Location: Prospect Park, NY, NY
Distance: 53 Miles
Date: Saturday, August 28th, 2004
Racer: J.P. Partland
With lots of riders and a number of teams with five riders apiece, vigilance was important. It is easy in fields this size to zone out for a minute and go from 10th position to 60th. And with fields of this size collective inertia can make or doom breaks. Many CRCA riders were present because their club championship was cancelled. Despite the size, there was only one GS Mengoni rider present, meaning that they weren't around to make the chase in the final laps.
The first few laps felt mid tempo. Some attacks were happening, but the field was ready to chase them down. It wasn't blazing, but no one wanted anything to go away.
Eric was getting annoyed by the riding. He went to chill at the back, telling me he thought the time to go was about three laps to go.
I got myself into a few splits, mostly from riding hard over the top of the hill and keeping the pressure on. Mostly, the groups were detonating themselves because people weren't committing. This could be a result of the middling pace--guys were strong enough to attack, but weren't strong enough to work the moves they started.
I was looking for combinations. The key teams to watch were Next, Conrads, Guyana, Fior di Friutta--at least two of them had to be in the move. Metro and Hell's Kitchen wouldn't be bad, but they had riders who were doing the attack and die thing.
At the real five laps to go, the field seemed to be catching its breath on the hill. Unfortunately, a large group had just rolled away. I was in the wrong spot for this to happen. I attacked the field the top of the hill, made it to the split and rode to the front to see if we could make this the move of the race. Only the field woke up, and most of the guys in the split decided they were passengers. It was brought back.
With four to go, two next riders, a Guyana and Conrad's went. Eric countered to get up there--and made it. I waited behind, close enough to the front to avoid splits, and far enough back to get some protection. If someone tried to counter from the field, I could get there. If it looked like the break was establishing itself past the top of the hill, I was in a position to limit the chase from behind.
Eric came off the break. He might have been thrown by the duel we seemed to be having with the lead group of the masters field. We passed them. They passed us. We passed back. The confusion was good for the break, bad for the field.
When Eric came back, he proceeded to ride the front to chase down the break. If he could help bring the field close, there's be an opporunity to jump across. Despite the numbers in the field, few would chase with Eric. A number of times, he rolled to the front, and then past the front soloinig a bit as few wanted to follow him. There were some attacks, but once again, the attacks were made by people unwilling or unable to follow through. I found myself off the front, pulling around a few riders--even teammates who wouldn't work for each other.
The break wasn't going to be caught, so it was time to set up for fifth. I attacked over the top of the hill, didn't get far enough, and no one came. I faded a bit, but slotted in near the front. Down the hill, I picked up Wilson Vasquez' wheel. EVeryone knows Wilson is a great sprinter, so I didn't want to get in a fight for his wheel. He was on the right, so I got over to the left and started to move up. I was sitting in a good spot in 10th. Conrads did the right thing, and put two of its riders at the front to wind up the sprint. Unfortunately, they burned out with 500 meters left. Time to go, as the field was starting to lose momentum. I was just about to make my move, when I got boxed in by two Metros passing me on the left and them parking themselves. They weren't interested in leading one another out, or helping their best rider, Daniel Byrne. They were arguing with each other. I tried to go to the left of them, but they veered left and took me right to the edge of the jogger's lane. The only way to move up was into the lane. I backed off, took about two seconds to assess my chances, and decided I was in no position to take one of the last five spots, and sat up.|
Here's the funny thing. Beware of impressions Despite the size of the pack and the feeling of speed, and that I felt better today than I did the last time I raced in Prospect, this race was four minutes slower than the last Prospect race I did. Don't know why.
JP |
