A reminder not to celebrate too soon!

cleeve hill reject

Have a look at this picture of my club mate taking a win at the Bath Crits 3/4 race on Wednesday - the bottom one says it all!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77932772@N ... hotostream

samg123

What was the race like? Looks like there are very few riders- is that a break?

GiantMike

I disagree. I think everybody should sit up.....

....I might get to win something then!!

jibberjim

It's a 3/4 crit, the appropriate finish is a nod to the line judge to make sure he's seen you and a thank you to the other officials. Arms aloft is for a national or world championship.

Zoomer37

Pross

This is a photo of some bloke watching

greeny12

Oh lordy that is shameful behaviour. Bloody funny though

Full marks to your mate for not giving up the chase, as well...

hammerite

3/4 race last week and the bunch sprint ended with a rider arms aloft celebrating 2nd. He won the bunch sprint, but a rider had finished about a minute in front - not sure if he was aware of this or not. Whereas the actual winner crossed the line looking like he wasn't sure that was the end of the race or not!

alwaysapleasure

There were 50 riders initially but it got strung out really quickly. I wrote a race report here;

http://www.hamiltonwheelers.cc/bath-cycle-races-round-1/

My mate watching told me this happened, timing chips show the Exeter guy won by 0.004 seconds, amazing!

Cleeve Hill Reject - do these pictures belong to you? Wouldn't mind adding them to the post if possible!

samg123

That looks really nice- I did my first ever race at Castle Combe last night and was really crying out for some incline to split the field up a bit...

ellerslierd

I did the Bath race on Wednesday with some guys from Bath Uni, and also the Castle Combe race. Two more different races you could not wish for. At Bath the 4th Cats in the race were decimated, only one or two left in the front bunch. No sitting on, unlike at Castle Combe where it was just a big group ride around. Nice that both races were generally well ridden by all

Johnpsanderson

Seen similar pics before - check out page 8 of the photos from the end of this race last year http://sheridan.zenfolio.com/maldon_rr_34_11

The chap who won blogs but I can't remember his blog address - apparently the rider who came second was busy zipping his jersey up etc despite having 200m left to ride...!

samg123

ellerslierd wrote:

I did the Bath race on Wednesday with some guys from Bath Uni, and also the Castle Combe race. Two more different races you could not wish for. At Bath the 4th Cats in the race were decimated, only one or two left in the front bunch. No sitting on, unlike at Castle Combe where it was just a big group ride around. Nice that both races were generally well ridden by all

Why did the group split up so much? The incline or just a generally higher pace?

enjoy_the_ride

samg123 wrote:

ellerslierd wrote:

I did the Bath race on Wednesday with some guys from Bath Uni, and also the Castle Combe race. Two more different races you could not wish for. At Bath the 4th Cats in the race were decimated, only one or two left in the front bunch. No sitting on, unlike at Castle Combe where it was just a big group ride around. Nice that both races were generally well ridden by all

Why did the group split up so much? The incline or just a generally higher pace?

Unlike Castle Combe, the circuit at Bath is much more of a Crit race, including a 180 degree turn out of which is a hard sprint to get back up to speed before hitting the 'climb'. Heart rate at the max for virtually all the race, and very little if any opportunity to sit in a bunch. The 3/4 race filled the max field of 50 riders, but within 1 or 2 laps was splintered into groups plus stragglers. The circuit had the same effect on all the other categories. Its balls out from start to finish, so defiantly one to warm up for.

ellerslierd

enjoy_the_ride wrote:

samg123 wrote:

ellerslierd wrote:

I did the Bath race on Wednesday with some guys from Bath Uni, and also the Castle Combe race. Two more different races you could not wish for. At Bath the 4th Cats in the race were decimated, only one or two left in the front bunch. No sitting on, unlike at Castle Combe where it was just a big group ride around. Nice that both races were generally well ridden by all

Why did the group split up so much? The incline or just a generally higher pace?

Unlike Castle Combe, the circuit at Bath is much more of a Crit race, including a 180 degree turn out of which is a hard sprint to get back up to speed before hitting the 'climb'. Heart rate at the max for virtually all the race, and very little if any opportunity to sit in a bunch. The 3/4 race filled the max field of 50 riders, but within 1 or 2 laps was splintered into groups plus stragglers. The circuit had the same effect on all the other categories. Its balls out from start to finish, so defiantly one to warm up for.

Yes, the 180 turn strings the bunch out on the descent, and its a sprint for those further back (i.e. me) just to catch the bunch on the uphill section. Lap by lap it gets harder and harder, until you just cant make contact. Even the "neutralised" lap involved quite a lot of sprinting back on

rocksteadyeddie

Johnpsanderson wrote:

Seen similar pics before - check out page 8 of the photos from the end of this race last year http://sheridan.zenfolio.com/maldon_rr_34_11

The chap who won blogs but I can't remember his blog address - apparently the rider who came second was busy zipping his jersey up etc despite having 200m left to ride...!

Hello! I wrote about it on my blog http://wannaberacingcyclist.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/first-across-line-maldon-district-road.html

And here is the profile shot from bang on the line.

Johnpsanderson

That's the one! The rider you beat is an ex-pro and a very good rider (he's in his late 50's - but riding at 2nd cat having made a recent comeback to racing) so he really should know better! Still, didn't Cav do this to Boonen once upon a time?! :-D

rocksteadyeddie

I didn't have a chance to talk to him after the finish as he wheeled around as he had a Eurostar to catch. His jersey did look very smart as he crossed the line second though!

Theomerchant

jibberjim wrote:

It's a 3/4 crit, the appropriate finish is a nod to the line judge to make sure he's seen you and a thank you to the other officials. Arms aloft is for a national or world championship.

I Hope this is a joke. I won my second ever race last month, I didn't know how far back the other riders were until I went over the line knowing I had won...once I had finished 1st my hands were up in the air and I had a massive smile on my face (even though I was maxed out on my HR). It doesn't matter whether its the world champs or a 4th Cat circuit race...winning is winning and if all the training I did throughout winter means I won, no one can tell me not to celebrate after all my hard work!

DavidJB

Theomerchant wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

It's a 3/4 crit, the appropriate finish is a nod to the line judge to make sure he's seen you and a thank you to the other officials. Arms aloft is for a national or world championship.

I Hope this is a joke. I won my second ever race last month, I didn't know how far back the other riders were until I went over the line knowing I had won...once I had finished 1st my hands were up in the air and I had a massive smile on my face (even though I was maxed out on my HR). It doesn't matter whether its the world champs or a 4th Cat circuit race...winning is winning and if all the training I did throughout winter means I won, no one can tell me not to celebrate after all my hard work!

+1 well said!

mclarent

Never give up. Inrng did a nice post on it last year.

Incidentally I was in the Maldon 3/4 last year, remember watching with that photo finish with mixed emotions - I was disappointed after finishing 11th (boxed in on the hill), but enjoyed the replay of the 1-2. Lucky they had the proper camera up! Patrick Schils is the chap finishing 2nd, and yes he went off to Belgium on the Eurostar straight after the race.

shockedsoshocked

hammerite wrote:

3/4 race last week and the bunch sprint ended with a rider arms aloft celebrating 2nd. He won the bunch sprint, but a rider had finished about a minute in front - not sure if he was aware of this or not. Whereas the actual winner crossed the line looking like he wasn't sure that was the end of the race or not!

That's nothing. A friend of mine rode the Tour of Flanders in the 70s (not the pro race, the one where people who couldn't ride for pro teams rode, Russians, East Germans etc iirc). He won the bunch sprint and celebrated like a maniac.

He came 41st.

A group of 40 had gotten away whilst he was chewing his stem off halfway down the bunch

mclarent

Hahaha! That's epic!

okgo

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

hammerite wrote:

3/4 race last week and the bunch sprint ended with a rider arms aloft celebrating 2nd. He won the bunch sprint, but a rider had finished about a minute in front - not sure if he was aware of this or not. Whereas the actual winner crossed the line looking like he wasn't sure that was the end of the race or not!

That's nothing. A friend of mine rode the Tour of Flanders in the 70s (not the pro race, the one where people who couldn't ride for pro teams rode, Russians, East Germans etc iirc). He won the bunch sprint and celebrated like a maniac.

He came 41st.

A group of 40 had gotten away whilst he was chewing his stem off halfway down the bunch

I did similar (on a smaller scale lol) at Hillingdon the other week. Rode off the front with one other with two laps to go, couldn't see anyone up the road, dropped him on the final straight, arms aloft thinking I'd won. 4 people up the road and had been all race, I never noticed! Mind you, to this day I maintain that with 90 riders in one race at Hillingdon with dropped people all over the place, its pretty tough to know what the hell is going on!!