Last weekend was the 3rd round of the Korean
National Amateur Series (MCT) and it is the only course of the 6 round series
that is consistently suited to my abilities (flat and likely for a mass sprint
finish). Given this, I tried to prepare
as best as I could despite my work situation and a friend visiting for a week
prior just before the race. The
best prep ride I had was definitely the Watts Century which was a hundred mile
group ride with multiple long climbs included. That plus lots of mid-week mountain bike & road rides before
work plus squats at the gym all winter was my main training base.
I have a good history racing in Naju with a 2nd,
8th and 1st place finish to my record but I wasn’t
feeling as strong as I did last year for the race. I was still confident that a top 10 was well within my reach
though. The race started off fast
and despite numerous attacks nothing got more than about 10 seconds in front of
the pack. I felt good and stayed
sheltered until the last 5 km when I started to move up. About 1km before the finish there was a
tight corner and I knew it would be critical to be in the top 10 going into it
because it could easily cause the pack to split.
Watts cycling had other ideas though and they had 3 guys at
the front leading out their leader Tim Rochford for the sprint. I wasn’t as far up as I wanted to be so
I passed several riders in the gutter to jump into about 8th place
in line going into the corner but the Watts team took it hard enough that they
pulled off the front of the line.
Looking around I knew no one in front of me was going to start pulling
but out of the corner of my eye I saw the yellow jersey and winner of the first
2 races Chang Jin Ahn come flying up the side of us. I jumped on his wheel and we came in to sprint for 2nd
place with Tim holding us off by 2 seconds at the finish. I wasn’t able to come around Chang Jin
but still held on for 3rd which I was satisfied with. It would have been hard to beat Tim
even if I would have been on his wheel going into the last corner given the
perfect lead out his teammates gave him.
Our team placed well with 3 riders in the top 20 for 2nd
place in the team competition on the day.
Which puts us as the 5th ranked team in the series currently
and myself ranked 14th overall. There are 3 races left and I would like to work my way into
a top 10 spot in the series. I
will be more than satisfied if our team is able to hold onto a top 5 spot as
well.
The next day was a circuit race and TTT at the F1 race track
in Mokpo. We majorly screwed up
the tactics in the circuit race to miss the breakaway and hence prize money
spots but redeemed ourselves with a respectable top 10 in the TTT. All of the races were super fast with over
a 42km/hr average for the TTT and 43km/hr for the Naju road race. The highlight for me though of racing
at the F1 track is going out for crab afterwards. They have this amazing restaurant which serves raw crab meat
marinated in sweet red pepper paste and then served with crab soup. It’s
definitely one of my favorite foods in Korea and was a great way to end an
overall successful weekend.
This was also my first week on my new Cipollini Bond bike
and I have to say I’m very pleased with performance. Light, stiff, responsive and comfortable as well. I’m definitely looking forward to
racing more on it. For the next 2
weeks there are no races but my team is going to a pension in the woods this
weekend for a sort of team building camp and to do some photos for the
sponsors. Next up there is another
fun team time trial and then the next race of the MCT series which will be on a
rolling course with a small hill for the finish. If I can keep training well I’m hoping for a good finish
there as well. (Pics Below)
지난 주말에 시합 두 개 나갔습니다. 토요일에 MCT 3번째 나주 대회 탔고 일요일에 영암 F1경기장에서 써킷 레이스 와 티티티
탔습니다.
나주 에 우리 팀 약속에
땅 같은 곳 입니다. 항상 탈 때 마다 누가 포디엄
오로 가고나 단체 일등 합니다.
작년에 제가 나주에서 일등 해서 이번에도 잘 타 고 싶었습니다.
작년 보다 준비 좀 부족 했지만
웨트 하고 주중 남산 라이딩 와 와츠 센추리 장거리 라이딩 하면서 준비했어요.
그리고 이번에 우리 팀 새 자전거
다 받았습니다.
내가 치폴리니 본드 캐모 새 깔 로 선택 했습니다. 자전거 가 아주 stiff
와 comfortable 하니까 자신 있었어요!
이번에 나주 전략은 작년처럼 그냥 팩에서 마지만
5키로 남을 때 까지 잘 쉬면서 라스트 잘 치고 싶었습니다.
이번에 코스 조금 달랐지만 아주 빨은 코스이었고 브레이크어웨이 절 때 못 가는 코스 이였어요.
1키로 남을 때 약간 어려운
커브 있어서 난 그때
10등 정도 되야 일등 가능성 있겠다 생각했습니다.
그래서 그 정도 자리 잡았습니다. 하지만 와츠 팀 다른 계획 있었어요. 커브에서 앞에 3명 너무 세게 타면서 4등 사람 못 달라갔어요. 그래서 1키로 남을 때 갑자기
와츠 3명 50미터 gap 있었어요. 그리고 내가 앞에 있는 사람들
안가고 있었어요. 근데 갑자기 안창진
선서 갔어 서 내가 바로 뒤에 달라갔어요.
우리 1등 했던 Tim
선수 못 잡았지만
2,3등으로 들어왔어요.
난 창진 넘어 가봤지만 못넘어서
3등했습니다. 이거 아주 만족 한 결과이었습니다.
우리 팀 결과 도 잘나왔어요, 20등 내 3명 있어서
단체 2등 했어요! 이제는 우리 단체 랭킹 5등 이고 난 개인 14등 입니다. 앞으로 난10등 들어가는 목표로 타겠습니다. 그리고 우리 팀 5등잡을수있으면 아주 만족 한 MCT
시즌 될거같습니다.
일요일에 영암에서 써킷 결과는
전략 잘 못 잡았기 때문에 잘 안나 왔지만 TTT 십등 내로 들어 와서 만족 했어요. 앞으로 시합 전에 팀 회의 하고 그날 전략 잡아야겠다 ㅎㅎ. 근데 항상 F1시합 타로 올 때 시합 보다 계장 먹는거
도 기대 합니다. 이번에도 게살비빔밥 와 꽃게 탕 맛있게
먹었어요!
