Chuckie

And boy do I suck. Tuesday night crit, cat 4/5, made it about ten minutes into a 20-minute race. I lasted about five minutes at the back of the field before the 30-mph straightaways were too much for me. This was the first time I've been in a group >2 riders in 18 years, back when I was a USCF dude in college. I was too timid in the pack, and ended up at the back of the field playing "crack the whip" for several laps before I exploded into a wheezing ball of disappointed self-loathing OTB.

I am so damn fat and out of shape. Next week my goal is to finish with the pack. I've got two more of these weekly crits to get some sort of self-respect back.

Creakyknees

Hey I've been there.

Used to be a hot shot junior, then life got in the way, next thing I know I'm 250 lbs. Started getting serious again about riding a few years ago, raced a bit (life still gets in the way sometimes). First race this spring I got shelled in about 5 laps.

Sunday, Father's Day, I won. First win in over 25 years.

Hang in there.

bostongarden

Keep at it...I was off the bike for 10+ years...back riding in October, racing again since March...
finally stayed with pack whole way tonight and finished 6th...keep riding!!!

Chuckie

Thanks for the words guys! Both of you have done quite well since being back on the bike.....maybe I'll be joining in with some success stories of my own soon.

I'm going to be doing a lot of intervals for the next few weeks to see if that helps, as well as some corner drills with sprints. The thing I can't replicate and train for is riding in a group. Hopefully, I'll get more comfortable in the next couple of weeks.

Our state championship crit is in a couple of weeks, too......I think I'm going to be in that one, too. Four crits in three weeks! I love living in a city that has a decent biking community. "Back in the day", the nearest races to my town were over two hours away and they were few and far between. I always loved the crits, though, and sprinting was my strength.

bostongarden

Where are you?

Chuckie

I live in Albuquerque.

ericm979

Hey, I started back up after 18 years out of racing too. I haven't won anything yet but I've placed about as good as I ever did "back in the day" and I'm having a lot more fun at it.

Stallionforce

Way to go man! At first it's all about the mind and staying positive. After a while the body catches up and your confidence will skyrocket. Keep it up!

cmh

Welcome back. I had 19 years between racing careers myself. Racing makes me feel like a teenager again.

Chuckie

Well, yesterday's race didn't go much better, but it was better. I'd been feeling a bit tired on the bike this past week, so I didn't get to those intervals I'd been promising myself I'd do. I figured that fresher legs would be better than sore ones.

I started the race at the front edge of the field, and made it a couple of laps being in the front third of the field. Then, I got stuck behind some guy who just decided to sit up all of a sudden and I'm at the back of the field again. Then, an attack comes, and it's all I can do just to hang on from that point. Once again, I got dropped, lapped, and I'm done. This time around, though, I made it a bit longer and (more importantly) I felt a lot more comfortable in my limited time spent shoulder-to-shoulder with other racers. If I hadn't gotten stuck behind the one guy in the peleton who was even fatter than I was, I might have been with the field longer. My lack of fitness and ability to maneuver around this guy with riders whizzing by on either side ended up being my downfall.

So, there's a couple of lessons I've learned for myself this week. One, I can hang with the pack as long as I'm not at the back. Two, my fitness JUST BARELY allows me to do this. Any attacks or major surges and I'm off the back (there's none of those in criteriums, right? )

Funny thing is, despite the fact that I probably have no hope at all of finishing with the main field any time soon, I'm entering in the NM State crit championships on Sunday, and doing the final Tues nite crit next week. I figured that the experience in the pack (however short-lived) will make it worth it. Then, I'll have a few weeks to get ready for a local road race (Bonanza Creek Classic) that I think might suit me a bit better.

In the brief time I was in the thick of things, I was one smiling sonofa*****. It's been way too long.

waterrockets 

Welcome back. I was gone 12 years, and came back last season. Now I'm racing much better than I ever did "back then." get after it!

Voodoo76

Im 10 years removed from 2 status, about 8 months into some conditioning and getting surprisingly fast. Sounds like you're having fun Chuckie. I don't know if this will work for you but for me at this point I only need 3 things to be race ready; 1. Motorcycle, 2. Someone competent to ride it, 3. An Industrial park. I've got #1 and #3, Event?