blonduathlongrl

well at least I had the courage to show up.

I loved it, the intimidation, the excitment!
I drooled over so many bike and what a carbon fiber galore that crit was!

the course was pretty technical for a frist crit and we had wind gust of 20 MPH which totally didnt help me on hills as it is my weaknest but something I didnt expect happened to me, after climbing that steep hill, youd go down at 34 MPH to take a sharp turn on a bank. I just became so awared of how easy it would be to crash, I felt boxed in with people around me.
I really had no experience with sharp turns, never mind one coming downhill at that speed with people on my every side.

I just didnt shake off that anxiety feeling even after a few laps, I just was having the hardest time trusting everyone around me and follow the wheel in front of me at the same time.
they became confident and even sped up on that descent and I became slower with fears of crashing.

so I took myself out, for my own sake and for the sake of others.

The group had no woman but I expected that.

I watched the rest of the race and I was the happiest girl in the world just listening to the sound of thier wheels buzzing by, what a sight as well.

waterrockets 

Congrats on your first start!

Maybe you can find a short loop to train on with a descent to a fast right turn. If you can follow someone fast through it a bunch of times, all the better.

Bump drills on grass would be good too...

kudude

it's a slippery slope when you start getting scared in a crit.

Brian Ratliff

If you aren't comfortable, then you did the right thing. Crashing at 30mph is no fun, and being tense makes it more likely - and more likely that you'll take someone else out with you. I'd enter road races to start out. It gets you comfortable with being in a peloton and there are few corners other other technical features to mess things up.

blonduathlongrl

I thought of you waterrocket..
you gave me so much encouragement to try this and I did!! that's a huge step for me. thank you.

everyone I talked to told me that they felt the same way the first time on that crit and that it took a few times to really understand how to race it and what to avoid and it takes a while to get used to people around you.
it was the feeling of being boxed in that scared me but I now know and train with enough of them that I can ask them next time to practice this with me.
hey, at least I showed up and tried!!! that's a whole lot more then staying home like I did last week cause I was too scared of trying.

blonduathlongrl

yes, that's how I felt. I felt I did the right thing for me and the other riders. I felt as if I couldnt shake this away and couldnt relax on that turn and as much as I wouldnt want a nervous rider next to me, i didnt want to that rider for the others.

mike9903

HTFU!!!








Just joking, great job on your first crit. I remember my first crit, I was scared to death idiots yelling/swerving all over the place. After about 5 crits I got more comfortable with it and now I could not imagine not riding with people a few inches on all sides of me!

Second Mouse

Good for you, BDG! Are you planning on doing this course again? Will you be entering some different races this year as well?

Sharp turn at the bottom of a fast hill = high pucker factor.

blonduathlongrl

yeah yicks....probably too much to handle for a first crit!
ohh, Im not done
Im checking out other crits as well, I heard there is one in Maine that is more flat so Im talking to a guy on the team and we might try that. And I might do that one again when Im more experienced.

Im not done at all! like I said I was also the happiest girl in the world, I can see how crits could be a lot of fun and addictive. This one was more than I could chew.

Ill find my nitch, Ill try different things and even TT's and Im bond to find a course or race that suits me better.
this is a rough beginning but that's all it is.

Brian Ratliff

If you've got a velodrome close by, try track cycling too. Just... don't get a holder like the one in yellow in your sig for the match sprint.

rizz

Waterrockets was right on, do lots of bump drills. Get used to being pushed around and pushing others. It means you're close and contact won't send you over the edge.

Don't find a race that suits you better, find out how to suit your strong points to the race. If you aren't a descending monster but you climb hills like a rocket, then fly ahead of everyone and let them catch you. Aren't comfortable in the group but can stay ahead in a small paceline? Do a flyer off the front and weight for others to bridge, maybe your lead will stick.

You may start at point A and end crossing point B, but it's all on you to figure out how to do that to the best of your abilities.

Having said that, welcome to racing! It's a hoot.

urbanknight

LOL I still can't find a full video to explain why the heck that happened.

Anyway, congrats on your first crit. Better to take yourself out that way than the other way. You will build up your confidence. It is indeed intimidating the first time you find yourself trying to ride fast with spokes and cranks and legs all around you closer than you ever had before.

blonduathlongrl

I should add that there were 4 groups and I wanted to join the buttom group but the guys on my team who ride with me kept telling me it would be too slow for me so I joined the group above that one. I wish I had followed my original plan as the descent would of been a bit slower and I might of had more chance to get used to it.

anyway... all this was really to say thank you to a lot of you who have encouraged me since my first group ride, it was a huge step for me to even try. I needed to break the ice and try my first one and no matter the outcome I succeeded into giving it a shot.

thanks again to all of you and the ones you told me to not give up after my first bad group ride!
I am having fun even if I did bad on this one, Im having fun participating and I now love the group rides!

mike9903

At least you didn't get dropped!!!

What can I say I am a glass is half full kind of guy.........

skinnyone

Cool BDG! Just FYI, There is a velodrome in Manchester, NH.

Brian Ratliff

It sounds like a contradiction, but it is probably safer in the faster group. The bottom group will have a lot of noobs in it who are still finding out about the whole bike handling thing. While slower, it might have been a lot more tense and crash prone. So, while you felt tense in the field you were in, the people around you were more comfortable and would be able to compensate. The one thing worse than being tense in a fast field is being tense in a tense field. Then everyone is making mistakes and nobody knows enough to know how to compensate for these mistakes. You should race in the fastest field that will have you.

And don't feel bad about not finishing. I was dropped like a rock in my first race ever (this was several years ago, though I haven't been serious about racing until this year), and my second race, a week later, I crashed out of... after getting dropped, which was kinda embarrassing. I think this is the experience of many a recreational cyclist making the jump to competition. Get over this hump and it becomes loads of fun.

Everest

Hey no shame in pulling out if you didn't feel safe. I pulled out of my first crit as well. It was a highly technical crit (Snake Alley if any one has done it) plus it was raining and there was standing water in the street. I was in the juniors field and there were some really expierenced guys in it. I could keep up with everyone on the climb (and it's a rough climb) but there was a huge descent with a bunch of turns, I dropped off the back when I saw how fast the field was taking it, saw about 5-6 guys go down in a turn and said **** this I'm not ready for it yet. I have yet to do another crit but have done a couple road races, they are much easier for beginners in my opinion, plus I chose to race cat 5 in them so people aren't quite as fast. Stick with it though, it one of those things that just takes practice, I plan to try another crt soon.

chipcom 

You did great, Karen, we're all proud of you for trying and know you'll just keep getting better and better!

ridethecliche

You did good for pulling yourself out once you got a little freaked.

To be completely honest, the adrenaline is such a high and my heart is pounding so hard when I'm in a crit, that all I can think about is the wheel right in front of me and whats going on around me.

Stay on wheel right in front, keep an eye out for people fidgeting around you. If you see anyone doing that, then move up. If you hear something that sounds like a crash, get up and gun it. Get out of there as fast as you can.

I've honestly never felt the fear in a crit. Maybe it's because I've done a collegiate D's race in the wet and seen so many people do stupid things and go down. Maybe because my first real crit was at CDR's Bethel course which is a very open crit. Maybe it's because I've managed to keep my head in the game enough to avoid a crash so far. I know that I'll eventually crash in a race, but I've had my share of non race crashes (2 with injuries on a road bike, and 1 while riding an mtb on the street).

Regardless, I'm starting to get a little freaked after reading a lot of the posts on here lately about crashes. Especially Lith's situation. I don't know where I'd find $1200 to pay for injury related expenses...

The best advice I can give you is to relax. Just take it easy, and don't tense up. When you tense up and start getting a little 'on edge' you'll start getting sloppy. Make sure to ride the course before hand so you know what you can expect and try to ride it at speed. As far as being boxed in, I normally find myself on the outside during turns in a crit, but that can be as bad due to movements within the pack causing the expansion on the outside which can hurt the outside. If you're boxed in, just hold your line and turn like the person in front of you. Remember to weight your outside pedal and keep your balance. Don't get too aggressive or lean too much, and always be aware that you need to have pedal clearance. On those really tight turns, you can crash if you keep trying to pedal through the turns, so just weight your outside pedal to stop that from happening.

I'm new at this too. It's pretty scary because you have to trust so many others for your safety, but remember that it works both ways. At the end of the day everyone wants to go home in one piece, so that should work in our favor. Take care and give it another go. Relax, and you'll love it.

Stay safe!

JoesInBoston

What crit was this? I think I might want to come check it out.

Colonelmom

First of ALL YOU GO GIRL!!!!!
For women racers it can be a real challenge, my first CRIT was WOMEN p/1/2/3/4 and MEN's CAT5...
I was sort of glad I got shelled of the back after a couple of laps... because A it was really fast...
B I was sketchy in the turns.

I was lucky on the next two... A they were just women, B it was on a "race car short track" .3 miles, basically nice wide turns... I an now more comfortable right next to folks... BUT I too have to work on my cornering skills...

KEEP going.. you'll only get better

aicabsolut

Great start BDG!

It sounds like you just need more practice in a group and more practice executing technical elements at speed. Try to find a parking lot or some similar, relatively deserted area that has a chicane, or where you can make a chicane (S-curve). Practice going through it faster and faster. Get a feel for how you should weight the bars to countersteer and the outside pedal. Then find a descent somewhere with sweeping curves (not ones that really require braking--so either big curves or not a very steep descent, but something you can do around 30mph). In both instances, you need to work on your steering, but most importantly, how to pick the right line.

Also keep riding in groups on the road. If you get more confident with doing the basics, then you will not be so tense and you'll react better and more instinctively when something happens, like if you get bumped.

For future crits, take advantage of any time before your race that the course is open. Take several warm-up laps, especially on a new course. What you'll be figuring out is what your gearing should be over different terrain, what the road surfaces are like (any hazards, anything off-camber, anything slick?), and you can experiment with different lines in turns. You can find the optimal line, but you will also become aware of your speed and what happens when you take an alternate line--which may happen when things get crowded.

Don't feel bad for taking yourself out of the race. You did what you felt was safest for you and the other racers. Sometimes, you just encounter a turn you never quite figure out. The best thing there is to get to the front and make the pack wait for you, or at least work around your line. Don't exacerbate the accordion effect and cause a jam up by being in the middle somewhere and then being conservative. Then if you lose speed, you aren't off the back. If you can't capitalize on your strengths elsewhere in the race and can't create space for yourself when you reach your trouble spot, then you've just got to do your best to mimic the racer in front of you. It's ok to slow down, just don't jam on the brakes suddenly, and don't change your line unexpectedly. If you still feel you're creating an unsafe situation, then there's always another race.

waterrockets 

+1 to getting dropped in your first race -- I was shelled after dragging the pack around for two laps like an idiot. I turns around fast -- I got 3rd in my next race...

Phantoj

Better to take yourself out than to take someone else out.

jkizzle

Try to find some people from your team or the local community to do some practice crits. Your team should be as intent on helping you as they are on having you help them, so they better not mind having an crit at your level for you to get comfortable. Hopefully your team has become more welcoming from when you first started posting about them a few months back.

Also, try making fast descents in parking lots with traffic islands if you can. learning to cut around traffic islands at high speeds really helped me feel more confident in tight turns in crits, especially after practicing them with another teammate who also was a little nervous after our first races.