Ninigrit Last Lap

This is a short follow up to the Pre Race Report:

-Was only dropped off the back of the M1/2/3 field. Took the free “get lapped and keep racing” lap, and got dropped again. Shout out to everyone that tried to help me by giving helpful nudges to stay in the pack draft- wish I could have stuck it for the day, but legs didn’t have it. Still lasted longer than I normally do for a second race of the day, so I’m calling that progress!

-Crashes in both fields, dodged the one in the M3/4 field that included Mainely_Cheekbones (#RIP), good karma for the day was yelling at Doctor_Indefatigable that everyone in the crash was fine and we should keep racing. Mainely_Cheekbones took his free lap, and finished the day 10th- way to not let the crash keep a fast racer down!

-Strava says that lap catching back on from the crash, and the last lap, were the fastest ones for the day. Crash Lap was about the twenty-nine minute mark on the second to last corner, included about fifty seconds of hard work moving back up to comfortable spot. Last lap was when I finally dropped the nerves and #sentit with proper corner railing and no brakes. Picked up a lot of spots on that last lap, came into the straightaway first- right behind the twenty riders that were already on the front and formed a small gap (#RIP) Sooo just a couple steps forward in getting this bike racing thing dialed

Paid for this image by Katie Busick, because she is Very Talented and patient with my literal tongue-in-cheek attitude and one day Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and your literal brain might implode so do your backups, people! And also consider supporting Katie by buying some of her work on her website!

Tend to spend a lot of the post-race discussion talking about How The Race Played Out- the main motivation for this post is to give something more concrete for people that ask me a lot of questions after races on What Happened (looking at you, new crit teammies and Doctor_Indefatigable). The common refrain is, “Everything was going well, until the last lap!” and then WHAMMO they go from leading the field to spat out the back and very confused

Here’s a Strava Gif of my last lap. It’s not that useful, since it didn’t win the race (yay #nihilism !), but if you’re still figuring out how to do your #LastLapFastLap, I hope it enforces the following:

-Every single warm-up and beginning laps of a criterium should be spent figuring out the best lines, A through Z, including the edge of your comfort in handling and #NoBrakesNoRules routes

-Race isn’t over until it’s over

-Don’t save moving up until the last lap! Move up within at least five minutes of the race ending!

LEVELING UP MY SOCIAL MEDIA SKILLS

Bike racing is it’s own reward- if you had fun, that’s a win! Keep reading these Analysis posts if you’re like me and enjoy fiddling with the nuances of the mental and strategy part of racing

Fun things to keep in mind when #Ninigrit comes around in two weeks

*this is also a good practice write up when I start picking apart #BikeNHMS Strava Files

Week 1, Year 10 (!?!?) of Bike Racing

For a personal website that’s primarily dedicated to an amateur beer league hobby elevated to an almost fanatical level of obsession, there’s little to say in the off season. Maybe you, Constant Reader, like long proses about long boring trainer rides and “deep dive” talks about the best weight lifting regiments. To me, it’s just work. I enjoy it, and I do it

Almost thirty is a tad too old to be waxing eloquence on the nihilistic joy of bike racing, so here’s Past Benjamin rambling about that . No, I was not paid for these eyesores. I’m sad the original ECCC blogosphere is down, but it’s probably the best for everyone

Alongside the usual post-race report, we also have the pre-race report. I’ve done nearly every single race in New England, and while I’ve ‘enjoyed’ every single one, there’s little to say that’s refreshing or unique for your time, Constant Reader. It’s just racing. I enjoy it, and I do it

It’s that simple

First on the docket is a snap decision to do #Ninigret. Snap in the sense that I wasn’t planning on doing this, but when teammies are going to the race, you GET IN THE VANS AND GO. This race has a name, but as the regional colloquialism it’s easier to say #Ninigret. Unless you’re first in your field, in which case it’s a #WINIGRET. It’s an abandoned motocycle/airfield park right on the coast, in the flatlands of this Massachusetts suburb Rhode Island. In early New England spring, this means:

-it’s cold

-it’s windy

-the vast majority of racers will use this race as their first opportunity to remember how to handle riding outside inside a tight pack at high speed

-it’s cold and windy, a bit too much for proper bike racing

Racing #ninigret in 2018. This is the year that I start paying Katie Busick more for her photos, because they are the BEST and apparently she thinks I have good skin which her nice way of saying, “your team kit and rainbow bike and literal tongue-in-cheek are a little TOO outrageous for me to not shoot”

The course is arguably technical. It’s flat and wide, but the turns and winds help make it interesting. Technical skills and smarts will absolutely help win the race, but it won’t drop racers off the back

Here is a map of the course:

2017's first Ninigret is LESS THAN 1 MONTH AWAY! To help you prepare, I've put together this helpful beginner's guide to this NE classic! pic.twitter.com/FUdSQM1E3W

— NECyclingExpert (@NEcyclingexpert) February 28, 2017

My predictions for this race are:

-by Murphy’s Law, my smart ass-comments about being dropped off the back means I’m going to get dropped off the back

-one crash per field

-both races I’m in will be won by a small group off the front

Teammies, if one of us makes the break, channel your inner Elsa and LET IT GO. It’s cold enough, should be easy enough to do

*I’d like to say that’ll be me, but we’re also going to play this one by ear as I figure out what my heart is doing

For jogging, my heart really shouldn’t be doing that…