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CRCA Points Race |
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Today's C field points race consisted of sprints at top of Harlem Hill on lap 2 and 4, as well as extra points for the finish on lap 5 at Cat's Paw Hill.
Abraham managed to snag 2nd place on the first sprint and 3rd at the finish, giving him a total of 8 points and the 3rd place podium! Congratulations Abraham!
This was a very active race for our four teammates: Abraham, Ari, David and Josh. Josh recounted some of the drama below:
"Something was eerie, unnatural...the weather was finally beautiful. Yes, something was wrong, very wrong indeed. The gun went off, and the OrganicAthlete machine, riding an armada of Cannondales clipped in for the long haul.
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David and I found ourselves at the tip of the pack for the majority of the east side on the first lap until the attack came just before the descent to the rink at the foot of Harlem Hill.
Opting to settle into a position mid-pack and enjoy the draft for a bit, I stayed on Ari's wheel while he stayed on David's, especially through the heavily potholed sections of the west side around the Tavern (or from the size of those potholes more aptly, the Cavern).
Abe was off somewhere in the pack conceiving a nefarious plot to tear up the pavement on the recently resurfaced Col du 110th street.
The first lap came and went, and on the east side, we found the pace picking up, especially in the mile leading up to Harlem Hill as lap two was for KOH points.
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…The pace was furious, and just before the top when it became obvious that I wasn't in a position to sprint for one of the 3 top places that would garnish points, I eased up a bit, only to see Abe spin up the hill. From what we discussed after the race, he got 2nd on this sprint. |
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For some reason, the pack seemed intent of hugging the left lane, leaving the majority of the right lane open. So on the rollers following the downhill, I maneuvered around to the right side of the road, got up to the front, looked over to my left and to another rider, mouthed, "let's go", and then I took off.
Our break worked, and a third rider had hitched on, as we kept the pack at bay until about 72nd street, where a few more riders were able to bridge from the pack to our breakaway.
Unfortunately for us, these additional riders didn't have the inclination to settle into a pace line and work, opting instead to surge off the front to break away from our break, or not pulling through so as to maintain the pace. And right around horse alley, which
was particularly horsy today, in the most literal sense of the word, the peloton caught us.
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So my attempt at a breakaway had failed to keep the pack at bay because of a lack of cohesive teamwork. But it proved I was able to put a big gap between myself and the pack in the rollers following the Harlem Hill sprint.
So on lap 4, I decided to sit back in the pack up the hill to conserve as much as I could, and then go out for an all or nothing attempt at a break. Abe, Ari and Dave, were all looking great up the hill, although I can't really report on how they finished being that I was well behind them at this point.
But as the pace slowed down before the first roller to recover from the sprint, I quickly maneuvered to the front of the pack, then jumped up, mashed the pedals and took off. After cresting that first roller, I settled back into the saddle, but did not look back until mid-way through the next roller at which point I saw a few riders on my wheel. Motioning with my hand for them to pull through, I drifted to the back of the line and discovered I was in a break totaling 8 riders.
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As I sat on the tail, to draft and recover, I looked back and could not see the main pack! With less than a lap and a half to go, that many riders in a break and no sight of the peloton, I thought it was totally possible to keep away from the pack.
Where the last break had failed because of no direction, I took it upon myself to start barking orders, instructing other riders to take short pulls, maintain the pace, keep it together, and, "We've got a big gap, let's work now, and we'll fight it out at the end!"
Some riders got the idea, and we worked together beautifully, but two or three guys decided that disrupting the pace line by either not pulling through, or surging ahead was the better way to go, and no matter how much I yelled they wouldn't fall in line.
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I tried to explain the concept that if we all worked together we'd all place
in the top 10, but my advice (read: verbal abuse) fell upon deaf ears. This break lasted a bit longer, but again we were caught.
Ari, or rather his bike, suffered a collision during the race, luckily no one went down, but his rear derailleur cable was literally torn and sheared. I suspect some other riders had affixed blades to the hubs, like the chariot racing scene in Ben-Hur.
Post-race analysis and discussion allowed me to discover that Abe had yet again placed 3rd as he was led out by David who poured on the speed and protected our comrade with a monster draft." |
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Very well done Abraham!
Good efforts Josh, we're sure your attacks made others waste energy chasing you while Ari and David could protect our sprinter Abe in the pack. Good work by everyone! Josh said "All in all it was quite a fun race, and I had a blast getting into those breaks and trying to make something happen."
"After the race, David, a friend of mine who is a C rider not affiliated with a sub-team also named David, and I, decided the day was so nice, a ride into Jersey was in order. We rode up to Congers through some peaceful back roads in Bergen County and then back home via 9W. All said and done, I wound up riding a total of 117 miles for the day." |
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