timmyquest

Bravo

Psimet2001 

Hillsboro-Roubaix RR Cat 4 - My first actual Cat 4 only field. 100 deep. 44 miles, windy and hilly.

I stayed int eh front 10-20 riders through most of the first lap. I got shelled going up a hill into town. Bridged back on and then got shelled again on another hill.

Stuck it out with a rolling crew of large OTB riders. MJH2 even said, "dude...that group averaged 2 bills each ....easy." I drug them around a lot because I didn't feel like getting lapped by the women's fields.....

Big hill coming back into town and I got shelled again. Le Suck...

Placed 66th.

Our man "Mini-meatball" got into a break in the 5's about 6 miles in and stuck it for 2nd. The guy is a natural. This was his 3rd race ever. He's been on the bike for like 6 weeks.

He was working the feedzone for our 1/2's and missed the call up for the podium. I went up to tell the organizer that I couldn't get ahold of him and that he was in the feedzone. Organizer asked if I was on his team. "yeah." "Then get up on the podium and get your team's jersey in the podium shot."

So........I got on the podium today.

Hida Yanra

That's what we like to see- way to take it for the team

caloso

I did Napa this morning. Sheesh, what a ridiculous course. I doubt the lap was any more than 600 m. Plus there was a turn around a traffic island on a very narrow street. A number of crashes, but I managed to avoid them.

First race was the E4. Just felt crappy and never comfortable. 18th and lucky to be that far up. Feeling pretty disgusted at this point. I was about ready to pack up and eat the fee for the second race of the day. Got on the trainer and spun for awhile while I ate a Gu and listened to the iPod.

Second race was the M35+ Cat 4. I gave myself permission to hang around in the back and drop out if I wasn't feeling it. It wasn't too bad. A Clover guy got away early and soloed to the win. The pack never organized to bring him back. I had no teammates so I wasn't going to go to the front and certainly didn't have the fitness to bridge, so I just focused on moving up to the front but doing as little work as possible. The Clover guy stayed away and beat the field by nearly half a lap. I focused on getting a top 10. Came out of the last turn sitting about 12th and dug hard. Made up some spots and finished 6th.

I'll take it. I need top 10s. [edit: I seem to have picked up a point for 6th. Woohoo!]

FormerBMX'er

Michael Schott Circuit Race 4-5-2009

I raced...I crashed

2nd to last lap I was in easily in the top 20 cat 4/5 field. A slight climb combined with the yellow line rule and things got tight. The pack slowed on the climb, I got forced into half-wheeling...game over. I feel bad for the guys I took down, though I can't say riders held their lines...whatever.

I'll put my bike together with some added motivation for upcoming races...that is all.

-BMX

roy5000x2

Wells Ave

Managed to finish kitting up + 1 warm up lap before we had to line up for the start. My buddy forgot his money and had to find an ATM.

I was doing great and feeling great until the pack kicked the pace up by a few mph. From there I was continuously shelled. My seat post sliding down 6 cm or so didn't help either. I was just trying to hang on, while my buddy was in a great position to come in first. Unfortunately for him, his saddle nose dropped when he hit a bump on the last lap. He probably would've snagged first if that didn't happen.

All in all, I need to train more.

slim_77

looks like you guys had great weather down there. I'm kinda jealous...

congrats on the podium picture!

slim_77

congrats!

Geat pic...get a real print and frame it infront of your trainer for winter motivation.

Psimet2001 

Oh...and I saw Frukin ride by, rode and talked to Mayo in the pack, yelled at Transplant as He was on the side of the road with a flat , etc. It was a fun day with crappy results.

ridethecliche

Skipped plainville yesterday to race bethel's 3/4 crit with fresh legs today. It was a good idea. Even after a night of 'college style carb loading', my legs felt great.

Got out there today, and rode real aggressive. Got yelled at a few times to hold my line, a few times it was my fault other times I was just responding to people who were being swervy. Whatever, it's bike racing if you freak out every single time someone moves a little you should pick another sport.

The first 10 or so laps were wicked fast with us averaging around 27 or so mph. I rode near the front and tried to get in a break or two even though I knew I wasn't strong enough to be in a break. Sometimes you just gotta push yourself.

I got into what I thought would be the winning break since it had good team representation and had a lot of strong guys in it, but we got reeled in. Recovered quickly after that. My biggest mistake was positioning right after the hill, I didn't recover well because I couldn't hide since I always hit the hill at the spot where I'd be in the wind for the downhill section. Made for a good workout though.

I stuck around at the front of the pack even when I was redlining, to good effect.

On the last lap I worked hard on the inside semi-shielded from the wind and got towards the front. All of a sudden, I see CDR right to my side. I let him pass and then latched on, and it's like moses parting the red sea. I move up about 10-20 spots within the field on cdr's wheel.

I find a gap and jump, cdr went up the right (i think). I went to the left. So much for following his wheel. I slam it, and cross the line in 11th out of I forget how many starters.

Last 24 secs, I averaged 707 watts with the jump at 1004. I was a little cooked when I sprinted, but I learned a lot this race and am getting much better about my positioning.

I also had the song 'Jumper' by 'Third Eye blind' stuck in my head for the entire race and I'd start humming or singing it while I was recovering/coasting. I think people thought I was insane. Haha.

Race stats:
Placing: 11 of ??
AP: 215
NP: 265
Speed: 25.6

FormerBMX'er

I raced Wells the 15th and 22nd. The post race comment was...to quote another rider "There are some fast supposed beginners out here".

roy5000x2

Are you going to Lux et Velocitas at Yale next weekend?

ehhh, it's hard to say. The average was 24 mph, which isn't that bad, considering I was doing the C race. However I'm pretty sure the Minute Men Club isn't a bunch of cat 5s...

ridethecliche

Yessir, I'll be in for the 3/4. Then I'll be possibly doing plainville the following week, and then doing monson the week after that.

I'm only going to do 1 raceday a weekend now with less and less as the year goes on and I have to pay everything out of pocket, heh.

I want to try my hand at road races. I'm under the impression that I do and will enjoy crits much more, but given that I've done a bunch of crits and only 2 road/circuit races, that might change.

roy5000x2

I'll be in the D class for collegiate, suffering greatly because of the climbs. I'm only going to do the ITT and circut race on saturday, then I'll be able to be with the family for Easter Sunday. I'm surprised Yale is holding the event on Easter Weekend.

Cleave

Hi,

Just to make everyone feel better about their racing I'll post this weekend's pathetic race reports.

Managed to start three races within 24 hours.

Saturday afternoon, Long Beach Bicycle Grand Prix, Cat. 3. I was the second oldest guy in the race. The oldest guy finished. Fast from the gun and after I downloaded the small amount of data that was on my Garmin, I was mid to high Zone 4 for the entire time that I was in the race: about 5 miles of a 25 mile race. The kid who won works at my favorite LBS and I'm guessing he's less than half my age.

Sunday morning, Dominguez Hills Criterium, Masters 50+. Felt reasonable throughout. Was off the front three times but nothing was happening for me. Sat at the back the last two laps and watched people try to crash each other into traffic cones. 18.2 miles, 25.4 MPH average

Sunday late morning, Dominguez Hills Criterium, Masters 40+ 1/2/3. Felt OK for the first 30 min of a 60 min race. Pace started getting hot (27-29 MPH average laps) and I started drifting back. Long story short, announcer is saying, "Thurlow is drilling it at the front," and people started falling off. After closing 3 gaps, I couldn't close the 4th. Dropped after 37 min., 16.3 miles, 26.0 MPH average

umd

30+ 3/4 did a lot of work, bridged some, attacked once, patrolled the front while teammate was off and worked to bring break back. 18th. 30+ 1-3 held on, chased back on at 30+ after held up by crash. Pack. Cat 3 stayed mid puck for most if race. Got a flat and took free lap. Won prime. Pack

substructure

Sorry, forgot about this thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-bike-racing/527871-patriots-trail-road-race-reports.html

Masters 35+ 1/2/3. 90 miles
One of my teammates got into a break early. I felt good and my other mates had to keep me on a short leash until second lap. Then they let me go. Six of us got away to chase the first break. Unfortunately, my teammate popped and went back to the main field. We kept going hard. But 3 bridged to us. Another teammate was in that break (3 breaks total) We all grouped together at 1km. I was hurting bad. Then the hammer was dropped. I couldn't hold on to them. I got last payout - 15th. Out of 70 guys I think.

Oh ... and I met Bantam and truckin. Bantam hit the ground hard in a sprint. Scraped up. Trucking kicked butt - like normal in the P/1/2 field.

ridethecliche

I'm doing whichever race is on sunday.

roy5000x2

The crit's on sunday.

ted ward

Yesterday I did a grueling 67 mile, ~6000 ft of climbing RR yesterday where I felt like I was at threshold half the damn time. I got 9th in that which made me really happy, but this morning I got kinda stuck sitting in the bathtub, my legs were so tired.

Today in my first cat 3 crit, I felt quite awful the entire race and watched guys sprint like crazy for the primes, making me doubt my chances. The fatigue from yesterday didn't seem to affect my sprint too much and I won by inches

BobLoblaw

I'll be there too. I've been doing better than I ought to lately, and I need a good and proper shelling to put me in my place. No one likes a Cat 4 Masters rider who's too big for his britches.

BL

slynkie

bethel cat 5s, 2nd race (points race).

pretty windy, but sun felt good. 2 or 3 guys were off the front a couple times, but nothing stuck for too long.

got dropped with 2 to go, for the 2nd week in a row. feeling very frustrated - hanging with the field was
easy the first 3 races. then again, my avg power for the last race i hung on to was 20w lower than today's.

despite my own performance, i've had a blast these last 5 weekends. gotta say a BIG thank you to cdr for putting on such a great series!!

*new*guy

Nice throw! well done.

Duke of Kent

MTB race today. I wasn't allowed to start as a Cat 1 (lower half of the old "semi-pro" and experts) so they made me start as a Cat 2. Followed the leaders up the climb at the start of the first lap to see how long it was, left on the second time up it, extended my lead until the end.

3 x 5mi laps. I ended up lapping about a quarter of my own field, and passing about three quarters of the Cat 1 field, who started 3 minutes before me.

The officials politely "asked" me to upgrade before the next event.

ridethecliche

DOK came. DOK saw. DOK PWNED!