Road Bike Racing - Zamora Report

Sick at home today, so i thought I'd share a race report I shared with my team. On a scale of 1 to 5, my frustration level is at 10 with a road races. :) Oh well, they can't all be good

***snip*** Kinda pulled my leg/groin earlier in the week, so I was questionable. Honestly I was just hoping to survive w/the pack but I have longer term plans in mind so pulling off was an option if I felt I might cause more injury.

First 1/2 lap the leg was tight I was worried it that was all she wrote. Shortly after the right turn away from the freeway, it didn't stop hurting it just kinda went numb (kinda like getting a tattoo), and I made my way up to Brian's wheel **name of my only teammate in race** and started to feel that my 'maybe' was just upgraded to a 'likely'. Then I heard THAT noise we all hate to hear and somebody told me it was me (!!!!!!!).

As I swapped out the tube and got going there was a guy up ahead and while I knew catching the pack was impossible, 2 is better than 1. Just as I caught him before the hill, tube #2 exploded. I ended up walking up the hill and did some cheering, then got a ride back from a guy who spent his morning cutting sheep's tails saving my cleats from the last mile.

Lesson learned? Not sure. Random people kindly offered tubes, but those Aero wheels require a foot long stem to work, so that was that. According to the Garmin, I spent more time off the bike than on the bike in that race. ***snip***

Too bad, because the weather and the course looked like a fun combination. I saw BrianApp out there, any other BF'ers?

*edited for reading....thanks platypus

Sick at home today, so i thought I'd share a race report I shared with my team. On a scale of 1 to 5, my frustration level is at 10 with a road races. :) Oh well, they can't all be good

***snip*** Kinda pulled my leg/groin earlier in the week, so I was questionable. Honestly I was just hoping to survive w/the pack but I have longer term plans in mind so pulling off was an option if I felt I might cause more injury.

First 1/2 lap the leg was tight I was worried it that was all she wrote. Shortly after the right turn away from the freeway, it didn't stop hurting it just kinda went numb (kinda like getting a tattoo), and I made my way up to Brian's wheel **name of my only teammate in race** and started to feel that my 'maybe' was just upgraded to a 'likely'. Then I heard THAT noise we all hate to hear and somebody told me it was me (!!!!!!!).

As I swapped out the tube and got going there was a guy up ahead and while I knew catching the pack was impossible, 2 is better than 1. Just as I caught him before the hill, tube #2 exploded. I ended up walking up the hill and did some cheering, then got a ride back from a guy who spent his morning cutting sheep's tails saving my cleats from the last mile.

Lesson learned? Not sure. Random people kindly offered tubes, but those Aero wheels require a foot long stem to work, so that was that. According to the Garmin, I spent more time off the bike than on the bike in that race. ***snip***

Too bad, because the weather and the course looked like a fun combination. I saw BrianApp out there, any other BF'ers?

quoted to format it a little more readably.

What Cat were you racing? My brother and some of the DeSalvo team went down and raced the master's 35 + 4's. He said it was a lot of fun, ended up 14th or so. Wish I had made it down for the race.

I was in the E4(more like a cat5 crit) race and it was a disasted, guy hits the only pothole on the course and takes out about a dozen guys. I go vering off the road into the grass, get the bike stopped then guy hit from behind(as Vinokurtov said when I told him that "thats a true wheelsucker"). Get back on the course, catch the pack which has been making surges then almost stopping the entire 50 miles of the race. Last lap a guy goes off the front and crashes solo in a corner;WTF is going on here. Finish sprint I sat up to preserve my skin. The course was pretty boring. There wasn't any real hills and it was basicly flat, not my cup-o-tea.

I was in the 45+ My report from another thread:

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?

Bleary eyed, 3 hours of sleep partially hungover from a wedding race today.

Channeled my boy. Struck the match and lit the entire box at the base of the final climb (itsy bitsy hardly can burn off a fat boy on this 30 second marvel of vertical)

1.7 miles to the finish.

I needed 20 more seconds to screw the sprint teams.

The rabbit got devoured.

12th.

At least, I've heard, I made them yell at each other.

I tried the same thing in the 5 race. I thought I'd try a flyer to the finish, but I attacked off the front thinking the last turn was the finish. You can imagine my dissapointment when I realized I had TT'ed not to the line but just the turn. I blew up and finished middle of the pack of guys who chased me off the front. Dumb mistake on my part.

Got dropped on the first climb of the cat 5 race. Ive never gotten dropped on any of my (limited) races before, how the $%*(^% did I get dropped on the first (300ft) climb? The pack is gone by the end of the first lap so I pull off and stop to breathe. WHen I push my bike to get started again I hear....

SQUUUEEEAAAKKK

yea that's the sound of my back brake pad on the side of my rim.

F@*K

at least Land Park was fun.

Was in the 55+ race. Started together with Vino's but picked separately. Managed to stay near the front and out of trouble. Heard one crash behind me on the first lap and a teammate got knocked off his bike and into the gravel on the last lap. Marked a couple of guys I thought had a chance of winning but one of them dropped out. At the top of the final climb I thought I was in good position but lost contact with the front group as we came around the corner with 2km to go. Got passed by 2 or 3 more in my category and soloed in 8th or so in my group of about 30. (42nd overall)