"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Thursday crit report

12 years since my last crit.... and tonight I did two (3/4 and a 1-4 open), ended up with a 6th EDIT: 5th (lapped rider) place and a pack finish -- and some crampy legs :D

UT_dude, nice to meet you, and good job tonight!

The first race wasn't too eventful, but it was really fun. There were maybe 30 racers lined up (35 min., cat 3 & 4 men and cat 1-3 women). It started out pretty smoothly. Initially, I stayed up front. There were frequent attacks, so I was getting drawn into chasing them down a little too much. This course isn't too tight, so I decided to drop back in the pack and get away from the turbulence up front. Much easier about 2/3 back -- almost boring. As I understand from UT_dude, most of his team was missing, so the pace was slower.

When we got down to 3 laps to go, I started moving to the front. In the last lap, I got up to the very front before the final corner, and felt pretty good. Unfortunately, I gave too much room on the inside in the last corner (I thought more people would try to come around on the outside because of the chicane there -- it's a better place to pass). This allowed a guy to get up on me a bit, and take part of my line. I slowed (mistake), and a couple more guys got around me. Then the finish was right there, and I couldn't regain any of them in the sprint.

I ended up with 6th place. I crossed the line at 193bpm (I have a 194 max). So that's about all I had -- but I should have stuck with it in that corner -- I'm too out of practice in crits. Average speed was about 25mph.

At the last minute, 45 minutes later, I decided to do the 60 minute cat 1-4 open race. My legs felt great after the first race (it was a trick -- they're out to get me). I figured I'd just go around for half the race and not take it too seriously.

This race kind of eased into a fast pace, though most of it was double-wide (not all single-file like I expected). I mostly concentrated on managing my position and identified the corners where I could make up a lot of ground. I got so much more comfortable with the hard cornering in this race, and that was a great feeling. I was just brushing my inside pedal on a couple corners, so I had that action dialed in. We were taking most of the corners at 29mph -- it was really fun. It made the drive home a little hairy until I calmed down.

Anyway, my HR was pretty contained during the race, but my legs were starting to go. With 25 minutes left, I could feel the cramps trying to start up, and I was in survival mode. I was counting down the minutes ("I can do this for 9 more minutes, right?"). I finished deep in the pack and didn't contest the sprint at all. Average speed was 26.6 for 60 minutes.

I like crits :)

Hey that's awesome for your first crit in 12 years! Then to come back and hang with the 1/2's 45 minutes later is really impressive. Were you cramping because of lack of hydration/salts?

Thats a great result. Whats the saying, you never forget how to ride a bike?

Great report! Thanks waterrockets!

Average speed was 26.6 for 60 minutes.

Sweet mother of Jesus, I give up....why even try to think about racing?

All I can do is read reports like this one from a real racer.....my compliments sir!
I'm not worthy of pinning a number on.

This reminds me of when I was in high school taking guitar lessons. I'd try and try and try....and then I'd see Jimi Hendrix play on TV and think to myself, "pffft, why bother....it ain't ever gonna happen."

Average speed was 26.6 for 60 minutes.

Sweet mother of Jesus, I give up....why even try to think about racing?

All I can do is read reports like this one from a real racer.....my compliments sir!
I'm not worthy of pinning a number on.

This reminds me of when I was in high school taking guitar lessons. I'd try and try and try....and then I'd see Jimi Hendrix play on TV and think to myself, "pffft, why bother....it ain't ever gonna happen."

you need to stop obsessing over speed like this. I was in a crit a few weeks ago that averaged over 27 mph for 45 minutes and I did fine even though I dont think I ever average even 20mph on normal rides by myself.

Hey that's awesome for your first crit in 12 years! Then to come back and hang with the 1/2's 45 minutes later is really impressive. Were you cramping because of lack of hydration/salts?
Tough to say on the cramping. Fatigue was certainly a component, but I wasn't taking too good of care of myself between the races -- since I didn't really plan to do the 2nd race. I only brought 2 bottles that evening, and I ran out of water with 20 minutes left -- but the cramping started before that. I could have refilled a bottle, but the last minute thing... I wasn't even really planning on doing the whole 60 minutes in the 2nd race!

I really think it was more the pace than anything else. I only train about 6 hours/week, so I'm going to be lacking a little. This crit and the As at the Tuesday nighter are so frigging fast. People were telling me that the pace of both races was slower than usual. 26.5 last night, 27mph on a hilly Tuesday nighter, it's just crazy -- especially for being near sea-level.


Average speed was 26.6 for 60 minutes.

Sweet mother of Jesus, I give up....why even try to think about racing?

All I can do is read reports like this one from a real racer.....my compliments sir!
I'm not worthy of pinning a number on.

This reminds me of when I was in high school taking guitar lessons. I'd try and try and try....and then I'd see Jimi Hendrix play on TV and think to myself, "pffft, why bother....it ain't ever gonna happen."
Naw, just go out an pin the number on. Race and have fun. Riskus is right, the average speed can't be compared to training. I use it to compare other races, and how I felt in them though.

Way to go man :beer:

The gospel of 1 minute intervals is well preached!

Hip: Don't worry about average speed. If I go out solo for 2-3 hours, holding a pace much over 20-22mph on rollers is absolute murder. I can do it, but my eyes bleed, and I want to die...but I've done plenty of 25-28mph crits and RRs. The draft makes all the difference, case in point - a flat RR last year averaged between 27 and 29mph, but it was far and away the easiest race of the year - because we had a decent sized field, the roads were smooth and it was flat.

Average speed was 26.6 for 60 minutes.

Sweet mother of Jesus, I give up....why even try to think about racing?

All I can do is read reports like this one from a real racer.....my compliments sir!
I'm not worthy of pinning a number on.

This reminds me of when I was in high school taking guitar lessons. I'd try and try and try....and then I'd see Jimi Hendrix play on TV and think to myself, "pffft, why bother....it ain't ever gonna happen."

As has been stated, 26mph in a tight pack is probably easier than 22mph solo.

Good job waterrockets! Now, if only I can learn to grab wheels at the front and hang on for the initial take-off and inevitable sprints...I feel some intervals coming on this weekend!

:beer: :beer: :beer:

Nice work!

Nice report. Im still learning a lot about positioning so I like reading reports like this that go into a little detail. Pretty good showing after a 12 year break!

Nice! Thanks for the write up.

Nice job, impressive results considering it's been a while for you.

My training crit got all messed up last night when one guy mashed his face on the ground. He lay in the street for a bit, no one wanted to move him until the meat wagon came. Threw off the whole rhythm cause we had to slow down every time we came around that turn. I heard he was pretty out of it.

I'm not complaining just saying.

Update: online results have me at 5th because one of the guys in front of me was lapped :D




Nice job, impressive results considering it's been a while for you.

My training crit got all messed up last night when one guy mashed his face on the ground. He lay in the street for a bit, no one wanted to move him until the meat wagon came. Threw off the whole rhythm cause we had to slow down every time we came around that turn. I heard he was pretty out of it.

I'm not complaining just saying.
I hope he's ok. Yeah, I've raced after one of those before too. My team was promoting the race, and I was the first responder. Really shook me up. I was lucky enough to flat on the 2nd lap, and just got the heck out of there.

Hey --- last night was definitely a fun race! And I enjoyed getting to meet you! Congrats on the 5th place!

Good job WR I'll try to make next Thursdays race, I've asked for it from my coach.

Good job WR I'll try to make next Thursdays race, I've asked for it from my coach.

Cool. I'll ask for it again from my wife ;)

My training crit got all messed up last night when one guy mashed his face on the ground. He lay in the street for a bit, no one wanted to move him until the meat wagon came. Threw off the whole rhythm cause we had to slow down every time we came around that turn. I heard he was pretty out of it.

I heard him go down behind me, I was up at the front and it sounded like he was mid-pack. Didn't look too bad when I came around but I think he went into shock. They had him covered up with a blanket and he looked pale. Of course that was at a glimpse. Anyone know if he's ok?

waterrockets -- great job after a 12 year layoff!

I'll see you guys soon on a Tuesday and/or Thursday.

I heard him go down behind me, I was up at the front and it sounded like he was mid-pack. Didn't look too bad when I came around but I think he went into shock. They had him covered up with a blanket and he looked pale. Of course that was at a glimpse. Anyone know if he's ok?


I heard yesterday that he broke his hip and collarbone. He hit the wheel in front of him and went down. Surprising no one else crashed with that many people there. I heard it and thought for sure the next lap we would be seeing a bunch of guys on the ground.

I heard yesterday that he broke his hip and collarbone. He hit the wheel in front of him and went down. Surprising no one else crashed with that many people there. I heard it and thought for sure the next lap we would be seeing a bunch of guys on the ground.

That sucks...

waterrockets -- great job after a 12 year layoff!

I'll see you guys soon on a Tuesday and/or Thursday.

Great, I'll keep my eyes out for an orange Lemond. I'm doing the Thursday crits again next week, so not the Tuesday Nighter. I only get one night a week, as it makes a loooong day for my wife.

Well my season is going just swimmingly. After a great start I got sick and lost most of my fitness. I was just coming back and now I've got a really bad bronchial infection so this weeks crit and tomorrow nights TT are out. ARRRRRRGGGGGG!

Well my season is going just swimmingly. After a great start I got sick and lost most of my fitness. I was just coming back and now I've got a really bad bronchial infection so this weeks crit and tomorrow nights TT are out. ARRRRRRGGGGGG!

omfg that blows

omfg that blows

Yes it coughs too ;)

Hey I saw Mike Mow yesterday.... the six degrees of separation continues!