03FR500

I competed in my first road race this past weekend. I finished and didn't wreck, so I should call it a success. However, there was a pivotal moment at which I now realize that I lost all chance of finishing towards the top and would appreciate some advice.

I started out about middle of the pack, was riding along fine only a few miles in, passed a couple of people, and then realized that a pack of riders had broken off the front and was leaving everyone in the dust. It was too late for me to bridge and buried myself trying.

At about the 14:00 mark in the first video I notice that the pace was ramping up and then it kind of fizzed out. Pivotal moment was about 30 seconds before that moment. Videos are the raw footage and boring to watch, anyone with the time to provide some critique would be greatly appreciated

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlSWAYGppZQ

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdxoA1PvszE

How do you keep an eye out for these kinds of events during a race? I would like to avoid unknowingly getting kicked out the back of the peloton for being focused on the few riders directly in front of me? Just have my head on a swivel.

ericm979

-Stay near enough to the front so you can see when there's a break.
-Look up the field, not just at the ass of the rider in front of you. That's also important for safety, for obvious reasons.
-Know the course so you know the terrain (or wind) that makes a break more likely or more likely to stay away.
-Have the experience to read the pack mood so you can feel when there may be a break. Sometimes the pack just goes to sleep for a while. But of course that's a good time to attack...
-Don't waste energy chasing a break that's going to be brought back. Reading that takes experience too.

Remember the rule for peloton position: if you're not moving up you are being moved back.

kensuf

Know your enemy.

carpediemracing 

It would help to know about wind and grade. I can't tell if there's any wind and I can't tell if things are a false flat or slight downhill etc.

It's very hard to read a Cat 5 race because no one really knows how strong anyone is. You might have a 28 mph time trialer who is trying out road racing after doing triathlons for 10 years or a 4:30 miler who wants to rehab a knee and discovered he loves cycling. Etc.

With Cat 5s you have to be super vigilant if you want to make the breaks. In crits they normally don't go but in road races the strongest will naturally end up at the front on hills or in wind.

One thing that struck me is that you're not sheltering when you have a chance. You let gaps open and then slowly close them. Or, at the end, when you were catching up with the one guy, you stayed left. Now, granted, the wind may have been a 40 mph crosswind from the right, but it's unclear. I certainly can't tell. If it wasn't a 40 mph crosswind then you should be riding right up to the guy. Even if you decide not to sprint you can just tell him "Dude, I'm not sprinting" and sit up when he jumps for insurance. Or pull him to the line. Etc.

I noticed towards the end of the first bit (I moved the cursor around to see patterns then watched details) that you allow the group to ride away from you. I learned (recently - it took me about 25 years of racing to realize this) that I sharply close gaps. It might be one downstroke, maybe two max, but I keep gaps closed by reacting immediately.

If you allow a gap to open and then you can close it you may not be riding optimally. I understand that sometimes you need to ease into the effort, or if there's a tailwind it's not as energy sapping to let a gap go, etc, but without knowing wind/grade info my take is that you're throwing away a lot of energy by not staying in shelter when you're not working.

Finally if you want to chase you should chase hard. If the group was going say 24 mph and then it surges to 28-32 mph when the front split off, well that front group is going to be going 25-27 mph once they're clear. They took off because the group was too slow. Think about what you need to do to bridge to a group going, say, 27 mph. You'll need to go 30-31-32 mph, for a while (minute, two minutes).

You can go faster and then chase a little less time, so a 35 mph bridge effort would close the gap quicker. But to go 26 mph to chase a 27 mph group... you'll chase all day.

I generally think you need to go about 5 mph faster than the expected speed up front, so if they're going 28 mph you need to do 33 mph. A committed solo rider can close 10 seconds without assistance. It's pretty straight forward but it's hard.

Once the gap is over 15 or so seconds it's hard to close solo.

Are the speeds unrealistic? Maybe right now. If they're unrealistic then you need to realize that the 10 second bridge rule is now maybe a 5 second bridge rule, meaning you can close a 5 second gap, not a 10 second one.

You should also work on holding high speeds for a short time. 35 mph is a normal mid-race hard surge effort for Cat 3s and there's nothing different in strength between a 5 and a 3 - I'd argue that many Cat 5s are virtually as fit as Cat 3s but simply lacking experience. In the group it's not uncommon in flat races to be soft pedaling at 38 mph in the field, which means someone's at the front pulling at 38 mph.

Post more questions. You'll get answers.

ericm979

I'd mention knowing the competition (i.e who is strong or who likes to go on breaks) and team work but neither are factors in cat 5.


Entire books have been written about race tactics (i.e. Thomas Prehn's).

AzTallRider

It's not possible to over-emphasize this point.

mattm

OP I wouldn't sweat it, you're learning.

Online advice can only help so much, what helps is experience - so keep racing. (and learning)

shovelhd

Pay attention. Be ever vigilant.

03FR500

Mostly in response to CDR; thank you for the detailed and thoughtful advice. The terrain is as flat as it could get and wind was tailwind at the 14:00 mark, then blowing in from the right once the first right hand turn was made. I was mindful at the time of how sheltered I was, which as you could see was not much most of the time. I was not comfortable riding as close to my competitors as I would to training partners. I did leave less of a gap once things calmed down later in the race.
The group that rode off the front was sustaining about 27mph. I'm not sure if the pace was higher while I was trying to bridge the gap. At present time I could probably spring at 30mph for close to a minute (although I'd be nearly done after that effort). I will try it next time, see what happens.
One thing I learned was that I cannot rely on anyone else to put in as much effort as I want to put in. I trusted that the person in front of me was keeping up with the pack, it was not the case and then I had to play a game of catch-up that I lost.
Good advice all around. I am going to participate in a crit this weekend.

carpediemracing 

Tailwinds are the hardest. I made it to a good break in a Masters race. I was sheltered etc, doing all my tricks, but they would kill it in the tailwind section. I got shelled after a few laps in the tailwind section. That's all about speed work and big gears - if you're spinning a 50x12 with a massive tailwind you're going to drive your heartrate through the roof. I was using a 55T (55x11 top gear) for a while (I stole it off our tandem because my 53 was worn) and I could move up easily even on 45+ mph descents without really working. For flatter windy type races I'd run as big a gear as possible with tailwinds in mind.

You learned right about making efforts for yourself. No one, except an absolutely dedicated teammate, will work as hard as you may want them to work.

I think you'll do fine in the races this year. I saw no obvious problems, no weirdness, it wasn't like I was shaking my head the whole time I was watching.