Lombard,Il Crit

Men cat 4:
Total Dist: 17.19mi
Total Time: 38:58
Avg. Speed: 26.5mph
Avg. Pace: 2:16/mi

Avg. lap time was maybe 1 min 50sec?

PS, this is a bad course for you to test yourself on. Since the course is so flat, wide, and easy, the speeds are much higher than normal crits. This is the only course in IL/WI where you can pedal through every turn.

To give you an idea, I held a 5min interval at 29mph (hitting 100% MHR, actually, while chasing a break). I don't know many cat3/4s who can do that on a normal crit course. The 5 of us held 28mph for another 2.5minutes before being caught. Definitely not a typical cat4 race since the high pace didn't shell many people off the back.

26.5 mph are... 42,6 km/h, not bad but... for an Italian race they're the average speed for 2-hours races ;-) come racing in Yurop men, you'll enjoy a lot!

Joking, dependly on weather and circuit it can be a great speed.

PS: if you come racing in Italy you'll need a UCI amateur license...

Sikhandar said:

26.5 mph are... 42,6 km/h, not bad but... for an Italian race they're the average speed for 2-hours races ;-) come racing in Yurop men, you'll enjoy a lot!

Joking, dependly on weather and circuit it can be a great speed.

PS: if you come racing in Italy you'll need a UCI amateur license...

This course was short and very windy. The only reason it was so slow was because of a huge headwind that day -- 20+mph...and no one wanted to pull through that.

Funny you mention racing in Europe. I have the chance to race in Belgium for a month, this coming summer, with other college cyclists. They want us to be cat2's before even attempting to go over there. The only problem is that they're seeking people from the midwest, which really means that they should be seeking cat1s to make up for the slowness of our area. Nothing like getting passed by a 12yr old who was born into a long history of cyclists...

iliveonnitro said:

Funny you mention racing in Europe. I have the chance to race in Belgium for a month, this coming summer, with other college cyclists. They want us to be cat2's before even attempting to go over there. The only problem is that they're seeking people from the midwest, which really means that they should be seeking cat1s to make up for the slowness of our area. Nothing like getting passed by a 12yr old who was born into a long history of cyclists...

completely OT, but I've sometimes wondered if certain areas of the US are more or less competitive than others. Like would a cat 3 from California be more like a 2 in New England would someone from the Midwest dominate in the Pacific Northwest or vice/versa?? Anyone travel around enough to know. I've always though the Cali women seemed a bit more advanced than us up here, but we have our share of fierce competition too.

Eden said:

completely OT, but I've sometimes wondered if certain areas of the US are more or less competitive than others. Like would a cat 3 from California be more like a 2 in New England would someone from the Midwest dominate in the Pacific Northwest or vice/versa?? Anyone travel around enough to know. I've always though the Cali women seemed a bit more advanced than us up here, but we have our share of fierce competition too.

I was consistently top 8 in cat4 races until Superweek when my results instantly fell do barely top 20. Looking at results in upper categories -- cat3 and p/1/2, all of the fastest riders were from the west coast.

Eg, cat3: http://www.internationalcycling.com/racestandings?year=2007&series=5

Half of the top 20 are not from the midwest. In the p/1/2 races, only 1 person from the midwest made the top 20 and the rest are from the west coast or another country.