"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Charge Pond race, Plymouth MA

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : Charge Pond race, Plymouth MA

michael01612
03-22-09, 07:18 PM
Well...I did my first race of the eyar...Charge Pond 3/21.

I don't know my exact placing, results aren't posted yet. But I wasn't dropped. I was in the front group the whole way, but the last lap things splintered and I was a few splinters behind the leaders...who knows ...maybe 20 or 30 seconds back.

What I do know;
22 mph avg speed
161 bpm avg hr...that is close to my 1 hour max effort
GPS, speed, and HR data: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7848024

Check that HR graph ... incomplete recovery ...upward sloping troughs starting around lap 15. I am sure I couldn't have held the pace much longer.


Some video I made (my son was snapping pics, as well as doing the lap cards for the race official): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8X2ApH_800

roy5000x2
03-22-09, 07:53 PM
I raced there the weekend before you for the 5/4/3.5. (I knew a few cat 3s in there that hadn't done much training at all over the winter)

And it sounds like we ran the exact same race. 22 average for our group. I dropped off the back by a few seconds at the end (I pulled myself over at the end since there's no bonus to doing two solo laps).

Did you find that people sucked at taking the sharp left?
CerveloFellow
03-22-09, 08:40 PM
I checked out the course today as I'll be racing in the Myles Standish RR (call it what you want, but its a crit.) Surprised to see how sloping it was. I'm new to racing but it is narrower than I expected. Is it safe? I might do a dry run next week. (The training series is still running into next Saturday, right?

P.S. Yeah, that left looks dicey. Downhill and sharp. I can see people taking it easy there.

michael01612
03-23-09, 03:36 AM
yeah...that left turn ...and the subsequent uphill sprint ... is the critical part of the race. do it once .... doesn't seem so bad. but 20 times ... i was definetly feeling it. that spot is where ...if you were to get dropped ... it would happen.

i am not sure i found the best way to do it. i think maybe taking it wide as possible and keeping your momentum is better than braking and taking the corner tight?
roy5000x2
03-24-09, 10:07 AM
yeah...that left turn ...and the subsequent uphill sprint ... is the critical part of the race. do it once .... doesn't seem so bad. but 20 times ... i was definetly feeling it. that spot is where ...if you were to get dropped ... it would happen.

i am not sure i found the best way to do it. i think maybe taking it wide as possible and keeping your momentum is better than braking and taking the corner tight?

The best way to take it is to be the lead man, brake late, carry as much speed as you can through the apex, then sprint up the hill.

In the pack, stay on the inside so you don't have to worry too much about the edge.

Second best: If you're barely hanging on, go through it last behind everyone else, following the same guidelines as above. That's how I was able to hang on for a couple of laps. People went through it so slow.