Hida Yanra

hey - that one race is coming up again... good times! I bet you do way, WAY better this year

Issaquatch

Thanks! I'll just be finishing base training when it's time for IVRR, so I won't be in ideal race form, but I'm optomistic that I'll do better this time.

gazelle5333

came in about 36 out of 45 or so...don't know exactly.

kinda skewed results b/c I was in no-mans land with 3 other guys trying to bridge back up to the group when there was a crash up in the womens field ahead of us. The cat 5 35+ pack had JUST passed us and we had to stop/everyone else behind us caught back up and as they weren't going full throttle trying to bridge back up, they blew us away on the restart. Should have had another 5 or 10 places

Bob Dopolina 

3rd.

A citizen's class RR in the mid 80's.

Gave a buddy a lead out about 1km out. Two guys jumped and he chose the wrong wheel to follow. The other of the two won. My buddy went around the second guy for 2nd and I followed him across for 3rd.

I finished the season as a cat3 with a few points and I think my buddy (who got me into the sport) did less than 6 races after our first one together.

zonatandem

Won.
It was a tandems only event and we were then the oldest team racing.
My wife/stoker did not race again as she opined: "Can't do any better than first place!"

Forza

Well, it was canceled today due to snow...err.

ecojordan

Mine too. It was postponed to next weekend but I can't race then. Luckily, the promoter was accommodating and moved my registration to a different race the following weekend.

Tinton

My third race was a crit. I had done 5 hours of tempo the day before. 8th place.
I won my next 3 races, and upgraded to a 4.
Then I won the next 3 cat 4 races, and upgraded to a 3.
Then I won my first 3 race by lapping the field in a crit.

So yeah, keep hoping

mike868y

well aren't you special.

miwoodar

IIRC, 11th out of about 40. 4's crit (no 5's in Colorado). Chose wrong strategy and the wrong wheel for the last half mile. I'm looking forward to my 2nd day of racing....have about a month left to prepare. Revenge commeth.


*edit, 12th place. Found the race report.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post11294016

sevrdhed

My first race, I got dropped after 3 laps, lapped after about 6, lapped again while they were coming around for their last lap (ouch). I wasnt DFL though, because I brought a buddy of mine who I knew I was faster than. 2nd to last for the win!

Tinton

nah, I just ride my bike

kj5423

i just did my first race on Sunday. it was a lot of fun. and the outcome gave me some confidence, and maybe will give some other first timers out there some confidence too

it was a 24 mile hilly road race. first of all i felt very safe riding in the pack. no issues there. ive been riding for around 10 months and was up there with the cat 5s the entire time, and even caught a lot of the cat 4s up ahead and two cat 3s. i placed 4th in cat 5. nothing special there. but most importantly i felt like i belonged and was surprised to feel so comfortable and not get dropped, as a lot of the first race stories on this site tell about.

average speed...i know a lot of first timers wonder this going in, if they are ready or not, well its not a very easy question to answer although id say if you can maintain 21-23 MPH in a group then you are definitely "ready". going into my race i had only ridden in a group twice before. and was blown away by the difference from riding solo, including the mindset, to RACING in a pack, where you are flying and ignore any pain you might be feeling. so anyway, as everyone says around here, just try it. you might be surprised. however, a few of the guys in my category i talked to before the race, all they do is go out and "ride their bike" when they have time. meaning a commute to work or strolling around to bars and what not. they were dropped quickly. my 10 months of riding was "training", and preparing for this race pretty much. so i just suggest riding with a purpose (to race) for a decent amount of time before getting into a race.

Ultraslide

Had my first race this past Saturday. A team time trial with myself and two other guys. 4 miles into a 12 mile TT my team mates crossed wheels and one went down. He landed in a soft grassy ditch but still managed to get a broken shoulder blade. After support arrived on the scene a couple minutes later I finished the TT with my remaining team mate. Two other teams passed us as we were helping our injured friend. We placed last in our division but weren't the slowest overall!

They'll be running individual TTs on that same course all spring/summer and another team TT in the fall. I plan to attend them all as a gauge of my improvement.

jfmckenna

God it was so long ago I can't remember. I never raced as a cat 5. My first race was a cyclocross race, I got passed by a girl that started like 5 minutes after us. I then hit a ditch and went right over the handle bars. Come to find out the girl was a state champ and highly competitive on a national level. Once I got the hang of cross I actually ended up being fairly good at it. First road race I did was as a cat 4 and I really don't remember the results, probably finished with the pack.