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07-25-05, 09:23 AM
Sorry, nothing exciting really. Just sitting here bored and need something to do. :D
It was the LA Wings crit in Long Beach. The course is a flat, fast, d-shaped, .9 miles. My first race was a CAT5 at 9:00am. They should have called it the CRASH5!! About 10 minutes in some guy goes down hard between turns 1 and 2. He was up towards the front and how the group managed to get around him without running him over is beyond me. Had to do 2 laps with the guy laying in the middle of the course - it wasn't pretty.
I actually felt good the entire race, just sitting in and watching out for bone head moves. With 6 laps to go I somehow found myself slightly off the front with two other guys wondering how the heck did I get up here. I was feeling so good I lead half a lap and soon remembered how much the wind sucks!! Took me two laps to recover from that. On the last lap I was sitting 3rd going into turn 3. Then the pace really picked up and I was sitting about 10th going through the final turn. The sprint started and then one guy unclipped and almost went down. Then 3 guys got tangled up right in front of me and all I saw was bodies and bikes flying. One guy actually rolled on the ground, landed on his feet, and skidded on his cleats like ice skates, missing my bar by inches. At this point, having to maneuver around the carnage, I sat up and rolled over the line out of the top 20. There may have been 1 or 2 other minor crashes during this race also but it's all kind of a blurr now.
I was a little disappointed after the race, thinking I could have done better, but also glad to still have all my skin. I then sat around watching the other races for a couple hours debating if I should try my luck and sign up for the 4/5 race. I eventually decided to go for it and after scrounging through my truck for change, including under the seats, I managed to scrape up the $8 for the second race fee after borrowing a buck from one of my buddies. At this point I'm thinking, "I wonder if Lance ever had to scrape for change under his car seats to pay for a race fee?" :rolleyes:
I was a little nervous going into the 4/5 race since this would be my first time ever racing with 4's or with this big of a group - I heard there were 120+ in the field. :eek: Plus, this was a 45 minute crit and my legs already felt like jello from the first race. My strategy was to sit at the back, draft, don't crash, and don't get dropped. The first 5 or 6 laps that's exactly what I did, just hung out at the very back. Once my legs came around and I realized I can do this pace I started moving up a bit and relaxed and had some fun. There were still a couple scares with people slamming their brakes on - I think one guy went down because of it - and there were atleast 3 flats that I saw (heard).
Surprisingly I felt good during this race as well. 30 minutes in I'm sitting in the middle of the pack thinking I can actually ride with the 4's. :) Then wiith 3 laps to go the pace really picked up and I was just sucking wheels and conserving my energy to stay with the group till the end. I finished somewhere mid pack with the lead group and very happy to complete my first CAT4 race without being dropped and without incident.
It was the LA Wings crit in Long Beach. The course is a flat, fast, d-shaped, .9 miles. My first race was a CAT5 at 9:00am. They should have called it the CRASH5!! About 10 minutes in some guy goes down hard between turns 1 and 2. He was up towards the front and how the group managed to get around him without running him over is beyond me. Had to do 2 laps with the guy laying in the middle of the course - it wasn't pretty.
I actually felt good the entire race, just sitting in and watching out for bone head moves. With 6 laps to go I somehow found myself slightly off the front with two other guys wondering how the heck did I get up here. I was feeling so good I lead half a lap and soon remembered how much the wind sucks!! Took me two laps to recover from that. On the last lap I was sitting 3rd going into turn 3. Then the pace really picked up and I was sitting about 10th going through the final turn. The sprint started and then one guy unclipped and almost went down. Then 3 guys got tangled up right in front of me and all I saw was bodies and bikes flying. One guy actually rolled on the ground, landed on his feet, and skidded on his cleats like ice skates, missing my bar by inches. At this point, having to maneuver around the carnage, I sat up and rolled over the line out of the top 20. There may have been 1 or 2 other minor crashes during this race also but it's all kind of a blurr now.
I was a little disappointed after the race, thinking I could have done better, but also glad to still have all my skin. I then sat around watching the other races for a couple hours debating if I should try my luck and sign up for the 4/5 race. I eventually decided to go for it and after scrounging through my truck for change, including under the seats, I managed to scrape up the $8 for the second race fee after borrowing a buck from one of my buddies. At this point I'm thinking, "I wonder if Lance ever had to scrape for change under his car seats to pay for a race fee?" :rolleyes:
I was a little nervous going into the 4/5 race since this would be my first time ever racing with 4's or with this big of a group - I heard there were 120+ in the field. :eek: Plus, this was a 45 minute crit and my legs already felt like jello from the first race. My strategy was to sit at the back, draft, don't crash, and don't get dropped. The first 5 or 6 laps that's exactly what I did, just hung out at the very back. Once my legs came around and I realized I can do this pace I started moving up a bit and relaxed and had some fun. There were still a couple scares with people slamming their brakes on - I think one guy went down because of it - and there were atleast 3 flats that I saw (heard).
Surprisingly I felt good during this race as well. 30 minutes in I'm sitting in the middle of the pack thinking I can actually ride with the 4's. :) Then wiith 3 laps to go the pace really picked up and I was just sucking wheels and conserving my energy to stay with the group till the end. I finished somewhere mid pack with the lead group and very happy to complete my first CAT4 race without being dropped and without incident.