Road Bike Racing - Great Dane #2: reports?

I raced 5s. Very short 20 min +2 (in reality, 20-and-change-min, what happened to the +2?!?) result: 6/39 (3rd race ever) Smooth race, no wierdos over-using their brakes (if at all). Fastest race I've been in, ave ~25mph. Limiters: I made positioning mistakes. Need to make more matches.

I saw a 200lb rider slam into a 70 lb junior after the second corner while the kid was still leaning into his turn--if he hadn't been leaning, he may have been smashed out of the park! Both stayed upright. Amazing to see, though I was quick to get the hell out of the way. I don't think there were any crashes...:eek:, but a guy did touch my rear wheel pretty hard. No crunching sounds, so I didn't look back.

Man, it was just a damn nice day to race. 70+ and sunny, very light wind.

How did the rest of you guys do?

Oh, someone from GDVC needs to fix the incorrect directions on the flier! :) Good event though.

4th place in the 4's.
A dude from Cuttin' Crew clipped a pedal right in front of me on the last corner, and ate it pretty hard. That was the only real excitement in our race.

I raced 5s. Very short 20 min +2 (in reality, 20-and-change-min, what happened to the +2?!?) result: 6/39 (3rd race ever) Smooth race, no wierdos over-using their brakes (if at all). Fastest race I've been in, ave ~25mph. Limiters: I made positioning mistakes. Need to make more matches.

I saw a 200lb rider slam into a 70 lb junior after the second corner while the kid was still leaning into his turn--if he hadn't been leaning, he may have been smashed out of the park! Both stayed upright. Amazing to see, though I was quick to get the hell out of the way. I don't think there were any crashes...:eek:, but a guy did touch my rear wheel pretty hard. No crunching sounds, so I didn't look back.

Man, it was just a damn nice day to race. 70+ and sunny, very light wind.

How did the rest of you guys do?

Oh, someone from GDVC needs to fix the incorrect directions on the flier! :) Good event though.

Never, ever, ever, ever look back. The best advice I've ever had about something like that, especially in a crit, is to just get the heck out of there as fast as you can if you hear something like that because it could catch up to you. Turning around might make you vulnerable to a crash if someone else in front of you tries something.

4th place in the 4's.
A dude from Cuttin' Crew clipped a pedal right in front of me on the last corner, and ate it pretty hard. That was the only real excitement in our race.

Nice work!

I guess that last corner took a toll from a few races. Same thing happened in the Masters 3/4, I guess that guy didn't go down. Though, I heard he did make it across the course and into the grass on the opposite side.

Never, ever, ever, ever look back. The best advice I've ever had about something like that, especially in a crit, is to just get the heck out of there as fast as you can if you hear something like that because it could catch up to you. Turning around might make you vulnerable to a crash if someone else in front of you tries something.

Good advice. Honestly, I'm too skert to take my eyes away from the front. That is also why I sit on the back for too long when I could have, and should have, challenged for a better position and ultimately a better result.

Good advice. Honestly, I'm too skert to take my eyes away from the front. That is also why I sit on the back for too long when I could have, and should have, challenged for a better position and ultimately a better result.

Same thing I did yesterday. I was feeling great, but at the same course I got destroyed the previous week.

I was just waiting for a surge to come that I couldn't keep up with. It never happened, and the race was over. I did learn to recover a lot smarter though. It takes effort to get up and accelerate hard out of the corners if you're doing 2- 90* ones in .5 miles right next to each other, but I managed to tuck in and hide behind the other racers for the back stretches and managed to recover enough to do that over and over and over again.

The race was over before the surge happened and I wasn't even breaking a sweat. I should have started attacking like a madman with 1-2 laps left to go. I felt good enough that I think I could have solo'ed in the front at 28-30mph for .5-1 mile. It would have hurt like hell, but my legs felt like they could have handled it.

I did the Pro/1/2

Race starts, bunch of attacks. Nothing sticks. Big move by ISCorp, teammate goes, I sit at the front. More people go, I sit at the front. Two guys from my team in the break of 10ish. Another lap, they're still dangling. Four more guys go up the road, I'm in bad position so I can't go.

Two laps later, I light it up going up the hill. Get a gap, bring two dudes. We work, REALLY hard, for two laps. One pops, I gun it up the hill, the other pops. Crap. Solo for 2.5 laps. I'm withing 20 meters of the ~15ish leaders. Reach the draft on the hill. No power meter (on my new Vuelta's) but the PE-o-meter was saying 350+.

Then, a junior from Baraboo (who I'm almost certain is NOT a Cat 1 or 2) pops off the back. I just so happen to be on his wheel at this point in time. I'm in a state of pain that will not allow me to throw pump 600w for 20s to get back on. I slowly, painfully watch the break drift away. I shut it down, soft pedal. Within a lap, I'm gobbled up by the field. GDVC has a bunch of dudes on the front, driving it, but not particularly quickly. Eventually, I determine that they have a guy in the break, don't want anyone else going up the road, and are working to slow the race down enough so their guy in the break gets a lap up.

Well, I decide to take it easy. I'm not getting away at this point, so hey, just kick back and relax. Enjoy the 24mph tempo.

The break laps the field with 15min to go. Fireworks? Hell yes. I'm at the front when two of the guys from the break come blowing by me, trying to get off the front again. I look back, see my teammate two wheels back, stand up, and go. Most painful 30 seconds of my race. One of the would-be escapees gets popped, the other, a pretty strong dude in his own right, is going hard. I flick the elbow, no one comes around, my teammate yells "Keep going to the top!" or something like that.

Reach the guy right before the top of the hill. I'm spent. Manage to catch back on to the back of the field as the counter attacks go off. Survive the last 5 laps, which had some pretty brutal attacks. Roll in somewhere in the top 20-25, including the winning break.

Oh, and my teammate won.

Pics and video by tonight. http://www.freedomcrowsnest.org/forum/images/smiles/smile.gif

John, I hope you were there for the 5s...*closes eyes tight and wispers "please, please, please"*

Nope. :( I couldn't make it that soon (real work you know). Be sure to catch the Cat. 5 pics on the Great Lakes forum that I posted from Menomonee Falls, and I will be sure to get to as many Cat. 5 races this year that I can now that I know there is interest.

Madison on Sunday, Masters 1/2/3:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4609.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4618.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4630.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4641.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4674.jpg

THE VICTORY!!

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4744.jpg

(continued ... )

Catagory 3:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4766.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4823.jpg

THE VICTORY!

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4873.jpg

Catagory 2/3:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4924.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4927.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4929.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4934.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4951.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4965.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/4979.jpg

(continued ... )

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5003.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5022.jpg

THE VICTORY !!

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5060.jpg

Check out my Youtube videos ... Cat. 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=g8gq6G44MQM

and a couple more to come tomorrow (just click on "More from Biffbradford")

Too much fun. Almost as fun as actually riding ... almost. :)

Excellent pics, John!

I need to convince my wife to show up, she's a pretty good photographer. Unfortunately, she was bored stiff her first time "watching" a road race (+1 hour of racing, 2-6 seconds of watching, 3 hrs of driving--she is a really good sport.)

I raced 5s. Very short 20 min +2 (in reality, 20-and-change-min, what happened to the +2?!?) result: 6/39 (3rd race ever) Smooth race, no wierdos over-using their brakes (if at all). Fastest race I've been in, ave ~25mph. Limiters: I made positioning mistakes. Need to make more matches.

I saw a 200lb rider slam into a 70 lb junior after the second corner while the kid was still leaning into his turn--if he hadn't been leaning, he may have been smashed out of the park! Both stayed upright. Amazing to see, though I was quick to get the hell out of the way. I don't think there were any crashes...:eek:, but a guy did touch my rear wheel pretty hard. No crunching sounds, so I didn't look back.

Man, it was just a damn nice day to race. 70+ and sunny, very light wind.

How did the rest of you guys do?

Oh, someone from GDVC needs to fix the incorrect directions on the flier! :) Good event though.

Hey Slim - I raced the 5's as well - it was my first road bike race, and 2nd ever bike race. I was the guy in the white blank jersey and the stock trek 1000. I thought I was much stronger than I was feeling during the race - I am fit, but I don't have the high speed fitness that crit's require. I spent too much time towards the front catching wind, when I should have sat back more.

Also on the last lap I attacked too early thinking I had more in the tank than I did, and then I got passed by 6 ppl apparently (just checked results and I got 7th). So you must have noticed me considering you passed me in the last lap.

What did the race look like from farther back, or were you up front the whole time too? Got any advice for me?

What's with the guy in second in that last pic sitting up with the fists down? Did he think he was going to win? Figured second was worth half a salute?

Here's the series:

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5058.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5059.jpg

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc54/biffbradford/cycling/APRIL%2020%20GDVC2/5060.jpg

and there is a 4th picture showing both Gear Grinder riders in full victory salute, but I sold that picture to them, so I can't post it.

Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the riders are:

Pro/1/2
1 Ryan White Gear Grinder WI
2 James Stemper Velo Trocadero WI
3 Matt Brandt Mesa Cycles WI
4 Rob White Gear Grinder WI
5 Frankie Dierking Great Dane Velo Club WI

and after this race, the WCA series standings are:

Name Club/Team
1. James Stemper Velo Trocadero (big "t" on jersey)
2. Matt Brandt Mesa Cycles (white with orange)
3. Ryan White Gear Grinder (red over white)
4. Jason Landretti Great Dane Velo Club (organge and blue?)
5. Robert White Gear Grinder

So they are all very close together in the series. In the final picture (not shown) , Stemper (Trocadero) looks over at Brandt (Mesa)(who easily won down in Beloit a few weeks ago) with a look of "Did you see that????". A great pic ... hopefully to be shown by Gear Grinder on their web page or somewhere soon (I printed it up as an 8x10 and it looks awesome.) :) So I think the Trocadero rider is pretty pissed that he lost that sprint.

Team Great Dane Velo was all over the front of that race on the last lap, so I'm sure they were pissed too.

You do know, I hope, that I've got that whole sprint on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW94h74Kl6Y&feature=user

I'll be at Whitnal and Sheboygan this weekend to continue to follow this series. Will post pics of course!

:D

Link (http://www.chicagocuttincrew.com/2008/04/21/think-youve-had-a-rough-start/) to cuttin' crew's report/pics of carnage.

ouch

Hey Slim - I raced the 5's as well - it was my first road bike race, and 2nd ever bike race. I was the guy in the white blank jersey and the stock trek 1000. I thought I was much stronger than I was feeling during the race - I am fit, but I don't have the high speed fitness that crit's require. I spent too much time towards the front catching wind, when I should have sat back more.

Also on the last lap I attacked too early thinking I had more in the tank than I did, and then I got passed by 6 ppl apparently (just checked results and I got 7th). So you must have noticed me considering you passed me in the last lap.

What did the race look like from farther back, or were you up front the whole time too? Got any advice for me?

Congrats on a top 10! Yeah, I do remember you! (you were my target after the last turn!)

Advice: hell, we are pretty well in the same boat. I know that I need to work on my threshold so that I can attack-recover-repeat stronger and faster than I do now. After my third race, I have lots of training to do that I have just not been able to get in...positioning is a problem for me because I know I could have done better if I stuck right behind you for the first 5 laps!:D

Link (http://www.chicagocuttincrew.com/2008/04/21/think-youve-had-a-rough-start/) to cuttin' crew's report/pics of carnage.

saw that, not pretty...

I think he is the guy that won the 5s at Beloit on 4/6, fought out a good sprint there.