Ttoc6

One of those days. Local crit actually happened by some miracle of the weather god. Rode out from a bike shop in SLC to the race track with a small group. "Crit" race on a race track, about a mile course, 2 easy pedalling corners and a hard hairpin with some **** in the apex. Realized it was going to be a good race for me when I go to the front, am sitting up and stringing the group out. Wait for some stupid **** to go on at teh front with people surging and counter about 10 minutes into the 45 minute race. One guy follows, but I lead it it for a whole lap before I look back. He's struggling, but i let him take a pull. He goes to the front and backs off too much, so I yell at him we need to go harder. He dropped after one more pull from me. Another good sign of my relative fitness.

I extend the gap out to 30 seconds, then a minute. The A group catches me and I'm in this weird place where I'm going about the same speed as them, but can't draft, so I smooth out some corners to let them get ahead and go around the stragglers. Gap is still sitting about a minute. I'm passing a lot of lapped riders and forced to take some funky lines because of it. Sprinting out a corner I feel that terrible feeling of a spongy tire. ****. 3 laps to go, fine. 2 laps to go, bad, hitting rim, had to unclip and tripod around the hairpin. 1 lap to go I have to stop and get a wheel, but the pits doesn't have any, so I take the slowest wheel change from a cat 4 watching. The small remaining chase passes me, and I have to solo it in for 7th. So ****ing frustrated. Played the race right, to my strength and had it won but **** luck finds it's way.

After the race I had to walk away from a lot of people just because I was frustrated. Found out a bit later that something like 15 flats happened due to the thorns that sat just outside the apex of the hairpin. FML.

On the positive, I got out with a buddy who double flatted out of the A field after the race and we rode up Emigration canyon and I rounded out the day for 3.5 hours, 65 miles and 200 TSS.

****.

spectastic

i won the race, some money, and a jersey

nuff said

Ttoc6

Race reports are overdone! What are the takeaways?

spectastic

be patient, race smart, trust your plan, know your competitors.

we were in a breakaway of 3 in a circuit race. stayed away for most of the race. the finish was at the bottom of a descent, with some rolling hills. One of them was a junior and had junior gears (spin out on the descents), the other one is stronger in his fitness than handling skills around corners, so I liked my odds. I planned out my attack in my head over the last few laps, and executed exactly as it went in my head. tucked in the steep descent, sling shot around the two, exploded out of the saddle on the roller, shredded through the corner, and kept the hammer down until I was near the finishline, and they were ~100m behind me. fist in the air. done.

Radish_legs

They race the B and the A race at the same time?

Ttoc6

This particular race series does, yeah. Which is a bummer, because I want to sandbag the 3/4 for points and race the 1/2/3 for experience. Pretty much all of the old hangar 15 team was racing the 1/2/3 field and it would have been fun to do that after racing the 3/4

burnthesheep

First ever 4/5 race. Didn’t get tossed out the back. But our group missed a first lap break. And that was probably my fault.

I saw about 8 head over the 2min hill fast. I tried to catch them. In the corner after the hill I was putting power down and thought I could start a sprint early out of the corner and take it as fast as possible.

Too early, pedal strike, almost ate it. Got some gasps. Break subsequently got away, and stayed away.

We were about 5 of us ahead of some more folk. The front break shed two that we absorbed.

We worked pretty well together for a race group and not a friendly paceline. I do feel maybe 2 racers though didn’t realize we were a chase and kept ****ing with the line instead of staying in the freaking line nice and tight. So of course we lost time to the break. We lost a lot not descending well together. If on front I glanced once and the closest guy was 10 feet back and not on my wheel.

No idea on my place. Not last or dropped, not top 10. 38 supposedly started, I didn’t see that many. I counted 23 to 25 Strava “ride togethers”. Of those it looked like 13th.

Honestly I had no idea that teams would organize and screw with people that much in a 4/5 race. It was a disadvantage. I feel an experienced and fit guy could still win fine without a team, but it would help.

Overall nice bunch of guys and a good time. Cold and very windy.

The one guy said if that was his first race he would have made it his last.

rankin116

Yeah, pretty brutal wind yesterday. I did the same 'race' as you but it's a stretch to say I raced it. I rode to it from home, and had dog **** legs so I came off the first time up Andrews Store (the finish hill). Enjoyed the next 1:15 fighting the ****ing wind on my own. Then rode 10 miles home. Not a fun day but much needed saddle time.

mattm

wooooo!

mattm

Sucks!

But maybe you got the bad luck out of the way for 2018...

arai_speed

I did my first road race yesterday. UCLA RR Master 35+ 4/5. 3 laps, 1500 per lap. A few 10% grade sections, wind, cold...got shelled out the back on the first lap. My race was now a solo TT and I decided to make the best of it. Found some stragglers on the downhill and was making up spots when I got a massive high speed wobble on. I slowed thinking I had a flat but it was just the wind...no confidence descending after that. I was DFL save for 2 guys that DNF. I'll stick to Criteriums or flat RR from now on :-)

On the upside, the views were pretty spectacular:

Ttoc6

I'll say it without knowing literally anything about the race. Some people are just really bad at riding in pacelines lol. A swift yell to keep it smooth, or not help will curtail even some of the worst offenders.

Experienced and fit can win solo at any level. Many pro american riders have made a go at it that way and succeeded. Daniel Holloway jumps to mind. To be perfectly honest, some times I prefer racing solo because I don't have to worry about remembering team tactics or being the responsible party for making stuff happen in the race. You can just... race.

Ttoc6

Stick to it man! Getting better at rolling road races makes you better across the board. Don't give up because of one bad day. Use it as motivation in training and you'll kill it next year!

Radish_legs

I basically raced solo last year as a 4/5. I didn't have to think about teammates. I only had to think about myself. I did okay. But there were times it felt like a big disadvantage, especially in the 3/4 crit. This year I'm on a big team, so there will probably be times I will have left a lot of meat on the bone in the interest of advancing teammates. Hopefully that will be fulfilling in its own way.

If team tactics are at play in your 4/5, don't get mad about it. That's actually more fun. And better preparation for the next level.

burnthesheep

Of course! It’s a learning time. I still had fun.

I was very pleased with fitness from only riding for less than 2 years. But found some gaps to fill also. It’s one thing to have good numbers and another in how they get used or work out in reality.

Ttoc6

That's what makes this sport unique. It depends on so much more than fitness! Keep at it!

furiousferret

I've done that race twice and been shelled both times; most of the pack gets shelled at some point. That is a goats race for the skinny dudes that ride GMR every weekend.

rubiksoval

Indeed. You just have to be stronger/faster than everyone else, like Holloway! And then you don't have to split any prize money!

I've raced most of the last four years solo, with maybe a dozen or so races with teammates that could mix it up and win on their own. Really doesn't change anything at the end of the day. Either you have the legs to get up and in the break or you don't. And from there, well, do what you gotta do. Sometimes you get worked over, sometimes you don't. Or maybe you just pull an Ian Stannard and drop the fools while they're trying to rail you in a 3/1 slugfest (2015 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad)

Doge

My wife and I drove out from SoCal to Denver to visit junior and see his 1st collegiate race - Denver City Park by DU.
This was first a visit, but having seen him in PHX last month get almost 1 min on the Cat 1 field TT, we were curious how a "real race" would turn out.
This is a beautiful venue in the middle of Denver, and it was 72-79F during the race. The field was small (30??), but the collegiate National TTT champs - CU Buffalo's were 5-6 strong and they had their crit, new domestic pro / National Champion racing. Last time/year I saw the teams race in Boulder, Air Force got them in the sprint. I doubt they cared - they won Nats, but "we" thought there would be revenge sought. Typically Collegiate As are pros to Cat 3 level (P123), so the reality of this is junior was racing about 15 guys.

The course has about 20' elevation / lap. Higher winds - 15-20mph blowing straight on on the Start/Finish. CU sent a flyer 1st lap - kinda normal, no one chased. Junior is tail gunning. N Champ goes, is reeled in quickly. Guess that happens when you got the jersey. CU sends two more and a couple others go, junior goes. 5 of them ride for 10-15 min, 20 sec off front. Junior typically was pulling about half a lap (wind at back), then is in the back into the wind by start/finish. He was pulling the most time, but easiest part (for him at least). CU starts chasing from the pack trying to bridge when they have the most in the break. I assume coach tells them not to as they stop after a couple laps. Break starts some cat an mouse with 30 min to go. Junior kicks it to 37mph (he can do that without junior gears) and holds it about 33 for a lap. They let him stay out there at around 28mph 13 laps to go (25 min). He said he went all in into the head wind each lap and soft pedaled the back side. I think he is testing them and plans to get caught, and go for sprint, that was plan B. The chase breaks up as 2 guys come real hard - 30mph+ and get almost 50 meters from junior. He sits up, looks back, decides they spent their wad, gets down and kicks it another 30+ lap. They go from a few sec behind to 20sec behind in one lap.
I might have to buy a video camera again and stop using my phone.
Photo by John Lynn (fellow cadet dad)
DenverCityParkSalute John Lynn.jpg

mattm

Good little race today - the "Red Kite" series. Local series with small turnout, but close by and always a good workout.

Drove over with a buddy, we knew we'd be the only fresh ones from our team there, and me having a bum finger meant he was the only real contender for the win. We had a plan - get one of us in the break - executed it, and won!

I went from the gun, he went with the counter, and stuck it with one other. Other dropped out after a while, but someone else bridged up and they rode away. It was great knowing he was up there and having confidence that he could pull off the W.

Little races like this where our team is the most represented, strongest, and most organized, are perfect for working on team tactics and ironing **** out. We just need to keep in mind that 'real' races are way harder!

furiousferret

GJ @Doge family and team @mattm!

arai_speed

Thanks man! But this was not a rolling road race, this was a climb/descend RR

All joking aside, I'm not a climber and I don't think I'll ever be. I can't hold an 18 mph average on a course with 4500 ft of gain and that's what the winner of the race did.

Yeah...on lap two I could see a long string of riders on the climb. Lap 3 I saw a guy pull over and just put his head down.

Great experience none the less.

tetonrider

what's the course?

furiousferret

https://www.strava.com/segments/3371232 x3

Ygduf

if holloway can do it in 33:17...