Hey gang. I'm back. Had a good time after last years season. I road in the LA triathlon and ran my first half marathon in 1:50:48. Now it's back to crit season and time to retrain the legs for power and lactate threshold.
The first race with CBR, California Bicycle Racing was at Dominguez Hills, CA. Here is a short synopsis I hope gets dome of you fired up. Dominguez Hills is a great course, it has four relatively wide turns, no strategic cornering required. The race was set for all right turns today. There was a fair breeze blowing thanks to the Santa Ana winds, but not too strongly as I had feared driving in. the course is mostly flat with a slight decrease in elevation after turn #1 and slight increase after turn #3.
Disclaimer: Forgive some of my rudimentary explanations, but being that I was a beginner last year, I still like to explain some of the basics for those who have never raced before and would like to learn a little more about it.
My day was pleasantly full. I felt great waking up this morning. Healthy and full of confidence. It was also nice to get a good 7 hours of sleep last night too. Started the morning off with coffee and juice. Then loaded the bike and made it to the race site about 9am. Race was at 9:55 so I had time to sign my waiver, register, pay, and warm up on my trainer for 20 min. A trainer is a mounting device that allows me to ride my bike while stationary. It's absolutely essential to warm up the legs before a race for optimum performance.
I raced in the Master 30+ Cat 4/5 category. The race is 45 minutes of riding around a circular track. Cat 5 is the entry level for beginners, where I am currently at. After 10 successful "pack" finishes, I can upgrade to a level 4. A pack finish means I completed all the laps with the group without being dropped. Racing is a constant hedge of riding and cornering (turning) in tight groupings. It's a little stir crazy as one rider can lose control and take out a whole group. During some attacks rolling in the group, we reached speeds up to 29 mph. If I'm close to the front, I can make my turn at that speed by maintaining a relatively straight line going through the turn. However, racing is a constant jockey for position. When behind other riders of the group, the group tends to slow down going into the turn causing an accordion effect as everyone accelerates hard coming out of the turn. It's very exhausting on the legs. On some straights, it's possible to rest and roll, but those are also good times to move to the outside and gain position. I even took a short time at the front pulling... all of two turns, less than half the track. When up front, you get all the wind resistance. But it was nice to cross the starting line in 2nd position just once before getting sucked back into the group. And then the recovery is hard because now the legs are depleted somewhat and riders won't let me back in. They are not slowing down. So I have to find this inner reserve, stand, and push hard to get a modicum more acceleration to get me back to speed.
If there is one thing I can't stress enough, it's HOLD YOUR LINE. Make certain that you are focused in front of you and you go into that turn steady. Remember that riders are on either side of you, even if you can't see them. They're there, and if they are overlapping, they might go down. If you are newer to the sport, I recommend staying in the middle or to the outside. It is harder to pull a turn smoothly from the inside, and you slow down more because of the sharpness of the turn. From the outside, you can maintain more speed and if managed correctly, you can move up the line for a better position in the pack.
Many riders come as teams of 3 or 4. It helps because they can support each other in pulls and in opening up lanes of attacking. And when some of the stronger riders break free, the other can cause the rest of the group to slow by suddenly changing position and opening the wind to the group, or by blocking. It's pretty hairy at times. Riders are constantly yelling, "watch your line, hold your turn". It's really exciting. Last lap is called out and riders are going hard the whole loop. The group is separating which makes it insanely more difficult to draft. coming thought the final turn, I stood up and laid in the acceleration, sprinting. One guy next to me was doing the same, and he was just a hair faster than I, but he couldn't hold it for the duration and I edged out in front. I passed two other riders who had were not sprinting. It doesn't really mean anything since I am no where near the top 20 among this 105 riders present. Yeah, there was quite the turnout for the first race of the season. End result, I am happy with my performance today. And as I said earlier, I still have all my skin.
The first race with CBR, California Bicycle Racing was at Dominguez Hills, CA. Here is a short synopsis I hope gets dome of you fired up. Dominguez Hills is a great course, it has four relatively wide turns, no strategic cornering required. The race was set for all right turns today. There was a fair breeze blowing thanks to the Santa Ana winds, but not too strongly as I had feared driving in. the course is mostly flat with a slight decrease in elevation after turn #1 and slight increase after turn #3.
Disclaimer: Forgive some of my rudimentary explanations, but being that I was a beginner last year, I still like to explain some of the basics for those who have never raced before and would like to learn a little more about it.
My day was pleasantly full. I felt great waking up this morning. Healthy and full of confidence. It was also nice to get a good 7 hours of sleep last night too. Started the morning off with coffee and juice. Then loaded the bike and made it to the race site about 9am. Race was at 9:55 so I had time to sign my waiver, register, pay, and warm up on my trainer for 20 min. A trainer is a mounting device that allows me to ride my bike while stationary. It's absolutely essential to warm up the legs before a race for optimum performance.
I raced in the Master 30+ Cat 4/5 category. The race is 45 minutes of riding around a circular track. Cat 5 is the entry level for beginners, where I am currently at. After 10 successful "pack" finishes, I can upgrade to a level 4. A pack finish means I completed all the laps with the group without being dropped. Racing is a constant hedge of riding and cornering (turning) in tight groupings. It's a little stir crazy as one rider can lose control and take out a whole group. During some attacks rolling in the group, we reached speeds up to 29 mph. If I'm close to the front, I can make my turn at that speed by maintaining a relatively straight line going through the turn. However, racing is a constant jockey for position. When behind other riders of the group, the group tends to slow down going into the turn causing an accordion effect as everyone accelerates hard coming out of the turn. It's very exhausting on the legs. On some straights, it's possible to rest and roll, but those are also good times to move to the outside and gain position. I even took a short time at the front pulling... all of two turns, less than half the track. When up front, you get all the wind resistance. But it was nice to cross the starting line in 2nd position just once before getting sucked back into the group. And then the recovery is hard because now the legs are depleted somewhat and riders won't let me back in. They are not slowing down. So I have to find this inner reserve, stand, and push hard to get a modicum more acceleration to get me back to speed.
If there is one thing I can't stress enough, it's HOLD YOUR LINE. Make certain that you are focused in front of you and you go into that turn steady. Remember that riders are on either side of you, even if you can't see them. They're there, and if they are overlapping, they might go down. If you are newer to the sport, I recommend staying in the middle or to the outside. It is harder to pull a turn smoothly from the inside, and you slow down more because of the sharpness of the turn. From the outside, you can maintain more speed and if managed correctly, you can move up the line for a better position in the pack.
Many riders come as teams of 3 or 4. It helps because they can support each other in pulls and in opening up lanes of attacking. And when some of the stronger riders break free, the other can cause the rest of the group to slow by suddenly changing position and opening the wind to the group, or by blocking. It's pretty hairy at times. Riders are constantly yelling, "watch your line, hold your turn". It's really exciting. Last lap is called out and riders are going hard the whole loop. The group is separating which makes it insanely more difficult to draft. coming thought the final turn, I stood up and laid in the acceleration, sprinting. One guy next to me was doing the same, and he was just a hair faster than I, but he couldn't hold it for the duration and I edged out in front. I passed two other riders who had were not sprinting. It doesn't really mean anything since I am no where near the top 20 among this 105 riders present. Yeah, there was quite the turnout for the first race of the season. End result, I am happy with my performance today. And as I said earlier, I still have all my skin.
