Here once again to bring my Beginner's Perspective to the community about criterium races. Just a quick synopsis, I have browsed many forums, but rarely found information of how a race rides, feels, or even the mental state one experiences going to a crit race for the first time. So I hope by posting here, many newer riders will get that little extra push to go out and give a criterium a try. I also enjoy that many more experienced riders add commentary, advice, criticism, and more to these posts.
As stated, this is my 8th criterium race to date. I feel I have come a long way since I started seriously riding in April, and rode my first criterium race in, I think later June, early July? Today's race, Sep 12, 2010 was race #9 of the Dominguez Hills series, "The Razor's Edge State Crit Champs". I rode the masters 30+ Cat 4/5.
Loosely translated, any rider over 30 (even 50 year olds) in the cat 4 or 5 categories can enter this race.
I switched from the Cat 5 group to this group in hopes that I can keep up with people my age and that they will be more experienced riders.
The course is a 0.9 mile loop with four turns. This time they switched the direction and all the turns were to the right. Like a dumbass, I put my number on the left side of my jersey until I had a Homer Simpson moment, DOH!, and noticed several other riders with the number reversed. Fortunately, the biking community is a nice group of very helpful people. A nearby rider helped me re-affix my number while I was warming up on my trainer.
Beginner's note: you're given a paper number sheet that you affix to the side of your jersey with safety pins. It goes mostly on your back, and side, under your armpit, on the side which faces the starting line.
There were some other riders on a team that were very kind and encouraging to me this morning.
The race starts in a northerly direction. The wind, mild to medium, is blowing west to east and a little south. Being the last race of the season, there was quite a large turnout, I'm guessing about 70 riders. The start came a little hard in the beginning, but no group trying to jump the gun too early this time. With the pace we started with, I was really glad for my earlier warm up. we're quickly rolling at 24 mph and it actually feels slow. Every turn I hit, I focused extremely hard on the wheel in front of me. Several times I hear people yelling out, "hold your line guys, hold your line", and that was before entering the turn. So I'm starting to say it too. We were packing up real tight. After my crash last race, I'm trying to avoid getting my wheel between two riders going into a turn. I had a couple turns where I didn't hold my line as well as I should have. Example, I felt I needed to avoid a rider turning into me, but in retrospect, I think I need to own up to the fact that I got a little spooked and should have slowed a little by brake fluttering rather than trying to dodge. At least twice I got called on it, one of those times, a rider called me out by my jersey, "Yeah you 'Tour de Cure'".
Now, here is an interesting observation. Several times, the peloton got really slow, dropping to 22mph and it felt even less. And of all places, they were slowing after the 2nd turn, and this particular straight is both downwards and the wind is at our backs. A couple times I was able to catch the group in the last few laps since I could ride it out, tuck in aero, and manage the best possible line on the turns.
Now I need to brag a little. I had great legs going into the beginning. While I may have started in back middle, I took an outside line and attacked to the front 4-5 riders several times. And positioning was easy. I would pull up along side a rider, still carrying more momentum, I would pull a little ahead, and just ride close or ease into the wheel in front of me. These tactics never held for very long however since the turns came up so frequently (0.9 miles is a short course), and there were more riders attacking all the time. This was a lot of give and take, but always taking a strong focus on the turns to pull those safely. The riders were packing in tightly too. One rider even bumped my left hand with his right leg. Nothing changed in our riding, but it got his attention and he opened up a little more.
At one point, I even asked a rider to my right to let me out so I could pull to the front. And he did, not very much mind you, but enough that I could escape the peloton with some acceleration. This was on that straight after the 2nd turn where people were slowing. And I rode the inside to the front and took a turn at pulling the peloton. That's right, I was pulling the whole peloton... for all of 10-30 seconds. I have no idea how much time elapsed. I only know I held it through two more turns before someone else took it and I again grabbed a wheel after the turn. I felt so proud to have taken my turn. It may not have been the best strategic decision overall, but this was one of my goals and God did it feel good. Several other riders, including the team I met before the race, were complimenting me, telling me I'm doing a good job. Did I really deserve the compliments? I don't know, but it feels good.
A little side note here. I am noticing that riders communicate with each other all the time. And not just if it's a team member. If someone is getting too close, ask them to open up a little more. The other rider is usually responsive. While we should be holding our lines as a general rule of thumb, hearing people call it out was great encouragement that we are all tightly packed and we need to hang on that wheel and that line. Also, turns come up sooner than you may imagine. When those in front of you begin to slow, you might want to look up because it's probably because that turn is coming. I think we all droop out focus a little from time to time, or focus too much on the wheel before us. And last, the peloton announces when there is an attack, and which side it is on. I have not quite figured out how to use this information yet, but I am looking into it.
So we clear the 4th turn passing the starting line, and when I look up, I notice the time clock is blank. And then comes the announcement, "5 laps to go." Oh $h!t. My legs are tiring, but I'm still in it, even if I am towards the back. There must have been a prime coming up, because the pace quickened, and the next lap became one of those moments where I started to fall back. But, by taking to the drops, pumping hard, and really taking advantage of the turns while it was clear, I rocketed back into the middle of the group again. Another lap down, and someone cut in front of me so hard after the turn I had to dodge hard to keep from getting hit. And I actually think this was intentional since there were no riders immediately in front that required him to cut in front of me so hard. In my mind, I'm thinking, "You ass!", yet I might have deserved it for one of my earlier moments of squirrely-ness that cut off a rider taking an inside of a turn. I just blew it off, watched him go as I trailed in his dust, and kept rolling.
Another strange moment. The 2nd to last lap, everyone slowed on the straight after the 3rd turn going up and into the headwind. It was the most bizarre thing. I really didn't know what to do. If I could have kept my momentum, I could have pushed right though, but there was just a wall of riders and I had to brake like everyone else. Dammit, this feels like when you're rolling down a decline and a street lamp changes right before you can cut through it and you just have to give up all this speed. And of course, after turn number 4, everyone breaks like crazy and the speed is on. And this is where I am having a hard time being competitive. I can keep with the group, but people are passing me and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. I keep spinning and rolling through the turns, staying in the drops now the whole time. As soon as I clear the 4th turn, there's no clutter around me (it's all in front), and I stand and sprint for all I got. I'm passing a few people, some who have clearly given up.
The good news, I have my 2nd official pack finish. I also succeeded in keeping all my skin. I never needed to use the free lap rule because I paid my dues is sweat and lactic acid LOL.
The bad news: I have no idea how well I finished. SoCal racing only places the top 20 riders. So while I felt real good about my finish, I have no way of marking my improvement through placed finish, nor do I know how many riders were officially rolling.
So, this is the end of the season. There are exactly 3 more races at Great park in Irvine. I'll try and make a couple of them if I can get off work in time.
And this concludes this overly long post of my 8th race. I feel that I may have to drop the title of beginner and adopt a new title of Novice or Padiwan (Star Wars reference). I say this because I have completed 2 races without getting dropped, bled on two occasions from falls (only one in a crit) and gotten back in the saddle ready to tear it up again. I completed a 50-mile group ride in 3 hours, and have changed my physical image due to the reasonable amount of fat loss over the last 4.5 months. I hope you enjoyed the post. Please leave feedback, comment, and criticisms.
As stated, this is my 8th criterium race to date. I feel I have come a long way since I started seriously riding in April, and rode my first criterium race in, I think later June, early July? Today's race, Sep 12, 2010 was race #9 of the Dominguez Hills series, "The Razor's Edge State Crit Champs". I rode the masters 30+ Cat 4/5.
Loosely translated, any rider over 30 (even 50 year olds) in the cat 4 or 5 categories can enter this race.
I switched from the Cat 5 group to this group in hopes that I can keep up with people my age and that they will be more experienced riders.
The course is a 0.9 mile loop with four turns. This time they switched the direction and all the turns were to the right. Like a dumbass, I put my number on the left side of my jersey until I had a Homer Simpson moment, DOH!, and noticed several other riders with the number reversed. Fortunately, the biking community is a nice group of very helpful people. A nearby rider helped me re-affix my number while I was warming up on my trainer.
Beginner's note: you're given a paper number sheet that you affix to the side of your jersey with safety pins. It goes mostly on your back, and side, under your armpit, on the side which faces the starting line.
There were some other riders on a team that were very kind and encouraging to me this morning.
The race starts in a northerly direction. The wind, mild to medium, is blowing west to east and a little south. Being the last race of the season, there was quite a large turnout, I'm guessing about 70 riders. The start came a little hard in the beginning, but no group trying to jump the gun too early this time. With the pace we started with, I was really glad for my earlier warm up. we're quickly rolling at 24 mph and it actually feels slow. Every turn I hit, I focused extremely hard on the wheel in front of me. Several times I hear people yelling out, "hold your line guys, hold your line", and that was before entering the turn. So I'm starting to say it too. We were packing up real tight. After my crash last race, I'm trying to avoid getting my wheel between two riders going into a turn. I had a couple turns where I didn't hold my line as well as I should have. Example, I felt I needed to avoid a rider turning into me, but in retrospect, I think I need to own up to the fact that I got a little spooked and should have slowed a little by brake fluttering rather than trying to dodge. At least twice I got called on it, one of those times, a rider called me out by my jersey, "Yeah you 'Tour de Cure'".
Now, here is an interesting observation. Several times, the peloton got really slow, dropping to 22mph and it felt even less. And of all places, they were slowing after the 2nd turn, and this particular straight is both downwards and the wind is at our backs. A couple times I was able to catch the group in the last few laps since I could ride it out, tuck in aero, and manage the best possible line on the turns.
Now I need to brag a little. I had great legs going into the beginning. While I may have started in back middle, I took an outside line and attacked to the front 4-5 riders several times. And positioning was easy. I would pull up along side a rider, still carrying more momentum, I would pull a little ahead, and just ride close or ease into the wheel in front of me. These tactics never held for very long however since the turns came up so frequently (0.9 miles is a short course), and there were more riders attacking all the time. This was a lot of give and take, but always taking a strong focus on the turns to pull those safely. The riders were packing in tightly too. One rider even bumped my left hand with his right leg. Nothing changed in our riding, but it got his attention and he opened up a little more.
At one point, I even asked a rider to my right to let me out so I could pull to the front. And he did, not very much mind you, but enough that I could escape the peloton with some acceleration. This was on that straight after the 2nd turn where people were slowing. And I rode the inside to the front and took a turn at pulling the peloton. That's right, I was pulling the whole peloton... for all of 10-30 seconds. I have no idea how much time elapsed. I only know I held it through two more turns before someone else took it and I again grabbed a wheel after the turn. I felt so proud to have taken my turn. It may not have been the best strategic decision overall, but this was one of my goals and God did it feel good. Several other riders, including the team I met before the race, were complimenting me, telling me I'm doing a good job. Did I really deserve the compliments? I don't know, but it feels good.
A little side note here. I am noticing that riders communicate with each other all the time. And not just if it's a team member. If someone is getting too close, ask them to open up a little more. The other rider is usually responsive. While we should be holding our lines as a general rule of thumb, hearing people call it out was great encouragement that we are all tightly packed and we need to hang on that wheel and that line. Also, turns come up sooner than you may imagine. When those in front of you begin to slow, you might want to look up because it's probably because that turn is coming. I think we all droop out focus a little from time to time, or focus too much on the wheel before us. And last, the peloton announces when there is an attack, and which side it is on. I have not quite figured out how to use this information yet, but I am looking into it.
So we clear the 4th turn passing the starting line, and when I look up, I notice the time clock is blank. And then comes the announcement, "5 laps to go." Oh $h!t. My legs are tiring, but I'm still in it, even if I am towards the back. There must have been a prime coming up, because the pace quickened, and the next lap became one of those moments where I started to fall back. But, by taking to the drops, pumping hard, and really taking advantage of the turns while it was clear, I rocketed back into the middle of the group again. Another lap down, and someone cut in front of me so hard after the turn I had to dodge hard to keep from getting hit. And I actually think this was intentional since there were no riders immediately in front that required him to cut in front of me so hard. In my mind, I'm thinking, "You ass!", yet I might have deserved it for one of my earlier moments of squirrely-ness that cut off a rider taking an inside of a turn. I just blew it off, watched him go as I trailed in his dust, and kept rolling.
Another strange moment. The 2nd to last lap, everyone slowed on the straight after the 3rd turn going up and into the headwind. It was the most bizarre thing. I really didn't know what to do. If I could have kept my momentum, I could have pushed right though, but there was just a wall of riders and I had to brake like everyone else. Dammit, this feels like when you're rolling down a decline and a street lamp changes right before you can cut through it and you just have to give up all this speed. And of course, after turn number 4, everyone breaks like crazy and the speed is on. And this is where I am having a hard time being competitive. I can keep with the group, but people are passing me and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. I keep spinning and rolling through the turns, staying in the drops now the whole time. As soon as I clear the 4th turn, there's no clutter around me (it's all in front), and I stand and sprint for all I got. I'm passing a few people, some who have clearly given up.
The good news, I have my 2nd official pack finish. I also succeeded in keeping all my skin. I never needed to use the free lap rule because I paid my dues is sweat and lactic acid LOL.
The bad news: I have no idea how well I finished. SoCal racing only places the top 20 riders. So while I felt real good about my finish, I have no way of marking my improvement through placed finish, nor do I know how many riders were officially rolling.
So, this is the end of the season. There are exactly 3 more races at Great park in Irvine. I'll try and make a couple of them if I can get off work in time.
And this concludes this overly long post of my 8th race. I feel that I may have to drop the title of beginner and adopt a new title of Novice or Padiwan (Star Wars reference). I say this because I have completed 2 races without getting dropped, bled on two occasions from falls (only one in a crit) and gotten back in the saddle ready to tear it up again. I completed a 50-mile group ride in 3 hours, and have changed my physical image due to the reasonable amount of fat loss over the last 4.5 months. I hope you enjoyed the post. Please leave feedback, comment, and criticisms.
