grolby

+1. I think one of the reasons I had a mostly happy season and am still really excited for my next 2-3 months of racing is that I didn't let myself feel obligated to do races just because I had previously said I would. If I didn't feel like starting a race, I didn't do it and didn't worry about it. So I was into the events I did enter. I did have relatively few race starts this year, 13 according to road-results.com (actually 12, one is really a DNS), but I'm cool with that.

beatlebee 

Well, I dipped my toes back in the water this year with only 4 starts. 3 of them were podium results. Two more planned.

Ygduf

Pewter!

gsteinb

I think I'm done so...
I didn't race as much as I normally do

I won one race.
Podiumed 13 or 14 (east coast podium) making a 50% podium ratio.
silver in the state crit
2 DNFs for mechanicals
No crashes
No irreparably broken bike stuff.

ghause

Just found out that the Stillwater TT is cancelled so my season is over.

Rookie year - 40.
Brinkerhoff week 2 - skipped the snowy misery of week one. It was eye-opening. Got dropped in the first corner. Rode the rest of the race solo. The wind was brutal.
Brinkerhoff week 3 - Wanted to stay with the pack a bit longer and I did. Got dropped in the second corner. Got yelled at by officials for joining a pack that lapped me. Rode with a couple other guys for a lap and a half.
Battenkill - This was my 2015 goal. Major eye opener. Got dropped at the first climb, this continues to be a theme. I feel like I did well until the cornfields near the end. I was solo until a couple kind souls let me wheel suck for a bit. I could barely walk back to my car after the finish.
Greene Summer Classic - I feel like by this time I knew what I was doing. Hammered after the first climb to get with a group. I learned that if the 5s get mixed with the 3/4 women, to stay with the ladies, they paced really well.
Glens Falls Downtown Crit - This is where I learned that Crits are not my thing. It was hot and fast. I got lapped pretty quick.
Tour of the Hilltowns - I approached this as a C race and worked to hard. I was sore for two weeks. I followed my usual pattern of getting dropped early, and bouncing around with other guys for the remainder. This was a really pretty course. Three guys caught up to me with like 2 mi to go. I hung with them and didn't get a chance to sprint at the end because a car had us pinned to the shoulder at the finish.
Tour of the Catskills - This was my 2016 goal but since Dieter isn't doing it next year, I threw my hat in. I really enjoyed the TT and want to do more. Day 2 was the GSC again and I'm really happy with how that went. Stuck with a group on lap one, got dropped on the climb on lap 2, got picked up by another group and caught the first group. I need to work on not disrupting the group's rhythm when taking a pull. I pulled too hard and burned myself out with 20 min to go. This was my favorite race of the year.
The ToC Road Race was fun, but I didn't know the course but by this time I knew the riders I was with and wouldn't have done nearly as well without them. The Kitchen was truly brutal.
Greylock Hill Climb - this was a great end to the season. Fun atmosphere. Nice spread afterwards. Those Northampton guys are all right.
All in all I finished in the top 20% of cat 5s according to the USAC app. Not sure how that happened as I tend to place right at the top of the bottom third.
Anyway, see you all next year, hopefully 10 lbs lighter with slick climbing wheels.

carpediemracing 

There's one more race I can do, I probably won't race.

Spontaneously started to diet over the winter. Returned to 2010 weight, the year I got the points to upgrade to Cat 2 (and then promptly downgraded at some point in 2011). I also took part in a VO2 max study - I did 2 days of intervals each week plus core exercises, total of 10 weeks (4 weeks on, 1 week off, 4 weeks on, 1 week off). Although FTP only returned to about 218w (from 208w? I forget) the few watts I got really helped, plus weight loss.

Other than 5 or 6 event rides I only trained indoors in 2015, mainly Zwift.

3rd race (3rd ride outside) I won. Got three 3rds. Could hang in the few P123 races I did, plus a few of the Tues A races.

Next year I want to be back at my 2010 weight (I'm 10 lbs heavier than April right now). I'll do the 8 weeks of intervals, if I can deal with it mentally. And see what happens.

TL;DR - lost 17? lbs, did intervals for the first time in maybe 25 years, didn't train outside, and had a pretty solid season.

canuckbelle

Rookie season. Racing age: 33.

Park Circle Crit (Speed week) 3/4 women: 1st of 4
SRS Albany Crit: 3/4 women: 1st of 12
SRS Albany RR: 3/4 women: 4th of 10
NC/SC State Championships RR 19+: 1st of 13
NC/SC State Championships RR Cat 4: 1st of 8 (Upgraded to Cat 3 after this race)
SRS Knoxville Crit: 3/4 women: 9th of 16 (ugh...hills!)
SRS Knoxville Crit: P123 women: 13th of 13 (did I mention the hill?)
SRS Knoxville RR: 3/4 women: 15th of 17 (...so many hills)
Rumble at Roebling Road Saturday: 3/4 women: 1st of 17
Rumble at Roebling Road Sunday: 3/4 women: 1st of 10
Carolina Cup: open women: 1st of 11 (I think there was even a pro in our field)

So that's 7 wins at regional races. It was an amazing rookie season. I hired a coach a week ago and can't wait for next season. The goal is to maybe make Cat 1 by the end of next season. I started in January from scratch (off the couch, basically). My FTP went from about 200 to 235, and my sprinting went from about 1100w to >1450w.

I learned lots of different ways to win, and I often surprised myself. I went from about 300m out at the SRS Albany race (I wanted to go through the final corner first and pick my line). The NC/SC 19+ race I went from 600m out and jumped the field. The Saturday Roebling Road race I solo chased down a solo break, catching her in the last 75m. And I managed to survive (and win!) the hilly (for me) Carolina Cup...an hour long race. I was honestly just focusing on surviving, but had good legs on the last lap and won the sprint after leading out the last third of the lap. ...and I won a few races in standard 'sprints' where I waited until 75-150m before jumping.

FFJ

I had a rough start to the season battling to get back into shape after a long fall and winter spent focusing on racing a marathon in addition to a pair of mechanicals that made a bad start to the season feel even worse.

Then in the late May I started a run of four consecutive top fives, including two podiums that had me thinking I'd finally figured this bike game out.

I paid the price for that hubris though with a crash ending my streak of top fives and keeping me off the bike for a week, followed by a dropped chain of all things at my next race in mid-July.

After a couple of weeks away from racing, in early August -I grabbed a top 10 by soloing away from the bunch after missing the early break that managed to stay away. That would be my last positive race of the year though as my fitness waned during August thanks to a busy month at work, and the rest of my results were pretty lackluster.

It was still a fun season and I'm already excited for the racing to resume next March!

Racer Ex 

Had spine surgery late February and chewy MTB accident at the end of May so I never really got much past 90% or so. A bit of structure here and there but more off than on. Still, it looked pretty good on paper:

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD="width: 123"][/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]This Year[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Race Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]24[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Win Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Podium Totals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Top Ten totals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]13[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]State Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]State Medals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl66"]Out of State Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Natl Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]National Medals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]National Records[/TD]
[TD="class: xl66"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl66"]DNF[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Doge

I'm the odd one here - I get that. But for the few that want to know.
This year was about learning what the next level was like. We were pretty certain Daniel could be some kinda pro level. We wanted him to see what the next level beyond local racing. That involved making his choices that (I correctly so) disagreed with and learning about team racing and traveling and living in Europe.
Net - ehhh - racing OK, Mission accomplished.
He had some real bad luck. Equipment and bad choices.
He had some good races. PR - 6th place, winning both sea otters
He got DQ'd
Teammate we had hoped would pair with him got sucked up by USAC
USAC turns out to be kill joys and he said so - killing his opportunity. They are pretty incompetent.
He learned about team racing, UCI rules the whole thing.
He got some very big invites to team next year.
Off cycling now, rowing. Visiting Georgetown, Navy and Princeton next month.
All in all OK. I / we love cycling - but USAC are really pretty much idiots.

furiousferret

Your year is better than most peoples careers. Hopefully next year you'll be @ 100% and can fill in those zeros.

Ygduf

what 6 state events are there? counting track?

Racer Ex 

I know. Looking at some of the totals since I started in '04 it's alien. Still remember how hard I struggled for that first win in a bike race, then that first win in a "real" USCF (now USAC) race, then that first state jersey. I avoided Nats for years because there was "no way".

Watching folks here and the athletes I am fortunate to work with go through the process and have those moments of "wow" is so very cool.

dz_nuzz

Heh, I know that feeling right now.

Ygduf

I rode with you as a complete cat-4 newb, now I'm still a newb but finish 4th in every race. Coincidence?!

I'm so glad I went to Master's Nats this year. I have so much room to improve in the skill of racing, but it proved to me that I can ride with any of those guys. My only regret is wondering if I had just sat in on the RR. I think I would have finished top-10 in that final hillclimb, possibly 4th/5th again looking at the numbers - but, I was happy to race for my teammate. Getting into the break meant I didn't have the pressure on me. It was a dumb break and I should have called it after 5 minutes, but I chose "easy" and rode myself right out of the race.

I hate that I still shirk from the pressure sometimes. After I died a slow death on the climb and finished mid-pack last week, I was laying there when the 40-44 RR winner came through. The guy is my buddy and I scraped myself up to go congratulate him and he was just overcome, sobbing and unable to speak. I want that.

Ygduf

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]This Year[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Race Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]75[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Win Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]4(usac) 2-non usac TTs[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Podium (top 3)[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]9 +2 non-usac tt[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Real Podium (4th & 5th!)[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]13![/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]State Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]State Medals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl66"][/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Natl Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]National Medals[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"][/TD]
[TD="class: xl66"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl66"]DNF[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

TheKillerPenguin

My jersey has an asterisk next to it because I actually finished 3rd on the day (but first out of NYers), but I've had that feeling and it is 100% awesome. Imagine you've just started dating someone and she comes to your race and you disappear to ride in loops for 3hrs and then suddenly you pull across the line all sweaty and stuff and she's got no idea how you did because it's her first bike race, but you can't put together a sentence beyond "I did it" and start crying on her shoulder and she thinks she's psyched for you but is also totally like wtf, and then you go to roll to the podium and almost low speed endo because your front wheel catches a lip on the asphalt. Would recommend.

tommyrod74

Most of my season was XC MTB-based, I went into the year planning on more road action but as usual it was an afterthought.

On the MTB - SE Regional champ (Cat 1 40+), NC State Champ (same), 7th at XC Marathon Nats (after an 8-minute flat change; chased back to 7th after losing umpteen billion places). Most proud of a 2nd in age group (6th overall) in ORAMM (Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell - 500-person mass start, 11,000 ft of climbing). Won 8 races outright. Good season.

On the road - won a crit (Cat 3), got 3rd twice (ditto), got 5th last weekend at The Carolina Cup (Masters 35+). Was most pleased with the last one as I made the break and finished ahead of all Cat 1 racers in the field.

2 points shy of Cat 2 upgrade. Hopefully that will come quickly next year.

I learned a LOT this season about my strengths and weaknesses - and how to translate the strengths into results. A field sprint is not going to be a high-probability result for me, so I don't let those happen if I have any say in it. I've had great results in small breaks, large breaks, fast leadouts (so my lack of jump doesn't really hurt me) and by going 2-3 minutes from the finish. No more waiting for a field sprint for me.

I have trouble focusing on road as 1) XC is my primary love and where my climbing ability helps the most; 2) it's mostly flat crits around here (even tough we have gorgeous hills and mountains - the NC RR Championships were in FAYETTEVILLE, for goodness sake - pancake flat); and 3) I run a large regional XC MTB team.

Next year, though...

Congrats to everyone on a great season as well.

happybday29475

2015 Recap

The Highs
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Races[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Wins[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Podiums[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Category upgrades[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Podium girl kisses[/TD]
[TD]0[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

The Lows
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Crashes[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Concussions[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Ambulance rides[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hospital nights[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Separated shoulders[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Broken ribs[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

canuckbelle

Come on, now: there's a highway overpass and a 'hill' near the end of each lap

tommyrod74

You sprinters get ALL the crits, and most of the road races... in a state that has gorgeous mountains, I'd like to have a couple in the state RR championships

Racer Ex 

I do that a fair bit, but I only have 579 bike races under my belt. I'm hoping to race smarter next year.

You did well at Nats. Realizing you belong there and can impact the race should give you motivation for next season.

shovelhd

Thanks. It's appreciated.

mike868y

well i guess i can post in here now.

for those following along, last season was totally a dud. pulled/strained a tendon early on and it continued to bug me through the summer. couple that with starving myself for the entire spring and i could barely pedal a bike, never mind race. coming into this year i think i underestimated how much that set me back. winter wasn't as productive as it should have been and i came into the spring slow (shelled at battenkill, quabbin, ksr, etc.). didn't get frustrated though and just put my head down and trained my ass off through the summer. starting feeling good right around hilltowns and got top 20s at Catskills, Tokeneke, and GMSR (road stage) and i'm really happy with that. more importantly, i learned to love bike racing again. i'm coming out of this season with a lot of motivation to get better. i want top 10s at some of the climby races around here and think it's totally within reach.

hack

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]This Year[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Race Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]29[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Win Total[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Podium[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Top 10[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]State Champ[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]1 (TTT )[/TD]
[/TR]

[TR]
[TD="class: xl66"][/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: xl65"]Upgrade Points[/TD]
[TD="class: xl65"]13[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Ended on a low note by missing out on what should have been a win, but that should provide some winter motivation.