Race Report: RPI Tour de Troy 3/4

This weekend I got talked into doing the 3/4 crit at RPI's Tour de Troy. I doubt RPI will ever put on that course again, way too much hostility from the city government, but if anybody does, I highly encourage doing it. Awesome course in a great downtown venue.

The 3/4 was basically a throwaway to let some of the locals race and collegiate guys to do more miles. It was super late in the day (5pm start) and cold (mid to low thirties), so only about a dozen people lined up. I only finished at the back of the lead group, completely unable to match Drexel Tim's breakaway in the closing laps, so nothing amazing to report. It was, however, super ridiculously fun, and the first time in years that I did a race and just plain had a good time. I was also super happy about it because my endurance is actually really high right now but I have not been doing much/any intensity, so I was pleased to hang on to some strong guys even without warming up.

I wanted though to point out three things from the race in hopes that they might be useful to newer racers:

Field Reading

I can't stress enough that being able to read the riders around you is, in my opinion, the most important skill to work on. I spend a lot of time with new racers and they all constantly say things like "I felt strong, but I just got dropped" or "I was riding the corners well, but I just got gapped in the last one." Lots of times, that's actually because the people around you aren't riding well. Especially in a very small group, you need to closely watch the two or three guys in front of you. If they look like they're cracking, you need to get around them so that you don't get caught behind a huge gap when they fall behind. Lately I've mostly tailgunned the back of the field on group rides and what few races I've been doing, and it would never work if I wasn't allocating the vast majority of my mental focus to watching out for this and coming around people as necessary.

Pick Your Battles

Everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and that extends to particular course features. This course, for example, was pretty non-technical, but had 6.5 corners in a kilometer course so they came up fairly quickly. The three middle ones in particular came in rapid left/right/left succession so it warranted some care. I was not able or willing to whip through them quite as fast as the leaders, but after a couple laps it was clear I had a better line on the two closing corners. That freed me from having to really worry about the middle three. I could mentally relax, and I didn't have to jump as hard coming out of them to cover that difference because I'd still be able to move up and be energy neutral for the lap after the next set.

Control the Field

After the first twenty minutes or so of the race, a few riders had dropped behind but everybody else was pretty much doing a nice, pleasant group ride of ~9 or so. Coming off a cold start---too much running around with a last minute crisis at registration---I had finally warmed up and was just hanging out in the back with my friend Maggie, definitely riding slightly above her comfort zone but hanging well with the boys. There weren't any primes planned for the race, but a few spectators offered up cash for some impromptu sprints. As soon as I saw the officials getting out the bell, I knew Maggie and I were screwed. She would almost definitely get dropped if the pace went much higher and I was worried about three things:

• Someone would get too jumpy and there'd be a crash.
• I'd get dropped and lose contact as the leaders ramped up the pace.
• The already tiny field would shatter and we'd all wind up doing boring ass solo TTs in significant wind for the next 20 minutes.

Knowing I would never be able to take the prime around the top guys, instead I focused on the bigger picture of those three concerns and immediately jumped to the front of the field. Most people probably figured it a pointless, stupid effort, attacking way, way too early. Instead though, I intentionally went to the front and tried to raise the pace just enough so that people would hesitate to come around and attack the group. Similarly, by pulling all the way into the sprint I gave a bunch of guys---who would have crushed me anyway---a good leadout, but ensured I was on their wheels coming out of the sprint.

In practice this worked beautifully. By going above my threshold but not spiking it, I protected my own minimal high-intensity energy reserves and made sure that:

• I was in front in case someone did crash, and helped prevent that by keeping it calmer.
• Made damn sure I was on the leaders' wheels coming out of the sprint in case they kept going and attacked off the prime.
• Discouraged anyone from attacking and either getting up the road or causing the group to shatter; in the event, Maggie and I both made it through totally fine and the group stayed together.

All of this was vindicated when another unexpected prime came up a few laps later. Unable to come forward and do the same thing, three things instantly happened:

• Some guy in the middle of the group overcooked a corner and crashed.
• Half the group got dropped and shattered into TTs.
• I barely made the lead selection, but couldn't come forward to match the winning counter attack that come shortly thereafter.

So, a tactic to think about. On the surface it's a stupid move if you're aiming to win, but there is a lot you can do to impose your will on a field if you're willing to put out a little extra effort, like protecting yourself and your "teammate" like I did here.

Teamwork

One of the things I've really enjoyed this season is watching the bounty of team tactics being put into play by a number of schools.

You can see this in lots of places, in big and small actions. An early, clear, simple example was the Men's A crit at Stevens, with Tom Coupe (UNH) waiting until Josh Lipka (UNH) was well clear of the field, devastated by the brutal climb every lap and unable to match Josh's breakaway, before launching his own attack. Josh then visibly took his foot off the gas just long enough for Tom to join him, then the two motored away to an assured 1-2 placing for UNH.

Another was the finale of this weekend's Yale criterium, where no less than 3 different UVM riders gave an excellent, very obvious leadout from several hundred meters out to put Colin Jaskiewicz (UVM) well ahead of all the conference's strongest sprinters and riders in the final push for the line. It seems to have taken the Catamount's Men's A team a while this season to figure themselves out and get some organized team dynamics going, but now that they're on the ball it's a tough group to beat.

Of course, this is hardly the case in the Men's B field, where the UVM squad has seemingly had their act together the whole season. It's sometimes not been clear when they were using real tactics and when they just had so many people in the field it looked like they were doing something smart, particularly when they've struggled to contain breakout riders and some good team dynamics from UPenn, MIT, and a few other teams, but every now and then they really get it together.


My favorite though has been watching the USMA Men's A squad. Between them and Courtney Rehwoldt (USMA) in the Women's A field, they've done an awesome job at holding onto the lead spot in the ECCC Nationals Qualifications for some time now, an impressive feat for a D2 team. A key aspect of the squad is that any member can do really well on any given day, and each also has their own strength---climbing, sprinting, or covering---that complements the others' well.


One of my favorite races to watch so far this season was the Men's A crit at Army, precisely because it both showed off their strengths and the extent to which they all work together as a group. Early, early in the race Derek Merkler (USMA) and Nick Wheeler (USMA) found themselves in a breakaway with Vinny Scalia (UVM) and Chris Redmond (Rutgers). At first I gave it only marginal odds of succeeding, but the break found a good rhythm and held it together with apparently no infighting until the very end of the race, each member putting in the work to make sure it stuck, especially the USMA guys. There have been very few breakaways this season that Derek has not been involved in this year, covering every serious looking move with seemingly limitless energy, and it was great to see this one pay off big for him and Nick.

Just as importantly, back in the field, the other half of the squad immediately adjusted to defend their guys in the break. Steve Pingree (USMA) quickly switched into the cover role, launching out of the field to bring back any counterattacks or bridging attempts. Erik Wilburn (USMA) meanwhile played a cool defensive role, helping with the blocking and trying to conserve some energy to hedge their bets for the field sprint in case the breakaway was brought back.

All in all, I thought it was a fantastic display of teamwork and group dynamics, each sacrificing and switching around roles a little bit to support each other and bring in some big points for the team. I think it's fitting that the team from the USMA are the ones to really pull together some of the best teamwork and coordinated riding seen in the conference recently.


Hopefully as our fields continue to get bigger and faster and teams keep growing in both size and sophistication we'll see more and more of these sort of coordinated efforts, as that's really what makes crits and road races more than just a mass time trial. Impressively, we've already started to see some slight beginnings of riders looking out for teammates in the Intro races. Next up though I believe is the Women's A field, where we're just starting to have some schools in there with enough riders to really work on a team plan. In particular, I think the MIT Women's A squad now has the numbers, the nature, and the consistency to work some team tactics. More to the point, I think they're going to have to if they hope to cover some of the breakout individual riders in that field, and it should be awesome to watch them do so.