first race

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I have been nervous about racing and have read other posts which have been helpful to me. I will return the favor and hopefully it will help someone else who is thinking about starting racing. I raced a Cat 5 crit/cirucuit on Saturday. The road was wide and smooth with a couple of hills and one narrow area. Loops were around 1.5 miles. Just over 50 raced. 30 min.

I feel my base is pretty good, have been working on sprints, 3-5 minute hard efforts with recovery, and an 80 minute group ride weekly with 45 minutes of "threshhold" paceline in the middle -get dropped every time, 5 weeks running. Also practiced turns at speed in parking lots etc.

Pace was moderate to start, efforts increased on hills. 2-3 2 person breakaways, no one seemed to care. Group caught back up in 1-2 laps. Prem lap was very fast but winners rejoined group immediately.

I was able to stay in front 3rd of group most of the time. I was worried about getting dropped - I did absolutely no work at the front. Halfway through, I felt great. With 3 laps to go I still felt good so I started moving up. Crash at lap 3, 7-8 riders down. I didn't see anyone on the ground or at the sides as we passed on next loop - assume no serious injuries. By the 2nd to last loop, I was 15-20 back. On the last loop, 2 riders took off at the bottom of the last hill. I decided to chase, caught them at the top of the hill and the 3 of us had the lead until 200 yards to the finish. The finish was at the top of the 2nd hill. The sprint started, I was in too high of a gear and was passed like I was standing still. I should have down shifted but didn't want to stop pedaling for even .1 seconds.(next time I will be ready) Ended up 15th. I was really happy, next time I will race a little more and sit in a little less.

Sorry so long, I wanted to include all of the info that had been helpful to me.

Great report! Congrats on the finish. I still have 20 or so lbs to drop before i try my first Cat V race in 15 years. Good luck in your next one.

Nice work.:)

Don't be so keen to race off the front too hard and waste energy before it really counts (unless of course that's the plan or you are looking for a hard training session). Your race plan as descibed is pretty good really. I always try to stay around top 10 in those sort of crits, depends how technical the course is as at the front is generally the safest place to be. Keep nose out of the wind unless you are serious about getting away, then you have to put the smack down for a while.

Try and make a few buddies and have a team plan - that can be quite fun to do and you can get a sense of additional accomplishment if your mate gets up.

And keep the training up, it will make a big difference.
Most important - have fun racing. it's a bug I caught and will never leg go of. Most fun on two wheels.:D

I second what Alex said: don't work just for work's sake. Sit in as much as possible and attack when it counts. Sometimes you do have to get in the wind a little bit to hold your position near the front, but otherwise the name of the game is conservation of energy until you're ready to put the smack down, and it sounds like you're able to do a little of that. Glad you had fun! Brings back memories for all us old-timers.

Definitely a rush to race. Gives my training a purpose. I plan on getting stronger and will hopefully see some gains in power over the next year. Now it is time to start looking for another race.