by Eugene Boronow

In Saturday’s Grant’s Tomb race, Sakonnet and Axis (both CRCA sub-teams) had control. Sakonnet had six riders, Axis had four, Blue Ribbon had three, and the rest were pairs and individuals. It was windy, but not enough to cause splits—and it was cold.

@##=#<3,L>@##=#Sakonnet was on the attack throughout the race, maintaining a presence up the road and on the front of the field. Considering their numbers, this was a smart tactic: take turns attacking, make everyone else chase them and get tired, and possibly form a breakaway that has representation. They did it well, and the final selection had one of their guys (Chris Ruhl) in it. But the second half of that tactic should include following wheels of riders who try to bridge across to the breakaway. They did it well for most of the race, but in the end, their man was out-numbered 4-to-1.

The Axis team waited a while before engaging all of their strength. They followed wheels most of the race and only attacked to bridge up to dangerous-looking breakaways. But they were very keen about following the good attacks—the ones that looked meaningful. This was a more efficient use of their strength that favored their smaller number. In the end, John Loehner (Axis) and Chris Ruhl (Sakonnet) broke away, and the rest of the field was left to look at each other, knowing that the two driving forces in the race were gone; both big teams had what they wanted. Greg Wolf (Aerospace Engineering) saw the danger and went after them. Behind Wolf, Axis riders Zoltan Tisza and Karl Rahn, amazingly, were able to bridge up together, with no one following! Matt Howard (CRCA/Blue Ribbon) recognized the emergency situation and caught the group at the line (though he was trying to bring up his team mate, Jeff King). With Axis having a 3-out-of-5 advantage up the road, the race was theirs. Bravo.

@##=#<2,R>@##=#Then there are the individuals without team mates. Since these guys don’t have back-up, they have to be a bit sneaky about their riding, carefully choosing when to respond to attacks and when to let others respond. They have to look carefully at the team combinations that go up the road, and must be selective about which wheels to follow. They also have to recognize where their strength lies, and look for a situation that exploits it. Greg Wolf (Aerospace Engineering) seemed like the strongest in the race. He won all of the primes and had the strength (and the smarts) to join the winning breakaway and finish second. Brendan Cornett (Mechanical Svcs.) stayed quiet most of the race and won the field sprint for 7th.

But then there were riders without teams, or with only one team mate, who went to the front to chase down attackers. I don’t understand this at all. The team mate who chases a breakaway does it for the benefit of his team. But the team-less rider who chases is performing a true sacrifice: ruining his own chances in the race to benefit others—others who aren’t paying him! Riders who miss out on a good breakaway should either try to bridge across, go with someone who is bridging across, or let the losing team do the chasing (benefiting later for their hard work). When racing, every pedal stroke should serve a purpose. Efforts that don’t benefit the rider or his team are wastes of energy and resources. When wasteful efforts benefit another team, the harm to the rider (and his team) is compounded.
But in the end, they were all working for Axis who, because of these chasers, never had to ride on the front themselves. This brings us to me.

@##=#<1,L>@##=#I left my head at home on Saturday morning. Although I thought there would be an early breakaway (since it was windy) and acted accordingly, I also attacked too often and was tired later in the race. I made one good move to get across to the final selection, but my legs were dead and I didn’t make it. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have attacked at all during the race. Instead, I should have looked for the Axis/Sakonnet combination going up the road and followed. With only two of us in the race, I should have budgeted my energy more wisely. My other team mate in the race, however, Gavi Epstein, rode more sensibly than me. He stayed pretty quiet and was in a very good-looking breakaway mid-race. After we missed the final selection, he also made a late attack to finish ahead of the field, but they were all over him. So we got nothing in the end.

It’s always interesting to watch the teams perform their dances. It’s especially nice when all of the members of a team are enacting the same plan. And then there are the smaller teams or individuals who have to react to the events unfolding, choosing from a variety of situations, always playing the odds: considering, “What are the chances that an early breakaway will stay away?” “With those particular guys in the break, what are the chances that they’ll stay away?” “How likely will it be for me to ride solo for the last 1k? 2k? 3k?” “How likely am I to beat these guys in a sprint?” Some of us would be good gamblers. Some wouldn’t.