My first err, um, race................

G'day Dutch,

show me a bloke who reckons he didn't get dropped in his first ever
crit....& i'll show you a liar!.......I got lapped about 4 times on an
800m flat course. 4 weeks later I won!. Told ya you would learn more in
one race than reading threads!.....keep at it, you'll get better each
week, learn from whatever goes wrong & you'll get there,

cheers,

Hitchy

--

flyingdutch said:

Nice theory Hitch-man
does that mean you expect me to win in the next few weeks???
The pressure............. How about I just not get dropped???
"We're just going to go out on the park , yer know, and give it a redhot
go. At the end of the day , yer know, the team who has the most points
on the board is the , yer know, winner and we just have to get all our
plans in place to make sure that we can pull together and play as a
team. We are just taking it one week at a time and nobody is thinking
finals just yet. At the end of the day, yer know, Football will be the
winner on the day"

G'day

how 'bout don't get dropped next week, get done in a sprint for 3rd th
week after, a place the week after that .......& then the sky's th
limit!!!!...stick it out, it'll come

cheers

Hitch

-

Nice theory Hitch-man

does that mean you expect me to win in the next few weeks???

The pressure............. How about I just not get dropped???

"We're just going to go out on the park , yer know, and give it a redhot
go. At the end of the day , yer know, the team who has the most points
on the board is the , yer know, winner and we just have to get all our
plans in place to make sure that we can pull together and play as a
team. We are just taking it one week at a time and nobody is thinking
finals just yet. At the end of the day, yer know, Football will be the
winner on the day"

--

flyingdutch said:

OK my first 'as promised race' last night. Kew boulevard loop run by the
Hawthorn Cycling Club. Spoke to Ray Blucher at his shop to get the
lowdown and signed up (lovely chap. one of those guys that genuinely
oozes enthusiasm!).
goals in order 1 - not to crash 2 - to finish 3 - not get dropped oh
well, 2 outta 3 aint bad, as the fat bloke sang.
D-grade. 30 minutes plus 3 laps we are told by the starter. I start
with the Dgrade crowd (i think they start 1 minute before the C's who
go round at the same time). D's go forth up the hill and we all shuffle
about and try and settle down on a wheel. There is a field of approx 20
in Dgrade (there were only 10ish last week and a few of the faces this
week I recognise from last weeks C grade. just great!) We go around fro
3-4 laps and 'accordian' in and out like a caterpillar every time we
hit the straights. The hill brings us all together. Not feeling too
bad. Hey, maybe I can do this, me thinks. I look down. 6 minutes gone.
oh boy! After about 5 laps Cgrade can be heard coming up behind, and
wouldnt you know it but its as we approach the sharp U-turn. As we had
all been lectured at the start to stick left and not 'hang-on' to C's,
I sat up a bit. I was about 15th wheel in the D-line at that point. We
go around the corner, Most of the D's are off and heading up the hill,
Im hesitating making sure I make that corner smoothly and very left so
as not to get shouted at, and that's all she wrote!!! Me and about 3
other D's are a good 200m off the lead pack now. Bugger. Point 3 in my
plans failed
Oh well, perhaps if we work together we can get them back (apologies for
not knowing the lingo guys/gals). By the time we approach the Uturn
again I realise they are pulling away. Nobody is helping and Im just
pulling them along. Come on guys! Decision time. 10 minutes gone. 20+ to
go. I step it up a few kph and 2 stay with me. Then one. Bugger! "Im
stuffed", he says. "Let's just finish" i reply. I delude myself that if
we keep to a pace we can slowly bring em back again.
4-5 more laps the two of us go harder. We are only very slowly bringing
them back. I can glimpse them every time we approach the Uturn. "Im
gonna give it a spurt", I say back to the other guy as we round the
Uturn and stomp up the hill. I reach the top and look down seeing I am
doing 35kph up the hill. C grade seem to do that almost every lap, but I
aint got too many of them in me. I look back to see how my mate is
doing. He's gone!!! Bugger, bugger, bugger!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im on my own.
18 minute mark. This aint fun anymore guys. come back and play with the
rookie... Grind, grind. Go hard on the hill and try and hide from the
southerly on the downhill. Many laps go by and I see nobody apart from a
few guys who are warming up for A/B grade. Then I see them! about 5 D's
are up ahead. for 3 laps I get nowhere. Who's idea was this? Oh yeah...
mine! 25 minutes gone. 2 more laps and I am within about 200m. Maybe I
can do this after all. If only they would just momentarly ease up. with
only a few minutes to go until the bell I knw that's not likely. I
decide to see what I can make. 2 hard laps and Im within 100m. Im
knackered!!! And then it happens... 3 of them get dropped at the Uturn
and are obviously spent. Adrenaline is a wonderful thing (why doesnt it
come in a drink form???). I go hard again up the hill and get 1 one of
the guys. the other 2 are trying to get back onto the others up ahead. C
grade come past again and i think 2 of the stronger D's lap me. Oh well,
Im not last i justify to myself. 2 laps to go the marshall shouts out.
cramping slightly in my left leg (its always my left. what's with
that?????????) Im about 50m behind the D'ers. The others up ahead have
gone. their race is just starting i guess...
I pass the 2 going down the last hill. May as well have some fun! Im
stomping just for the hell of it, cruise up the last hill and catch
another D'er, the girl on the nice Paconi ( sad i know but this little
black duck has some semblence of male pride )
i roll over the finish line and nobody looks at me nd I start to panic
there is one more lap! "What about D?" i say. "Youre finished".
........Relief. I turn around and go stand with the other D's. Some of
them know each other but most of us just stand around awkwardly.
So that was it. Roll back around the the bottom at the Uturn and the
others I had passed are sitting to one side. I try and figure out what,
if anything I jsut did. Im guessing i finished about 14th out of 20
which is reaaly [censored] but Im philosophical about it. I didnt fall I
finished I got dropped. Man it must be so much easier riding in a pack.
Mental note. try and hangon next time
Great fun. Feel like a big kid. Shall be there next time, trying to
learn a bit more.....
The 'Not-so-FlyingDutchman'🙄

Well done!!!!!!!!!

By the sound of it, you would've been able to hang it with D grade had
you not had that incident with the C graders.

I reckon racing on that circuit gives you the best workout than any
other race around. Pity about that sharp left which I'm always tentative
about, it would be a perfect circuit if it didn't have that in it.

--

Hitchy said:

show me a bloke who reckons he didn't get dropped in his first ever
crit....& i'll show you a liar!

Hitchy.

What about a bloke who got lapped AND came 3rd in his first crit race
You can read all about the story of hippy, his evil down-tube shiftin
Skansen and scumbag sandbaggers here

http://groups.google.com.au/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF
8&safe=off&selm=Rc9Y8.439250%24o66.1188345%40news
server.bigpond.net.au3rd in 1st Cri

Tiny: http://tinyurl.com/2mwh

hippy suffering post-race delusions..

-

flyingdutch said:

OK my first 'as promised race' last night.

Nice one dutchy!! 🙂 You know you like it! 🙂

All you gotta do is follow the bunch.. wheel sucking ain't evil I
tells ya! 🙂

I've gotta try this course out one day.. sounds like a nasty corner and
my scabs are starting to heal...

hippy

--

"Hitchy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

G'day Dutch,

show me a bloke who reckons he didn't get dropped in his first ever
crit....& i'll show you a liar!.......I got lapped about 4 times on an

Pick me :-) Admittedly, it was E grade at Heffron, which is not exactly the
"deepest" grade and I think 5 starters generally constitutes the bunch. A
friend and I decided to start racing (this was a looong time ago in the
summer of '88-'89) so they stuck us both in E grade. There were three races
on the day: he won the first and third, and I won the second one. We got put
up to C grade after that :-) And I can tell you it took many months and a
lot of racing before the promotion to B grade, and many more before we got
to A grade finally. I still hate crits with U-turns in them!

Perserverance is the key in cycling. You'll get there (wherever that is) if
you stick at it.

cheers,
Jeff

hippy said:

What about a bloke who got lapped AND came 3rd in his first crit race
[B

definetely liaring! 😄 😄 :

I jokingly asked at he signup if they had an Egrade. no such luc
Im afraid

Cant wait till next week now..

Occurred to me last night that this was the first sporting thing I hav
ever done as an individual. Having spent my yewf from 12-to-32 playin
baseball, from T-ball to representing Oz. Totally different obviousl
but the thing that got me was how 'true' cycling racing is. Nobody t
carry you if you aint hitting the ball well, or backing you up. Just yo
and a bike (and the wind, the hills, and the ...

-

Quoted message said:

Originally posted by flyingdutch
definetely liaring! 😄 😄 😄

:-

Quoted message said:

Totally different obviously but the thing that got me was >how 'true
cycling racing is. Nobody to carry you if you aint >hitting the bal
well, or backing you up

Until you start making friends and can work as a team to take othe
riders apart or drag your sprinters up the hills, etc. :

hipp

-

hippy said:

[BUntil you start making friends and can work as a team to take other
riders apart or drag your sprinters up the hills, etc. 🙂
hippy

yeah, I see now how people comment that cycling is rather
unapproachable. a tad clique, but Im just a greenhorn with hairy legs at
the moment!

They could really do to introduce some form of 'buddy' system perhaps?
Ray was really good but he couldnt really help me once we got going and
was rather busy help organise everything before/after to chat. I think
my heartrate was probably 30% higher before starting out of shere
anxiety I was doing the right thing and not knowing was kinda stressful

Speaking of hairy legs, when does one get 'worthy' enough to do so
and/or do I need/want to do it ?

--

Quoted message said:

Originally posted by flyingdutch yeah, I see now how people comment
that cycling is rather unapproachable. a tad clique, but Im just a
greenhorn with hairy legs at the moment!

Nah man, it's so true! Unless you start as a junior or have exceptional
talent, starting to race is just plain hard. There are no rules until
you are yelled at, you don't have a coach going "good try, maybe do
<this> next time", etc. I am still feeling out of my depth and still
learning new 'rules' and techniques every race and I've been doing it on
and off for ~3 years...

Quoted message said:

They could really do to introduce some form of 'buddy' system perhaps?

Yeah, but the fast guys don't have time for the slow guys, it's hard to
match abilities and many things that happen in racing just can't be
replicated in "training". Racing really is the best form of training.
But, just having someone to show you the ropes like some of the juniors
seem to have would be great - maybe more people would keep racing?

Quoted message said:

I think my heartrate was probably 30% higher before starting out of
shere anxiety I was doing the right thing and not knowing was kinda
stressful

I still get crazy nervous before a lot of races and even training rides.
I think it's because I spent so long riding on the flat and alone that
bunches and hills scare me bigtime...

Quoted message said:

Speaking of hairy legs, when does one get 'worthy' enough to do so
and/or do I need/want to do it ?

Worthy? Meh! If you wanna do it, do it. I thought I'd try and it's
strange cold feeling.. then I let them grow and didn't care and now I've
shaved again and with my track scabs it's growing again.. I tend to
shave when I start riding more 'seriously', if I ever ride seriously 🙂

--

I only flt like i was 'On' going up to bat in baseball if I had 'stomach
butterflies'..

advice needed. what kinda lead up do you do? Is it your hardest ride o
the week? Do you taper up to it in some way? how far out do you eat/no
eat? How much do you warm up beforehand? Go easy the following few days

Im stuck in an office at the mo so anything I can gleen from you lad
would be appreciated until I canget out on Sunday am to rid

-

Quoted message said:

Originally posted by flyingdutch advice needed. what kinda lead up
do you do?

You mean like warmup? or training? Warmup for METEC for me is bugger all
because I'm always running late. 2k ride from home to the circuit
usually. Not optimal at all. Glelvale on Sundays is better as it's a 20k
ride to the course before the race. I initially couldn't fathom riding
to/from races but 20 easy k's seems like nothing compared to a race. I
won my first race killing myself just to get there on time - different
things work depending on how much 'juice' you've got in your legs. The
more you ride/race the longer you will last and the more you can race
with perhaps less recovery time needed.

Quoted message said:

Is it your hardest ride of the week?

Glenvale (sun) and METEC (Thu) would be the two hardest rides of the
week as they are races. But then I also get cained going over the
mountain on Wed nights - depends on how I feel as to how hard I ride on
the training rides. Track training is fairly intense but can't be
classed as 'hard' because I was never recovered before doing it so
couldn't go "flat out" even if I wanted to.

Quoted message said:

Do you taper up to it in some way?

Other than the fact that I've basically stopped bike commuting (just
recently), I don't have a taper as such. Maybe for bigger races I would
take it easier in the few days prior, but certainly not the mid-week
crit stuff.

Quoted message said:

how far out do you eat/not eat?

For crits, I don't eat right beforehand, the intensity is usually
enough to prompt some regurgitation, if you know what i mean! Depending
on your own digestive system, give yourself 2-3 hours without food
before a race. Drink water and maybe carbo drink if you think you are
short on energy. Just before longer races people tend to have a small,
high GI intake, e.g a gel or something. But for crits that is not
necessary IMHO.

Quoted message said:

How much do you warm up beforehand?

Anything from "not at all" to "1.5 hrs riding to circuit then riding
around, building up pace towards the start so HR is high near start"

Quoted message said:

Go easy the following few days?

If you can have time off the bike, great. I'm trying to fit in as much
as possible and I'm sure my recovery suffers a bit, but that's why I've
stopped commuting, at least until I get back into the groove...

Quoted message said:

Im stuck in an office at the mo so anything I can

Me too.

Quoted message said:

gleen from you lads would be appreciated until I can get out on Sunday
am to ride.

Always willing to help. Don't take what I say as gospel though, nor
anyone else, only you know what works on race day and prior...
Experimentation is the key - that's where you get used to not
winning races 🙂

hippy

--

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Experimentation is the key
- that's where you get used to not winning races "

check! got that one down pat!!

One last one hipster. Got (just little ones but woulda got worse if
not we ran out of laps). Wot's causing me to cramp? (how's that for
open-ended?)

Got em with a lap to go on Wed and on the alpine classic too

I suspected on the AC it was cos I got too cold descending Falls without
pedalling much But I have been getting the twinges more often recently

Im fairly religious about my riding positin after years of tweaking and
Im strting to suspect that my seat is a few mill's too low. Only shows
itself on longer or harder rides

I am also guilty of being a 'toe-pointer'. IE toe is too downwards a
couple of people have mentioned over the years

any ideas

(PS whattya do that allows you to surf this much?)

--

Quoted message said:

Wot's causing me to cramp? (how's that for open-ended?)

This topic is done ALL the time on heaps of forums. From _my_ research
and trials I found the following:

Drinking large amounts of bourbon and coke the night before a ride is
not good if you don't rehydrate.

Drinking coffee all week is not too good either. Though, apparently, if
you are a regular coffee drinker, dehydration is not an issue as your
body makes up for the caffeine's diuretic effect.

Taking in insufficient amounts of magnesium, potassium and other
electrolytes is not good. Make sure your diet includes them.

Lack of sleep is one thing I noticed increases cramping. This is why the
bourbon-fueled, all nighters aren't so good pre-race.

Quoted message said:

I suspected on the AC it was cos I got too cold descending Falls
without pedalling much

You should always try to pedal on descents, especially long ones,
otherwise you stiffen up (your legs! mind out of the gutter!) and can't
power up as quick. Just soft pedal down hills.

Quoted message said:

Im fairly religious about my riding positin after years of tweaking and
Im strting to suspect that my seat is a few mill's too low.

That's an interesting call. I don't reckon I'd notice a few mil
difference. I think my seat can go up a bit at the moment.

Quoted message said:

Only shows itself on longer or harder rides

That's probably because your body is already low in electrolytes and
water and longer/harder rides just exacerbate this situation. More water
and more sleep. I don't drink coffee any more but I also don't often
drink sports drinks. Water is much cheaper! I'll usually mix up a
gatorade after a long ride, but I drink water on the ride. Cleaner
bidons too. 🙂

Quoted message said:

I am also guilty of being a 'toe-pointer'. IE toe is too downwards a
couple of people have mentioned over the years

Huh? Never heard of this. Extending the toes would mean your seat should
be higher maybe? None of this should have anything to do with cramping
though. Try the more water, more electrolytes, more sleep method.

Quoted message said:

(PS whattya do that allows you to surf this much?)

Don't sleep much and I'm on a computer all day so I just do a little multi-
tasking when I'm waiting for something else to finish running.. What
about you? You reply pretty quick (and bloody often! 😉)

--

Work on a computer (PC bluuurgh!) and hate my job

but I lurv ridin..

the toe-pointing theory is cos I think i might be not using the lowe
part of my legs properly due to foot angle and I feel sometimes like I
pulling up with my hammies too much when tired or climbing alo

NOT THE COFFEE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

youre scaring me man. I am seriously addicted altho i suspect doe
'bung' me up a bit (dont ask) and it does seem to encourage rather 'turbo
like' side affects 5 cups a day. take the wife, take anything. just no
the coffee..

I have shed 10kilos in the last 6-9 months and so have slowly droppe
alot a [censored] out of my diet, but the coffee??

The few mills for my seat is a tweak. i only ever move it a bit at
time otherwise it feels like Im on someone else's bik

-

flyingdutch said:

yeah, I see now how people comment that cycling is rather
unapproachable...
Speaking of hairy legs, when does one get 'worthy' enough to do so
and/or do I need/want to do it ?

Well done mate. gotta say I was impressed. I was riding in the
grade bunch, in the front, the back, the front again, till 25 minute
into it I just got spat out the back, and pulled out. So I wa
standing there talking to Ray when I saw you finish, cramping (wa
that you?). Good job

You should come riding in the Mascot bunch on Saturday mornings if yo
can. Leaves Mascot Cycles, Bridge rd Richmond at 7 am, slow t
Blackrock, fast to Mordialloc, stop for a whiz and a chat, then medium
fast back to Richmond. It's good training cos if you can do that ride
you can race, except in racing you don't need to be polite about pushin
in or letting people in

For shaving legs - do it when you want to. No-one will say you'r
not worthy

Come up and say g'day if you see me. I'll be in C grade with the Bluche
bike with a strange mix of blue, white and yellow, and "odd" tyres

Cheers Be

PS Buddy system sounds like a good idea. Might be a good excuse to rid
D grade, rather than riding C grade and never finishing!

-

flyingdutch said:

advice needed

Advice given (below). Just remember that you paid nothing for it! :-)

Quoted message said:

what kinda lead up do you do? Is it your hardest ride of the week?

Always. With my part-Scottish blood, I feel that after spending $10 to
enter, I'm going to go as hard as I can to win. You don't want to finish
and think, "ehh, I could have done better if I'd gone harder". Unless
you win, of course, in which case it doesn't matter!

Quoted message said:

Do you taper up to it in some way?

Not for weekly races, because it messes with your training too much, but
yes for more significant races (or long slogs like the Alpine Classic).
It's a trade-off between results in the short term and condition in the
long term. It's amazing how many people race (or train hard/long) the
day before an important ride, because they always do that ride on that
day, then wonder why they didn't perform when it counted...

Quoted message said:

how far out do you eat/not eat?

My club races at 2:30, so I make sure to finish my lunch by 12:30. Eat
too late and you can feel it sitting in your gullet ready for an encore
(especially if you're inclined to get pumped/nervous just before the
start), eat too early and you run a lesser risk of starting to feel
hungry again before the race is over. You never want to feel hungry on
the bike, either racing, training, or whatever. Touring in Japan once, I
ran out of food and (shortly thereafter) blood sugar on a longish climb
up a freeway in the rain, and by the time I got to the top I was cranky,
cold, irritable, cursing everyone and everything, and ready to eat a
sumo wrestler's jockstrap. Fortunately I found a roadhouse selling a
nice hot chicken curry instead. With a full belly, the world was a
rosier place, and I was quite happy to go back out into the rain again
and start enjoying my holiday again.

Quoted message said:

How much do you warm up beforehand?

I ride about 3.5km to the course, staying on the 42T ring and spinning
lightly. I do a couple of laps (total 4km) gradually bringing the HR up
to 150 (about 82% of my max, i.e. not too hard and below racing levels).
Then I spend a few minutes stretching quads, hammies, and calves. If
you're cramping, try this yourself if you're not already. Hold each
stretch for about 30 sec, don't bounce, and don't go to the point of
pain. I think some people don't warm up even this much, on the basis
that they can warm up in the bunch during the first few laps. The wisdom
of this depends on the likelihood of a successful break being made
during that time, which in turn depends on the bunch size, the course
layout, the wind conditions, etc. Certainly if you're struggling to hold
onto the bunch even when there's no break on, it stands to reason that
you should already be loose and warm when the gun goes.

Quoted message said:

Go easy the following few days?

Some races really wipe you out, and easy spinning is all you can do. I
found this to start with, but once you build a bit more condition,
you'll be able to go for an easy spin the next day or even a training
ride. Some people race both days of the weekend, but that would take
even more conditioning (or maybe they treat one of the races as a
learning/social exercise, who knows). In fact I met one guy whose total
riding for the week consists of a race on Saturday and a race on Sunday!

Hope these ramblings of a relatively inexperienced C-grader are useful...

Cheers,

&roo

P.S. You've asked good questions and are obviously keen to learn - why
not borrow some books from the library, google(tm) for race tips, or
even (gulp) buy a book or two? You can find stuff in 2nd-hand shops if
you're not prepared to pay RRP.

Andrew Swan said:

flyingdutch said:

advice needed

Advice given (below). Just remember that you paid nothing for it! :-)

<good advice snipped>

Sometimes the A-graders get it wrong.

Conversation on a Wednesday morning.

"So, Brad, how did the race go yesterday?"

"It went great for about ten minutes. I was with Tiggs and Hilton.
Then I pulled over and chucked my guts up."

"Something you ate?"

"Nah. It was the training ride before the race."

"So ... er ... what? A warmup?"

"Not really. We did 240 something Ks through the Dandenongs at an
average of 34 km/h. Then we rode to the race."

"OK. Um. Overdid it a bit, eh?"

"Probably."

--
Regards.
Richard.