DrWJODonnell

First race of the season. Fun, but on a pan flat course. Only an hour long. The branchbrook course for those of you who know it and also raced it.

Full report here, but the nitty gritty is I attacked from the gun, 5 guys eventually bridged and after being on the attack for 45 minutes, the field came back.

Bummer.

Tried to lead out the sprinter, but there was some miscommunication and the leadout guy behind me sat up, thinking HE would sprint for it (he did take third after the sprinter came around and led HIM out).

Oh well. Now just training in Cali and wondering why no one wants to ride.

umd

I'd love to but you are just too far away...

esammuli

Same here.

mollusk

Man, it is the absolute suxor to forget your cycling shoes for an ITT. I rode anyway in sneakers on the wrong side of some Look delta cleat pedals, but it was too precarious to ride in the aerobars with that much weight forward. Riding the drops was OK.

I didn't stick around for the final results, but I don't think that it was DFL.

Bantam

Blythewood, South Carolina Cat4 Crit.
Shortened to 30min due to rain and temps in the low 40s.
Some attacks, but nothing would stick. 13th/30 or so.

roy5000x2

First race ever...even though it was a training race. Got to start somewhere.

My buddy joined me to give me pointers and such throughout the race. We started by setting the goals as "stay in top 15 throughout race" and "finish with pack". I was able to manage pretty well for myself. I for sure wasn't a squirrely nut all over the place. That award goes to the guy racing with the camel pack. Halfway through the race, my priorities changed to simply finish with the pack. With four and three laps left to go, the only way I was able to hang on was by growing a pair and taking a 100 degree turn like a man. That enabled me to slingshot back up to the group. My legs finally gave up with two laps left. I then watched from the side as the two teams that had been leading the entire race sprinted for the win.

No break aways. No crashes. Just a ton of speed and good fun. Props to the 12 and 14 year olds riding with us. How the 14 year old had Campy Record and Carbon Eastons was beyond me though.

Hopefully I'll be able to survive next week.

umd

14 year-olds have something called... parents.

Hocam

Is that the plainville series? I'll be there next weekend.

umd

I wrote it in my tour of murrieta thread also, but here is my report from today:

Well that was an annoying course... lots of crashes in the 4s and the 3s. Out of 90+ starters only 56 finished. Turn 2 was super-sketch with lots of dive-bombing and bumping and turn 3 somebody touched and grabbed their brakes and put me back too far. I shot up the inside into the final corner but was too far back and pretty much cruised to the line. Did I mentioned I hate crits. Tomorrow's circuit race has some rollers, I'll try to put the hurt on the field, but the final few corners look pretty sketch too and it may end up more like a crit in the end.

Second Mouse

There was a David Clinger lookalike at today's crits. Can't think it was the man hisself, as he wasn't even in the break.

Anyway, the Second Mouse Stupidity : Patience Quotient currently resides at around 8:1. 40-50 riders, Cat5 30 minute crit, 1 1/8 mile loop. Just under two laps to go, everyone slows down and I coast, literally, around everyone and take a lap at the front. About 2/3 of a lap to go, a dozen or so riders swarm past me. It was kind of cool, in a real "wtf?" kind of way, to hear all that equipment go buzzing by. Tried to hang on, limped in for about 10th.

So the question to the group: How long before you stopped doing stupid stuff like this? If I sit in today and save energy for the last half lap, I maybe get a top 5. But no, go to the front and haul everyone around for a lap, burn the matches. Savvy move, dumbass. Still new at this, but after 12 races you'd think I'd have a vague clue.

Oh well, no crashes, stayed with the group, helped out the smarter riders.

pinky

plainville doesn't have any 140 turns it's shaped a 'D' and it's rather dull bethel is much more entertaining

Hocam

Pinky I couldn't agree more, and I would love the hill near the finish but Bethel is also another hour drive away.

Four hours of driving for fifty minutes of racing doesn't really appeal to me as a 5. The non-technical D also seems a little better for a beginner as well. This would be my first race.

Are you with the cyclonaughts?

chimpo

Dropped in my first race of the season.

Partly my fault since I thought the first lap of the criterium would be neutralized from something I read somewhere on the web. Big mistake. Sat back when I should have jumped and spent most of the race trying to catch the pack. Lesson learned.

The good thing is that I did notice my leg strength is lacking. I have been mostly running off season as opposed to riding. Is it too late to build leg strength for the upcoming season? Both rhetorical question and my current training motivation.

pinky

god no. very much unattached and looking at teams but they are not on the list.

ps how far north in noho are you? I live right off 16 on 91 and can make bethel in a little less than an hour and a half then do 2 straight races for about 3-3.5 hours of racing. not bad.

ridethecliche

My race at suffolk today was cancelled, so I'm looking to mix up my schedule.

Racing in Augusta NJ on tuesday, and then heading back to school on saturday to race the 4's and possibly also 3/4's at Bethel. Should be interesting.

roy5000x2

No, it was Charge Pond in Plymouth MA

pinky

the back stretch repaved yet or is it still 'exciting'? I'll be racing on that side of the state next weekend me thinks.

bayareawheeler

if your going GO, you got to jump hard and get a gap - make them chase you. When caught - try to grab a wheel and set up for the last corner - or attack again -

Hocam

I'm actually pretty close to the Noho Rt. 5 exit right after the rt 9 exit. G-maps told me 2 hrs 6 minutes, and as a 5 there's only one race I can do.

I think I know how you feel about the team thing, NCC is iffy and I have my doubts about cyclonauts too.

Do you ever go to Peak Performance in Granby? The owner there Matt is awesome, easily the coolest bike shop owner I've ever met. I wish he had a team.

Second Mouse

Good point. I knew that if I went off the front solo and tried to open up a gap, though, I'd be hanging out there in the breeze, would get caught pretty quickly and it would be tough to hang onto anyone's wheel as they sailed past.

Live & learn.

bcordy

Second race of the season (and ever), Mason Lake RR. It's 3 laps around a 12 mile course. really fun, lots of rolling hills and one long flat with an upward direction and a lot of wind!

Two small packs broke from the main pack (6 in the first, myself and 4 others in the second) we dropped one guy, then I got dropped from the little pack, with 18+ miles to go. I got my game together focused and started riding hard. I passed the 1KM mark and still no pack in sight, I really started feeling it, and was getting tired... fast. I couldn't believe the pack still hadn't caught me. Passed the 200M mark and the FINISH is right there in front of me, I look back and there it is... the pack, circling and sprinting behind me like a shark... I don't know where it came from but I got a HUGE burst of energy and powered through. That put me in 10th of 38. I was pretty proud of myself, for a second race. We'll see how I do next week.

roy5000x2

You mean Charge Pond?
It's all fine now. You have to be not paying attention in order to screw up and go off.

arexjay

Day 1 of Madera Stage Race:

Crit:

Attacked from the whistle to get my legs warmed up (pretty cold outside, a little foggy). Got reeled in/sat up about 3/4 of the way through. Attacked again after the prime with 5 to go, held the field off solo for a lap, two guys bridged but nobody wanted to work at staying away (way to go, guys), so I stopped working and got swallowed up by the field. With three to go, I start to move up (about 20 back, was recovering from my attack), some guy decides to sprint out of the last turn and try to move up through the pack (still out of the saddle, mind you), and eats it right on front of me. I ran into and rolled over him, apparently ran over the guy's head. Flatted/blew a small hole in the sidewall of my P3R and messed up my rims (see new thread I'm about to start). The guy was pretty shaken up, a little bloody. I heard him ask "what happened, did I just get hit by a car?" At first I thought he was joking, but he didn't laugh and he asked again. Nobody knows how he's doing, but he didn't move from the time he ate it to the time he was picked up by the ambulance. Yikes. They decided to just give the four of us the same time as the "main pack" (turned out to be riders 33-last).

10 mile TT:

I started, there were three turns. There was a headwind during the last half. I caught the guy who started ahead of me. I almost fell over crossing the line. That's about all I remember. Had a delicious enchilada with mole sauce after stopping at the bike shop.

Road race is tomorrow, my neck is pretty sore from the crash. Paid 20 bucks to get a massage from the guy at the crit, he did good work.

zzzwillzzz

^^^ what category?

arexjay

CAT 5. Turns out I got 26:38 on the TT. The headwinds were harsh, I know I can do 10 miles much faster than that.