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Niagara Classic RR Report

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Niagara Classic RR Report

Old 05-20-07, 07:56 PM
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Niagara Classic RR Report



https://www.stcatharinescc.com/niagaraclassic.php

The Niagara RR is the 2nd Ontario Cup road event, which means it attracts the best racers in the province. I, however, am obviously not one of them (see below). There were over 400 people at this race, all of whom paid an exorbitant $40-50 registration fee- St. Catharines Cycling Club gougers!

The previous day, I had just done 90km with the Donut Ride, the fastest-paced group ride in the Toronto area, full of elitists and snobs. I must admit, they were starting to rub off on me. Today, however, I ate a helpful serving of humble pie. I was still feeling the burn this morning as I got up at 5:30. A meagre breakfast later, I left at 7. It was a 90 minute drive down to Pelham, known as one of the hilliest regions of Ontario. I didn't have time to spare, as I had to get my very annoying numbers pinned on and because of the massive discrimination against Junior riders, I had check in with the commissaires to ensure that my biggest gear was only a 53x15.

I get to the line pretty pumped. I’m in the Under 17 Men category, so there’s only 16 of us. The race is 5 laps of a 12.3km circuit, for a total 61.5km. At 9:10 we depart, and immediately the pace is hot. We average 40-45 km/h (25-28 mph) for the first part of the lap (the downhill). Because I didn’t have enough time to warm up, I figure I’ll just throw an attack. This was a bad idea- I get no further than 200m from the pack before I get swallowed up- this will cost me later.

A little anecdote about Effingham hill- as you can tell by the profile, it is a rather short climb- 2.1km (less than 1.5 miles). The first part of the hill is a series of rollers (not visible on profile) that have a net gain in elevation. These themselves are nothing- but then throw in a massive 1km-long beast at 15+%- cramps, anyone? Oh, I forgot to mention I’m 185 lbs and that my smallest gear was 39x23.

I stayed with the pack until we reached the 10+% parts. It was raining earlier in the morning, the road was wet, and my rear tire started skidding all over the place. I snaked back and forth across the road in an futile effort to lessen the grade, but suddenly, as I picked myself off the saddle to deliver a quick burst of power, my tire lost all grip on the road and down I went.

Immediately, I pick myself up and jump back on the bike with nothing more than a bruised hip and scraped knees. Now, from personal experience, I can tell you that starting from a standstill on a 15% grade is... challenging. I somehow manage to do it, but I’ve lost the pack and essentially the race. Worse, I thought I may have damaged something on the bike because when I really hammered it on the next few km’s, there was an awful sound of grinding metal. I have yet to check the cause of that.

In any case, I was left to ride alone for the rest of the second lap until I was caught by the Senior 4/Master 3 (equivalent of Cat. 5) group, who started 3 minutes after the Under 17's. I used them to pace me (not really drafting, per se) for a few km’s before we reached Effingham once again. I, being the pathetic climber that I am, was dropped again.

Sometime in the 3rd lap, I picked up another couple riders who were dropped. Fortunately for me, it started to rain again- I was in a SS jersey and bibs in 15 degree Celsius weather and pouring rain. Nice. On the 4th lap, the road dried up and I managed to gain some time on Effingham. However, I recovered too slowly on the flat afterwards, and I was once again riding alone.

I then started getting massive cramps in the calves and quads. Every pedal stroke, even when no pressure was applied to the pedals, was an exercise in masochism as my muscles would suddenly burst into fits of pain at the bottom of the stroke. I spent some time stretching out on the bike, and then got back to work.

On the 5th and final time up Effingham, I learned how to drag my carcass up most efficiently- to quickly alternate sitting and standing to give certain muscles a break, and to weave back and forth across the road so that I’m travelling almost diagonally. I must admit that I have never quite felt so much pain ever. The scary thing is, I LIKED IT!

I got 12th of 16 riders. 3 others DNF’ed and cried for their mommies after a few times up Effingham, and I barely beat the 13th place guy by about a minute. I was about 12 minutes back of the winner, who in all likelihood weighs 100 lbs less than me and eats a pretzel for dinner. Anyways, I’ve learned a few things-

1. On hilly courses, keep out of the wind so that you can save energy for the big uphill efforts

2. Don’t let the pack go on the climbs thinking that you’ll catch onto them on the flat. You won’t- especially with my crap recovery time.

3. Get tires with some profile for rainy, hilly courses. Your race depends on it.
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Old 05-20-07, 09:27 PM
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I live in St. Catharines and just started riding, and I love the Pelham area, good roads and nice scenery.

Nice job with the race, I hope to compete next year.
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Old 05-20-07, 09:30 PM
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Important thing is you learnt a few things......Keep up the training and give it another go next year.
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Old 05-20-07, 10:02 PM
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St. Catherines is essentially my home town, so its nice to hear stuff like this about that area.

Dude its too bad about the fall, and possibly even more "too bad" about the nasty grinding sound on your bike. The next time I'm down there I hope to bring my bike and ride some of those hills. Sounds like crazy fun, even if it is serious hard work.

cheers
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Old 05-20-07, 11:27 PM
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Is 299ft on elevation gain in 2.09km tough?

Sounds like a fast race.

Last edited by unbelievably; 05-20-07 at 11:40 PM.
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Old 05-20-07, 11:55 PM
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Originally Posted by unbelievably
Is 299ft on elevation gain in 2.09km tough?
Only a 4.5% elevation over 2kms.

Cakewalk.
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Old 05-21-07, 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by goldfish
The next time I'm down there I hope to bring my bike and ride some of those hills.
Not too many hills in Manitoba, that's for sure. There is one slope in Winnipeg (aside from the garbage dump turned into a hill, of course), it's a street in St. Boniface, I can't remember the name. I lived in Winnipeg for about six years, and I'll never forget my first time going up that slope...it felt that special!
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Old 05-21-07, 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by rousseau
Not too many hills in Manitoba, that's for sure. There is one slope in Winnipeg (aside from the garbage dump turned into a hill, of course), it's a street in St. Boniface, I can't remember the name. I lived in Winnipeg for about six years, and I'll never forget my first time going up that slope...it felt that special!
trust me, I can relate
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Old 05-21-07, 10:56 AM
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I am confused why you are running a 53/39 with a x-23 (is that 11 or 12?) if you know the biggest gear you can run is 53-15.

Better options: Shimano - https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=FW6606
Campy - https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=FW9032 or https://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=L4039

These options will have you blocking off less of your cassette and allow you to have both more useable gears and a larger gear or two for climbing. You could also build your own mixing cos from other cassettes.
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Old 05-22-07, 06:21 PM
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That's a good idea. Anyone know where I can get a 9-speed 15-27 cassette?
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Old 05-23-07, 10:50 AM
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I don't understand. The following image is supposed to be a 13-26 cassette, but I count only 11 teeth on the smallest cog.


What gives?
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Old 05-23-07, 12:50 PM
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Bump. This strikes me as a fundamental issue. Shouldn't 13-26 mean that the smallest cog has 13 teeth? The reason this is bothering me is because I actually counted all of the teeth on my 7-speed cassette, and came up with 13-15-17-19-21-23-25. I assume this means I currently have a 13-25 7-speed cassette on my bike, and based upon that premise I just put in an order for an 12-23 8-speed cassette.

So will my 12-23 indeed have 12 teeth on the smallest cog? Or what? What's going on here? Is this the twilight zone?
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Old 05-23-07, 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by aprilia4life
Only a 4.5% elevation over 2kms.

Cakewalk.
What makes it tough is that it is so short. It is not a "climber's" hill. The last 500 m (the steep part) takes only about 90". In the context of a race this climb is done at about 160% of threshold power. That's called "burning a match".
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Old 05-23-07, 03:32 PM
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Bump again. Why does the smallest cog in a 13-26 cassette only have 11 teeth? Is this one of those secrets of the cycling world that I don't know about? What's going on?
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Old 05-23-07, 03:58 PM
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Rousseau, are you serious? It looks like you just have a photo that doesn't match the description.
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Old 05-23-07, 04:10 PM
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Follow this link:

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...ils&sku=FW9032

The cassette listed is 13-26, but the smallest cog only has 11 teeth. It's the same thing with the other links in this thread--the listings don't match the photos.

I guess I just want confirmation: the term "13-26" refers to the number of teeth on the first and last cogs of a cassette...right?
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Old 05-23-07, 04:16 PM
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Originally Posted by rousseau
I guess I just want confirmation: the term "13-26" refers to the number of teeth on the first and last cogs of a cassette...right?
Yeah. On that site, they're just sharing the same photo for a few different cassettes.
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Old 05-23-07, 06:01 PM
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Whew! Thanks. For a moment there I thought maybe I'd ordered the wrong cassette from my LBS.
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