FLCC> Tuesday night commentary

[Andrew Melnychenko]

Just a few tid bits from my side (wondering why I disappeared).....Matt 
Shecktman, Don Sproul and myself did a very long ride on Sunday with mostly 
all climbs in prep for the upcoming Auburn Stage Race...My plan was to rest 
all week and do half the Tuesday night course....I had originally planned 
to peel off at the bottom of Hurd but had the urge to see how I would 
fair...so I gave it a whirl and made the break....I then told Matt who 
already rode 80 miles that day that I was going to just peel off before we 
turned up ringwood...I was hoping he would keep me company but Matt decided 
he wanted to finish his Century for the day.

I agree with Glenn in that the tuesday night races need to get more 
attacks....but I think people are a little afraid of being dropped by you 
know who!

Andy
>         I too have missed write-ups about Tuesday night races. The busy 
> bike shop
>kept me from coming out on many Tuesday nights early in the season, and
>still keeps me from hanging out much afterward, or writing race reports. We
>lose a little bit of social fabric when we don't get to "recap" and review
>our shared rides.
>         When we prepared to roll out on the ride, I was a little nervous. 
> I was
>tired from my hard ride at Natz, and the long drive home. There was Danny
>T, Matt Shechtman, Ryan Morris, a visiting Field Failing, who has been
>racing on the big scene all summer, as well as Steve Frattini, Nick
>Robertson, and Andy Melnychenko and another handful of known good riders
>plus a couple of unknowns...  We ripped across Midline at 30+mph and I
>noticed that I was working pretty hard and I wasn't even at the front, as
>small groups threatened to crack it open. As usual, Danny T was floating
>along with whoever was raging at the front, looking as though he could
>shift it up a gear at any moment and drop us all like stones. (which is
>true...) I got a few small licks in, but never with any expectation of
>escaping this group. Up Ellis Hollow South a few rolled off and I noticed
>that few people were willing to lead the chase, and in fact, the group got
>a little smaller over the top. There was some tenderizing going on at our
>speed. The effects of the tenderization process became evident as we
>climbed Hurd Rd. Things pretty well shattered, leaving the lead group that
>Ano Garcia described. I tried to keep the pace fairly high to maintain the
>separations and tenderize the others in the lead group as we rode down to
>rt79 and up Ellis Hollow South. Matt Shechtman vaporized and to my surprise
>Andy M disappeared when we turned up Ringwood. This left Danny (still
>looking like he was waiting for someone to step up and actually "race") Ano
>Garcia and me. I certainly would not have put any money on Ano and me being
>the last ones standing from the group that started the race. I kept the
>pace pretty firm into the climb on Ringwood, hoping that Ano might be
>tired, and then I squeezed harder on the final steep pitch. A gap opened. I
>was sure I had broken him. Over the top I poured it on, and then to my
>horror, Ano pulled right up alongside me !  He had dug really deep and
>mowed me right back down. Hmmmmmm. Over the hill and on to the Observatory
>I decided to be careful with him, and just save it for the final short
>(well, not so short at the end of a race) pitch to the finish. Alas, Ano
>had talked himself into his mental "1K to go" mindset and all that was left
>was for Danny to blow my doors off to the top. As Ano noted, the remaining
>riders came in in ones and twos, having been ripped apart by the climbs and
>sustained speeds.
>         Danny noted that there are relatively few riders doing much 
> attacking this
>year. I have made the same observation some weeks. In some cases I am sure
>it is a lack of perceived fitness on the part of riders who are afraid they
>will get dropped if they make hard attacks and then get caught. On the
>other hand, it is precisely that attacking (and recovery) which tends to
>make us faster and fitter through the season. It is difficult for me to
>judge whether this is a fast year for Tuesday nights, since such judgements
>are made through glasses tinted with one's own age and fitness. I tend to
>see some eras (Chris Peck/Peter Vollers etc.) as "Golden Ages" of Tuesday
>night racing, but we keep no records of speeds or times, so it will always
>remain subjective...I might make the observation that the performances of
>Ernie Bayles and myself, as two old men, still contesting these races with
>some degree of success does not make me think that some of the young guns
>have reached their highest potential....  What do you think of that ?
>
>Glenn
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>FLCC mailing list
>FLCC at icycle.org
>http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/flcc_icycle.org/attachments/20060721/20ad292f/attachment-0001.html