Road Bike Racing - My third race: Cat 4/5 crit with forecasted rain conditions. Bad idea?

I'm new to the racing scene and have been recently entering crits at this point just to get some experience under my belt. Anyhow, the weekly crit I've been attending has only 2 left, but it looks like we're going to have rain for this next one. The circuit is more or less OK except there is a mildly fast straight downhill before it sweeps to the right about 120 degrees in a non banked turn and then heads uphill. Because I started out pretty late in the season, so I'm trying to make the most of what's left of the summer. My question: should I expect carnage and consider stepping aside if it does end up raining? I'm thinking that I should go for it (because, after all, skipping races is for wussy), but then again a crashed bike isn't covered by renter's insurance and would be a huge financial impact on me.

don't race sunday what you can't replace monday.

You might crash, so that's something to consider, but rain crashes in corners are at a slower speed, if that offers any comfort.

Racing in the rain is a valuable skill (especially where you live). Two of my wins this year were in the rain. I took the corners slower than most. Just attack from the line, then slow down for the corners. Fight hard to stay up front, but always slow back down. After a little while, everything will smooth out and people will not have as wild of speed swings on every corner.

Stay inside on all the turns. If someone gets inside of you, don't let it happen on the next turn. At the AT&T crit, two or three guys went down on every corner, and several of them were right next to me.... on the outside. I only had a couple bad slides, from starting my post-corner acceleration too early (you'll want to stay in the saddle until your bike is upright after the corner).

Run your tires at 95psi rear and 85psi front, unless you're a lightweight, then 10psi lower.

How often do you ride in the rain?

If you're going to take a pass on the race - I'd suggest going out that day and practice cornering in wet conditions to get a feel of your bike in the rain. Be careful of puddles while cornering - they don't offer too much traction [first hand experience :(]

Maybe I should've lowered my psi [120 in the rain? No good?]... hmm..

How often do you ride in the rain?

If you're going to take a pass on the race - I'd suggest going out that day and practice cornering in wet conditions to get a feel of your bike in the rain. Be careful of puddles while cornering - they don't offer too much traction [first hand experience :(]

Good point on puddles. You can't know how deep they are unless you know the course. A flooded manhole looks just like a 1/4" deep puddle.

Also, I just in case it's not obvious, smooth stuff has a LOT less traction in the rain (paint stripes, manhole covers).


Maybe I should've lowered my psi [120 in the rain? No good?]... hmm..

Yeah, I don't race with that much pressure when it's dry. Too bumpy. 110-115 in the rear for me (at ~180 lbs).

How often do you ride in the rain?

If you're going to take a pass on the race - I'd suggest going out that day and practice cornering in wet conditions to get a feel of your bike in the rain. Be careful of puddles while cornering - they don't offer too much traction [first hand experience :(]

Maybe I should've lowered my psi [120 in the rain? No good?]... hmm..

+1.

If you're not absolutely comfortable riding in the rain, then it's not wise to jump into a RACE in the rain, especially a crit.

At this time of year (in Florida) it rains a lot. Unless it's lightning out, I never skip a training ride just because it's raining. Because of that, I'm very comfortable racing in the rain, and have done very well in wet races.

Practice makes perfect.

Bob

Choose life: Don't race crits in the rain.

I've done it three times...never again. Of the three races, I've had one trip to the ER on a backboard for a CT scan, a top 10, and a nasty case of road rash.

I kind of like racing crits in the rain. I don't really like the getting soggy part (especially in March), but if you're in a good field, they will generally chill out and tend to ride a bit safer than usual. Of course, the first couple of laps, people may try to push it a little too far on the corners. If you get the opportunity, ride some warmup laps before your race starts if it's wet to get an idea of how the handling has changed. Start out cautious and then start increasing more towards your usual race pace.

Another good thing to remember in addition to the slick stuff: your brakes won't work so well, so keep that in mind heading towards that 120 degree turn.

I was never really comfortable riding in heavy rain before I had to race in it. I wasn't really uncomfortable, I just tended to avoid nasty weather days. Doing a 4 corner (one of them way downhill) crit in a near monsoon got me over that. I did wind up in no man's land TT-ing between packs after I got stuck in an accordion behind a couple people sliding out. It made me much more confident going into a soggy, 11-turn crit later in the season, where I had a good result.

OOhh, I just LOVE rain crits. They're my favorite event in anything that bike-racing has to offer! Maybe it was because my first race was in the rain, or maybe it's the added adrenaline-rush, I'm not sure. But it definitely brings out the required mental strategies, tactics and skill more than fitness. Kinda like a chess-match on wheels. :)

Things to watch out for:

- don't follow directly behind people, be off to the side 2-3" so the spray hits you on the shoulder instead of flying into your eyeballs (or you can cock your head to the side).

- be smooooth in your transitions. A lot of people do a wicked flick on the turn in with a rapid out-and-in movement. Don't do that in the rain. Practice going from up-right to full-lean smoothly without requiring a flick or any rapid movements.


Interestingly enough, since you never use 100% of cornering-grip in the dry anyway, even with the loss of some traction, you can still ride around corners just as fast in the rain. Just be careful of the lower reserve that you can tap in an emergency.

And crashes are so awesome in the rain because the metal-on-asphalt drag & slide lasts like 2-3x longer! along with the screaming... Maybe that's why I get such a bigger kick out of rain-crits. :)

Choose life: Don't race crits in the rain.

I've done it three times...never again. Of the three races, I've had one trip to the ER on a backboard for a CT scan, a top 10, and a nasty case of road rash.


Snuffle, I've seen you post on BF ~ 10,000x. And you are telling me, you have only raced 3x in the rain? When I was racing 70x a year, rain would be a part of at least 15 of them, so that makes a 21% chance of wetness. No way I'm skipping 21% of the races I did because of rain.

Also, the OP lives in Seattle! Thinking of skipping a rainy race in the USA Northwest, is like saying I don't want my asthmatic boy to go to school the days he wake up with a sneeze.

To the OP. Go race.

I know a few riders who are absolutly money in the rain, always have been. You never know till you try. You gotta leave fear of crashing totally out of your mind. (and watch out for those dreaded heat applied cross-walk lines).

race.

read Danno's post, he has some good stuff in there.

I'll add, sunglasses midway down the nose work well for blocking rooster tails and associated road grime, but let you see over the tops of them for good vision. otherwise, I prefer to leave the specs in the car as they just blot up and become a nuissance.

rainy crit = ATTACK mode.

I also find roads most slippery when they're starting to dry or are just partially wet, when it's raining buckets, roads still seem to have pretty good grip as petro seems to wash off more.

did I mention rainy crit = ATTACK mode?

Snuffle, I've seen you post on BF ~ 10,000x. And you are telling me, you have only raced 3x in the rain? When I was racing 70x a year, rain would be a part of at least 15 of them, so that makes a 21% chance of wetness. No way I'm skipping 21% of the races I did because of rain.

Also, the OP lives in Seattle! Thinking of skipping a rainy race in the USA Northwest, is like saying I don't want my asthmatic boy to go to school the days he wake up with a sneeze.

To the OP. Go race.

North Carolina has been in drought conditions for essentially the entire time I've been here. I've only raced three times in the rain (several more on wet roads...but only three times while it was actively raining) and I've only sat out one race due to rain :D

North Carolina has been in drought conditions for essentially the entire time I've been here. I've only raced three times in the rain (several more on wet roads...but only three times while it was actively raining) and I've only sat out one race due to rain :D

I see.
I consider any race with wet roads as a "rain" race.
When I did the kermesse thing in Belgium, there was a lot of wet cobbles, but very few crashes.

I recently did a road race where the skies opened up and absolutely poured on us for the last 8 miles or so. It was hot so the rain kinda felt good. As soon as it started pouring I moved to the very front, I would slow a bit more going into the turns, if you have to hit the brakes you may want to a bit earlier then normal as the wet rims will take a little more time to slow.

As mentioned before stay on the inside in the turns. I ended up 5th out of 80 so I liked racing in the rain that day. And the weathermen have no clue what the weather will be on Sunday, but since you are from seattle, I'm guessing predicting rain is easier there.

Riding in the rain is not racing in the rain. Racing in the rain generally sucks. A crit in the rain is madness. You should do it for that reason alone, actually.

Not that I ever would. But then, I eschew crits in general. A rainy crit is the pits.

Do it.

Another thing about rain. Be extremely cautious if it has been dry and just started to rain. That first bit of water brings all the oils on the road up to the surface and it is really slick. Once the rain really kicks in the oils get washed off and it is much better traction-wise.

When really wet conditions are in play it also lessens the road rash impact of a crash. You tend to slide along the pavement instead of getting scraped.

If you are a good bike handler rainy races are a golden opportunity and shouldn't be passed up.

Raced in heavy rain twice this season. It wasn't that bad.

But they weren't crits either.

Oh, also be aware that flats tend to be more common in the rain...

I read the course description and thought "oh, that sounds like Pacific Raceways". Then I saw your location and that pretty much settled it. I was going to go tonight, but decided to bag it because of possibility of rain + I-5 traffic. Clockwise with the escape route is a great circuit, though.

If you go, just watch out for the downhill turn. And maybe don't stand and hammer on the uphill. And watch those SBux guys.

Is this at Sewart Park? If so, just do it. There are no really sharp corners, IIRC.

If it's not, I'd stay away from the traditional sharp cornered crits. Especially as this is one of the first rains of the impending fall and the oils on the road haven't been washed away yet.

There was a thread, a while ago, about racing in the rain. Lots of good advice.

I love racing in the rain. It is a great selector. Throw in some wind, some nasty road and a few technical sections and it's attack, attack, attack!

Go for it. There is no other way to learn.

Is this at Sewart Park?

The Seward crit is Thursday nights. I'm pretty sure he's referring to the Pacific Raceways Tuesday night race, which is really more a circuit race and not a crit. Here's the course ~2.2 mile course: http://www.pacificraceways.com/images/facility_title.jpg

It's a freaking awesome race. Did you end up doing it, Dick Rhee?

Believe it or not, I was talking about Seward Park! I have heard about Pacific Raceways and really want to head down there, but I'm not sure when I will be able to get out of work that early to be able to get down to Auburn (I think it's in Auburn, right?) on a Tuesday.

The direction this week is what I would describe as the safer direction; the hairpin 140 degree corner is while going uphill, but I felt that the beginning of the softer turn when going down that steeper downhill section still had a fair amount of momentum behind it, and there is a manhole halfway through the turn towards the inside. While it's not a sharp turn, it seems like a potential problem area during the rain when dealing with a pack.

So thanks everyone for all the info, especially the specifics on cornering and tire pressure in rain conditions. As always, BF has proved to be beyond helpful, and regardless if I race on Thursday or not I will be heeding this advice in the future. As far as the race, I think I'm going to play it by ear. It was pouring out late today so at least this will have washed off any oil slicks/road grime before Thursday.

at this years Harlem (NYC) crit the it was raining during the 4's race and still wet for the masters...both were absolute demolition derbies. Usually masters races are pretty safe...so that ought to tell you something.

The Seward crit is Thursday nights. I'm pretty sure he's referring to the Pacific Raceways Tuesday night race, which is really more a circuit race and not a crit. Here's the course ~2.2 mile course: http://www.pacificraceways.com/images/facility_title.jpg

It's a freaking awesome race. Did you end up doing it, Dick Rhee?

that looks about as un-technical of a course that you can put out there. I wouldnt worry a bit about the rain, but IME, those are the kinds of courses (non-technical) are where some of the worst crashes go down due to their non-selective nature, which keeps folks in it that otherwise wouldnt (shouldnt) be there.

I agree. Maybe the safest race I had all year was a really technical course in the rain. My field was small, and at the start line, we all kind of agreed it wasn't worth it to kill each other. So, we went single-file through the tight downhill turns (that also contained a lot of hazards like manholes and some sort of plastic plate thing covering a big seam) and duked it out elsewhere on the course. The wide open crit courses scare me the most, wet or dry, because it seems like everyone forgets how to ride a bike.

Believe it or not, I was talking about Seward Park! I have heard about Pacific Raceways and really want to head down there, but I'm not sure when I will be able to get out of work that early to be able to get down to Auburn (I think it's in Auburn, right?) on a Tuesday.

The direction this week is what I would describe as the safer direction; the hairpin 140 degree corner is while going uphill, but I felt that the beginning of the softer turn when going down that steeper downhill section still had a fair amount of momentum behind it, and there is a manhole halfway through the turn towards the inside. While it's not a sharp turn, it seems like a potential problem area during the rain when dealing with a pack.

So thanks everyone for all the info, especially the specifics on cornering and tire pressure in rain conditions. As always, BF has proved to be beyond helpful, and regardless if I race on Thursday or not I will be heeding this advice in the future. As far as the race, I think I'm going to play it by ear. It was pouring out late today so at least this will have washed off any oil slicks/road grime before Thursday.

I raced Seward exactly twice. The first time I got dropped; first race ever. Second time I crashed out after being lapped. That was, gosh, about 5 years ago. Both times the 140degree corner was uphill, and I think the second time I grounded my pedal and scared the crap out of me, but didn't go down.

You really shouldn't have a problem there in the wet. In my experience, most people slow enough around tight corners that you rarely have problems with slipping, and if you do, the crash is at slow speed. My crash was on the backside of the course when I got edged into the curb. My fault actually. Found out the hard way why you don't tentatively pass between a racer and the curb. He started drifting into me; I should have put a hand on his hip or backed out, but instead put myself against the curb and fell.

Good luck today if you race!

Good luck today if you race!

Thanks. Sadly, I missed it - had family obligations that I had to tend to. Sad, since I think it will have been my last chance this year. I think that having gotten a taste for the racing scene will be a good carrot for my training during the winter though.

Thanks. Sadly, I missed it - had family obligations that I had to tend to. Sad, since I think it will have been my last chance this year. I think that having gotten a taste for the racing scene will be a good carrot for my training during the winter though.

That's how you do it. Last year, I did all of three races in August; all of them a local weekly training circuit race around the Portland International Raceway track. That whetted my appetite enough that I lost 20 lbs over the winter and raced the full season this year. So, doing a couple races late in the season the year before you race your full season is not a bad way to go, at least in my experience. It gets you used to the pace of the racing, which as I'm sure you've found out by now, is much faster than your average recreational ride. You might also be able to use it to meet a team with an open roster so you can join them on their off season training rides.

Racing for a team is one of the best ways to get into racing. Usually in August the teams with open rosters will do some meet and greet rides. You should get in on this if you aren't riding for a team already.