CVR week 4 last night. Bracket C. First flat course of the league so far so we expected a large sprint finish! Handful of WBR on Discord and we didn't really have a sprinter but quite a few stronger riders so knew we'd have a few up front. We decided to hit the underpass hard every lap to try and thin things (it's followed by a slight drag uphill), then see who was left at the last lap for a long leadout/escape attempt before the sprint.
Tough selection at the start but we had at least 10 riders in the large 40-50 rider 'front' group. Drifting around the front of the group there were several WBR names prominent who I've raced with the last couple of weeks so I knew we had the firepower with Jason Feltus, Ross Hetherington, Baxter Phillips & Chris Rees up there. All riders I knew could ride as hard as I do! Jason & Ross lighter than me had both ridden superbly the previous 2 hilly races but I knew they may need a tow/leadout to remain in contention at the end. I teamed up with Jason mainly in our underpass tactic, leading him out various lengths before the ramp and further into the race actually up the ramp. Each time we did it things thinned out and by the final lap the main group was down to below 30 riders with us only losing 1 WBR (Dan O'Shea) who wasn't on Discord and had missed most of our 'front' & 'go go go' calls. A WBR not on Discord (
gwilym llewellyn) did well to stick with us. I was at the front of the gap to Dan when it appeared, with it around 8s I had a moral dilemma to drop and help him close it (dragging 3-4 others with him) or keeping pace and increasing it. Without him on comms I kicked and jumped a couple of others making his gap 10s+. A tough call, but this is racing and closing that gap may not have worked & ruined my chances of finishing towards the front!
For the final time through the underpass we held back, saving our power ramping until just before the drag afterwards. This worked well as all the other teams/riders sitting in expected us to go sooner and had ramped up in preparation to stick with us. It ended up them briefly leading us out onto the ramp!
We hit it hard, dropping them all with me leading Jason out (strong elastic!) but I tired early only just making it to the top of the ramp before getting caught. Baxter had an unlucky dropout but Ross was up there. I feared more riders coming past, really felt like I was getting swamped but the numbers where low and most didn't push through. The couple which did didn't break away soon being reeled in. I had to rest for a sprint, easing up but conscious of losing a wheel in this 10 rider group.
At 0.3 to go speed kicked up and things started to string out,
at 0.2 I had to kick as several others where going quite early but then eased slightly to hold their wheels. Ross came past me with 2 green jerseys (CHOCK) on his wheel. I'd been conscious of them as they had several riders highly placed & I wasn't settling for them beating us after all the work we'd put in!
Somehow I kicked again and had enough of a surge to hit the line the same time as them. On screen & ZP results show Ross and I rolling them both on the line, mwhaha!
Fantastic group effort with Jason taking 4th, Ross & I in 6th and 7th. Chris just behind the front surge taking 15th. Baxter with his dropout coming in 21st just behind gwilym in 20th.
https://www.zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=38780 - 6th in Category (bracket) C
https://www.strava.com/activities/1371875866
Thanks for the Neo & Kickr comparison/experience. I'm edging towards the Kickr or Flux, but need to ensure compatibility with thru axle for future use. Will hopefully be hunting down deals in the summer/fall. Know/trust Wahoo/Tacx so will probably stick with them, possibly looking at refurbished Kickrs.
According to the other half I woke the baby last night just before the end of the race. She said "you'll have to get that quieter turbo trainer" so I think I'm allowed one now lol
That's exactly what happened - I think I was taking a drink and peered at the screen out of the corner of my eye - saw them pushing, by the time I got my bottle back in and hands on the bars I was toast. I kept going and caught a few stragglers on the next climb but the pack was gone.
Yup, it's ruthless at times. I nearly got dropped last night, was resting in group, drifted towards the back just as I was reading a message, tried to reply and looked up to realise I'd lost a wheel and 3-4s back! It took a big effort to regain speed, but I was barely closing the gap so called the guys to ease on the front and Chris even dangled off the back to me. I maintained pace,
rested slightly before a couple of surges to regain the group. thankfully it was early in the race so I could recover and it didn't have much impact on results. Lucky it was on a flat course!
