So I lost a race last week.  Well, about 30 of us did.  But I was one of them and it’s been sort of bothering me all week.  It was the Speedway criterium in Indianapolis.  It was a fairly large Masters field of about 30 riders in the 50+ group, and no team had more than 3 riders in it, so there would likely be no dominating squad establishing the race pattern of attacks, counter attacks and parrys. It was fast in the final analysis.  21 miles in 48 minutes for an average speed of over 26mph. But that’s not so remarkable.  Anyone, well not anyone, but most of us can turn that over on our own and certainly in a group without too much trouble.  It’s the attacks, accelerations and their frequency and the math that create the chaos.    While I am not a disciple of numbers I am certainly a believer.    It was a relatively benign 4 corner course, most wide and sweeping.  You could pedal through them, but we didn’t really have to. 

1	Ryan Bredemeyer		25:15
2	Jake Cohen		25:47
3	Jake Richards		27:20
4	Leigh Dukeman		27:56
5	Ivy Moore		28:24
6	Emily Carrier		29:22
7	Matt Summers		29:25
8	Brian Drummy		30:04
9	Kathryn Wallisch	30:08

Results courtesy Carl Field

We are a couple of weeks into the racing season and already the battle lines are being drawn among the larger teams.  You would recognize the names; Texas Roadhouse, First Internet Bank, Zipp, Shellers, and the riders; Tolson, Kroll, Peterson, Richter, Clark.   Last week a few Bakehouse raced the Eagle Creek oval criterium and this weekend we were at the Marian circuit.  For me, pre-race preparation included listing the teams and individual riders, a review of earlier race results, who is going well, theorizing a presumed strategy for the big teams and establishing a plan to either insert myself into ‘the break’ or positioning for the inevitable trains as they developed in  the last few laps.  Some things can be cross tabulated, but bike racing doesn’t easily lend itself to absolutes.  However, mathematically, all things being equal, if one team has 4 riders and another has 3 then the ‘lesser’ team- in the simplest equation- has to have someone double up on coverage to counter in the last set to engage in all of the ‘larger’ team’s attacks.  So, an interloping team or individual rider needs to be aware of this dynamic and respond accordingly.  Simple, Yes? (wink-wink-nudge-nudge).  But bike races aren’t fought on paper.