Race Date: April 17, 2012
Packed my race bag the night before. Checked over the bike and wiped it down and threw the front wheel in the trunk of the car. Racked the bike on top of the car before work and felt great all day. Light lunch. Good afternoon snack.
The weather was looking favorable all day long for the first race of the season. Light breeze and the sun was peaking out after a couple rainy days over the weekend, a weekend filled with tearing up the yard and preparing to relandscape everything.
As the end of the work day approached I double-checked the weather and everything was "go" for race time.
Shutdown the computer and head out to the parking lot and it's absolutely gorgeous. Call home and see what's going on with the kiddos. Wife suggests that I maybe spend the night getting the yard closer to finished instead of racing.
All of those hours on the trainer this winter. Sweating on the rollers out in the garage as my breath froze. The upgrades to the bike over the winter. All of this wasn't done to prepare me to pull up lawn edging!?
I sit in the driver's seat in the parking lot and stew over the suggestion of getting work done on the house instead of paying $15 to add my first race of the year nerves to the Cat 4 peloton in Minnetonka.
Continuing to pull up overgrown layers, (yes, multiple) of landscape fabric or bumping elbows in the bottleneck on the backside of the OPUS loop.
Raking up piles of pine needles from the tree that I fell a week ago in the front yard or fighting for the 3rd lap prime for 5 points.
Inspecting and watering my sproutlet grass seed in the bare spots of the lawn from two weeks ago or sucking wind after an uphill sprint.
I pull out of the parking lot and turn right to head home. I wasn't happy with my decision the whole way home, but knew my wife was right.
Tyler Durden couldn't have been more right when he said that what you own ends up owning you. The house. The yard. The furniture. The toys in the basement. The baseball gloves and rollerblades in the garage.
Same with the bikes lined up on the hooks on the ceiling of my garage. And the one bolted into the trainer in the dank corner of the garage. And the one clamped to the roof of my wife's VW Beetle.
And the grill on my deck which made some delicious baked potatoes and grilled chicken when I got home. And the frying pan that spit out a pound of fried bacon which eventually made its way onto the loaded potatoes.
And my kids' smiling faces which didn't care that I bailed out on the race but instead wouldn't stop eating the bacon as it cooled on the plate on the counter before I could crumble it up for the potatoes.
I ended up getting an hour so done out in the yard and added to the pile of yard crap that needs to find its way to the dump. I was originally thinking about making it to the first road race tomorrow as well out in Durand, Wisconsin, but I'm going to get in a training ride at dawn then get muddy in the yard the whole day instead.
Despite what some say, our racing calendar is pretty thorough around here so there's plenty of opportunities for me to chase that Cat 3 dream this season.
Maybe next Tuesday.
Footnote: Oh, and I plan on working on this blog a bit more this year. I keep telling myself I'll write more when I race more, but that attitude obviously isn't working. Also, my neighbor, Death Rider, keeps reminding me how boring my life can seem to those that I don't see on a regular basis so I need to write about something to show him that I do more than hang out in my house and watch movies. I mean, look, I get outside and work in my yard too!
Non-Statistically Significant Evidence to Support the Theory of Addiction to Exercise-Induced Endorphin Release
Showing posts with label LSC Crit Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LSC Crit Series. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Ken Woods Memorial Road Race 2009
Race Date: April 25, 2009
This would be my third Category 5 race, but my first long distance road race (as opposed to the previous criterium races).
I showed up plenty early for registration for the Wave 2 starters, about an hour and 15 minute prior to the planned starting time of about 1:30 for the Cat 5er's. Big line for registration, but it moved quickly enough to get back to the car and have plenty of time to get ready.
Something that I've noticed among us new riders is the complete inability to pin a race number/bib on our jerseys so they don't flap in the wind as you ride. In my first two races, I placed it lower on my jersey, right along the under arm seam, about halfway down the jersey. Each time, I still had flapping, and when actually sitting on the bike, it really restricted the stretch of the jersey and got all folded up and goofy by the end of the race.
This time, I placed it a little higher, basically on the lower part of my shoulder. I also used 7 or 8 safety pins placed both around the edge and a couple in the middle of the bib, and really got that thing pinned down. It actually worked much better this time, and will keep the placement up higher.
I was able to get ready to go pretty quickly and decided to take a small ride out to warm up. There was a pretty significant wind blowing from North to South, so it made for a direct crosswind when riding East-West. The sky was overcast, but it wasn't raining like the weather terrorists were saying all week, and it was around 45 to 50 deg F, so it was a really nice day to be out and riding, even with the wind.
Turns out, all the start times had been pushed back, so we didn't actually start the Cat 5 until after 2:00. There was a lot of sitting around, and we actually started about 100 yards from the actual starting line, coming right out of the church parking lot.
My goal for this race was to hang with the pack as long as I could, so I put myself right in the middle at the start. As we took off, we got up to the upper 20's mph pretty quickly, and before I knew it, I was at the very back of the pack, but comfortably hanging on, so I didn't panic. I tried to creep up a little in the middle before our first turn, but only made it 3 or 4 spots then just held.
Held until the corner anyway. At the turn, we turned right so the wind was at our backs. The leaders caught the wind before anyone, and kicked it down right away, causing us at the back to start the accordion right away to sprint to catch up, but we all made it. I put myself near the centerline of the road to try to push up the side, and made some progress back to the middle and held it for the whole stretch with the wind. There was a lot of braking actually as we went over the slow rolling molehills at about 32-34 mph, and there was a lot of moving around too.
Leading into the second turn, we all slowed quite a bit as it was at the bottom of another roller, and people seemed to be pretty white-knuckled heading into it. As soon as we hit the apex of the turn, everyone stood to sprint up the hill and there was an immediate stringing out and everyone was trying to catch up and reform.
We all reformed, but word came up that a guy went down coming out of the corner. Someone said his pedal broke and he went down, but I didn't see nor hear it. On the back side, the wind was coming from right to left, and I got trapped on the right side by accident. I tried to swerve into the pack to recover from the uphill sprint, but couldn't make my move, and found myself hanging on the back after about 2 miles. There seemed to be an attack at the front as it felt like we just kept gaining speed, and I lost it right away and couldn't hold the back.
Went solo with the pack just out of reach until the next turn - back into the wind - when I lost them as they slowly creeped away.
I wasn't the first to fall off the back and was soon reunited with a guy from the IC3 team. He said "Let's go catch 'em," and I gladly took his invite to take turns pulling. The two of us soon caught another straggler in a Rock Racing replica jersey and invited him to join. After a couple rotations in the pace line, and teaching the third guy not to sprint when it's his turn to pull, we formed a nice group and held a very nice pace through the rest of the first lap. When we hit the big 1-mile climb before the finish line, it was kind of every-man-for-himself, but we regrouped pretty quickly at the top and kept working it around the first turn.
We were passed by 2 of the leaders of the Women's 1/2/3 group and their support car right at the turn, and they cruised well ahead of us in no time.
We held the group together through the third turn up into the wind and twisted and turned through the way back, battling the cross and head winds the entire way. Our third Rock guy fell off for a while, but rejoined us after about a mile. We were soon passed by two more women, but then started to encounter a couple Cat 5 men stragglers again. The first was a Tonka Cycle guy. He was sitting up, just spinning slowly, and showed no interest in joining up. The second was another IC3 guy, and he gladly joined saying that the guy he was previously working with (the Tonka guy) gave up. Turns out he was a junior and wanted to try the Cat 5's today for a challenge. As he gave up, I guess he told the IC3 guy he wished he had stuck with the juniors, as they were only doing one 21-mile lap.
At one point on the back stretch, there was a curve in the road that turned us heading east for a mile or two, making for another cross wind from the left. After taking my pull, I dropped back on the right side, out of the wind, then grabbed onto the back. Because of the wind direction, we really had to overlap wheels quite a bit to make the draft worth it. We were pretty much riding 3-abreast, with each others' handlebars right behind each others' hips. As I was grabbing onto the back, I had to spin a little faster to get into the draft. I'm not really sure what happened, but I think the crosswind grabbed my front wheel and pushed my body off-balance to the point where I felt the need to turn left to catch it. Well, I couldn't turn left due to the wheel-crossing, so I had to pull up and actually brake. As soon as I cleared his wheel, I was able to swerve and catch my balance, but felt like I was almost going down. My wheels actually skipped a little as I swerved. Yep, I was almost that guy that took out the back of a three-man paceline. But I didn't, and I caught back up without any harm done, aside from my bruised ego.
The four of us worked pretty well up the back stretch until we hit the last couple miles. At that point, we started to approach the last big climb, and the fourth guy decided to drop us, and did so quite quickly. At that point, we all went for ourselves again up the hill, and at the top, it was just me and Rock together. He latched on behind me for a bit, and I then dropped back to make him take a turn. As soon as we crested the last little false flat, the finish line came into sight. Rock dropped back to pull a draft off of me, so I hit it a little harder as I didn't want to pull him all the way in.
He did as I thought, and jumped with about 100 yards to go, but I held and stole 41st place from him. There was no standing sprint or arms in the air, but it did feel good to have that little competition at the end. We both sat up as we crossed and pounded fists. Pretty sure we both felt the same way: it's time to train harder.
So, 41st out of 50 starters. 42 miles in 2 hours, 4 minutes. About 21 mph average.
I completed my goal of finishing, but really wish I could have held onto the pack longer. I'm learning more and more the importance of being up front. Had I been closer to the front, I would have avoided a lot of the braking-and-sprinting accordion effect at the back, and been able to ride steadier and save a lot more for later. I didn't need to sprint as hard as I did up the hill out of the second turn either. I would have been better off saving a little more and hammering down after the top of the hill to catch up.
I learned a lot by being in an actual race paceline, as small as it was anyway. All three/four of us learned how to communicate to each other, and had a great chemistry going for the majority of the race.
I think the game breaker was the fact that I rode with my saddle bag the entire race (sarcasm/vanity alert). As we lined up at the start, I noticed that I completely forgot about my bag under my saddle. I then looked around to see if, by chance, anyone else felt the need to keep theirs on. I did see one other, and it was actually bigger than the one I had on, but it was just the two of us. In hindsight, I had plenty of time to ride back to the car to drop it off, but I wasn't sure how long we actually had, and I didn't feel like it anyway. Probably didn't make much of a difference, aside from making my experience level that much more obvious as I got spit out of the back, but there really wasn't a need for it in this race.
It was a successful race for me overall, but I'm really getting a gauge of my cycling fitness ability relative to other local racers. I have a lot of work to do to get competitive, but I'm definitely not getting discouraged. With a little more fitness, and a lot more knowledge on when and where to use it, I think I'll be able to hang a lot more.
I missed the LSC Crit series this week (didn't think that the pregnant wife would appreciate watching a bike race on our second wedding anniversary), and probably won't make it to the Marty Road Race or the LaCrosse Criterium this weekend due to my wife's work schedule and kid duty.
I might head up to SJU to watch the UMLL playoffs on Saturday, but that will be a spur of the moment decision. It sounds like the LSC Crits are getting pretty rough already, so I'm not sure if I'm going to risk it again, but as of right now, my next race would be next Tuesday at OPUS. I'm thinking I'll just show up at the starting line and hang at the back to get my 4th start on the books, then just get a good few laps at the back to avoid the wrecks.
The wife and I are expecting baby boy #2 any day now, so that will also play a factor in which races I sign up for.
This would be my third Category 5 race, but my first long distance road race (as opposed to the previous criterium races).
I showed up plenty early for registration for the Wave 2 starters, about an hour and 15 minute prior to the planned starting time of about 1:30 for the Cat 5er's. Big line for registration, but it moved quickly enough to get back to the car and have plenty of time to get ready.
Something that I've noticed among us new riders is the complete inability to pin a race number/bib on our jerseys so they don't flap in the wind as you ride. In my first two races, I placed it lower on my jersey, right along the under arm seam, about halfway down the jersey. Each time, I still had flapping, and when actually sitting on the bike, it really restricted the stretch of the jersey and got all folded up and goofy by the end of the race.
This time, I placed it a little higher, basically on the lower part of my shoulder. I also used 7 or 8 safety pins placed both around the edge and a couple in the middle of the bib, and really got that thing pinned down. It actually worked much better this time, and will keep the placement up higher.
I was able to get ready to go pretty quickly and decided to take a small ride out to warm up. There was a pretty significant wind blowing from North to South, so it made for a direct crosswind when riding East-West. The sky was overcast, but it wasn't raining like the weather terrorists were saying all week, and it was around 45 to 50 deg F, so it was a really nice day to be out and riding, even with the wind.
Turns out, all the start times had been pushed back, so we didn't actually start the Cat 5 until after 2:00. There was a lot of sitting around, and we actually started about 100 yards from the actual starting line, coming right out of the church parking lot.
My goal for this race was to hang with the pack as long as I could, so I put myself right in the middle at the start. As we took off, we got up to the upper 20's mph pretty quickly, and before I knew it, I was at the very back of the pack, but comfortably hanging on, so I didn't panic. I tried to creep up a little in the middle before our first turn, but only made it 3 or 4 spots then just held.
Held until the corner anyway. At the turn, we turned right so the wind was at our backs. The leaders caught the wind before anyone, and kicked it down right away, causing us at the back to start the accordion right away to sprint to catch up, but we all made it. I put myself near the centerline of the road to try to push up the side, and made some progress back to the middle and held it for the whole stretch with the wind. There was a lot of braking actually as we went over the slow rolling molehills at about 32-34 mph, and there was a lot of moving around too.
Leading into the second turn, we all slowed quite a bit as it was at the bottom of another roller, and people seemed to be pretty white-knuckled heading into it. As soon as we hit the apex of the turn, everyone stood to sprint up the hill and there was an immediate stringing out and everyone was trying to catch up and reform.
We all reformed, but word came up that a guy went down coming out of the corner. Someone said his pedal broke and he went down, but I didn't see nor hear it. On the back side, the wind was coming from right to left, and I got trapped on the right side by accident. I tried to swerve into the pack to recover from the uphill sprint, but couldn't make my move, and found myself hanging on the back after about 2 miles. There seemed to be an attack at the front as it felt like we just kept gaining speed, and I lost it right away and couldn't hold the back.
Went solo with the pack just out of reach until the next turn - back into the wind - when I lost them as they slowly creeped away.
I wasn't the first to fall off the back and was soon reunited with a guy from the IC3 team. He said "Let's go catch 'em," and I gladly took his invite to take turns pulling. The two of us soon caught another straggler in a Rock Racing replica jersey and invited him to join. After a couple rotations in the pace line, and teaching the third guy not to sprint when it's his turn to pull, we formed a nice group and held a very nice pace through the rest of the first lap. When we hit the big 1-mile climb before the finish line, it was kind of every-man-for-himself, but we regrouped pretty quickly at the top and kept working it around the first turn.
We were passed by 2 of the leaders of the Women's 1/2/3 group and their support car right at the turn, and they cruised well ahead of us in no time.
We held the group together through the third turn up into the wind and twisted and turned through the way back, battling the cross and head winds the entire way. Our third Rock guy fell off for a while, but rejoined us after about a mile. We were soon passed by two more women, but then started to encounter a couple Cat 5 men stragglers again. The first was a Tonka Cycle guy. He was sitting up, just spinning slowly, and showed no interest in joining up. The second was another IC3 guy, and he gladly joined saying that the guy he was previously working with (the Tonka guy) gave up. Turns out he was a junior and wanted to try the Cat 5's today for a challenge. As he gave up, I guess he told the IC3 guy he wished he had stuck with the juniors, as they were only doing one 21-mile lap.
At one point on the back stretch, there was a curve in the road that turned us heading east for a mile or two, making for another cross wind from the left. After taking my pull, I dropped back on the right side, out of the wind, then grabbed onto the back. Because of the wind direction, we really had to overlap wheels quite a bit to make the draft worth it. We were pretty much riding 3-abreast, with each others' handlebars right behind each others' hips. As I was grabbing onto the back, I had to spin a little faster to get into the draft. I'm not really sure what happened, but I think the crosswind grabbed my front wheel and pushed my body off-balance to the point where I felt the need to turn left to catch it. Well, I couldn't turn left due to the wheel-crossing, so I had to pull up and actually brake. As soon as I cleared his wheel, I was able to swerve and catch my balance, but felt like I was almost going down. My wheels actually skipped a little as I swerved. Yep, I was almost that guy that took out the back of a three-man paceline. But I didn't, and I caught back up without any harm done, aside from my bruised ego.
The four of us worked pretty well up the back stretch until we hit the last couple miles. At that point, we started to approach the last big climb, and the fourth guy decided to drop us, and did so quite quickly. At that point, we all went for ourselves again up the hill, and at the top, it was just me and Rock together. He latched on behind me for a bit, and I then dropped back to make him take a turn. As soon as we crested the last little false flat, the finish line came into sight. Rock dropped back to pull a draft off of me, so I hit it a little harder as I didn't want to pull him all the way in.
He did as I thought, and jumped with about 100 yards to go, but I held and stole 41st place from him. There was no standing sprint or arms in the air, but it did feel good to have that little competition at the end. We both sat up as we crossed and pounded fists. Pretty sure we both felt the same way: it's time to train harder.
So, 41st out of 50 starters. 42 miles in 2 hours, 4 minutes. About 21 mph average.
I completed my goal of finishing, but really wish I could have held onto the pack longer. I'm learning more and more the importance of being up front. Had I been closer to the front, I would have avoided a lot of the braking-and-sprinting accordion effect at the back, and been able to ride steadier and save a lot more for later. I didn't need to sprint as hard as I did up the hill out of the second turn either. I would have been better off saving a little more and hammering down after the top of the hill to catch up.
I learned a lot by being in an actual race paceline, as small as it was anyway. All three/four of us learned how to communicate to each other, and had a great chemistry going for the majority of the race.
I think the game breaker was the fact that I rode with my saddle bag the entire race (sarcasm/vanity alert). As we lined up at the start, I noticed that I completely forgot about my bag under my saddle. I then looked around to see if, by chance, anyone else felt the need to keep theirs on. I did see one other, and it was actually bigger than the one I had on, but it was just the two of us. In hindsight, I had plenty of time to ride back to the car to drop it off, but I wasn't sure how long we actually had, and I didn't feel like it anyway. Probably didn't make much of a difference, aside from making my experience level that much more obvious as I got spit out of the back, but there really wasn't a need for it in this race.
It was a successful race for me overall, but I'm really getting a gauge of my cycling fitness ability relative to other local racers. I have a lot of work to do to get competitive, but I'm definitely not getting discouraged. With a little more fitness, and a lot more knowledge on when and where to use it, I think I'll be able to hang a lot more.
I missed the LSC Crit series this week (didn't think that the pregnant wife would appreciate watching a bike race on our second wedding anniversary), and probably won't make it to the Marty Road Race or the LaCrosse Criterium this weekend due to my wife's work schedule and kid duty.
I might head up to SJU to watch the UMLL playoffs on Saturday, but that will be a spur of the moment decision. It sounds like the LSC Crits are getting pretty rough already, so I'm not sure if I'm going to risk it again, but as of right now, my next race would be next Tuesday at OPUS. I'm thinking I'll just show up at the starting line and hang at the back to get my 4th start on the books, then just get a good few laps at the back to avoid the wrecks.
The wife and I are expecting baby boy #2 any day now, so that will also play a factor in which races I sign up for.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
LSC Criterium Series at OPUS #2
Race Date - April 21, 2009
My second race ever.
I showed up for registration at about the same time, but found an even longer line. LSC seemed a little more organized this week, and their computer was working for registration, so the line was moving a little faster than last week. New numbers handed out, and chips for chip timing.
I was back at the car by a little after 5:00 and was able to get my bike assembled and ready to go by a quarter after.
I really wanted to get a longer warm-up in this week, as I definitely wasn't warm last week at the start. I was able to get 3 laps done on the course before lining up. Found out that the course is 0.89 miles, and that there was a pretty strong head wind on the back downhill section.
Everyone was lined up and ready to go at 5:45 sharp, but the officials had to wait for a printed line-up of the field. This actually took until 6:00, so we all stood there at the start for 15 minutes, one foot clipped in, the other cramping up. The officials went through the pre-race instructions much clearer than last week. He also stated that we had too many people in our category this week, and that next week they'd only accept 50 registrants. I'm not sure how many people lined up, but we had to have been close to 50, if not a few more. Make sure to get there early next week.
The official also noted that we'd be racing 9 laps this week, rather than 6 like last week. I was actually excited about this, as I didn't think it would be such a fast pace as the first night.
We waited for a bus to clear the hill at the start, then the whistle and clicks and we're off.
I lined up a little closer to the front this week, and was glad I did. The start wasn't nearly as fast as last week, and I actually found myself and others coasting quite a bit in the middle of the pack all the way around.
I only took one or two peeks over my shoulder as I moved around a little in the pack, and noticed that we held pretty much everyone in the pack through the first lap.
The second downhill sped up a little, and I caught a nice draft, staying tucked right in the middle of the lane, about 10-15 back. There was a lot of shuffling going on, and a few gunners up the side.
As we approached the bottom of the hill on the back, and went into the slight right turn going back up, there was a lot of crunching on the right side, and quite a bit of accordion-effect from the reaction. I was actually proud of myself for noting this coming through the next lap.
3rd lap was a bell lap for points, so there was even more shuffling going through the back after we crested the hill. A few shakers going through each turn, and a lot of braking going down hill made for a slower decent for my position actually, but everyone came out hard at the bottom of the hill going into the right turn again.
I positioned myself towards the left of the field to avoid the right side crunch, and was still in the top 25 or so, when I witness my first crash on the right side. Later accounts told me that the right side crunch drove a guy pedaling into the curb of the median on the right side. All I could see through the pack was a blur of blue going superman over the median, and the terrible sound of his bike tumbling behind him. This caused a major pile-up on the right side, and a huge accordion effect swaying left.
The guy directly ahead of me locked up his rear wheel which skidded sideways out to the right, causing me to do the same out of instinct. I'm not totally sure what exactly happened, as it happened so fast and I had tunnel vision, but for some reason, my left side was totally clear and my wheels grabbed concrete again and I shot out onto the grass. If there was a curb on my side, I would have been down, but luckily there wasn't and I was able to ride through it. I actually unclipped my left foot as I skidded, which surprised me. I'm not sure if I did it intentionally or if I just torqued it enough as I twisted through, but either way it kind of shocked me when I realized I hadn't gone down and was able to pedal back into line.
As people funneled through the pile-up in a couple single-file lines, several guys were hooting "Go, go go!" and led the charge up the hill. As I filed back into line, the entire pack was strung out going all the way up the hill, with the very front sprinting for the line for points. I latched onto a wheel and stayed in line as the string was really pumping to stay caught up to the pack. The guy I was following actually sat up and slowed halfway up the hill as we were passed by several others, so I jumped off him and went on my own. I had to stand to sprint up the hill to catch some the riders ahead of me, but eventually joined up with a small string.
A couple of us formed a smaller pack that was trying to catch up, but nobody really held together going around.
I came across the line solo on lap 4, with the rear end of the lead-out string in sight, but just as I crossed the line, wreck number 2 unfolded right ahead of me. I didn't see the cause of the wreck, but one of the juniors was face down at the top of the hill, and his bike took out a couple others around him from the pack. It seemed like a really weird spot for a wreck, as it was at the top of the hill. My guess is that some handlebars hooked or something and they just got pulled over.
Either way, this strung out the string of chasers even more, and many guys just sat up and pedaled slow through it.
I could no longer see the lead pack, so I just went solo for almost a whole lap, trying to find someone to latch onto/work with, but all that I could find was a couple of stragglers that were being spit out the back of the pack and were now sitting up on the hoods and going solo.
Three riders from the second crash steamed by me in a nice pace line with about two-and-a-half to go on the back side, and I tried to catch the back of them but couldn't accelerate when I needed to and I lost the draft.
My legs were really on fire, and I was really trying to catch up around the back turns and the main front stretch up hill, but I never caught anything. I stood to sprint up the hill for a couple laps towards the end, but just sat and spun for the last two laps.
The rest of the race was a time trial solo effort for me, but again, I didn't get lapped, and finished the race without actually going down.
Final race stats:
Distance: 8.01 miles
Race time: 22 minutes
Average speed: 21.8 mph
Placing: ?, but finished
I think that had the initial crash not happened and thrown me off the course, I probably could have held with the front pack longer, but my sprint to get back into line after coming to a near stop going up hill really burned a lot of matches, and I never really recovered enough to accelerate when needed.
I really liked the longer distance though, as the speed was a lot more manageable, and the field didn't spread out as fast. It seemed that the field was blown apart by the end of the first lap last week, and it never slowed once.
I also learned a lot more this week by sticking with the pack longer. The zone that you have to get in, being aware of the wheel that is just inches away from yours, and bumping elbows through turns was quite a rush. The whistling and humming of everyone wheels while you're tucked away out of the wind is really a cool sound. It was really weird to see the delay in the pack when approaching turns as well, everyone waiting for the guy ahead of them to turn, then turning to fast, over-correcting, bumping a little, braking, then getting back into line. By lap 3, I think everyone in the pack really learned how to hold a much straighter line going all the way through the turn though; at least until the wreck, but I blame that on higher speed coming through the left hand turn leading into the right turn, and people gunning for the front to set-up for the points sprint up the hill.
I think my longer warm-up really helped me this week, and hope to get there even earlier next time to make sure I get into the race, and to get an even longer warm-up.
My one complaint, though, is the whole chip timing thing. Everyone was required to pay for the chips ($2 extra) to race, unless you have a rented chip, which still boggles my mind as to how you go about renting one (and no, I haven't really looked into it yet, but haven't seen it advertised anywhere). Anyway, coming from a running background, in my mind having a chip means that your times and splits are recorded for the entire race. I was actually a little excited to see where I stack up in the field, despite the whole racing mantra of "if you're not first, you're last." I do realize I wasn't in any position to score points, and this series is won/lost by points, but what was the point of the chips if they are just going to post only the point-scoring racers? I saw no difference in the way the results were posted, and I paid two bucks to reiterate the fact that I didn't score any points. It was a little frustrating, but as a newbie, I'm sure I'm just over-reacting.
My wedding anniversary is next Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure that going to a bike race isn't the ideal date night for most couples, so I don't think I'm going to make it to the LSC Crit next week, but plan to make it there again the following week, and hopefully make the rest of the series.
I am planning on racing the Ken Woods Memorial Road Race on Saturday though. It's about a 21 mile course, and the Cat 5's do two laps. Sounds like they usually have pretty bad luck with weather, and the forecast looks a little shaky right now; predicting showers. Our race starts at about 1:45 or 2:00 in the afternoon, so the temperature shouldn't be as cold as the recent morning temps, but I'm planning on going either way, so it may be a very wet race report next week.
Overall goals for this race is to just hang on and finish. It'd be nice to hold with the pack for the whole race as well, but we'll see.
I realize that my posts are lacking in the visual aid department. I actually brought my camera last night, but didn't take it out of the car as I thought it'd look kind of funny having a camera in my jersey pocket on the course. I have been hunting for pictures on other blogs and club websites though. I actually noticed quite a few photographers around the course last night, and I know that I was in a bunch of shots early on, so hopefully I can hunt some of them down and get ahold of a couple. If any of my [few] readers out there know of any leads, it'd be cool to see them.
Update on April 24, 2009: LSC has made the chip results available for download. Guess I'm just a little impatient...
Results here on Bikethrow.com.
They're a little tough to read after the first wreck in lap three, as a few guys took their free lap and rejoined the lead pack, therefore the chips state them as being a lap behind the lead group, when in fact the rules allow you to take a free lap in the case of accidents or mechanical failures.
Turns out I started 21st in a field of 50 exactly (they did cut off registration at 50). I stayed in the 30's up to the wreck, then I dropped to 41st as I crossed the line after the crash in lap 3. I was stuck there for 2 laps, then pulled up to 35th in lap 5, and held that spot until the last lap. Finished 36th overall. I was 15 seconds from being lapped by the race winner on my final lap.
I know there has been a lot of discussion since the race about the need (or lack thereof) for chip timing, but I will put myself in favor of it. Purists see it as a waste of time, taking away from the true meaning of bicycle racing where there is only one winner. As a beginner, and not really having any idea what kind of shape I'm in (aside from a few group rides), as mundane as these details of the race are, it really does help me know what I need to do to get with it and learn what I need to do to make myself competitive.
As you can see, I've got a ways to go.
My second race ever.
I showed up for registration at about the same time, but found an even longer line. LSC seemed a little more organized this week, and their computer was working for registration, so the line was moving a little faster than last week. New numbers handed out, and chips for chip timing.
I was back at the car by a little after 5:00 and was able to get my bike assembled and ready to go by a quarter after.
I really wanted to get a longer warm-up in this week, as I definitely wasn't warm last week at the start. I was able to get 3 laps done on the course before lining up. Found out that the course is 0.89 miles, and that there was a pretty strong head wind on the back downhill section.
Everyone was lined up and ready to go at 5:45 sharp, but the officials had to wait for a printed line-up of the field. This actually took until 6:00, so we all stood there at the start for 15 minutes, one foot clipped in, the other cramping up. The officials went through the pre-race instructions much clearer than last week. He also stated that we had too many people in our category this week, and that next week they'd only accept 50 registrants. I'm not sure how many people lined up, but we had to have been close to 50, if not a few more. Make sure to get there early next week.
The official also noted that we'd be racing 9 laps this week, rather than 6 like last week. I was actually excited about this, as I didn't think it would be such a fast pace as the first night.
We waited for a bus to clear the hill at the start, then the whistle and clicks and we're off.
I lined up a little closer to the front this week, and was glad I did. The start wasn't nearly as fast as last week, and I actually found myself and others coasting quite a bit in the middle of the pack all the way around.
I only took one or two peeks over my shoulder as I moved around a little in the pack, and noticed that we held pretty much everyone in the pack through the first lap.
The second downhill sped up a little, and I caught a nice draft, staying tucked right in the middle of the lane, about 10-15 back. There was a lot of shuffling going on, and a few gunners up the side.
As we approached the bottom of the hill on the back, and went into the slight right turn going back up, there was a lot of crunching on the right side, and quite a bit of accordion-effect from the reaction. I was actually proud of myself for noting this coming through the next lap.
3rd lap was a bell lap for points, so there was even more shuffling going through the back after we crested the hill. A few shakers going through each turn, and a lot of braking going down hill made for a slower decent for my position actually, but everyone came out hard at the bottom of the hill going into the right turn again.
I positioned myself towards the left of the field to avoid the right side crunch, and was still in the top 25 or so, when I witness my first crash on the right side. Later accounts told me that the right side crunch drove a guy pedaling into the curb of the median on the right side. All I could see through the pack was a blur of blue going superman over the median, and the terrible sound of his bike tumbling behind him. This caused a major pile-up on the right side, and a huge accordion effect swaying left.
The guy directly ahead of me locked up his rear wheel which skidded sideways out to the right, causing me to do the same out of instinct. I'm not totally sure what exactly happened, as it happened so fast and I had tunnel vision, but for some reason, my left side was totally clear and my wheels grabbed concrete again and I shot out onto the grass. If there was a curb on my side, I would have been down, but luckily there wasn't and I was able to ride through it. I actually unclipped my left foot as I skidded, which surprised me. I'm not sure if I did it intentionally or if I just torqued it enough as I twisted through, but either way it kind of shocked me when I realized I hadn't gone down and was able to pedal back into line.
As people funneled through the pile-up in a couple single-file lines, several guys were hooting "Go, go go!" and led the charge up the hill. As I filed back into line, the entire pack was strung out going all the way up the hill, with the very front sprinting for the line for points. I latched onto a wheel and stayed in line as the string was really pumping to stay caught up to the pack. The guy I was following actually sat up and slowed halfway up the hill as we were passed by several others, so I jumped off him and went on my own. I had to stand to sprint up the hill to catch some the riders ahead of me, but eventually joined up with a small string.
A couple of us formed a smaller pack that was trying to catch up, but nobody really held together going around.
I came across the line solo on lap 4, with the rear end of the lead-out string in sight, but just as I crossed the line, wreck number 2 unfolded right ahead of me. I didn't see the cause of the wreck, but one of the juniors was face down at the top of the hill, and his bike took out a couple others around him from the pack. It seemed like a really weird spot for a wreck, as it was at the top of the hill. My guess is that some handlebars hooked or something and they just got pulled over.
Either way, this strung out the string of chasers even more, and many guys just sat up and pedaled slow through it.
I could no longer see the lead pack, so I just went solo for almost a whole lap, trying to find someone to latch onto/work with, but all that I could find was a couple of stragglers that were being spit out the back of the pack and were now sitting up on the hoods and going solo.
Three riders from the second crash steamed by me in a nice pace line with about two-and-a-half to go on the back side, and I tried to catch the back of them but couldn't accelerate when I needed to and I lost the draft.
My legs were really on fire, and I was really trying to catch up around the back turns and the main front stretch up hill, but I never caught anything. I stood to sprint up the hill for a couple laps towards the end, but just sat and spun for the last two laps.
The rest of the race was a time trial solo effort for me, but again, I didn't get lapped, and finished the race without actually going down.
Final race stats:
Distance: 8.01 miles
Race time: 22 minutes
Average speed: 21.8 mph
Placing: ?, but finished
I think that had the initial crash not happened and thrown me off the course, I probably could have held with the front pack longer, but my sprint to get back into line after coming to a near stop going up hill really burned a lot of matches, and I never really recovered enough to accelerate when needed.
I really liked the longer distance though, as the speed was a lot more manageable, and the field didn't spread out as fast. It seemed that the field was blown apart by the end of the first lap last week, and it never slowed once.
I also learned a lot more this week by sticking with the pack longer. The zone that you have to get in, being aware of the wheel that is just inches away from yours, and bumping elbows through turns was quite a rush. The whistling and humming of everyone wheels while you're tucked away out of the wind is really a cool sound. It was really weird to see the delay in the pack when approaching turns as well, everyone waiting for the guy ahead of them to turn, then turning to fast, over-correcting, bumping a little, braking, then getting back into line. By lap 3, I think everyone in the pack really learned how to hold a much straighter line going all the way through the turn though; at least until the wreck, but I blame that on higher speed coming through the left hand turn leading into the right turn, and people gunning for the front to set-up for the points sprint up the hill.
I think my longer warm-up really helped me this week, and hope to get there even earlier next time to make sure I get into the race, and to get an even longer warm-up.
My one complaint, though, is the whole chip timing thing. Everyone was required to pay for the chips ($2 extra) to race, unless you have a rented chip, which still boggles my mind as to how you go about renting one (and no, I haven't really looked into it yet, but haven't seen it advertised anywhere). Anyway, coming from a running background, in my mind having a chip means that your times and splits are recorded for the entire race. I was actually a little excited to see where I stack up in the field, despite the whole racing mantra of "if you're not first, you're last." I do realize I wasn't in any position to score points, and this series is won/lost by points, but what was the point of the chips if they are just going to post only the point-scoring racers? I saw no difference in the way the results were posted, and I paid two bucks to reiterate the fact that I didn't score any points. It was a little frustrating, but as a newbie, I'm sure I'm just over-reacting.
My wedding anniversary is next Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure that going to a bike race isn't the ideal date night for most couples, so I don't think I'm going to make it to the LSC Crit next week, but plan to make it there again the following week, and hopefully make the rest of the series.
I am planning on racing the Ken Woods Memorial Road Race on Saturday though. It's about a 21 mile course, and the Cat 5's do two laps. Sounds like they usually have pretty bad luck with weather, and the forecast looks a little shaky right now; predicting showers. Our race starts at about 1:45 or 2:00 in the afternoon, so the temperature shouldn't be as cold as the recent morning temps, but I'm planning on going either way, so it may be a very wet race report next week.
Overall goals for this race is to just hang on and finish. It'd be nice to hold with the pack for the whole race as well, but we'll see.
I realize that my posts are lacking in the visual aid department. I actually brought my camera last night, but didn't take it out of the car as I thought it'd look kind of funny having a camera in my jersey pocket on the course. I have been hunting for pictures on other blogs and club websites though. I actually noticed quite a few photographers around the course last night, and I know that I was in a bunch of shots early on, so hopefully I can hunt some of them down and get ahold of a couple. If any of my [few] readers out there know of any leads, it'd be cool to see them.
Update on April 24, 2009: LSC has made the chip results available for download. Guess I'm just a little impatient...
Results here on Bikethrow.com.
They're a little tough to read after the first wreck in lap three, as a few guys took their free lap and rejoined the lead pack, therefore the chips state them as being a lap behind the lead group, when in fact the rules allow you to take a free lap in the case of accidents or mechanical failures.
Turns out I started 21st in a field of 50 exactly (they did cut off registration at 50). I stayed in the 30's up to the wreck, then I dropped to 41st as I crossed the line after the crash in lap 3. I was stuck there for 2 laps, then pulled up to 35th in lap 5, and held that spot until the last lap. Finished 36th overall. I was 15 seconds from being lapped by the race winner on my final lap.
I know there has been a lot of discussion since the race about the need (or lack thereof) for chip timing, but I will put myself in favor of it. Purists see it as a waste of time, taking away from the true meaning of bicycle racing where there is only one winner. As a beginner, and not really having any idea what kind of shape I'm in (aside from a few group rides), as mundane as these details of the race are, it really does help me know what I need to do to get with it and learn what I need to do to make myself competitive.
As you can see, I've got a ways to go.
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