WCroadie

Web Page crapped out last night as I was posting, sorry.

This was to be my second race. The road race was Saturday, Three 8 mile laps, then a long incline to the finish. The pack of 50 pretty much stayed together for the first lap, on the second lap a group took off starting up the big climb, I could not stay with them and drifted back. Right at the top some guy passed me and said grab on to my wheel. So I did, and we started downhill and passed a few people. 2 more jumped on our wheels and we had a nice 4 man paceline going for pretty much the rest of the race. I ended up finishing 26th. My average was exactly 21mph.

Sunday was the time trial, 10.3 miles on a pretty flat course. I've never done one before and wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised how many cat5's had time trial bikes/disc wheels/aero helmets/aero bars. Riders go off evey 30 sec. I was 16th to go. About 4 miles in I can see 2 riders coming up on me, they are about 15 and 30 yards back. We are coming up on an intersecton the marshall points to the left, I turn left and so do the other 2 riders. We climb a decent hill (hmm I thought it was a flat course?) Down a big hill up another when 1 guy says yells to me he thinks we are off course, we come together and all agree the marshall waved us to turn left. The road ends and there is a traffic light and a major road. Yup we went the wrong way. 3 1/2 miles in the wrong direction. We go up and down the hills once more and come to the marshall and ask why he told us to turn, he said we were going so fast and he got confused. I was pissed but the other 2 who caught me finished 1 & 2 in the road race, they could have been the overall winner. We ended up doing a 17 mile time trail instead of 10. Once back we told the starter what happend, he said we could go again but it had to be in 15 minutes.

My legs were hurtin the second time around but I finished just under 28 minutes. So I rode a total of 27 miles instead of 10. I know I could have dropped 4/5 minutes off my time if I wasn't mis-directed. Oh well.

4 hours later it's crit time. The start is at the bottom of a decent hill, we start and my legs are HEAVY!! The course is 1.25 miles with 9 turns. The second time up the hill I drift to the back and start to fall behind. 1/2 lap later I'm off the back never to see the pack again. 3rd lap and I am in pain, the thought of quitting entered my head but that's just not in me. So I figured I would use it for training. I pick up the pace and end up passing several guys over the next few laps and finished 28th, 45 seconds behind the lead pack.

It was definitely a learning experience, I am hooked on bike racing and can't wait to race again.

flythebike

Yeah Christiana is effing hard.

Hope to do it next year, had company this weekend. I will be in the laughing group for that road race though unless I start to defy gravity. But that tt and crit would be good...

Thanks for the report.