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A THRSDY Crit Win with Ned Bowen


Written by Ned Bowen


Pre-race

Check the course and the players. It is always important to know who and where you are racing!

On the start list for this event was a large Rasio Racing contingent Alex Pleger, Joris Schepers, Andrzej Krajewski, Ben Phillips, Nick Greenhalgh and Jørgen Vanbers. Other strong riders I saw were James Melville, Jan Deca, Wout Hartveld, Jan Linden, Ben Skinner, Bas Van schaayk. Also on the startlist were Sammut, Lister, Rowbottom and Navin, but I am not sure they made the race.

As a dabbler in RGT racing, I am not familiar with everyone, but I knew with this strong group it would be a fun race.

 

The course for the event was the Playa Honda crit course (a Magic Road set in the Canaries), which I had not raced before. One nice thing about short courses and long races means you can really learn and perfect a new course over the 20 laps that were on the docket! The RGT load-in screen is not the most detailed course description, but I could clearly see there was a short steep climb just after the start/finish leading down into a complicated series of flattish hairpin turns that were likely to be pretty decisive in the race.

Flag Drop

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=43

The first order of business in any race is getting a good start. I like to do 400 watts from 5 seconds before start, since it seems RGT averages your power for those 5 seconds to give you your speed off the line. Speed off the line is then what gets you into a good drafting position. If someone decides to go hard from the gun, I may have to give a bit of a kick to keep close to the pack, but this race immediately went uphill for the first time over the kicker, so the main pack stuck together as Rasio took control. For me, the goals for the first few laps were to conserve energy sitting in, learn the course, and find the places separation would happen.

Hairpin Strings

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=288

The first few laps through tight corners are always a bit tricky as the pack is still large and gets strung out after the hairpins. Plus it can be hard to manipulate your avatar position the larger the pack, so it is easy to miss the inside line if you are caught on the outside while drafting. These first few laps I was still learning where the braking zones were for the corners, and I was working harder than I wanted to after each hairpin. I had just done a Zwift race, so my cornering was a bit shoddy, but the feel needed for RGT was starting to come back.

By the end of the second lap, we had about 20 in the front group with the Rasio crew and Melville keeping control of the group over the climb. No one was trying to break the group up. They just made it hard enough that the repeated grind over the climb would start the attrition within the group.

One of the things I noticed was that after all three hairpins there were definite attacking possibilities, since you could start laying down power before the apex. (The braking algorithm seemed to slow you substantially before the corner, but in the corner, you could keep the watts going before punching on the exit.) This would make it hard for everyone. Even those at the back of the group.

Testing the Hill

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=583

What about that hill you say? Lap 4 and it was time to see what a harder kick up the hill did to the group. This time Melville, Van schaack and I got a small gap that was immediately erased going through the downhill chicane. Just testing the legs.

Great Chicanery

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=607

Also, noting that chicane. One of the problems with attacking over small climbs like these is that a large bunch will swallow you up on the downhill, since the larger group can take advantage of the draft effect to increase speed, so having this slowdown on the downhill should be great for a breakaway attempt. Whether it should start on the climb or somewhere else remained to be seen.

Hairpin Gaps?

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=639

That same lap after the climb, I had good position going into the hairpin, so it was time to test what kind of separation pushing out of the corner would give. 400 watts, while stringing out the group, did not get separation with Hartveld and Greenhalgh staying close. At this point my HR was hitting 153 which for me is starting to get above threshold, so I was thinking that I should back off a bit and sit in for a few laps. Now on the 5th lap, we were down to 11 in the front group.

Testing, Testing 1 … 2

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=985

Lap 6. Time to get a little more serious. Again with good positioning going into the first hairpin, I wanted to see what a stronger attack might do. Melville had the same idea, and we got out to a small gap with Hartveld and Krajewski chasing. I kept pushing through the other hairpins to see how the gap developed, but by the start/finish straight we were all back together. Nothing came of it.

Repeatability

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=1175

Next lap. Improved execution. The previous lap I started my kick late out of the hairpin, but this time I was on the power earlier and got a bigger gap. Hartveld made a strong effort to get across, but it took until the top of the climb for Melville and Deca to catch back on. And the chase group behind was a bit splintered. I was a little bit over done with 12 more laps to go and the pace backed off letting the front group grow to 8.

Hairpin Gaps

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=1526

I felt like I recovered well after the previous effort, so another lap later and another attack after the first hairpin. If you can keep the pressure on … might as well do it. I assume everyone else had to be hurting from the accelerations, and this time when I got a gap, I held it for more than a few corners. 10 more laps to go. I did not think I could hold this to the finish on my own, but with 50 m at the start of the climb this was the biggest lead of the day so far.

Tacoma Narrows

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=1799

Lap 11. I am flagging a bit, though the gap was holding. Then Melville and Van schaayk made the bridge on the hill. Now this was perfect. A group of three can work together to keep the remaining 5 from the front group more easily than I could on my own. HR 160 … that is too damn high!

20 m is All it Takes

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=1946

At the end of the hairpin section the chase group gets as close as 20 meters, but strong work by Melville and Van schaayk up the hill sent the gap out to 70m. Now it was time to relax a bit. We settled into a bit of a rhythm. Van schaayk crushing the false flat, Melville going hard over the climb, and me punching out of corners. With the whole group conserving energy on the downhill.

The W’bal Tells the Story

 

Laps 11-13 were certainly where I had used up almost all of my reserves. I was glad to have the company so I could recover a little! The slow improvement of W’bal the next few laps showed how the pace slowed when we went to three at the front on Lap 11.

The Games Begin

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=3049

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=3240

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=3328

I normally have full confidence in my sprint at the end of a race. As long as I have enough easy pedaling right before the sprint kicks off, I will normally put up some good numbers. Probably comes from my many years of stop/start sprinting on the Ultimate field. For this race, I was content to let the others try to distance me. Van schaack really started to push the pace on the start/finish straight every lap, and I was actually having a bit of a hard time holding the wheel. Looking back at the video … now I notice the whole straightaway is +1.5%. I should pay more attention. I thought it was flatter! Now I see why I was having such trouble. Melville also makes a jump in my favorite hairpin to see if he can distance us.

The Final Lap

https://youtu.be/5jWeLJnt33M?t=3403

Melville hit out over the climb, Van schaayk had trouble hanging on, and it was down to two through the hairpin section. I thought about the early attack, but I am not sure I can hold off Melville for more than a few hundred meters. I know from past experience that he has quite the long distance finish and the strength to back it up! Melville then again went hard out of the first hairpin as I was caught behind a little bit of lap traffic, but I was able to stick with him.

My plan was to go hard from the exit of the last hairpin which was 300m out from the finish, and if I could get a gap to hold it to the line. The hairpin was really a little bit further from the line than I prefer, but the slower you are moving the easier it is to get a gap if you punch hard first, so it makes tactical sense to attack there in a small group. Luckly, I was able to get 20m by the gentle right turn onto the home straight, and I only had to hold on for 240 more meters. It is always nice to win a race. Great rides by James Melville, Bas Van schaayt and everyone else too.

If there is one thing I like about RGT. It is these races where I get to be completely on and off the power all the time. It just feels so much more natural than the constant pain of a TT or climbing the Stelvio!

 

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