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Last sunday was my first real (not a gran fondo or gravel) race, which happened to be Chile's national championship. I've been training with a coach for the past 12 months, and 2 weeks ago he just called me and asked if I was up for the nationals. I said sure why not, lets see those training results. I am more of a gran fondo guy, love doing long races so this was an interesting proposition. I had to get my UCI certificate and stuff, so I am now officially UCI certified for road races  We were around 80 people in the race, Masters A1+A2, the day of the race we got rain and lots of wind so all I was worried was not crashing, second worry was to not let go of the peloton. It was cold, wet, windy, but once the race started, you just forget about that. Full concentration on just not falling because everyone started full gas. The original distance was 88,5km but due to weather it was shortened to just 70km. There were lots of teams present, 3-5 people in each team, while I was alone with another friend who is a member of the same cycling club (and started with the same coach a few months ago). Out strategy was to try and break away in the first kms, but that was easier said than done. As the race started, everyone just went full gas and you just had to buckle up and start hurting. One guy managed to break away solo and take the lead, we only caught up to him 500m away from the finish line, mad props to the guy. Anyway, the 70km had around 700m of total altitude, so lots of short and several long slopes. My friend and me are good climbers so we knew we had a slight advantage on those slopes, and we were proved right after the first few of them. Most of the pack would enter the slopes strong as hell, but they'd deflate usually at around 3/4ths of the way up, so we knew we would be able to stay with them and endure all the attacks. Now, if you ride gran fondos, you know that there arent that many attacks, usually only on climbs/descents, the rest of the way you just go in a pack. But here, since its was a short race, it was full on attack mode, all the drat time, everywhere. After the first brutal 15km we tried to break the peloton, my friend managed to take off for around 10kms, I tried to follow but due to inexperience I think I hosed him over because at first I tried to break away and catch up to him but after a few km I knew I couldnt manage (I was leading the peloton here). After 4-5km he started to get away slowly, and I should have lowered my speed to give him more time to widen the gap, but again, due to inexperience and adrenaline I kept trying to catch him and finally I ended up bridging the gap with the whole peloton behind me. I was feeling strong this day, plus all the excitement and stuff, I ended up leading I'd say at least 15-25% of the race, just going strong at the front hoping that eventually the group would break up. No dice. In the last 10km the peloton was still going strong, around 40-50 riders still together. I lead the group in the final 6-7km, all the way up to the last 1.5km. The finish was preceded by a 1,23km climb at 3,6% and a final 300-500m flat. I tried my best to finish strong but the legs weren't there anymore. Anyway, I ended up 21 seconds from the 1st place. There were about 20 people between those times. My friend managed to get 8th, around 8 seconds from the winner. The winner got less than a 1 second difference from the 2nd place, it was the dude that broke away in the first few kms and managed to solo the whole race up to the end. We did the 70km in 1:49 at and average of 38,3km. Overall very happy with the results and general form, I did dream with a podium but this wasnt your normal amateur race so finishing so close the the winners left a great feeling. Next year I hope to be back with 2 more team members and have a real strategy.  e: during a few moments in the race after lots of consecutive attacks, the peloton would ease up the rhythm a bit. After the 2nd or 3rd time my friend shouted to whoever was in the front at the moment to pick it up, something along the line of "pull drat it, this isnt a coffee ride". We didn't slow down again after that. Also, the day before he did a 10km TT, and at dinner he had a few beers and maybe half a bottle of wine. If he really wanted that 1st place medal, he could've had it no doubt. El Laucha fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Sep 17, 2021 |
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Sep 17, 2021 17:01
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 00:28 |
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