"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Failure and Pizza (Man)

I'm pretty down after getting pulled in a Cat 5 race today. I got gapped when the guy who's wheel I was sitting on sat up about 9 minutes into a crit. I struggled and squirmed, but couldn't catch back on. That's the second DNF in a row. After an earlier 4th place, I seem to be regressing.

Oh, on a positive note, I was promptly shut down by none other than the infamous Pizza Man last Tuesday when I foolishly tried to attack on the "Heartbreak Hill" of a local training race. It's like a 35% grade, and he soft-pedaled past me. Soon after, I detonated.

P.S. Pizza demolished the field by about a minute and a half. Just for clarification's sake, it was not a TT.

Isn't a 35% grade similar to the side of an office building?

Rough estimate. :rolleyes: I think even the Pantani of BF would agree that it's quite the little wall though. It's the Infineon road course they use for NASCAR.

http://www.goswinery.com/ircs/RoadCourseLayOut.pdf

The "wall" is between points 1 and 2. Pizza Man has won this race so many times, he doesn't even bother to report on it.

Sounds like it's time to remind a local official that the pizza man forgot to put in for his automatic upgrade! :)

Sounds like it's time to remind a local official that the pizza man forgot to put in for his automatic upgrade! :)Yeah! When is Pizza Man going to upgrade to a Cat 1? :)

I'm pretty down after getting pulled in a Cat 5 race today. I got gapped when the guy who's wheel I was sitting on sat up about 9 minutes into a crit. I struggled and squirmed, but couldn't catch back on. That's the second DNF in a row. After an earlier 4th place, I seem to be regressing.

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Not regressing, just learning there's more to bike racing than just fitness. You need to learn what wheels to follow, even moreso in a CAt 5 race where the abilities are very mixed.

If you stay further upfront, this is lesslikely to happen. Also if you observe carefully, you can usually anticipate it, and move on to another wheel before you get gapped.

Just part of learning to read a race.

Yeah! When is Pizza Man going to upgrade to a Cat 1? :)

yeah, that's what I was wondering...SANDBAGGER!! :)

I'm pretty down after getting pulled in a Cat 5 race today. .

That makes two of us. I was so stoked to race the p1/2/3 and 15 minutes into it I stuck my rear wheel into the pothole after turn 3 and POP! Thunk, Thunk, Thunk. Knowing it is pretty damn hard to pinch flat a carbon tubular I feared the worst and wasn't dissapointed with a nice big crack.

Yep, sorry to hear about you getting pulled, but you can always come back and race Tuesday night again! :)

jrennie - I've cracked 2 carbon wheels in crits in the past year, :mad: so now I only use them on the smoothest of courses. On the rough roads I use my Williams 19's. Great $500 wheels!

I wish I could upgrade to Cat 1, but most of my races don't qualify for 1 of 3 reasons:
Too short, field too small or racers too old (masters races don't count).
The races that do qualify are usually stacked with a few pros who take the top places. I hope to get there next season, but the only way will probably be by doing a couple stage races with a separate Cat 2 field.

Rough estimate. :rolleyes: I think even the Pantani of BF would agree that it's quite the little wall though. It's the Infineon road course they use for NASCAR.

That's roughly 10-15%, which is actually a decent grade for road bikes (or race cars)

Yep, sorry to hear about you getting pulled, but you can always come back and race Tuesday night again! :)

jrennie - I've cracked 2 carbon wheels in crits in the past year, :mad: so now I only use them on the smoothest of courses. On the rough roads I use my Williams 19's. Great $500 wheels!

I wish I could upgrade to Cat 1, but most of my races don't qualify for 1 of 3 reasons:
Too short, field too small or racers too old (masters races don't count).
The races that do qualify are usually stacked with a few pros who take the top places. I hope to get there next season, but the only way will probably be by doing a couple stage races with a separate Cat 2 field.

I'm too stupid NOT to come back. (And, for some reason, I love racing my bicycle.)

That's roughly 10-15%, which is actually a decent grade for road bikes (or race cars)

There are some short bits on the climb that approach 20% (if you go straight through the apex).

Yep, be sure to say hello tomorrow night!