FLCC> Tuesday night commentary

[Dan Timmerman]

Here's my thoughts on that:

You'll never know if your going to get dropped after an attack unless you 
try. You take chances by attacking, that's how it works. Most often you 
attack and it gets rid of people or at least makes people respond and work 
hard, bettering your chances of winning. That's how you race. It's alot 
easier to repeatedly attack someone till they crack than it is to just try 
to ride them off your wheel. Yeah, sometimes someone will counter and put 
you into difficulty but that's the chance you take and you will come away 
stronger for it. Otherwise, sitting in, you pretty much garauntee the group 
WILL stay together. I view Tuesday nights and week night races of that sort 
as opportunities to test and experiment with that stuff. We're lucky to have 
an arena to push our limits and improve ourselves. After all, are you 
training to sit in, or are you training to be aggressive and win races? 
Remember, the real races are what counts. Tuesday nights are not the end 
all, be all world championships of CNY racing. Who cares if you've done 80mi 
before the Tuesday night. I do 4hrs before every Tuesday night race to 
simulate a real race. Sure it compromises how well I feel at the Tuesday 
night race but it's the training I get that's important. For my races it's 
all about who can make the splits in the 3rd, 4th and 5th hour. Everyone can 
respond in the first hour.

I'd love to see a Tuesday where everyone is attacking and playing the game 
with each other. However, I guess Tuesdays do different things for different 
people, sometimes I have times when I just need to sit in and ride....and I 
know not everyone is training for the same thing. However, I know of many 
people out there that would benefit from more aggressive riding on 
Tuesdays...and it would make them much more interesting as well.

Andy, as far as being afraid of getting dropped by "you know who", I'd be 
much more likely to go help and work with the aggressive rider and try to 
drop the guy sitting around.

Danny

>From: Andrew Melnychenko <am40 at cornell.edu>
>To: flcc at icycle.org
>Subject: Re: FLCC> Tuesday night commentary
>Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:37:38 -0400
>
>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
>>
>>
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