing strategy is
different and you have to keep that in mind.
With my lack of serious training as of late, I’ve been able
to rely on my strategic ability to still win races, taking racers where I might
not be the strongest and play to my advantage to still pull through and punch
above my level, and even win. In a sport where every advantage can mean seconds
and places, or even the win, you have to look everywhere, strength, skill,
strategy, gear. Ignoring any of these is like leaving money on the table. And
the best way to improve your strategy is to think through each race and
identify where you can be better and identify where you were good. This helps
to reinforce the good and allows you to work on the bad.
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