"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - MY first criterium

I figure I'll start a new thread since my58vw was done so early...

I was racing ACA cat 4. I've heard it is actually similar to USCF cat 4 in speed. I should be a cat 5 but no race existed. A guy from my college team (who races strong in a level above me) was in the crit. Kinda worried me, and I was really routing for him to go out and kick everyone's ass, but alas he did not and didn't finish in the top 10. USCF he would be a strong cat 4. Anyway the race was about a half mile rectangle.The finish area was flat, long and smooht. After the first, tight corner there was a slight rise for a short bit, then a wide corner. There was a long, gradual downhill on the back straight into a tight continuous corner that opened up wide into the final straight. The wind was blowing HARD, easily 10-20 mph sustained, with gusts much higher. The wind was helping on the finish, but right in your face going down the hill. I stayed with the pack fine for the first several laps... Then just before the turn into the wind - there was a skid/crash in front of me and unfortunately I was at the back of the pack at the time and got caught out trying to fight the wind to catch up. I was never able to, the wind was just SO bad, none of us who got caught back were able to catch up. I pretty much blew myself up trying to catch the pack. Nobody else wanted to work to catch them. Towards the end I got lapped but caught onto the pack and was able to stay with them easily until the finish. I think I did pretty well. Despite getting lapped I was one of only a couple of the half of the back that got seperated to be able to stay with the pack when they lapped us.

Can't wait for the next crit: CU - Boulder.

was this at the federal center?

Doesn't just suck when you get caught out and others won't take a pull to get back into things :(. Congrats on finishing and avoiding the crash. Better luck next race.

Nice to see you did relaitvly well in your first race... probally had the same feelings I did... good luck with the rest of your season...

Yes it was at the Federal Center.

Were you there? Couldn't you tell by the course description.... Bah, I don't blame you, I'm horrible at writing stuff like this.

Overall I think I did well. Not too many of the people (if any at all) that got stuck behind the guy skidding sideways were able to catch up. Luckily he recovered after we all basically stopped for him.

The cat 1/2 race was pretty nuts. There was one group that made a break and went solo for the whole thing. My college teammate ended up going to the hospital from the cat 3 race. Broken rib I think. Went in an ambulance and everything...

Yes it was at the Federal Center.

Were you there? Couldn't you tell by the course description.... Bah, I don't blame you, I'm horrible at writing stuff like this.

Overall I think I did well. Not too many of the people (if any at all) that got stuck behind the guy skidding sideways were able to catch up. Luckily he recovered after we all basically stopped for him.

The cat 1/2 race was pretty nuts. There was one group that made a break and went solo for the whole thing. My college teammate ended up going to the hospital from the cat 3 race. Broken rib I think. Went in an ambulance and everything...

No, I wasn't there. My coach had it on my schedule to start today, but I don't have a car for another week or so. :rolleyes: oh well, there are pleeenty of races over the year.

In fact, there is another one at the fed center in a week. Are you skipping that?

Doesn't just suck when you get caught out and others won't take a pull to get back into things :(. Congrats on finishing and avoiding the crash. Better luck next race.

This is because two thirds of club level riders are just wheel-sucking "sprinter" hacks who couldn't hold a tempo for more than one mile!! :p

This is because two thirds of club level riders are just wheel-sucking "sprinter" hacks who couldn't hold a tempo for more than one mile!! :p


This is why we have to go hard and make them suffer! Attack!

This is why we have to go hard and make them suffer! Attack!
I don't race anyomre, but I can't tell you how much it used to piss me off when some fat guy, who did nothing for the whole hour, came through to win a bunch sprint -- but I guess I "knew the risks when I took the job on." :rolleyes:

This is where longer course road races are better: you can use favourable wind conditions on long stretches to expose the wheel-suckers :)

Thats part of the thing that pisses me off... There were some of those wheel-suckers in the pack that didn't get caught behind the mishap. I had just got done taking a long pull at the front and had dropped back. Yes that sucks, but then some of those people did get cut off and then they wouldn't work at all. We could have easily caught them. I had the speed to catch the pack, but it would have taken 2-3 other guys to help me hold it for the lap we would need to catch up. I must say I did exchange a few pulls with some guys who got dropped off the pack on their own (after the crash, and I caught up to them), but they had clearly blown themselves up and weren't able to keep up with me when I took a pull...

No, I won't be at the Denver Federal Crit next sunday, the 12th. Spring Break for CSU starts that weekend. I'll be taking 4 days off and flying home to visit the 'rents in NJ. Then I'm coming back and training hard for the CU-Boulder crit the next weekend and the UNC and CSU crits the wknd of the 26th-27th.

UNC...

I assume that stands for University Of North Carolina?

You can never ever use UNC and not mean Carolina. That would be an unforgiveable sin! Please don't tell me it means University of Northern Colorado or something wierd like that.

You got it with the second one. Thats what we call it, Univ of N.C. can cry about it.

University of Northern Colorado? Is there really such a school? te he!

Yeah... Its in Greeley. Its really not so great unless you are going for nursing, music, or teaching. I visited there when I came out to see CSU. Frankly, I thought it sucked.

I figure I'll start a new thread since my58vw was done so early...

I was racing ACA cat 4. I've heard it is actually similar to USCF cat 4 in speed. I should be a cat 5 but no race existed. A guy from my college team (who races strong in a level above me) was in the crit. Kinda worried me, and I was really routing for him to go out and kick everyone's ass, but alas he did not and didn't finish in the top 10. USCF he would be a strong cat 4. Anyway the race was about a half mile rectangle.The finish area was flat, long and smooht. After the first, tight corner there was a slight rise for a short bit, then a wide corner. There was a long, gradual downhill on the back straight into a tight continuous corner that opened up wide into the final straight. The wind was blowing HARD, easily 10-20 mph sustained, with gusts much higher. The wind was helping on the finish, but right in your face going down the hill. I stayed with the pack fine for the first several laps... Then just before the turn into the wind - there was a skid/crash in front of me and unfortunately I was at the back of the pack at the time and got caught out trying to fight the wind to catch up. I was never able to, the wind was just SO bad, none of us who got caught back were able to catch up. I pretty much blew myself up trying to catch the pack. Nobody else wanted to work to catch them. Towards the end I got lapped but caught onto the pack and was able to stay with them easily until the finish. I think I did pretty well. Despite getting lapped I was one of only a couple of the half of the back that got seperated to be able to stay with the pack when they lapped us.

Can't wait for the next crit: CU - Boulder.

What is ACA?

It does suck when you get cought behind a crash like that and no one will work with you but it does make for a hell of a work out trying to back doesn't it?



I don't race anyomre, but I can't tell you how much it used to piss me off when some fat guy, who did nothing for the whole hour, came through to win a bunch sprint -- but I guess I "knew the risks when I took the job on." :rolleyes:

This is where longer course road races are better: you can use favourable wind conditions on long stretches to expose the wheel-suckers :)
Sounds to me like the fat guy played his cards right :p

It does suck when you get cought behind a crash like that and no one will work with you but it does make for a hell of a work out trying to back doesn't it?


Ya it does... read my thread and see how...

ACA = American Cycling Association.

Formerly the bicycle assoc or colorado. Now they have stuff all over the western states...

Sounds to me like the fat guy played his cards right :p

Heh, that's what I was thinking. That's a big part of what makes bike racing attractive to me; you can use your head if your legs aren't quite up to par.

Hey, if this guy keeps winning, he'll get kicked up to 3's.
Team tactics will then prevail.

To ibhowat - Have you tried that hill going up to Horsetooth Dam? That one will put hair on your chest.

sun

There's two ways to get up to Horsetooth Dam. On the south side you have what we call Stadium Hill. Its by Hughes Stadium. Starts off gradual and then picks up and as you round a 180 degree corner it turns to hell. On the other side, coming up from Bellvue is what we call Horsetooth North. It basically increases from barely a grade at all to a very steep grade. Its almost like an exponential curve in profile, and its longer and steeper than Stadium (BUT, if you are going across the damn you have one less hill to go up than if you go south to north).

I've done both. Tomorrow the team ride will very likely either tackle Horsetooth North OR Rist Valley Rd. Ever done all of the east side of Rist? its like 13 miles... I actually find the Stove-Prarie (western) slope of Rist to be harder. Its only a couple miles long, but MAN, it is STEEEEEEEEP.

Rist is a mean road, does anyone have any clue were to find results for the race at the fed. center?

I don't race anyomre, but I can't tell you how much it used to piss me off when some fat guy, who did nothing for the whole hour, came through to win a bunch sprint -- but I guess I "knew the risks when I took the job on." :rolleyes:

This is where longer course road races are better: you can use favourable wind conditions on long stretches to expose the wheel-suckers :)
Wah, wah, wah, what a bunch of whining. Wheelsucking is a huge part of racing and all the strategy and variety that goes with racing. How much do you see Lance out front in the Tour de France? Never, except when he's kicking butt on a climb. How much do you see Cipo or Petacchi out in front? Never, until the finish line. If you don't like wheelsuckers then stick to time trials or hill climbs or do like oneradtec said and attack and make them suffer and drop them. If you can't drop them, then they must not be as fat as you think. I do agree with you that it sucks when you're trying to get back on and no one helps, but usually, especially in Cat 4 races, a lot of the riders aren't capable of doing a pull to try and get back on (that's me sometimes). If I'm in that situation, I will certainly try to do a pull and apologize if I can't maintain the speed needed. Don't let the wheelsuckeres get you down, develop strategy to eliminate them. By the way, I guess I take it a little personally because I'm one of those fat guys that has a decent sprint. But, I'm struggling and fighting just to stay with the group so don't think I'm not working hard and by the way, I've never won a race, just a sprint prime.

Wah, wah, wah, what a bunch of whining. Wheelsucking is a huge part of racing prime.

LIke I said when I quoted the great Rik Mayall: "i knew the risks when I took the job on":p

I guess what I was really saying is that I couldn't sprint to save my life :D

LIke I said when I quoted the great Rik Mayall: "i knew the risks when I took the job on":p

I guess what I was really saying is that I couldn't sprint to save my life :D
I understand. And I can't climb to save my life.

I'm not much of a climber, either.

I'm good at riding down hill: i drop like a rock:p

I was thinking that on hill climbs, all the riders should be handicapped with extra weight put on the bike (like horse races) so that everyone weighs the same. I think I could compete under those circumstances, but it would take away from the beauty of variety and specialty of bike racing. So, I'll just suffer on the climbs and be at the back of the pack.

hill climbing is so different it shouldn't be called "cycling" -- we should come up with a new name.

I was talking to one kid on a group hill ride last week, and he is 56kg (123lbs)!!!!
How are you supposed to compete with that???!!!?

For those of you who get caught in or behind a crash I have two words ... FREE LAP. Most times you're allowed the free lap.

May be... But this wasn't a crash, thats the problem. The guy skidded sideways for a second and the back people in the pack had to slow down more than the front of the pack, and then we turned into the wind and got dropped.

hill climbing is so different it shouldn't be called "cycling" -- we should come up with a new name.

I was talking to one kid on a group hill ride last week, and he is 56kg (123lbs)!!!!
How are you supposed to compete with that???!!!?

Well, that in and of itself doesn't really matter. It's power to weight that counts.

Power to weight! Bullseye!!! Lance's secret weapon

hill climbing is so different it shouldn't be called "cycling" -- we should come up with a new name.

I was talking to one kid on a group hill ride last week, and he is 56kg (123lbs)!!!!
How are you supposed to compete with that???!!!?

Magnus Backstedt could still kick that 123 pound punks ass :p

I weigh in at around 195 so he's one of my hero's. But seriously just because some kid is lite does not necessarilly give him the advantage in the over all total race, even on climbs. Get em back on the flats and down hills, that is if the climbs don't kill you ;)

Well, that in and of itself doesn't really matter. It's power to weight that counts.of course.

Going up hills, that kid obviously doesn't have a straight 60lb weight advantage over someone like me, but it seems as though the light guys are able to attain a superior power/weight ratio. You've just gotta look at all the "skinny barbinnies" who always win the K.O.M. at The Tour.

Rist is a mean road, does anyone have any clue were to find results for the race at the fed. center?

Results should be posted at americancycling.org - Use the ACA Racing link.