Inertianinja

Not posting in the Race forum, you'll see why.

I went to race in the Tuesday Night Series at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY. It's an abandoned airfield that is not maintained, so the course is pretty bad. It's a flat 3.2-mile loop.

Things started off badly. I rode to the race from the upper east side of NYC to Brooklyn via Flatbush Ave at rush hour. If you live in the area, you know how horrible that is. To that, add 90+ degree heat. Truly awful 17 mile ride, just to get to the race.

When i got there, since i hadn't done the course before, I went to take a quick lap to just familiarize myself with the course. I had some time to spare.

Halfway through, i spot a bathroom. I had consumed about 60oz. of water over the past 90 minutes due to the heat, so i had to stop. i take a quick pee, and head over to the stop line.

at the start line, i look down the road and see tiny moving lines in the distance. I ask the race official - "uh, are those the Cat 5s? did they start?" "yep" "Can i ...just go?" "yep." I missed the start because i was peeing and they started the race early.

I checked after the race - when i started, the field was already over a quarter-mile away. I caught some of them, but couldn't catch the front. I think if there were hills, i think i would have caught them.

So i figure, I'm going to at least get a workout out of this. I start chasing. I ended up doing essentially a time trial over the 12-mile race. I finished, with a 22.7mph average speed and 170bpm average heart rate. I don't know if that's a respectable run or not.

here's my data: https://connect.garmin.com/activity/98853341

pretty stupid, hardly a "race," but i got a hella good workout out of it.

So, how about this: ever have anything embarrassing like this happen to you, racing or not?

RacerOne

I wouldn't have been embarrassed, I'd have been pissed they started early. You should have asked for your free lap since it was their fault.

DC_United_Fan

This 100%

veloboy971

+2

Inertianinja

Eh, im Cat5. In the end, not worth getting upset about. I got a chance to put out a really hard effort and, paramount, got one race closer to Cat4 without crashing. Thanks be to god.

SBRDude

I would be super pissed that they started early. No excuse for that. Good job of making lemonade out of life's lemons.

Inertianinja

do you work for SBR in the city, by any chance?

SBRDude

Nope.

Inertianinja

right, sorry, i should have gotten that by your location. hooked on phonics worked for meeee

GirlAnachronism

Should have waited for the pack to come around and jumped in on the next lap.

Also, the course is 2.3 miles. Also, stop complaining about everything.

See ya out there

Gluteus

During first race, they gave us chips to attach to the fork with zip ties, to electronically record your time.

With only minutes to spare I placed mine, and try to pedal to the start line, but I couldn't move because I tied one of the spokes to the fork, trying to secure the chip. After cutting it, I barely made to the start line.

Inertianinja

who's complaining?

DC_United_Fan

Too funny. That sounds like something I would do!

carpediemracing 

It's all good.

Races aren't supposed to start early, but who knows what the official's watch says. I rolled up to a race start in PA, part of a 2 day race that I was serious enough that we spent 2 nights in the area. The times were officially "approximate" and I missed the start, even though I was there 5 or 10 minutes before the approximate time. They basically told me I had to chase if I wanted to go, and they were already out of sight on this crit course.

In general I try and get to races early.

Next week you can get there earlier. You'll be in the field and think, "wow, this is so much easier than last week."

Like I said, It's all good. It's part of what you're supposed to learn as a 5. There are rules and there are realities. Sometimes you may not agree with the reality, but it's a reality and so you can't do much about it. I'm still learning this even now.

Bioluminescence

Props to you for being a good sport though.