Road Bike Racing - Redemption is sweet sweet dish

Yesterday, destroyed on the field at plainville crit. Legs felt terrible, lapped multiple time. Good experience.

Fast forward to today.

Arrive at Bethel late with a bit of a stomach ache.

Get number, get ready.

Head over for warm up laps to see racers lining up. Crap...

Number placed on wrong side. Double crap... Teammate and another racer helped get it on the right side. (Thank you racer with red indy fab if you see this).

Crit starts off at reasonable pace. Move around field get warmed up. Great.

Fall back for a few seconds to tighten shoe straps. Whoops.

Legs don't feel all that great after being pummeled yesterday. The hill felt too easy last week. Today it takes some strength.

Bell lap.

Attack on the hill and cut around inside corner to get in the front.
Turn around after 30 seconds when I start to breathe heavy and slow down and see that the next guy is pretty far back.
Adrenaline kicks in, will I make it? I dig deeper and go harder. I stand up because it hurts. Bridging will hurt the next guy more.
1 guy catches up, I see him go by at the base of the hill. "You ready?" he asks as he cuts right around me.

I stand again and attack the hill, one more guy goes around my left. Dammit.
Throw bike at finish.

Look around. Only two guys around me. I got third. Yes!

Teamate got 6th. It was a good day.

That's awesome, congratulations!!!!

That's awesome, congratulations!!!!

Thanks!

I'm so glad I wasn't in the second CAT5 race. This guy TT'ed the entire race and held like a 20 second lead the entire race. It was ridiculous...
He finished first. He's a nationally ranked Triathlete though, but hot damn he just blasted off the front.

Sweet!

It seems like you surprised yourself a bit. Timing a sprint is a difficult thing. I know I get it wrong more often than I get it right.

You've got something to build on.

Sweet!

It seems like you surprised yourself a bit. Timing a sprint is a difficult thing. I know I get it wrong more often than I get it right.

You've got something to build on.

I know I jumped too early, but the way it was set up, that spot is the best place to do it.

Right after the right turn where I jumped is a descent, where you can jump but it's easier to catch you. The corner after that has a stiff headwind, which means that anyone who jumps onto your wheel will easily cut around you if you get the least bit tired. The hill is a great place to jump too, but my legs weren't feeling it so I took the plunge early.

It is something to work on though and I'm starting to do that :)

Talking to a coach about some more structured training soon. Thanks for the tips. It's pretty awesome knowing that I'm at a point where everything needs to be worked on haha. I can't do anything wrong as long as I'm out riding ;)

I love this shiz.

Nice Job! How many races have you done now?

Nice Job! How many races have you done now?

This was my 5th race.

One Road race, One circuit race, and Three Crits. The course at bethel is my favorite one at this point, because it allows time to recover and gives a great location for me to attack (the hill).

I was really bummed because I knew I could have done better last sunday, but I have absolutely no regrets about today :)

Good job today. Glad you rebounded.


Thanks!

I'm so glad I wasn't in the second CAT5 race. This guy TT'ed the entire race and held like a 20 second lead the entire race. It was ridiculous...
He finished first. He's a nationally ranked Triathlete though, but hot damn he just blasted off the front.

The second race was the deciding race for the series. It had all the points leaders. The guy who won is strong. Very, very strong. He was also off the front in Plainville yesterday. We averaged 23.5 mph trying to catch him, but he wasn't as important as the overall leader, who ended up getting second anyway.

I said it before, strong riders in this year's Bethel Cat 5.

I think I heard a crash while I was sprinting up the hill. Does anyone know what happened and if everyone is okay?

There was a guy on deep rimmed wheels who seemed to have a really bad problem with keeping his front end from shimmying. Hopefully the possible mechanical problem (loose headset?) didn't cause a pileup!

Good job today. Glad you rebounded.



The second race was the deciding race for the series. It had all the points leaders. The guy who won is strong. Very, very strong. He was also off the front in Plainville yesterday. We averaged 23.5 mph trying to catch him, but he wasn't as important as the overall leader, who ended up getting second anyway.

I said it before, strong riders in this year's Bethel Cat 5.

Totally. I saw him pick up the pace at plainville yesterday. He better be upgrading to the 4's since the bethel series is over now.

I was seeing numbers in the 26mph+ range before I couldn't hold on any longer yesterday. My legs weren't feeling all that great and I doubt I would have been able to keep up even if they felt perfect...

Congrats!!

Here, sign up for this one when reg opens in a couple days: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6243

Congrats!!

Here, sign up for this one when reg opens in a couple days: http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=6243

I'd love to!

Except that I'm working abroad for the entirety of summer and won't be around for the race :(

Even if I was in the US, I live in PA and the race is a bit far.

I could potentially sleep over at a friends place at wesleyan before the race. Too bad I won't be around...

I'd love to try my hand at a few road races in the area but as it gets closer to finals time, it gets harder and harder to make it there.

Ah that sucks....always next year.

Ah that sucks....always next year.

Hopefully :)

I'll probably be working at wesleyan over summer, so I should be able to do the Nerac tues night crits and a race or two every weekend. It'd be really expensive though...

The student group committee is paying for most of our expenses right now. Maybe if I join a local team it'd be easier due to carpooling and stuff.

ah really good job man, all the bikeforuming payed off :P and some training, how big was the field?

i did a training crit today with only like 15-20 starters, this is a cat 5 training crit. me and last week's winner took off, i took every prime and won, always wanted to do a breakaway but eh this was a weak field just because of the number of racers... we actually got 1 minute on the field and it was a short crit so.. w/e not really counting this :)

Well in that case....check out Palmer and/or Sturbridge in a couple weeks. Both road races.

ah really good job man, all the bikeforuming payed off :P and some training, how big was the field?

i did a training crit today with only like 15-20 starters, this is a cat 5 training crit. me and last week's winner took off, i took every prime and won, always wanted to do a breakaway but eh this was a weak field just because of the number of racers... we actually got 1 minute on the field and it was a short crit so.. w/e not really counting this :)

Mine was the easier of the 2 crits. I'm not sure how many starters there were. It was a good race though. I'm counting it ;)

Well in that case....check out Palmer and/or Sturbridge in a couple weeks. Both road races.

Will do!
Lets see if anyone from the team will be joining me. I'm a little hesitant to do a 4/5 field again because I got whomped at plainville, but it should be fun and looks like fun.

Don't worry about it....it's a road race, not a crit. It's more fun.

Don't worry about it....it's a road race, not a crit. It's more fun.

I guess I'll know never to race again if I get lapped ;)

Well done! Sounds like a great race. You'll do well with the slightly improved structure/strategy in the 4s.

Well done! Sounds like a great race. You'll do well with the slightly improved structure/strategy in the 4s.

After getting completely destroyed on saturday, I'm a little scared of the 4's to be honest. I'm content with finishing with the pack, but that race just completely killed me. I learned from it, but man, doing that every race would just suck!

Guitarwizard pointed out two sweet road races an hour and a half away, but unfortunately it seems like some of my teammates are a little chickened out after the 4/5 race and would rather race collegiate than another 4/5 race. I don't really want to go by myself, but I think I will if I have to :)

During the race.
http://topstonephoto.smugmug.com/photos/279171939_R2Ws8-M-1.jpg



The attack that got me 3rd. That's me coming around on the left with my team mate right behind me.
http://topstonephoto.smugmug.com/photos/279170757_jRPGC-M-2.jpg

Here's us coming around the front after the attack.
http://topstonephoto.smugmug.com/photos/279170700_P9k7Z-M-2.jpg

Here's a picture from the finish. The guy in the hi vis jacket caught me off guard.

http://topstonephoto.smugmug.com/photos/279170597_L8uF7-M-2.jpg

Well done! :beer:

I'm encouraged by your success; I'm new to racing as well, so reading your post gives me hope that I can at least finish with the pack.

So, what's next?

Well done! :beer:

I'm encouraged by your success; I'm new to racing as well, so reading your post gives me hope that I can at least finish with the pack.

So, what's next?

Some days you'll finish with the pack, and some days you'll get kicked off the course by the marshall. That happened to me on saturday.

What's next? Homework, that's what...
I have sooo much work due tomorrow that I'm probably only going to get 4-5 hrs of sleep tonight. Ahhh!!!

As far as what's next for races. I really want to get my cannondale next weekend. I love the trek, but I really miss that bike because I saved up over an entire summer for it and I haven't ridden it for a month. I'm really hoping all the advice I've received from numerous BF members online and in person works out and the frame ends up fitting better.

My goal is to be able to finish with the pack at plainville and then move up from there. I might be doing a road race in 2 weeks. I want to do a CAT 4/5 but my teammates are a little intimidated after the shelling we received at plainville on saturday and they want to do a collegiate race. I don't mind the collegiate races, but I think I'd much rather do the longer CAT 4/5 race. More of a challenge, more fun.

Good luck! Don't get disappointed with your results at the start. Just remember to learn from your mistakes. That's what the 5's are for!

ridethecliche,

You're doing a good job of recognizing your mistakes. Many people don't and that's why they don't improve or do so slowly.

It looks like your team mate is having a hard time holding your wheel. You look ok but he is really suffering.

ridethecliche,

You're doing a good job of recognizing your mistakes. Many people don't and that's why they don't improve or do so slowly.

It looks like your team mate is having a hard time holding your wheel. You look ok but he is really suffering.

Haha, yeah. I kind of took off. I didn't even know he was there, but that wouldn't have changed anything. He's more of an off road rider than a roadie, so this is new to him.

He really enjoys it though and he's getting better :)

I'm all about learning from my mistakes. If I had a defeatist mentality, I would NEVER get anywhere in this sport (or anywhere else for that matter).

Thanks for all your guidance :)

Ridethecliche, good meeting you yesterday. Hope you like the photos.

Collegiate>USAC
Got to get points for school honour!

Where are you working abroad? Most European countries have good racing scenes (if you are working in Britain though, you have better like time trials!). You will learn an awful lot if you race in Europe. If you are going to Colombia, same again, except you better like mountains :) One of my team mates had a year of racing in Germany while he was a student there. That taught him a lot.

Collegiate>USAC
Got to get points for school honour!

Where are you working abroad? Most European countries have good racing scenes (if you are working in Britain though, you have better like time trials!). You will learn an awful lot if you race in Europe. If you are going to Colombia, same again, except you better like mountains :) One of my team mates had a year of racing in Germany while he was a student there. That taught him a lot.

I'm going to be doing HIV/AIDS work for UNICEF in zambia so I'm not sure how much racing there will be.

I'm trying to scrape together a fixie/ss so I can commute and ride around there. Hopefully it'll work out, but I'm not sure what's going to happen.


Ridethecliche, good meeting you yesterday. Hope you like the photos.

It was nice to meet you too! How was your race?

Wait, topstone photos is your doing? That's awesome!

Wait, topstone photos is your doing? That's awesome!

I only shot the 5's. My friend shot the rest.

Congrats! Sounded like an exciting outing!!

Congrats! Sounded like an exciting outing!!

It was indeed :)

I've done 5 races and got 3 points this weekend for the placing. I think I need 3 more races/points to upgrade to the 4's. I think they take places into consideration even if you've done under the minimum 10 races to upgrade.