Originally Posted by
deltat
... a few I learned by watching other rides (the ones in full kits w/ Cervelo's generally know what they are doing) so I was able to find out where to pin the number
I um...fell off my chair laughing at this one.
Originally Posted by
deltat
and use one water bottle instead of two which made sense since you really don't need to drink much on a 16 mile ride no matter how hot it was.
Ask some of us about the Ontario Crit 2-3 weeks back.
Originally Posted by
deltat
So a few questions:
1) How do you improve your sprint? My sprint at the end was a pitiful 29 miles. The winners were probably doing around 33+.
Sprinting is turning a big gear, fast. So make sure you can get your cadence up to 140rpm or higher! Then, make sure you have the strength to do this with a 53x13 or bigger gear. Simple.
(Ride with faster riders, lift weights-build muscle in legs, do sprinting intervals, sprint on hills, EPO...it's all good.)
Originally Posted by
deltat
2) Are you supposed to sit in the pack the entire time to conserve? How do you know when to attack and when to hold off?
Depends on your strategy. If you're going for the win, yeah, sit in. If you have another objective (training, working for a teammate), then attack. Tactic/strategy will dictate when and where. Of course, in a cat 5 race, there usually is no strategy--teammates even chase each other down! Heck, even 4's don't have much. 3's start to use it, and 1's-2's use it best. Yeah, in a 5's race: sit in and save energy until last 2-3 laps. There might be one race all season where somebody gets away and stays away, but I doubt it. And, if he can stay away, he'd probably kick butt in the sprint anyway.
Originally Posted by
deltat
...3) You don't need a $5000 Cervelo to race. I probably had one of the "****tier" bikes (Giant OCR2 w/ Tiagra and bits of 105) and I did just fine.
+1
Originally Posted by
deltat
Sorry for the long post, but I'm excited!
Addicting, ain't it?