Road Bike Racing - Stage 1 report from the weekend

Tour de Christiana: Cat 4 race (my first) I line up with the plan of sitting in the field, i know there is a relatively big climb that should break up the field, and I want to be in the lead group when this happens. We start, and I shuffle around in the pack, bump and shoulder more so than in the 5's which was fun, and we go up the climb. The speed of the group drops to about 10 mph, and we crawl up, field strung out, but together. Through some rollers, and down a 50+ mph decent, around some turns, and back to the start mile marker ~9. Around we go again, the pace is moving along, pretty calm and controlled, we hit the climb again, a bit faster this time, I shift down to pick up my cadence and accelerate, and CRACK, @#%!, jump off the bike as I am basically trackstanding on the climb while the field passes me, chain stuck on the rear cog. Get it spinning, jump back on. Chase chase chase, i can see them, chase chase, gone, they kick over the top i try to get them on the decent, nothing, the large back has huge advantages over the lone rider. 3.5 laps of picking up people who are dropped finish 67th out of 90ish. Crap, not the way I want to start my time in the 4's. Somehow this is worse than getting dropped, stupid miss shift killed me, not my inability to climb with these guys. Tomorrow TT and crit, not my strongest events, but i need to make up for today. I might hijack my fiance, not let her go to the beach, so she can drive me home after fighting to get points back in these events.

So how'd you do in todays stages???

about the same in the TT, and not horrible in the crit. I was pulled with 3 left, and I think we were the last chase group still out when that happened, so i think i was in the 40's or 50's. I am not a crit racer, so I am ok with that as my first crit in the 4's. your teammate killed it, came in 2nd, both in the crit and the GC. I learned a lot though, as in not to get caught in the back off the start when people cannot clip in, especially when leading into a climb, although i made it back to the field, i had to chase hard to get around the carnage, and that time trials require more respect than i get it. small warm up, lead to cramped legs by mile 3. a great weekend though, cannot wait for next weekends races. I am just bummed that they are mostly crits, I am a much bigger road race fan.

My Team BBC team mate and I did the Christiana CAT 5 road race (only stage that CAT 5 can participate in). He finished 12th, I finished 33rd. The hill got me, as apparently, I am one weak mofo. :( Do I get any points for being nearly 50 years old in a field of youngsters?

NoRacer, I believe I saw you in the parking lot at the RR.

On the 4th time up that climb, i was definitely thinking, man, if only I had waited a week to cat up, I would not be doing this 2 more times

labrat, what team do you ride for?

Nice job labrat, chrisitana is a tough race. So there was a crash at the begining of the crit? For some reason I always get behind some who struggle to clip in at the start, I know what you mean.

FYI the adrmore crit has been changed to the end of september for some reason. I saw that on bikereg last night.

I ride for Tristate velo. We actually had a few people in the race for once. WCroadie, i saw that, but I will be in Miami for that weekend doing a triathlon. On one hand, bummer I cannot be there, on the other I will be in Miami so woohoo. there was not a crash on the start, just a lot of people dropping their feet because they could not get clipped in. So after getting organized and fighting back to the pack, there was a crash in lap 2 or 3 which I was behind, so that really killed my chances, it was a tough race, but very happy i did it.

Did you race Christiana WC?

I ride for Tristate velo.

Cool. I was behind you guys (and Maria) while preriding the RR course.

I don't think I was with them at that point, I did my usual show up, with just enough time to get in the very long register line, change, quick spin, and start. I saw them ride out while waiting in line. How did things turn out for you?

Not too bad. 14th in the RR, 30th in the TT (no aerobars) and 15th in the crit. Sometimes I have to remind myself I am racing against Pros and Cat 1 racers.

There was a horrible crash in our RR - one girl flatted on the descent and went down hard, then another girl hit her at speed and somersaulted through the air. I managed to avoid it all, but was close enough to still have that image burned in my mind.

I saw that, I went buy as they were being treated. I was with julie's husband Rob as we went buy and he was freaking out thinking it might have been her. Congrats on the placings, that was a killer course, well done.

Not too bad. 14th in the RR, 30th in the TT (no aerobars) and 15th in the crit. Sometimes I have to remind myself I am racing against Pros and Cat 1 racers.

There was a horrible crash in our RR - one girl flatted on the descent and went down hard, then another girl hit her at speed and somersaulted through the air. I managed to avoid it all, but was close enough to still have that image burned in my mind.

I think I saw that girl. Her team had a tent sent up next to where we were parked. Man, the left cheek of her face was hamburger. She may need some cosmetic help with that after it heals.

What sort of set me off was that the EMTs didn't try to clean her up. Her team scrambled for a first aid kit, but no one had any Betadine or the like to disinfect and clean her wounds.

I talked to her a bit on sunday, some road rash on her face, but she had a big smile and was having a good old time. How can you not smile when your team has a full service van, complete with mechanic at the race, and she had her dog with her which probably helped

I saw that, I went buy as they were being treated. I was with julie's husband Rob as we went buy and he was freaking out thinking it might have been her. Congrats on the placings, that was a killer course, well done.

Thanks!

You know Julie and Rob? Can you believe Julie just started racing this season? She is really rocking it.

Rob and I ended up together off the back of the RR after my chain decided that it did not want to go up the climb a 2nd time. She is awesome, one hell of a rider, and no that is really impressive. How she finds time to train along with the doctor work is beyond me