acorn_user

Coming up soon! Who's in? This was my first ever road race two years ago. I got dropped last year. Hopefully I will make it to the finish in or ahead of the pack this time

If you decide the TT is not for you, there is a crit in Richmond (Cullop's Imports). If you decide the RR is too hilly, there's always the snowball crit in Virginia Beach.

aicabsolut

My goal was to be a sandbagger and win the ITT (I haven't upgraded, because a lot of my top results are in TTs and not so much in points races with any decent field sizes). I was very close last year after cutting nearly 4min off my time from the year before. That road race is not designed well for me unless I can organize a good break, but it's good experience.

But, alas, my left shoulder has decided to implode this week, out of the blue. Reaching out for the handlebars is not something I want to do right now. I could barely lift up my bib straps. We'll see what the doc says tomorrow. So much for my goal.

acorn_user

Oh no! That's no good at all

ilpirata87

Yes that was also my first race (3 years ago), I am a lazy ******* and not going up there. My excellent excuse is that I have tickets to the Carolina-Dook b-ball game on Sun, which is definitely a worthwhile thing.
Besides I have too many bad memories of near-hypothermia from that race. I am trying to get some more training in before my next race (crit in SC on 3/14) but it is difficult due to the spate of bad weather we've been having, since I hate the trainer.

neuronal

Does c-boro mean carrboro? My home is there.
So here's something I've been wondering. Sometimes when I walk down weaver st, I see some guys in kits biking around in a paceline (usually just a pair or 3 people). Is there some club in carrboro/chapel hill? Or a team?

Flatballer

I'll be there, with the Wolfpack squad. I'm racing Cs still, thought about going down to Ds, but decided to man up and just get faster instead.

I haven't done a TT yet, so that'll be a new experience for me. If I can hang on during the hills in the RR I should be fine. That's a big if. My plan is to [mumble, mumble, unintelligible]. We'll see if it works.

acorn_user

The year it was cold and wet? That was my first race too. I liked it, but it got worse as the day went on. One of my team mates got back to the van and put all the towels on herself to try and warm up....

enjoi

i'll be there doing the TT, VCU cat, B

flatballer i'm pretty sure that once you leave D you cant go back

ilpirata87

Yes that is Carrboro. I don't know what club or team you are referring to since there are several around here. Maybe it's franklin street cycles.

Flatballer

I dunno, never heard that. But I wasn't in D anyway, I started the season in C.

I heard you could move around categories until halfway through the season, and then you were stuck.

aicabsolut

It's supposed to be so warm this year! The ITT in '07 was my first ever race. I didn't do the RR because of the sleet / snow.

I am definitely out this weekend according to the doctor, but I ought to be back for Jeff Cup.

I'm jealous of your bball tickets. I never did do the whole camping out for tickets thing as an undergrad. Go Duke!

Flatballer

The weather is supposed to be awesome, but don't talk about it, or it might go away.

acorn_user

When you pass me in the TT, say hi

aicabsolut

I think that was the old rule. Now it's all based on your USCF category, and you have to apply for upgrades/downgrades aside from that. Still, I guess it's possible to move around a bit, say if you're a cat 4 or 3. Since D is an intro category, I don't think you are supposed to downgrade to D if you've done C races.

Flatballer

Oh, ok. Either way, I'm staying in C until I upgrade. I'm considering upgrading to 4 (I've done fine in 4/5 fields), but staying in C (I have yet to pack finish a C race). Can I stay in C while being a 4? Or do I have to upgrade to B? Because I can't hang in B. I have the distance, not the speed/ability to recover.

ridethecliche

I'll be racing in suffolk next weekend if any of you kids will be there.

aicabsolut

Yes, C is a 4/5 category. B is 3/4 so you could go either way, though you may technically need to apply for the B upgrade.

neuronal

If memory serves me correctly, their kit was mostly black and white.
Tangent: Does Performance Bikes have a team? I know they're based in chapel hill.

acorn_user

Well, I rode the TT as hard as a I could, and set a time that would have been good enough for 5th in mens D. Unfortunately, I'm a mens B rider, so I came 24th out of 26. Oh well. I completely wore myself out doing it and hurt my knee, so I'm going to skip the RR tomorrow, which is a pity.

Have fun tomorrow!

aicabsolut

That's too bad about the road race. Looking at the times, it was a really fast race this year. How was the wind? Or was it just that people weren't so frozen? There was a lot of overlap in times between B-D, and I think many of the B riders put some A riders to shame, so don't feel bad. At least you're out there giving the B field a shot. I'm sorry to be missing it.

Flatballer

I did horrible yesterday in the TT, 37 out of 39 in C. 34:35 or something was my time, not so hot.

Today I fell in the parking lot before the race . I was trying to clip in on the gravel and got my foot caught between my wheel and my downtube when it slipped off the pedal, then I fell over at about 0.00 mph. My chainring stabbed me in bottom of the leg, but not too bad.

In the race I was feeling good. First lap I was towards the front, took a couple short pulls, sat in towards the front a lot. Second lap I felt pretty good still, I was hanging out in the middle, managing to avoid the many crashes that we had, and then came the hill at the end of the lap. I made it up towards the back of the pack, but still on the pack. Then the guys in front of me blew up and I waited a couple seconds too long to go around (I was still hurting from the climb, so I didn't want to work if I could avoid it). I never got back on. I worked with a WVU rider and we were averaging about 22 trying to get back on, we got within about 15 seconds, but then the attacks started in the pack and we couldn't get back in. Finished a minute or so off the pack. 26th out of 36 or something.

Considering the carnage in that race, I'm just glad to have finished.

acorn_user

Sounds like you got in a 2nd good TT workout. The roads are pretty narrow, and that seems to cause a bunch of crashes. There were three in that race last year.

It was a fast course yesterday. It really wasn't that windy. I looked at last years times, and the biggest difference seems to be in D. It was much slower last year. I think the speed upgrade in C has been passed onto D now. I'm still angry at the decision to change the way the categories were organised. It may have slightly bettered the safety level for the elites, but at the cost of speeding up everything else.

Also, this is the 4th race weekend. I think people are getting into the groove!