2nd Crit of the Season

[Deafwolf]

I slept in till about 8am. Had a small breakfast, some coffee, and relaxed until about 9am. Then I rushed out the door, mounted the bike, topped the air, and drove to Dominguez Hills (close to Carson). I registered for the race, and had about 20 minutes to warm up on the Trainer. (Trainer is a sort of mounting device I put my bike into so I can spin in place). Start time at 9:55am. And I had a great race. This is the Masters 30+ category, people more my age, cat 4/5 (which is basically beginner category). The pace was good. There were maybe 70-80 riders in this race. I went in with the plan to stay close to the outside and advance to the front 6-7 as soon as I could. And the plan worked marvelously. I was holding position #3 or #4 for a good number of laps. And I have to say, this is the position to be in. The first 5-8 riders tend to stay in a straight line, The lead rider takes the wind, the others all draft behind. I tried to follow a team that appeared to be working well together. They might have been LA Velocity. Blue and white. Then halfway through the race time (45 min race) they announced the fire Prime. A prime is a prize awarded to the first to cross the start line on the next lap after announcement. This particular prize was for an extra 5 points (which are used to promote to a better category). So I went for it, and promptly blew up. There was no way I could keep up with those Cats. God they're fast and strong. I did manage to recover a position in the back of the pack without getting dropped entirely. There, I was able to recuperate and begin advancing again. But I was not able to get back to where I was before. More laps, 2 more primes, and then they call it, LAST LAP!!! And naturally the pace picks up. I'm not in a great position, but I put in all I've got, and on the last 1/2 of the lap, people start sprinting... aww hell, so I stand and start sprinting.. and my legs are burning up with lactic acid and major fatigue. But I have more stamina or heart or whatever than a few, and pull ahead of about 4-5 more racers. After crossing, by a quick estimate, I judged myself to be in the top 35 finishers. That is the best I have ever done, so I was really stoked. One rider hit a cone on the 2nd to last lap, but somehow managed to stay up and not take out anyone else. On the last lap, one guy to the outside of me couldn't manage his turn at the 24 mph were were moving and swerved into the curb and went down, but not too hard. He may have taken another out of the race who had to stop and swerve to avoid him. I did hear him cussing. He said F^@K! This course is a 0.9 mile course, mostly flat with 4 turns. The 3rd leg was up a slight elevation and into the wind. A great place to attack and burn out. There was one point where a small group was riding on the inside, a separate group from the pack on the outside... not sure how that happened, but I believe they got absorbed. There were 2 very strong riders that pulled ahead on that first prime and the pack could not catch em. I think they should be forced into Cat 3 for sandbagging. One more thing. I made some friends with some guys from Team Major Motion. I figure it would be nice to associate with someone in a group so as not to be riding solo when all these other guys are working together quite effectively.
Anyhow, I should have enough races to promote to Cat 4. I just need to look them all up and find how to present them.

Hope you enjoyed the read guys. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. And beginners and those who are interested, please ask your questions here. There are so many great answers to be found.

 

[swampy1970]

There's probably something in the FAQ of your local area website (for me thats NCNCA )that tells you what you need to present for your license upgrade from Cat5 to 4.

Up in Norcal you just send in your name, license no, and a list showing date, event name, category and distance of the 10 or more races that you've done. Apparently road events that are under 10 miles dont count - which is a bummer if you were hoping that a few end of season hill climbs are gonna count - unless it was a race up a 10 mile hill Most of that info will be on your USACycling page.

 

[stowy]

[SIZE= medium]Hey Deafwolf and all,[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Nice post, sounds like a good hard race. I can't believe the fields you guys get! The last one i did in brissy had about 30 riders and that was the most I’ve ever raced with![/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]I did another crit this week (tues night local), and it was great. One thing I’ve learned is you have to refuse to get tricked into doing lots of work. Here’s a wrap:[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]So conditions for this particular tues night crit were quite ugly. It was dry, as the rain had eased up on the day, but there was a strong wind blowing, which meant 2 sides of the square lap course were into a nasty headwind, especially the finishing straight! About 300-400m of headwind from the corner to the line.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]So given this, the turnout wasn’t huge but was good by local standards, around 15 starters in A-grade (again, local standards). But I was afraid, as had just done this hill ([/SIZE][SIZE= medium][COLOR= #0000ff]http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/483554/post-your-cycling-vids-here-s-one-for-ya[/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE= medium]) the day before, so wasn’t sure how legs would hold up. Also, there were a number of strong guys here, 2 in particular were to watch out for, one had won the last crit and the other was up from Brisbane (local capital city). Plus the usual suspects who would often have good legs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]So to start out pace was quite sedate, given the wind everyone was afraid of attacking and held back a bit. But that didn’t last long, after a time a couple of guys who are known for their attacking style started their usual tricks. Mostly they got pulled back, I was just sitting in the pack and following the chasers wherever I could, didn’t get out the front too much unless we started rolling.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Finally, my mate went and got a bit of a gap, and was promptly joined by 2 other strong guys. It was starting to look good for the break, with only a few strong guys left in the pack and the rest just hanging on. I hadn’t gone because I was watching the guy who had won the last crit. But then, he went, and he went hard, to get up to the break. I knew that would be it, because with the guys away in the break being so strong, no one behind would be able to catch them. So I went with the guy and sat on his wheel, we had a tailwind on a slight uphill and we going around 57km/h with my heart thru the roof, then he whacked out his elbow to tell me to go round and do some work to make the catch! I did as told and brought back the last 30m or so to the break, then sat up and sat on.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Once we got to the break, it seemed as tho no one wanted to work, which was fine by me. Even so, the guys behind didn’t get back on. So it went like that for a while, with the odd attack and a response from someone in the group to chase them down. When either of the stronger 2 guys went I made sure to get straight on their wheel, but not do any more work than that. [/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]As we got close to the end, the guy who won the last crit was getting a bit annoyed that I was being so sly and told me to stop looking over my shoulder! So I decided I’d sit on his wheel, then he coudn’t complain! I did this and he started being very erratic, slowing right down to 10m behind the group, hoping i’d chase. But i knew he was strong enough and wouldn’t let them go, so i just stayed on his wheel. At one point he was halfway up the group then slammed on his brakes! Noone came near hitting him but i don’t think anyone was impressed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Finally with a lap to go, it became clear it was coming to a sprint. We were going so slow, no one wanted to lead out. Then a mate went again, and I yelled out ‘TT mate!’, and then eventually the group responded. I was sure to sit at the back and cover my friend/rival. About halfway down the 2nd last straight i was still at the back of the group tailing him. Then it start to wind up and coming into the finishing straight the sprint was on. I felt great and was just winding it up, sitting on wheels out of the wind. [/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]With about 100 to go I was on the wheel of the other strong guy and he was looking good for the win. I felt good so i went round him to the left and started to pull him back. As we crossed the line I think I was about 3 inches off the win! Got a handy 2nd place and I was over the moon! Especially as I beat my rival who had sprinted wide to the right and I reckon copped a bit too much wind.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]This was the first road race I’ve done where I’ve profited, made $10 off the club, so was super stoked. [/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Lessons learned:[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]1 – Ride on the drops always, it’s only an hour and you need to be able to stand up and sprint and change gears quickly at the drop of a hat so you don’t get caught out but a breakaway attempt.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]2 – Sit in wherever possible and chase the chasers, don’t go for every break. If one does look to get established and it’s got strong guys in it, get into it if you’ve got the legs. Otherwise pick someone strong and sit on them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]3 – if the finish is into a headwind, leave your sprint till quite late. Follow a good wheel where possible and then try and get round with about 150m to go, but stay in close to other riders to get maximum draft effect until the last possible moment.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]4 – Don’t get suckered into doing work, even if someone has a go at you for it. They’re probably being tactical, watch who else is working and decide if it’s fair to you to work as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]If interested here’s my garmin log of the race. [/SIZE][SIZE= medium][COLOR= #800080]http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69575143[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]By the way, I wrote this at work because i was dead bored ( I work in a call centre!) If you read it all good on ya![/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Got a proper Qld cycling event on Sunday racing B grade, can’t wait to see results of actually racing my grade and see how I stack up against them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Cheers[/SIZE]

[SIZE= medium]Stowy[/SIZE]