^*^BATMAN^*^

So I did my first road race ever on sunday. It was a crit on the lake in Toronto(accross the road from the CNE in the park). It was a challenging course because its pretty much a 800m straight strech, hairpin turn, small little turns back and fourth, then a hair pin turn and you are on that 800m strech.

So lots of slowing, then accelerations. Well my plan was to see what kind of speeds were going on, what kind of orgnaisation was happening. Whell after about 5 laps the same 2 people had been on the front, no one helping them. So i decided to up the pace a bit, though no one seemed to like that idea, so I rode off the front of the pack. I got about 100ft off the front and I saw two guys from d'ornellas come to the front and push the pace more, they caught me after a little more then a lap. So that didnt work. So I just sit in the pack, avoiding the crash, the many near crashes casued by wheels locking up, and being pushed off the bike path onto the grass. Good thing for my mad bike handling skills from MTBing.

So the finish line is about 600m from the last hair pin turn. I figure, I should be able to TT that pretty good if I can get a gap on the feild comming out of the turn. So I go through the turn about 4th wheel, and i go about 50m in that position, and i attack. I look back after about 100m and I have a gap, but see that the dornellas guys are attacking too. At about 100m to go they caught and went by me. I was pooched, and couldnt counter it. So I finished 6th/about 40, and 3rd in my category.

Heres me sitting in the the middle of the lead pack. Blue jersey, Black shorts, crazy bright sunglasses.

cmh

Sounds like you did a great job for your first crit. Now, what did you learn?

^*^BATMAN^*^

Well I knew, and this race just solidified that I have a very fast jump, and am a decent sprinter. Though I cant hold off a raging pack for 600m. So The right move would have been to wait for the first attack, and let one of the teams lead me out. I probably could have finished higher.

I have a road race this weekend, we will see how that goes. I have found in some hard training rides with some friends, that I recover fairly quickly once I get a wheel to hold onto. So I think that I might be able to work well in a break on a flat(ish) course.

pcates

what category did you race?

^*^BATMAN^*^

Senior 4. Its like Cat 5 for you guys.

skin flute

I did that same race, same category last year. Hardly anyone wanted to do any work. There was one Masters rider that was dragging everyone around for most the race... I made a couple of weak attempts at attacking. In the end I was too shelled to compete in the sprint. I finished 3rd in Sen4 (it was a small field). Thankfully, I now live someplace with big hills, so my chances of success have jumped considerably.

Congrats on your first race.

^*^BATMAN^*^

Thanks. I wish I lived in BC still. I grew up there.