Our race never really split 1 rider went from the gun and everyone let him go . At the bottom of the final climb we had 5 in the group so our climber went off the front leaving the 4 of us to fight for places as we are pretty evenly matched , our 4th rider came 17th but 0.17 sec to put the team into 2nd place . The guys of the front team won easy with 4 inside the top 10
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alex_cycles
Guru
- Location
- Oxfordshire
I've always thought that if you're strong enough to do that you should be racing in the category above.
Really surprised your group didn't split. Was there no attack on the climbs?
In our race at least two teams attacked the first longer climb which broke things up into a group of 7 and a group of 6 and a third group with the rest in. And it never really came back together.
There were a few attacks but nothing really coordinated like your race . I would have liked to try your tactic but our riders 4 and 5 wanted to just hang on so the race came one of steady on the flats and the pace upping on the climbs dropping a few riders each time but we probably had 25 in the final group to the last 1km where it did string out
The guy who went off the front is one of the stronger riders in the league but only averaged 3.1w/kg and was basically let go . I think he went just after the group chilled after the start surge . I was at the back of the pack at the time otherwise I probably would have closed the gap but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to go with him from there
It difficult to judge how hard you can push it without damaging your teammates
steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
Our race didn't break up too much mainly because there were so many teams with the bare minimum of four riders, so no-one wanted to push the pace too hard in case they ended up dropping one of their own guys. In fact it was the team of three (who I guess knew they were coming last no matter what they did) who were the main antagonists, trying attacks all the time and this ending up dropping one team and very nearly a second on Jarvis (but one of them got back on during the downhill).
On the big climb, one team launched what was clearly a planned attack and all four of them (plus one from the team of three) got a gap and were never seen again. The remaining riders all got quite stretched out, but the gaps weren't big enough to cause any further breaks and it all came back together again once in the Jungle.
That left three teams of four left battling for second place on the final climb and our team had enough energy to hang on to the pack, but not very much more and we ended up coming fourth (all four riders finishing together in 15th through 18th) out of six teams total. But I set PR's on Jarvis, the climb up to Jungle Pens and Mayan Mountainside, so I can't say I didn't get a workout!
On the big climb, one team launched what was clearly a planned attack and all four of them (plus one from the team of three) got a gap and were never seen again. The remaining riders all got quite stretched out, but the gaps weren't big enough to cause any further breaks and it all came back together again once in the Jungle.
That left three teams of four left battling for second place on the final climb and our team had enough energy to hang on to the pack, but not very much more and we ended up coming fourth (all four riders finishing together in 15th through 18th) out of six teams total. But I set PR's on Jarvis, the climb up to Jungle Pens and Mayan Mountainside, so I can't say I didn't get a workout!
alex_cycles
Guru
- Location
- Oxfordshire
The weather was lousy, so we cancelled our outdoor retirees ride and I spoofed a couple of workouts instead. 
Here's what the whole ensemble looks like...
Here's what the whole ensemble looks like...
I didn't get back from work in time so missed this ride, but tbh even if I had I'd have been dropped before the Epic climb - the guy I finished with last week was 3 minutes behind at the Epic start so I'd have been off too! Thankfully we had a team of 4 and they stuck together really well until the finish - looked brutal!
steverob
Guru
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
To be fair, that guy’s team were the ones who lost one rider (or maybe two) on the Jarvis KOM, so the whole team had to drop back to stay with them as they were only a four, then they cruised to the finish as they were guaranteed to finish 5th anyway, beating the team with only three riders.
You’d have easily made the Epic and probably would have been with me and Phil going up, towards the back but not off it. Then it would have been down to how many matches you’d burned through as once the leaders broke away, the pace of the pack slowed considerably.
