"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - How long before your first W

I started racing at the end of last year. So far I have been able to chalk up a couple top 10's and a top 5. How many races did you start before getting your first win? Was it a RR or Crit?

One. RR.

What win? Thanks for rubbing it in my face.

4th season - still waiting....

I won my first cat 5 race. It took me over two years to win my next race though, a cat 4. They were both road races.

Seriously, some people never win. I'm not sure I will ever win, I hope I will, but I will have to race really smart in order to do so.

Not counting my 4-5 races as a junior or however many it was, my first Cat 5 race.

I'll let you know. I got second in my first RR & SR but 13th & 14th is the best I've managed since.

http://z.about.com/d/altreligion/1/0/n/F/2/infinity.jpg

You'll be the first to know when it happens.

n+1 where n = the number of races completed

won a few collegiate races last season. no uscf yet.

One. unfortunately, the next win took 20 years, and its been 12 years since that one.

6th race as a cat 5. RR about 40 miles. I to this day haven't put in a harder 1 hour effort since then.

8 races for me, after I upgraded to 4s.

I got 2nd place once. Does that count?

I've been 2nd twice. If I were still a B I would have won the Irvine TT last weekend... instead I got 14th in the A's.

It helps a lot if only five other guys show up. That's how I got my only win (a cross race).

3 years.

cdr

*edit* crit. all crits.

Sheesh, as if there's not enough self-loathing going on in this forum already....

What win? Thanks for rubbing it in my face.

+11ty billion.

24 years.

For those who have won, did you have the help of a team or was it a solo effort?

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how many Road Nazis you take down with you when you crash.

1.5 years, about 40 races.

I've learned that contrary to what gets posted on BF RBR forum, most racers have never won a race.

For those who have won, did you have the help of a team or was it a solo effort?

Both of my wins were with the help of a team. The first one, I was riding in support of a teammate who was much better suited for the course. He ended working up front like he was in a break, but he wasn't. Since I was trying to ride for him, I was 3 or 4 riders back the whole time. Well, of course he was gassed by the last lap (road race, 3-mile laps), but I found myself in a great position, without having done any work the whole race. The only time I ever saw clean air was in the last 40m.

Last week's win had a teammate and I working ourselves into the final break group, which turned out to be 5 of us. Both of us are sprinters, so we decided to just roll the dice against the three time-trialists we were with. We went 1-3.

For those who have won, did you have the help of a team or was it a solo effort?

Both of mine were solo efforts. One two years ago, one two days ago. :D

Congrats on last week's win

Both of my wins were with the help of a team. The first one, I was riding in support of a teammate who was much better suited for the course. He ended working up front like he was in a break, but he wasn't. Since I was trying to ride for him, I was 3 or 4 riders back the whole time. Well, of course he was gassed by the last lap (road race, 3-mile laps), but I found myself in a great position, without having done any work the whole race. The only time I ever saw clean air was in the last 40m.
Last week's win had a teammate and I working ourselves into the final break group, which turned out to be 5 of us. Both of us are sprinters, so we decided to just roll the dice against the three time-trialists we were with. We went 1-3.

please explain the tactics of riding in support of someone by hanging 3 or 4 back while they cook?

I've been close, a couple of thirds and a second....I feel like I'm on the verge though, this season I'm gonna win one!!!!

For those who have won, did you have the help of a team or was it a solo effort?

First wins were solo efforts, meaning I won a sprint of some kind but I had no teammates. Some included technical advantages.

1st win - I had half-length axle pedals that allowed me to pedal through turns. I could pedal through two sharp turns and soloed the last lap 0.4 mile lap (I consider that a long sprint since it was about 600 meters).

A couple wins no help.

A bunch of wins came with tons and tons of team help - 2, 3, 4, 5 guys killing themselves to lead me out. One win came in a points race where four different guys led me out for five sprints (I soloed for the fifth sprint).

I also used aero wheels when they were not popular and I think they used to be worth 20-30-40 feet in a sprint. Now they are not worth as much.

Last win came with significant help from one teammate (closed down a 30 second gap to a break, also kept pace high in last lap), offers of help from others (but I didn't take them up on it because I didn't need help moving up).

I find that unless someone really experienced is helping me, it does me more harm than good. A leadout guy who can move me up *through* the field (not next to it) is invaluable. I've only had a couple like that in 25 years. When you can get two three guys like that, it's awesome.

cdr

please explain the tactics of riding in support of someone by hanging 3 or 4 back while they cook?

I decided to stop supporting him when he started riding like an idiot. I stayed close in case something changed. I started off by driving a hard pace, be he just rode around me and took over, as it seems he was in some sort of pissing match with another rider.

please explain the tactics of riding in support of someone by hanging 3 or 4 back while they cook?

Passive blocking. By not helping the chase, you by default help the break.

Too many US riders think blocking is going to the front and slowing down. Not the case. Passive blocking is acceptable, even at the pro level. Active blocking is generally not acceptable even if it is done a lot in the Cat 5-3 ranks.

cdr

I decided to stop supporting him when he started riding like an idiot. I stayed close in case something changed.

:lol: I was scratching my head wondering what scheme you 2 had devised, but now it makes sense.

:lol: I was scratching my head wondering what scheme you 2 had devised, but now it makes sense.

Man, he was PISSED at the end of the race. I was willing to lay it down for him, but he just burned himself up. I changed teams for the next season.

Cat 4s in Denver in 1992 were not very sophisticated (myself included).

I was big into MTB racing in the late 90's and never won a race, but got a couple of top 5's. During those seasons I did a few road races, but I wasn't really racing, I was just trying to hang on.

I took 5 years off to raise my family and took up another hobby. When my kids got out of diapers and life got a little easier, I started riding again. I've been riding again for the past 3 years and raced the past 2 seasons.

In March of last year, everything started to come together. I won a big Cat 5 CR race and placed top 3 in a hand full of others. Got my 10 races in and upgraded to a 4 late last season. Early this year I got a couple of top 10's in the 4's and recently won my first RR and placed 2nd the following day in a crit. I now have enough points to upgrade to a 3. I just have 2 more weekends of pre-reg'ed races (reg'ed months ago) and will then make the jump to the 3's.

I think w/ age and experiance, I got smarter in my training and started to race smarter. Its not always the strongest rider that wins, but the rider that races the smartest.

BTW, I had no team in the 5's or 4's. I just used the efforts of other teams. When you're racing solo, you have to depend on others to help you out, whether they know it or not :D

Second race as a cat 5. (crit)

Second race as a cat 5. (crit)

What the F took you so long?

What the F took you so long?

Exactly. And I thought you were all that.

Exactly. And I thought you were all that.

Oh, don't worry, Dr. W. is all that. Everybody @ Sandy Hook Saturday got a vivid demonstration.

Not counting juniors or a collegiate category I had no business being in, I won once in my second season, probably about my 20th-25th race.

Third CATV race, second road race was a win.
Loads of 2nd-10th places (upgraded to 3 via 10 top 10s in decently attended races and 20 races over 12 months)
Fourth MTB race was a win
First small local TT was a win.
I've never won a crit, and never won a cyclocross race. Could be an awful long time before either one of those comes to pass :(

1.5 years, about 40 races.

I've learned that contrary to what gets posted on BF RBR forum, most racers have never won a race.

Some of the best racers I know have never won a race. They're often top-5 though...

i won a speedway cat 5 crit with a field of about 15 people, i think it was my 7th race or so. me and this other dude went off the front with 7 laps to go and i got him at the end. it was awesome. since then i've won an uphill tt (collegiate B), a cat 4 RR, another speedway crit in cat 4, a 3/4 crit and a collegiate A RR (the last two were both last week). once i get my 2 upgrade i doubt i'll be adding much to that resume except for poorly attended tuesday nighters :P

Are we counting TT's?

4th road race as a 5, about a month ago. I scored a second place in the 4/5 field in the 3rd stage crit at Willamette this weekend.

The road race had some teamwork involved to push the pace early so people didn't have fresh legs (this is at Banana Belt for the locals) while keeping me out of the wind. I jumped at 400m for the winning move. I regard it as a sprint because there is a little hill that crests at 200m and it is downhill to the finish so I raced it as if the finish line were at 200m.

The second place in the crit was opportunistic sprinting.

Unattached for both of my wins. I've helped a team mate win, and been on the podium several times with team support.

I think there's certainly a luck factor (for example, being in a race with Dr. Will would be decidedly bad luck). I'll have to consider myself pretty fortunate for having won several races in the 4/5 races I've been in. There are lots of guys on this board who could rip my legs off who have fewer wins.

One thing about racing, though, is that you tend to rise to the level of your incompetence. So I'm gonna savor those meaningless wins in the beginner categories because I might not ever win again. Hell, if I don't find some saddle time I might not ever even *race* again.

--Steve

Waaay back ... many years ago ....I won a cat 3 RR hill sprint from a small breakaway. Later that year 1 won 2 crits on the same weekend and the district rep gave me a little tap on the shoulder that it was time to upgrade. I had a few other top 10's, so I wasn't dominating that season, but it was fun to move up and get my butt kicked by National team guys.

If Pcad wins a bike race, his ego will destroy all of Bike Forums in a day.

You have nothing to worry about.