Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Off to the races

Off for my first bike races today.

North Central Collegiate Conference Race at KSU (Manhattan KS)

25 Mile Road Race
9 Mile Team Time Trial

and a ~10 mile Crit Race Tomorrow

Updates and Pictures will follow when possible

Paul

Not many clydes race, but I do. So you've got an audience of at least one. Post up!

How'd you do?

I raced on Sunday as well... but I got spit out the back quite quickly. Motored along in solo fashion for the next 10 miles after I lost the pack.

There is nothing like the feeling you get when the pack dumps you :(.

I do training rides with my friend from time to time and have gotten use to getting popped to the back...I need to find a friend that isn't a CAT 2 :D.

how was it? i am always curious about what speeds the crits go at for beginners? all the roadies make it sound like everyone is flying around at 28mph.

how was it? i am always curious about what speeds the crits go at for beginners? all the roadies make it sound like everyone is flying around at 28mph.

28 mph is more like a cat 3 field, while the cat 4/5 field last sunday was averaging ~25mph. I was motoring around the track at 20mph with very strong head winds in the backstretch of the racetrack and I got lapped twice in a 45 min. race. Lapped TWICE with a lap length of 1.7 miles and the whole race for me only being about 14.4 miles long.

Finally have time to post results.

I got last in both the road race and TT but thats about what I expected. From a personal perspective though I did extremely well. Averaged just shy of 19mph on the road race despite the killer headwinds the first half of the race, almost got second to last but I lost my rhythm in the last climb and couldn't quite catch the guy in front of me. The time trial I did really well averaging 22mph. I would like to know what I could have done without the cross wind. Didn't race the crit on sunday, having burried myself on saturday I had no legs at all left to try to race with guys generally faster than me.

But the real intention of the weekend was to prove that I could finish a race, which I did . Learn more about where I need to work to be a better rider and racer, which I did (More simple muscle strength = time in the weight room, and less total body weight = keeping on the weight loss plan for the year). And to have fun, which I also did :)

Really training to compete in some triathlons this summer, and looking forward to that. Excited to see where my performance is this time next year as I will only be training for bike racing, and hopefully about 40lbs lighter.

Where do you race? Is it on a closed circuit of some kind, or on public roads? Just curious, as I really don't know of anything in my area. I know that Manhattan is about 4 hours from my house, but I am not spending that kind of money in gas.

28 mph is more like a cat 3 field, while the cat 4/5 field last sunday was averaging ~25mph. I was motoring around the track at 20mph with very strong head winds in the backstretch of the racetrack and I got lapped twice in a 45 min. race. Lapped TWICE with a lap length of 1.7 miles and the whole race for me only being about 14.4 miles long.

The thing about cat 4/5's: the speed isn't consistent. We slow down going into corners, and speed up out of them. So you have to be able to do some intervals--4 per lap, at about a 2-minute lap pace, for 40 minutes. :D

The higher categories (3,2,1): they're smoother through the corners. Less accelerations, but a constant speed. I raced a cat 4 crit: my HR & speed data were jumping all over. Then I turned around 3 hours later and did the Masters/1-4 race: nice and smooth data. Perceived exertion was different too. I thought I wasn't working that hard, but my HR data showed that my HR was high and stayed there.

Where do you race? Is it on a closed circuit of some kind, or on public roads? Just curious, as I really don't know of anything in my area. I know that Manhattan is about 4 hours from my house, but I am not spending that kind of money in gas.

These were collegiate races here. Road race and time trial were on open public roads. Crit was held on closed roads in the downtown business/bar district (think lincoln way area in ames) most crits are fairly flat with lots of turns, this one was Ruler Flat with some turns. Will be some races that I will be racing the collegiate D's in Iowa city on the 26th and 27th. Check out USA cycling at http://www.usacycling.org/ there were a pretty good number of races in Iowa the last time i looked.

These were collegiate races here. Road race and time trial were on open public roads. Crit was held on closed roads in the downtown business/bar district (think lincoln way area in ames) most crits are fairly flat with lots of turns, this one was Ruler Flat with some turns. Will be some races that I will be racing the collegiate D's in Iowa city on the 26th and 27th. Check out USA cycling at http://www.usacycling.org/ there were a pretty good number of races in Iowa the last time i looked.

I would like to see some, and also see some cyclocross racing also. We will have to see what our schedules look like as a family. My daughter's events take #1 priority.