bigskymacadam

No wrecks; perfect weather, 60 degrees with 5 mph winds. Cat 5's went out for five laps at the raceway; 10 miles total. I averaged 23.8 mph; max 34 on the final sprint. It was actually a very comfortable pace.

My goal was to finish with the pack; ended up with a top ten finish, my first ... which was neat, 'specially since it seemed so easy. I have a feeling things will get tougher in the weeks to come, but I feel ready.

It's nice to see my numbers climbing. It means I road smarter and stayed out of the wind (or the wind wasn't 16 mph like last time). I was also more aggressive with positioning. I used to worry about taking a spot, but really, if they don't contest me, I'm in.

Portland Roadies, get out here and get in on some of this! Fishmel, you would have won this race.

fishmel

Nice job Bigsky!, I seriously doubt I will ever win a race the way I ride. Really wanted to be there, but alas had to pick the daughter up from daycare. I am really hoping to be there next week.

gonesh9

Great job Bigsky! I'm really wanting to get out there next week. Hopefully just to not get dropped too badly.

fly:yes/land:no

bigsky, congrats on the race. i remember a racing simulator video game that i used to play, and one of the courses was portland. (i think the first series of turns is a quick right-left-right chicane and then a really long right hander.) in ohio a couple of weeks ago, they had a race at mid-ohio sports car course which was on that same simulator from my childhood. i couldn't go to it, but everybody said the race was really awesome due to the course being isolated from traffic, smooth, etc. i yearn for a race without the yellow-line rule.

bigskymacadam

That's correct. Right, Left, Right, etc ... It's nice racing on this track. It's plenty wide enough, cornering is a breeze, and it's totally flat. Anyone else race on race tracks?

fly:yes/land:no

i forgot. another bonus is that there aren't train tracks on race courses.

funny picture: https://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=2117

DieselDan

Would the race been more interesting if they used the chicane about 3/4 way up the front stretch?

cmh

Nice job getting out to race Bigsky. How big was the Cat 5 field? Was it Cat 4 and 5 combined? I'm going to try to get out there a few times this year.

cmh

bigskymacadam

negotiating a couple more turns before the sprint would be fun and more technical.



here's a link to the results. 31 riders in 4/5. i don't know why there was a 3/4 and 4/5's field ... but it seemed like the field was bigger on the 3/4's, much bigger than 15 ...

Snicklefritz

[QUOTE=bigskymacadam]That's correct. Right, Left, Right, etc ... It's nice racing on this track. It's plenty wide enough, cornering is a breeze, and it's totally flat. Anyone else race on race tracks?

I've been racing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. The last two weeks we have been doing the circuit race from Hell. (see attachment). The race starts with a very brief straighaway and then makes a left turn into a huge wall. It includes 10-12 turns depending on how they configure the track. Next week they are doing 1/4 mile sprints on the drag track. The 4th week they do a flat crit.

It's a blast riding on the track. great pavement, a fun and friendly crowd and an absolutely incredible workout. In this series they do a mass start with all the categories together, men, women and juniors. They pick them into 4 separate ones: CAT2/3 men, CAT4/5 men, women 1/2/3/4 and juniors.

I need to lose about 15 lbs before I'm going to feel ok about my climbing, but even so I managed to not come in last in any of the races so far.

Dabbo

Good to see somebody else was there too! My first race and a lot of fun, could not believe that I could keep the pace and even got in the front a few times, was not expecting 5 laps and I got at the sprint tired and started way to early, also got out of the way since I was there just to learn and did not want to be in the middle. We need "Hello my name is" signs for next time!
By the way thanks for the average speed, I got to the line just in time for the start and forgot to zero my computer, I guess something else to learn.
I will be in Bend all next week but I will be back the following one, look for the hairy italian guy on the black Masi. Also I am looking to ride share, the traffic was horrible and had to sneak in the cummuter lane, so if anyone needs a ride.....
Ciao
Paolo

Toxanadu

OT: Bigsky, any relation to bigskywrx?

bigskymacadam

tox, no relation.

dabbo ... yeah. traffic sucks with a capital sucks. i'm going to ride in next week. i live close to downtown, so there's no reason i should be driving in that crap. did i say crap? the traffic is crap.

bigskymacadam

oh yeah. fishmel, gonesh, dabbo, pedalmasher, portland folks ... hope to see y'all out there on tuesday!!! get out there if you can.