Lithuania

First race here this season. I didnt do to well.
I blew up on the last lap on the climb ended up coasting across the line again.
This is 4 races in a row that I hang in fine and then fade at the very end. Very frustrating.
I went on an easier 2 hour ride this morning that probably affected my race.

The positive to come out of this race is I was able to really work on taking in easy and conserving
energy. I was able to spend a lot of time not pedalling and that made the climb a lot easier.

The negative is that I again did a terrible job positioning. I started near the back and never really
moved up to far. I am just not fighting to move up and take a better position. I am getting tired
of typing that every week. I am not really sure how to even work on this.

There is just too many times I sit on a fading wheel instead of going around. A couple times on the
climb I got behind a slow wheel and just thought "ahh i can handle this pace" instead of bursting around.

here are the numbers

zimbo

It looks like even toward the end of the race that your heart rate is still recovering on the downhill section, which is a good sign. I think if it were me I would run out of anaerobic work capacity before I ran out of aerobic capacity and perhaps that's what happening to you--especially if there are near-the-back-of-the-pack surges in addition to that hill.

Does this crit have a section where people seem to be sort of waiting or recovering such that you could move up without too much effort? I don't know the course but from your ride data it appears as though there's a section where people pick up speed without pedaling, followed by a sharp corner. In a recent crit I did I found that holding position up the hill required a lot of effort but if I could just make it to the top without losing position then everyone seemed to really soft-pedal or coast for the next little while preceding the downhill section. So I was essentially able to make up a lot of ground on the pack by continuing to pedal after the hill and then get back in line prior to the bottom-of-the-hill turn.

Alternatively, why not make it a goal to line up at the front of the race?

Riding for two hours on race day--even if it's just tooling around--also seems, um, counter-productive. That's a ride that would be better for the day before the race.

--Steve

Ghostman

Average speed for the C race was 23.2. Not that much slower than the B's....
My wattage was just about exactly the same as yours for that race.

Those two hours did you in....

Lithuania

At the bottem of the hill there is the right turn that hosts the only really surge of the course. I definitely waste the most energy being in the back here.

The double line rule makes it a little difficult to advance when everyone is recovering because of how wide the group gets. This section is right at the start/finish after the climb and leading into the downhill. I would usually gain any position on the downhill but this got sketchy with people flying all over the place and braking like crazy. I kept getting nervous one of the many people to cross the yellow line would end up swerving back over at speed.

This is definitely my goal for next week. I'll just skip the stupid warmup lap to make sure I am in the front.

sometimes i think i do this stuff on purpose just to have an excuse.

NoRacer

Great meeting you, riskus! Maybe I'll see you there in a couple of weeks.

Lithuania

You too noracer. I will see you out there again im sure. hopefully i will be in a better mood after a better result