FireBike: Snowball #2: Pics and Race Report

At least this race did not live up to the name. Sunny and high 50s was a great day to hold the last of the pre-season training races. It was a good day for me and my team.

Chris Larkin

Kevin Horvath

John Gray

...and me (Joshua Goyet)

lined up for the start of the 3/4 race for the Virginia Beach Wheelmen (VBW). We had sound tactics...try and control the race. Put someone in every break, attack and chase if we were not in a break. When it came to the end of the race, I was going to lead out.

Chris is not new to cycling, but in his past he raced exclusively Master races. So he never upgraded from a Cat 4. Our primary goal was to get Chris some upgrade points, second goal was to win the race. A promising looking break got up the road and put some distance between us. VBW was not in it. At first we sat in and watched it develop. Mainly because other teams were chasing pretty well and we kept seeing riders fall from the break, so they were losing their fire power. One of the teams that seemed to chase well was Celerity Cycling. So we let them chase. At one point John Gray made a good move to bridge the gap. He got to one of the middle groups, but it was what we needed at the time to push the pack a little faster. Unfortunately for John, the move and the chest cold he had been fighting was a little much for him and he was not able to get back in the pack. It was a sacrifice move because next Kevin took the pull followed by Chris and then I closed the final gap and the break was caught.

As we moved to the final few laps, Chris and Kevin got my wheel. I moved up to the front and with 2 laps to go we were in good position. On the final lap I entered into turn 2 in 3rd position behind two Carytown racers. I kicked it to the inside to bring Chris and Kevin even with Carytown's sprinter as we rounded the sweeping turn. What I didn't know is that Chris had lost my wheel in battle and Kevin had lost his. So when they didn't come around me I had to dig in and try to hold as best as I could. Chris did find a clearing and came up hard. I ended with 5th place and Chris was 6th. Kevin came in at an impressive 13th place and avoided the crash on the final lap.

Although it wasn't "as planned", I couldn't have been happier. My form is good and I am feeling confident. As a team we haven't worked on leadouts and sprints yet this year, so there is bound to be a little mistake here and there. The mistake was more my mistake. When moving up to the front, at one point I made a move through the middle of the pack. I invited battling for my wheel. I should have been a little more patient and simply stayed to the inside and made the move from there, it would have allowed them to stay and my wheel easier.

Next Kevin, myself and

Jon Nisbet

lined up for the start of the 1/2/3 race. I don't have as exciting of a race report on this race. I think for all of us we were going to be in survival mode. Jon has been fighting a chest cold also last week and Kevin and I just finished racing the 3/4 race. After bridging to a move up the road, Jon was spent. Kevin and I rode well and tried to stay out of trouble and out of the wind. A lot of people were dropping off so we had to be careful not to let gaps form. Kevin pulled out with 5 to go to watch the sprint. I stayed in and suffered through my leg cramps and finished at the tail end of the main group.

Overall it was a good day. We placed well in the 3/4 race and got some good speed work in the 1/2/3 race. Good day.