"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Plainville+Bethel Roll Call

Who's going this weekend? I'm signing up for both 5's races.

I'm signed up for both and a few people from my school will be joining me. Should be a fun weekend!

Probably gonna rain.

Forecast says possibility for saturday and probably not on sunday until the evening/night.

i would love to go....but i'm going to mexico instead for a week. i hope i don't lose any of the hard training that i've put in on the bike so far.

rtc,

It will probably be wet both days, especially in Plainville. Let some air out of your tires.

Plainville is more of a traditional crit course - short, flat, and faster then Bethel. Hold your line in the corners, and don't make any sudden movements anywhere else on the course. Last couple of weeks, there was a Junior rider in the 4/5 race who was, well, squirrelish. He almost caused a couple of wrecks two weeks ago, and succeeded in doing so last week.

Going around a very slight bend on the back of the course, Junior inexplicably decided that he was going to pop out of his comfy spot in the field to move up. He never looked around him, got spooked when he saw a guy in his blind spot and ended up going down. One poor rider never had a chance to avoid him and went head over heels, body and bike flipping over Junior and his bike. Pretty wild sight. Then, the rider got up and looked as if he was going to inflict some damage to Junior. Neither of them was hurt (apparently), but the guy that Junior took out walked his bike back to his car. His fork snapped in half.

Pay attention. Be predictable.

i would love to go....but i'm going to mexico instead for a week. i hope i don't lose any of the hard training that i've put in on the bike so far.

You'll be fine. The only thing you're going to lose is sleep.

Don't drink the water. Don't eat from the salad bar. Try to avoid ice.

ha, yea, i'll definitely lose sleep. and i've heard the stories about the water and ice. i might, just might be able to get up enough energy to go to the gym for like an hour a day in the early morning and maybe get an hour on the stationary bike. that would be great, but i doubt it's going to happen

Will let air out of tires and try my best to be predictable.

Whats a psi that I should be running at 145 lbs? 90 front 100 back?

rtc,

It will probably be wet both days, especially in Plainville. Let some air out of your tires.

Plainville is more of a traditional crit course - short, flat, and faster then Bethel. Hold your line in the corners, and don't make any sudden movements anywhere else on the course. Last couple of weeks, there was a Junior rider in the 4/5 race who was, well, squirrelish. He almost caused a couple of wrecks two weeks ago, and succeeded in doing so last week.

Going around a very slight bend on the back of the course, Junior inexplicably decided that he was going to pop out of his comfy spot in the field to move up. He never looked around him, got spooked when he saw a guy in his blind spot and ended up going down. One poor rider never had a chance to avoid him and went head over heels, body and bike flipping over Junior and his bike. Pretty wild sight. Then, the rider got up and looked as if he was going to inflict some damage to Junior. Neither of them was hurt (apparently), but the guy that Junior took out walked his bike back to his car. His fork snapped in half.

Pay attention. Be predictable.


The move 2 weeks ago was classic. Nearly took out half a dozen guys on the corner before the start finish. Wheeeee.

Will let air out of tires and try my best to be predictable.

Whats a psi that I should be running at 145 lbs? 90 front 100 back?

Predictable - always assume someone is to your 8 and 4 o'clock. If you check and your assumption is wrong, then go. Otherwise you're semi stuck and have to use your best judgement.

Air pressure - there are a lot of different theories on this. At a rainy race one guy (who admittedly went skittering off the road after he said this) told me he cranks the pressure on rainy days (he was running 180 psi). He won the race too, after his off road incident (all of us eased up and waited for him - virtually everyone went off at the same bend and we all waited if the rider was quick to try to get back), but was disqualified for bringing the guy trying to beat him all the way across a 4 lane road - Limerock's main straight.

Just because it's not an even number, I'd run 95/105. Apparently that's what Fignon ran, he weighed about 140-145, and he didn't seem to have problems.

If you go too low the tire folds over when you lean and it simply slides out. It can happen even in the dry. Also, at 90 psi, you start increasing the chances of a pinch flat.

cdr

So who went to plainville today and who's going to bethel tomorrow?

So who went to plainville today and who's going to bethel tomorrow?

Oy! Did you ride Bethel? How did it go?