Road Bike Racing - First crit(s)...a blast! (this is a long one, folks)

well, ladies and gents, I have finally done my first race. Well, it was actually my first two. I did one saturday and another sunday, it was hampton park crit in Charleston SC. It was a blast. I'm not sure how fast we were going, because I broke my computer the day before the race, it wasn't a big deal, though, becuase I couldn't look down at it anyway, I was concentrating too hard on holding my line.

For the first race on saturday, I'll be honest. I was one of those squirrley kids, I was riding a little sketchy. for one thing, the pace was a LOT faster then I thought it would be, although I could easily keep the pace. however, I wasn't really used to things happeing as fast as they were. I settled down about halfway through, though.

Since it was in charelston, it was really flat, I didn't get off of my big ring the entire time. I basically stayed in the pack and saved my energy. I tried an attack, and it didn't really work too well, becuase it seemed like no one wanted to come with me. I figured I was just wasting my time while blowing myself up, so I just softpedaled back to the pack.

Then, about two thirds of the way in, I took the inside line of the turn, and this huge guy, probably 6'6" and 250 pounds starts to come inside towards me. there was about a three-inch dropoff on the inside, so I really didn't want to go in it. I was probably 6"-8" from the edge when this guy started coming over, I and I was like, "hey man, watch it. careful! hey, LINE!" and this guy puts his shoulder into mine, and I gave a bit then pushed back a bit. just when I did that, this guy goes careening away behind me and takes out a couple of people. Somehow, I managed to come out alright. I was really scared, though. I REALLY didn't want to go off the little drop at 30 mph with my skinny road tires.

Then, towards the end of the race, though, I heard this guy in the pack say, "hey, this is the last lap", and I was like, "oh crap" and he started going. I went after him, but then he just stopped. I kept going, until about 200 yards from the starting line, I heard the loudspeakersay, "this is IT guys! there is only one more lap!" I was like, oh crap, I went a lap early. I had maybe 3-5 seconds on the field, and I tried to hold it for the last lap, but I ran out of gas after the third (of four) turn, and half the field zoomed by me. I felt pretty dumb, I'll tell you.

I went with a couple of guys from the cycling team here at state, they did the cat 3/4 race. however, neither finished. one flatted with 2 laps to go, and the other got in a crash and managed to total his bike. his right STI was touching his stem, and the hanger on his Fuji Roubaix pro was bent to hell and a bit cracked. it was kind of a bad day for them, I'd say.

The next day, I was determined to do better, to try to get in a break to avoid the sketchiness in the beginning. however, I had tried this energy drink stuff called "revenge". It was pretty decent, but it made my stomach not feel so good. I tried an attack to get my legs warm, since my legs were feeling a bit slow. however, I got out front, and a couple of people bridged up to me, and I was out there for like two minutes, and I pulled over to let one of the bridgers take a pull, but they stuck on my tail. I taunted them, I was like, "*****es, you better do some work", but they wouldn't. I was like, "f*ck you then", and I stopped pedaling, because I was so tired. I let the pack come back, and I stayed around the middle/back, and then the pace slowly got slower and slower. then, as I rode by the start line, I heard the loudspeaker say, "The break has 17 seconds on the field" There was a team blocking for their man! I wouldn't mind this, but this one team made up half the field. It mean't that I absolutly couldn't get away, and no one would attack with me. so we just went 20 mph with the Lowcountry VW team setting the pace. I tried to get people to go, I was like, "c'mon, are we gonna let them lap us?" but no one would go. Damn you Lowcountry VW cat 5ers. except for the guy on the yellow specialized. He was cool to me, and helped me out a bit with the general race procedure. It kinda ruined that race for me.

Anyway, it was a pretty fun experience. I definitly want to get in more races. I noticed a huge difference in handling skills between the first and second race, and I think that the more I do, the better off I'll be. Some actually commented that I handled the bike a lot better today then yesterday. So anyway, even though I didn't get any real results, I got some experience, which is pretty important.

I was there, Satuday and Sunday, One of my friends was caught up in that crash you mentioned, He also blamed it on the big guy. None of the breaks ever really stick in the cat 5 unless there is a large team present, Such as Low County Volkswagen. You can't blame them for not wanting to help you chase, thats the way the game is played. And this was their home race, so they will do all they can to get good results.

And Saturday was the State Championships!

VW had probably 13-15 guys total, with a lot of Cat 5's We (Low Country Velo) had about the same, but no cat 5's. Mostly 30 plus masters, Cat 3's With a few 2's

We're the obnoxious guys with the Orange, Yellow and Purple Uniforms.

They (VW) had a good 5 or 6 in the Cat 3 State Championship race. We had a guy in a 2 man break with about 7 or so laps (7 miles) to go. VW had 6 guys on the front, but they were tired from attacking, and I thought they chased poorly. Instead of just picking up the pace a couple of miles an hour and holding it, One would just hammer it, blow up, and then his buddy was too tired to pull through, so they never caught the break. Our teamate finished 2nd, but was the first SC resident across the line, so He is the Cat 3 state champion.

It was eerily similar to Our home race a few months ago, they attacked hard, and repeatedly, from the gun, but by the 2nd half were a little tired. I launched hard with 2 to go, and held it for the win. We don't really talk to them much, and we are pretty much the 2 biggest teams within a couple of hours around here. I am going to do a few of their group rides in the next week or so, and show up in my Team jersey. That should go over well!

The championship was a bright spot in a rather dismal weekend for us, as we had no race wins. A Couple of 4ths, and some good efforts, but we stunk it up in the 30 plus race, both Saturday and Sunday, despite having like 9 guys out there. We almost won it Sunday Morning, but thats another story.

I raced the Masters 30+ and the Cat3/4. And I have to tell you, If you are old enough to do any Masters racing, and are fit enough to hang on. Get the Hell out of any Cat 4 action. In the combined 3/4 it was like 28-30 down the straights, and then the 4's would try and go 5 wide through the corners, so we'd have to slow down to like 15mph, then Bang! back to 28-30. That gets old real quick, especially when the field is over 50 riders.

The 30plus race I did this morning, was the most fun race I have ever done. Everyone is usually a 3 or better, and We didn't slow down for *****. I'm 33 years old, and I was making silly jet plane noises while going through the corners! And although It was faster than the 3/4, It was easier, becuase you just wind it up and hang on. The first 2 laps it was 40 guys strung out single file, cornering at insane speeds.

We also had a guy in the 2/3 race winning break, but he has not been training much, and got dropped from the break. His max speed on the day was 35.5 and they never even stood up.

I was called an A-hole and told to stay in the back, but thats another story, I'll add it tommorow.

I was there, Satuday and Sunday, One of my friends was caught up in that crash you mentioned, He also blamed it on the big guy. None of the breaks ever really stick in the cat 5 unless there is a large team present, Such as Low County Volkswagen. You can't blame them for not wanting to help you chase, thats the way the game is played. And this was their home race, so they will do all they can to get good results.

And Saturday was the State Championships!

VW had probably 13-15 guys total, with a lot of Cat 5's We (Low Country Velo) had about the same, but no cat 5's. Mostly 30 plus masters, Cat 3's With a few 2's

We're the obnoxious guys with the Orange, Yellow and Purple Uniforms.

They (VW) had a good 5 or 6 in the Cat 3 State Championship race. We had a guy in a 2 man break with about 7 or so laps (7 miles) to go. VW had 6 guys on the front, but they were tired from attacking, and I thought they chased poorly. Instead of just picking up the pace a couple of miles an hour and holding it, One would just hammer it, blow up, and then his buddy was too tired to pull through, so they never caught the break. Our teamate finished 2nd, but was the first SC resident across the line, so He is the Cat 3 state champion.

It was eerily similar to Our home race a few months ago, they attacked hard, and repeatedly, from the gun, but by the 2nd half were a little tired. I launched hard with 2 to go, and held it for the win. We don't really talk to them much, and we are pretty much the 2 biggest teams within a couple of hours around here. I am going to do a few of their group rides in the next week or so, and show up in my Team jersey. That should go over well!

The championship was a bright spot in a rather dismal weekend for us, as we had no race wins. A Couple of 4ths, and some good efforts, but we stunk it up in the 30 plus race, both Saturday and Sunday, despite having like 9 guys out there. We almost won it Sunday Morning, but thats another story.

I raced the Masters 30+ and the Cat3/4. And I have to tell you, If you are old enough to do any Masters racing, and are fit enough to hang on. Get the Hell out of any Cat 4 action. In the combined 3/4 it was like 28-30 down the straights, and then the 4's would try and go 5 wide through the corners, so we'd have to slow down to like 15mph, then Bang! back to 28-30. That gets old real quick, especially when the field is over 50 riders.

The 30plus race I did this morning, was the most fun race I have ever done. Everyone is usually a 3 or better, and We didn't slow down for *****. I'm 33 years old, and I was making silly jet plane noises while going through the corners! And although It was faster than the 3/4, It was easier, becuase you just wind it up and hang on. The first 2 laps it was 40 guys strung out single file, cornering at insane speeds.

We also had a guy in the 2/3 race winning break, but he has not been training much, and got dropped from the break. His max speed on the day was 35.5 and they never even stood up.

I was called an A-hole and told to stay in the back, but thats another story, I'll add it tommorow.

well, I'm 17, I dont think i could have entered the 30+, but yea, there was some good racing in the 30+. Actually, I was surprised at the racing of the 40+. those old guys are quick! That bianchi guy in the sprint, I think he got second on sunday was like 55-60 years old. at least he looked that old off the bike.

I think there was a low country velo guy in Cat 5 on sunday. he was in a skinsuit with purple bottoms and yellow top? he attacked A LOT in the beginning. i'm not sure what he was trying to do, but he was all by himself, and he was just barely hanging on the back towards the end.

HAHAHHAAA, Yeah, that was Patrick...........what was he doing? I don't know....

Around here, at least from what I know, no team will pick you up until you're at least a CAT 4, preferably 3. I'd love to get on a team next year, but I doubt that I'll move from CAT 5 to 3 in one season.

Around here, at least from what I know, no team will pick you up until you're at least a CAT 4, preferably 3. I'd love to get on a team next year, but I doubt that I'll move from CAT 5 to 3 in one season.

i dunno, i'm just on the university cycling team. I'm cat 5. its pretty easy to get to 4, and there's a guy I know who went to cat 3 in a year from nothing. I think he's got a bit of natural talent.

Pardon my ignorance in the matter, but how would one determine their category, and get involved in all of this? I live in Raleigh, btw....

cat 5 is the beginning. you have to start there. you do ten races, and you get promoted to cat 4. you then have to get 25 points by placing in the top 6 (I think?) to get moved up to cat 3, then onto cat 2 by a similar process.

as for getting involved, just look up a race, then sign up for it. when you get there, you get a one-day license for 5 bucks and you race cat 5. you can buy a full license, but the season is sort of winding down and the license expires 12/31 of that year regardless of when you buy it.

I'm assuming that you don't have to start over in points at the beginning of each season?

umm, i'm not sure. you might have to. take a look here:http://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=580

http://www.usacycling.org/rulebooks/2004_uscf_rulebook.pdf

pages 172-173


2004 Categorization Guidelines (Upgrades)

The Executive Director, per Bylaw 8.5.2, handles all upgrades. General Information: As of 2004, all rider upgrades are handled electronically. When you are online with the USAC website, from your account you can request an upgrade.

The request will be sent to the person responsible for your area and/or category. You will need to follow the instructions online and provide the information about your race experience and placings. If the administrator approves the upgrade, your account will be changed so that when you request a new license, the category will be changed. If you have no access to a computer, follow the instructions below: 1) All road upgrades to Category 1 must be forwarded to the USA Cycling office in Colorado Springs, attn: "Category 1 Upgrades" 2) All other road upgrade requests for riders residing in states that have an official USA Cycling Local Association must be forwarded to the Upgrade Coordinator for your Local Association. If your state does not have an official USA Cycling Local Association, please forward your upgrade requests (up to Cat 2) to your established Regional Coordinator. Please refer to www.usacycling.org for a list of the states managed by Local Associations and those managed by Regional Coordinators. 3) All track upgrades must be sent to the ATRA Velodrome Manager as listed in this rulebook. 4) An upgrade request consists of the following: (a) a letter requesting an upgrade, which includes a resume of your racing experience or a record of the previous 12 months' placings and (b) a stamped, self-addressed envelope. USCF License: Your current category will be printed on the license. If an upgrade is approved, an upgrade sticker will be returned to you. Upgrades to category 1 require license reissue ($15 fee). Downgrades to 5 are not allowed.
173
Requirements and Notes by Category:
5-4: Experience in 10 mass start races.
4-3: Need 20 points in any 12-month period; or experience in 25 qualifying races with a minimum of 10 top ten finishes. 30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade
3 - 2: Need 25 points in any 12-month period 60 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade
2 - 1: Need 30 points in any 12-month period 60 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Qualifying Road Races for each category Category Class RR Crit Field Experience
5 – 4 Men 15 mi 10 mi 10 10 races
4 – 3 Men 25 mi 20 mi 30 25 races Women 25 mi 15 mi 10 25 races Junior 25 mi 15 mi 10 25 races
3 – 2 Men 50 mi 20 mi 50 Women 40 mi 15 mi 20
2 – 1 Men 80 mi 35 mi 60 Women 50 mi 20 mi 30

Points awarded for road placings Cat. Race Type Points Places
4 – 3 RR or Crit 7-5-4-3-2-1 1st-6th
3 – 2 SR/GC 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 1st-15th
RR/SR 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 1st-8th RR 10-7-5-3-2-1 1st-6th
Crit 7-5-4-3-2-1 1st-6th
2 – 1 SR/GC 20-17-15-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 1st-15th
RR/SR 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 1st-8th RR 10-7-5-3-2-1 1st-6th
Crit 7-5-4-3-2-1 1st-6th