Frustrated...

Thompson Motor Speedway Crit today.

Cat 4. Finishd 6th.

Frustrated...

Cambridge Team (black/white kit) did a great job blocking. They'd send a guy up the road and then go to the front and block at the same time. That's reasonable.

What I was frustrated by was not the blocking, which is totally legit, but the disruption of chase groups.

See, when a chase forms and you have a rider off the front, then it's logical that you join the chase and do 0 work. That way, if the chase catches the break, then you have 2 in a break. Wonderful.

What I think is ridiculous is getting in a chase group and rotating through and then setting a false tempo at the front thereby blocking in a chase group... There's a difference between not pulling and actively disrupting a chase. I think the latter, while a good tactic, is pretty unsportsmanlike. There's a difference between not working, and physically hindering the efforts of others.

Then a guy from a team I won't name, was cooked with 1.75 laps to go. So after drifting back from the front, he tried to nudge his way into the strung out 'field' instead of just going to the back or filling a gap. He almost caused a crash. He also knocked me out of my protected slot and forced me to go around him and lose my wheel since he was physically in the way.

I proceeded to have to burn a match in the wind unshielded. After that I picked the wheel of someone who was cooked for the sprint, and ended up sprinting on the windy side for 6th. 5th guy beat me by half a wheel. Ugh.

All said and done, it was a good race. I took a more active role in the race and did my part to chase down breaks and attack.

Hopefully I'll be recovered some for the crit tomorrow. I'm hoping to do well or help someone on the team do well if I'm tired.