Ritch's first race



R

Ritch

Guest
Hello everyone,

I finally had a go at bike racing, after riding around in triathlon
for a few years. Joined up with Parramatta Cycling Club in their race
out at Oakville, north west of Sydney.

The parcours is a 7.1km rolling circuit on marshalled, but open public
roads - though there were few cars. I commute everyday with the Sydney
peak hour traffic, so it felt deserted out there!

One difficulty that had to be resolved was the choice of grade. What
grade do you try if you've _never_ been in a race? I was given the
choice of C or D and went with D ('cos I'm a wuss).

The D-grade field set off for four laps with 11 riders climbing away
from the start line. The pace felt a little slow, so (stupid) I rode
up the front up the hill. Then at the front around the first corner,
the second corner, along the fast downhill section, around the slow
third corner, around the fourth corner and back up past the finish
line.

It was about now that I started wondering if the experienced heads in
the group were just sitting in and getting the newbie to do all the
work... up the hill again, round the first corner and look back: 11
was now six. I started to suspect my companions weren't just sitting
in but no-one came past for a turn.

On the third lap I decided to have a go at getting away, on a small
uphill section after the long downhill drag. Only one companion left,
and he wasn't dropping off. Only one lap to go, so go into time trial
mode. This is where triathlon is helpful - sprinter's get knackered if
you push hard up hills. The fellow didn't have enough left at the end
and I rode across the line in first!

I was more than a little apologetic after being clearly placed in the
wrong grade. How was I to know? I look forward to being beaten up in C
grade next time...

C'est la vie.

Ritch.

PS. I attributed my success to the rural area that the race was held
in. As a triathlete, there were no shop windows to admire myself in :)
 
Ritch wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I finally had a go at bike racing, after riding around in triathlon
> for a few years. Joined up with Parramatta Cycling Club in their race
> out at Oakville, north west of Sydney.
>

<cut lots of bits out here...>
> PS. I attributed my success to the rural area that the race was held
> in. As a triathlete, there were no shop windows to admire myself in :)


As another triathlete who is to scared to try road racing at all because
those fast people are so scary, thanks for cheering my morning. I was
sick of reading all that depressing arguing.

Tamyka
 
Originally posted by Ritch:

> I was more than a little apologetic after being clearly placed in the
> wrong grade. How was I to know? I look forward to being beaten up in C
> grade next time...


Thanks for that. Now I don't feel so bad after you pulled my legs off on
Thursday night.

Cheers,

Suzy



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