Road Bike Racing - my 1st race / carbon everywhere

Well, I did it. I participated in my first race this past weekend and I loved it. The race was Saturday and was a 38 mile moderately hilly road race. Cat 5 was split up into two groups 35 and under and over 35, I was in the 35 and under category. Thanks to all the great advice I received here on what to expect and how to train for this event I actually placed 14th out of about 45 riders in the 35 and under Cat 5 race. I was pretty impressed with myself, as my goal was to just finish and get some experience to build upon.

The first lap (19 mile loop) I stayed with the lead group and felt really good. Then about 14 miles into the second lap the pace really picked up and I started to slowly drift back from the lead pack. I tried with all of my might not to let them go but my legs just wouldn't do it. I kept them in my sights for a few miles and pushed with all my might for the final 5 miles. A wreck in the lead group occurred in the final 1/4 mile and I was far enough back to not be involved. Only 1 rider was put out of the race with a mangled bike. I didn't get to sprint across the finish really because all the other riders who had been dropped by the lead group were too far back. All in all I impressed myself (and my wife :) ) and I can't wait till the next race in my area. Too bad I have to wait quite a while.

About the carbon. Wow! I could not believe how many people had carbon bikes. I've always been a steel guy (my first and only road bike is a Lemond Buenos Aires) and have been sort of nervous about purchasing a carbon bike. I am actually in the process of building up my dream bike (Italian steel frame with Campy Record) and wonder if I should have looked more at carbon. Like I said I have always been a little weary of full carbon frames but it seems that I am in the minority among racers.

Should I have looked more at carbon or do you think I made the right decision going with steel? BTW, I am building up a steel Tommasini frame with a carbon fork, Campy Record, FSA carbon cranks, and Open Pro rims with Record hubs.

BTW, thanks for all your advice on my first race. It really did help having an idea of what to expect for my first time out. Thanks! I am completely hooked! :D

If you've already had lots of experience with steel, I would say that go with something different just to see if all the hype matches reality for you BUT if your dream bike is your dream bike...I say build your dream and enjoy!

Glad you enjoyed racing and continued success!

I Road Race race on my Lemond Zurich and I am the outsider for sure carbon sprinkled with a few Aluminum bikes is the norm. Steel is "old school" as 1 racer told me. I wouldn't have it any other way. After my 48 mile race last weekend I felt like I wasn't ran over by a semi. Steel feels like a new 500 series mercedes "smooth" ;)

Should I have looked more at carbon or do you think I made the right decision going with steel?

You can't go wrong with steel for sure, but there really is nothing to be afraid of with carbon fibre. There are tens/hundreds of thousands of carbon bikes on the road today with very few problems. We hear a lot about failures from the "See I told you so" crowd, but I bet if you looked at failure stats between carbon and other materials there wouldn't be much of a statistical difference between them. Just think about the liability a company carries by selling a bike, if the material were that failure prone it would never be sold in the US.

But as said, build your dream bike, not somebody elses. Carbon is certainly worth investigating, but if your dream bike is steel (or Al or Ti or some combination) then go for it.

Andrew

my dream bike was always carbon and I went with my feelings.
A Carbon Fiber frame IMO, is great.

Well, I did it. I participated in my first race this past weekend and I loved it. The race was Saturday and was a 38 mile moderately hilly road race. Cat 5 was split up into two groups 35 and under and over 35, I was in the 35 and under category. Thanks to all the great advice I received here on what to expect and how to train for this event I actually placed 14th out of about 45 riders in the 35 and under Cat 5 race. I was pretty impressed with myself, as my goal was to just finish and get some experience to build upon.

The first lap (19 mile loop) I stayed with the lead group and felt really good. Then about 14 miles into the second lap the pace really picked up and I started to slowly drift back from the lead pack. I tried with all of my might not to let them go but my legs just wouldn't do it. I kept them in my sights for a few miles and pushed with all my might for the final 5 miles. A wreck in the lead group occurred in the final 1/4 mile and I was far enough back to not be involved. Only 1 rider was put out of the race with a mangled bike. I didn't get to sprint across the finish really because all the other riders who had been dropped by the lead group were too far back. All in all I impressed myself (and my wife :) ) and I can't wait till the next race in my area. Too bad I have to wait quite a while.

About the carbon. Wow! I could not believe how many people had carbon bikes. I've always been a steel guy (my first and only road bike is a Lemond Buenos Aires) and have been sort of nervous about purchasing a carbon bike. I am actually in the process of building up my dream bike (Italian steel frame with Campy Record) and wonder if I should have looked more at carbon. Like I said I have always been a little weary of full carbon frames but it seems that I am in the minority among racers.

Should I have looked more at carbon or do you think I made the right decision going with steel? BTW, I am building up a steel Tommasini frame with a carbon fork, Campy Record, FSA carbon cranks, and Open Pro rims with Record hubs.

BTW, thanks for all your advice on my first race. It really did help having an idea of what to expect for my first time out. Thanks! I am completely hooked! :D


Sounds to me like you are building up a beautiful bike. Wen it's done post some pics. I cannot really help you with the frame material issue but fwiw. I road the same Tange 2 steel touring bike for years. I found the bike to be of great comfort and I guess a bit on the heavy side, geometry probably has a lot to do with the comfort. Anyway I converted the bike to cyclocross last year and was winning races on it. Didn't somebody say that it's not about the bike? Anyway after looking into other cross bikes I was like WOW they are light and easy to cary compared to mine, mabey it is the bike. I was really wanting a road racer for this season so I ended up with an AL/Carbon frame. The rear triangle is carbon as well as the fork. The performance of this bike is outstanding. Recently I got a hold of an old Italian Columbus steel frame to build a fixed gear bike. The frame weighs quite a bit esp w/ a steel fork but without the other components it still is a light bike. This bike rides like butter. It is pure pleasure to ride. So I think steel is great and who cares if it is old school. Plus it will give you great sense of pride winning races on old school bikes ;) btw if you live in eastern TN then check out the racing sceen in NC, they have a pretty decent schedule...

Congrats on the great finish!

Don't worry about the bike... build it up and enjoy. The carbon fork and cranks will save a bunch of weight. If you're looking for wish-list items, a pair of lightweight, aero wheels will be of more benefit than a bunch of carbon doo-dads (except for steep climbs). You're getting good stuff, so in a year or 3, if you get the notion, you can get another frame and move the components over.

Well I built up my bike and absolutely love it. I definately made the right choice going with steel. I couldn't be happier. I saved some money and went with the Mavic Open Pro wheels instead of getting some more aero lighter wheels. The OP's with the Record hubs really spin fast and feel extremely strong. As I said I couldn't be happier with my new bike.

Pics?

Well I built up my bike and absolutely love it. I definately made the right choice going with steel. I couldn't be happier. I saved some money and went with the Mavic Open Pro wheels instead of getting some more aero lighter wheels. The OP's with the Record hubs really spin fast and feel extremely strong. As I said I couldn't be happier with my new bike.

I was a Specialized rep and a shop owner for a number of years and got to see a number of defective frames, from our company as well as a number of others. First, frame defects regardless of manufacturer are very rare. The quality control departments catch most problems before they hit the sales floor. Second, the most common frame defect was a cracked dropout. Aluminum frames seemed to have the highest rate of defects, some related to heat treating issues which resulted in misalignment or breakage of one of the tubes in the bottom bracket area. This is not surprising, given that of the four materials, aluminum, steel, titanium and carbon, aluminum is the weakest. Again, we are talking about very few incidents regardless of material involved

Carbon fiber frames from the major companies are dependable. I have a 1990 Allez Epic with thousands of miles on it. Most problems with this material occurred prior to 1990 and involved the quality of the bonded joint (epoxy and tube to lug tolerances). Companies that had these problems addressed them quickly. All of them are still selling frames which are used at the highest level of racing where failure is not an option.

One thing to consider. All of the big domestic brands (Specialized, Trek, Cannondale, Litespeed, etc)
have excellent warranties and departments devoted to customer service. Some of the smaller imported brands are distributed by importers who may not be carrying the brand a few years from now. If you have a problem, there may be no one to go to or the new distributor may not wish to inherit a prior importer's defect.

I was at a bike shop I don't normally visit and they had a display model of a carbon frame cutout which was just where the crank arms fit and about 6 inches of the seat tube and 6 inches for the bottom tube and 6 inches for the rear tube then a foot long tube that could be pulled out and inspected the went to the back tube of the main piece. I was really careful when I first picked it up because I was afraid to break it. When I used to run nitro RC cars the carbon fiber was always breaking. Well Monday when I was back up at that bike shop My friend who worked up there decided to show me the display and how strong the carbon fiber was. He took off the foot long piece and was swinging it at solid object and I was freaking out that he would break it. lol, Then I asked him to drop the main piece and he picked it right up and threw it down. I was amazed! He says people walk into the stand all the time and the diplay with drop and bounce across the floor all the time. I don't know if it's just Trek that did there R&D correctly but man, hats off to them! Err, Helmets

Congratulations on a first race with a fine result! Best of luck in the future with the new ride.

Good job in your first race. Nothing like the satisfaction of feeling that you are competitive at whatever level, after all the pre-race anxiety!

BTW, I bet a lot of those sweet carbon bikes were still being ridden to the finish while you were changing your shoes and reaching for a fresh jersey! Glad you trusted your legs and weren't psyched out by the size of your competitors' credit card limits...........