carlfreddy

Spring Criterium, Tilles Park

3/4 Race
I'm in there, upper right corner in the red/white/blue with the white helmet.


On the wheel of the eventual winner. I marked him as the wheel to stay on, I was right, he eventually won. Too bad I crashed and finished OTB



4/5 Race




This one is after I got caught with 5 to go. No pics of me off the front, but I can assure, I was there, for awhile.

umd

f-racing in california. I want to race against those guys. This is what I had to deal with today




And me suffering because of it...

carlfreddy

The only thing that would've made the conditions absolutely perfect yesterday would've been if it had started raining. I think I jinx'd myself by telling my teammate that I was hoping for rain as we were setting up and sweeping the course at 6:30am. D'oh.

As it were, we had 43* and a shifty 17mph wind to contend with.

I love the Spring Season.

ridethecliche

Attacking the hill on the final lap of the bethel crit. That's me on the left with my teammate right behind me.


Closer shot


Lookin' pretty in the pack.

waterrockets 

Hmm, RTC, I'm wondering if your stem might be too short? In the last pic, your arms look like they're going straight down. I know it could be camera angle, but the other riders don't look like that at similar angles.

Great shots though. You look confident and within your limits.

ridethecliche

I raised the bars a bit when I raised my saddle.
It hurt during the race on saturday, so I dropped the saddle down to where I knew I'd be comfortable. The bars I didn't want to mess with so I just let them be. I need to drop them a cm or two. That should put me in a flatter back position. That's the first thing I noticed when I saw that last picture.

I don't think I'm going to swap the stem out on this setup. I'm just going to make do with it the way it is other than adjusting the rise of the stem, until I get a new fork which will allow me to swap stems more easily.

The muscles around my right ankle are a little sore after the race. I think I didn't have my shoes on tight enough and they were getting pulled on the upstroke. I tried to adjust the straps during the race, but I fell back doing so (duh...) so I did it as best I could and latched on again.

I had a blast out there WR, didn't feel as good as last weekend, but I played it smart and really enjoyed myself!

Edit: I see what you're saying about my arms. I actually keep a very slight bend to them. They don't look bent, but they're not locked. I find that's the position I sink into. I'll probably get more comfortable with more of a bend as I ride more.

umd

^^^

Damn, maybe I need to move there. Cat 5s really do seem to be a different world out here

ridethecliche

What do you mean? Are the 5's tougher where you are?

I was in a 4/5 race yesterday. Flat crit, averaged like 26mph+. I flew off the back within the first few laps. I just couldn't push that hard for that long with my legs feeling iffy.

umd

They sure look tougher. Can't say if they are, but I'm tired of getting my ass kicked.

Edit: flat crit yesterday, lapped & pulled, 25.8mph. People that finished said the avg speed was 26.4, nearly as fast as the 35+. Very not flat crit today, 23.2, not quite lapped.

ridethecliche

So the CAT 5's look tougher where you are, eh?

Is that a comment on my appearance

The 2nd CAT 5 race featured a guy blasting off at the start and keeping the lead the entire race. He TT'ed the course solo and had like a 20 second lead. It was incredible.

umd

Not your appearance, everyone elses... Maybe its just the clothes.

Edit: this guy pretty much set the pace for our race today


And this was the field sprint yesterday

ridethecliche

This was the 'easier' of the 2 CAT 5 races. The 2nd race had all the contenders for the series in it

I guess wearing more layers makes riders look bigger in all these pictures. Plus, jackets and stuff provide more wind resistance.

Saturday was the first day I could have actually raced wearing shorts. It's been cold here during the early races.

waterrockets 

No, what I'm seeing is that your hands look too far under you. It looks like you might not be reaching out enough.

ravenmore

Hey - I recognize that bar tape.

Rockets - are you talking about the "closer shot"? If so it looks like he might be out of the saddle a little? That might explain the angle in his arms being straight down...

carpediemracing 

I can tell you that when I rode in SoCal, *everyone* looked extremely fit. Well, the racers/riders. So on a group ride with Velo something (out of Oceanside) I got to talking to a few riders. I was riding with them and thought, oh, this guy is probably a 3. This guy maybe a 3 also. He might be a fit 4, doesn't seem as experienced.

I asked someone if he was a 2 (didn't want to insult him if he was a 2 and I asked if he was a 3). Ends up he was a 4! So I asked him about the other guys and he pointed and told.

Ends up I was riding with mainly 4s and 5s. Definitely no Cat 3s. And although they were fit, they revealed their lack of experience in other ways. But, man, they were fit. Tons and tons of midrange power and speed. Only when things got fast they'd start to show their inexperience (gaps, not super tight group, no super sharp accelerations, lack of descending skills). On descents that I found pleasantly relaxing (nice pattern of sharp curves, decent road, etc) I apparently looked comfy enough that there was some murmuring at a water stop about "That guy from Connecticut can descend". heh.

The "Cat 2" 4 asked me how to do track stands. Asked me about leadouts. Drafting in crosswinds. All sorts of stuff that many experienced riders know about. He and his teammates were strong but I felt like I could move where I wanted, when I wanted, and they weren't able to do anything about it.

Now, honestly, I spent most of my time sitting in (what else), but here and there, after I realized I could hang with the ride, I started doing some short moves. Mainly big bridge moves, I rarely (ever?) went past the first rider of the group. But I'd bridge if someone left a big gap.

Anyway, I can vouch for the difference between the guys in CT and the guys in CA, at least at the pack fodder 4 or 5 level.

cdr

waterrockets 

In this shot -- I guess he could be a bit out of the saddle. All the other shots are too straight-on to get a look (this one really is too).

El Diablo Rojo

Having raced in the two states with the most licensed riders, CA and TX. I can say that the top guys are pretty equal, the big difference is that in TX you get 2-3 fast guys in Cali we 7-10 in each field. The talent pool is deeper here (CA). Although RacerX has told me that at the sharp end of the field in cat 1/2 the CA guys may have the edge. But then again there are more racers in CA so you would expect to find more faster racers.

The other big difference between CA and TX is that in TX the Cat 3's do the same distance at the 1/2 field and in many cases are combined with the 1/2 fields. Here the Cat 3's get their own race and ride longer than the 4's but shorter than the 1/2's. In TX the jump to a cat 3 is a substantial leap, here I'd say not as much.

Edonis13

haha, domination.

garysol1 

Sprint finish from a crit last year. Chasing down a Memphis Velo guy. I am the guy in yellow trying to suck some air in my pie hole

truckin

In a local pickup race held on the day of Paris-Roubaix. I'm on the front.

I wasn't suffering much here, but there was plenty of suffering at other times.

LowCel 

Here are a couple of recent ones of me. I am wearing the red and white helmet. For some reason every time I look at them I think of the "we are going to yell at you" thread.

jrennie

Not suffering from the pace since this is off the front but the heat. Horrible to go from snow on te tuesday race to 95 degrees

bdcheung

This thread is prejudiced against people who don't show emotion.

MDcatV

are you sure you and your team mate didnt catch a group of non-racing recreational riders who wondered onto your crit course? or maybe you and your team mate took a wrong turn and ended up in a photo of a touring club?

waterrockets