Sprinting

KW - Dai's Drift Then Windsor (non-stop)

Short and flat (https://www.unbiciorejon.com/2019/02/javiers-ride-classification-criteria.html)

I find it fascinating how sprinting plays in my mind.

At Drift I felt ok(ish). I even took a few turns in the front. But the truth is at some point it was my turn to go in the front but I simply couldn't pass Denis. His pace had already took me to my limit. Dai and the Pope passed me. Final ramp comes and all I'm telling myself is "stay with them, stay with them". We got to the top together and now my mind switched to "wait for it, wait for it". When I saw Denis accelerating I jumped on his wheel and when I was ready went for it. It took me about 7 minutes to recover from the effort.

The approach to the sprint before Hampton Court was slow. That suited me well. Denis and the Pope ahead of me and Dai on my wheel. I knew I had to keep an eye on Dai but that was a pretty good setup for the sprint. Sudenly a train of 5 riders passed us. Didn't hesitate for a second and jumped on their wheel. That was the biggest power effort for the whole sprint. That situation stayed for about 40seconds (I'm actually looking at my power data). At that point the rider in the front moved to the left signing he was done. "That's five of us then" I thought. Pace went up a bit with the fresh legs at the front. A new push. Not very long though, around 20 seconds and the rider moved to the left. "That's four of us now, this is shaping well". Another push by the rider at the front and the rider just ahead of me let a gap open. It happened so quickly I didn't even have time to react. The gap was just about too big to jump across without killing myself. "You'll get third" I thought knowing I was going to be able to pass the rider just ahead of me and as I was thinking that Denis passed me. That's exactly what I needed. Jumped on his wheel for a few seconds and then went for the sprint. I'd argue I took the sprint but it is true that only because the two riders in the front stopped pedaling aproaching the left hand bend. Doesn't matter. I was happy with my effort and my tactics.

I normally leave my riding companions at Hampton Court but it was so early and the route so short I decided to ride with them to Kingston just to make it a bit longer. Very quickly I jumped to the front with Denis and the Pope on my wheel. I knew I had to pace myself if I wanted to be able to sprint at Kingston. I did fairly well. 2 minutes average poser 286w. But the truth is I was feeling my legs dying. Not slowing down massively but knowing that if I tried to sustain the pace I woudn't be able to sprint. As I was thinking that Denis and the Pope passed me. That allowed me to recover for a few seconds before I saw the Pope accelerating. Jumped on his wheel and went for the sprint.

You could wronly believe that I did well in terms of sprinting. No, not at all. All Dai, Denis and the Pope kept taking sprints through the whole ride. My excuse is most of them I didn't even know they were there but looking at the celebrations I'm sure they were giving lots of points toward the green jersey classification in today's ride.

There is, obviously, no mention of JFW performance today. He had landed at 5am after a couple of weeks somewhere in APAC. We all know that those circumstances are a sure recipe to be slaughtered. I dare to say he was.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities

Take care
Javier Arias González