Race Write Ups: First Race Ever & Race Six
e17blade
Posts: 215
I meant to post these ages ago - the races were actually in the spring.....
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CYCLING BY NUMBERS: MY FIRST ROAD RACE
Races done before: 0
Panic level in the week leading up to the race: 7 (out of 5)
Panic level on the morning of the race: 3 (no idea why)
Wise pieces of advice received on the drive to the start: 8
Percentage of time spent faffing about after arriving: 87
Abysmal Weather Rating: 11 (out of 10)
Layers worn during warm up ride due to cold: 5
Pre race visits to the toilet: 4
Panic level on the start line: 1 (weird)
Seconds warning given for start of race: 0.2
Efforts it took me to clip in due to resulting panic: 3
Laps spent surfing wheels near the front: 3 (best fun on a bike ever)
Pieces of advice quickly forgotten to my great detriment: 1
Minutes consequently spent in a futile solo chase to get back on: 30
Times I really really really wanted to give up: 4
Times I gave up: 0
Times waved to peloton as they went the other way up the back straight: 6
Other riders that eventually joined my chase: 2
Number of them dropped when I picked up the pace on the last lap: 1 (just like I was Fabian Cancellara)
Number of them dropped in the final uphill sprint: 1 (just like I was Peter Sagan)
Minutes spent under a hot shower trying to defrost: 10
Seconds spent blinking blankly at results thinking “that can’t be right”: 45
Finishing position in age category: 4 (Fourth!)
Hours spent boring my family, friends & colleagues with detailed descriptions of the race: 17 (and counting)
Days to next race: 6
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RACE SIX
Aim: To stay with the group to the end. Five races so far. Dropped five times.
I start well. Further back than in previous races, but smooth and easy. I feel really good. Must try not to get carried away. No heroics.
Half way through. Still feeling good. Move up the field. Even help pull back a break. Wow.
Accidentally get in a small break! I was just following a wheel and three of us slip away. Get shouted at to help on the front more. Tell him to fuck off. The break doesn't last long.
Twenty minutes to go. I'm still there. Ten minutes to go. And still I'm there. And feeling good. People are getting dropped at a rapid rate. But not me.
Three laps to go. Going to bury myself now. This is AMAZING.
Two laps to go. Get myself in the top ten. Cruising.
Last lap. Bloody hell. I'm still here! I'm going to be in the sprint! I don't even feel too bad.
Into the last hairpin. About eighth wheel. Positioned well. Someone not positioned so well dive bombs down the inside. A desperate attempt to move up. There's no space. Nowhere to go. He hits me. I go down hard.
Race over. Blood. Bruises. Broken bike.
But I f*****g bossed it.
I can't wait for next time.
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These and other such thoughts on cycling are on my blog here: https://e17blade.wordpress.com/
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CYCLING BY NUMBERS: MY FIRST ROAD RACE
Races done before: 0
Panic level in the week leading up to the race: 7 (out of 5)
Panic level on the morning of the race: 3 (no idea why)
Wise pieces of advice received on the drive to the start: 8
Percentage of time spent faffing about after arriving: 87
Abysmal Weather Rating: 11 (out of 10)
Layers worn during warm up ride due to cold: 5
Pre race visits to the toilet: 4
Panic level on the start line: 1 (weird)
Seconds warning given for start of race: 0.2
Efforts it took me to clip in due to resulting panic: 3
Laps spent surfing wheels near the front: 3 (best fun on a bike ever)
Pieces of advice quickly forgotten to my great detriment: 1
Minutes consequently spent in a futile solo chase to get back on: 30
Times I really really really wanted to give up: 4
Times I gave up: 0
Times waved to peloton as they went the other way up the back straight: 6
Other riders that eventually joined my chase: 2
Number of them dropped when I picked up the pace on the last lap: 1 (just like I was Fabian Cancellara)
Number of them dropped in the final uphill sprint: 1 (just like I was Peter Sagan)
Minutes spent under a hot shower trying to defrost: 10
Seconds spent blinking blankly at results thinking “that can’t be right”: 45
Finishing position in age category: 4 (Fourth!)
Hours spent boring my family, friends & colleagues with detailed descriptions of the race: 17 (and counting)
Days to next race: 6
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RACE SIX
Aim: To stay with the group to the end. Five races so far. Dropped five times.
I start well. Further back than in previous races, but smooth and easy. I feel really good. Must try not to get carried away. No heroics.
Half way through. Still feeling good. Move up the field. Even help pull back a break. Wow.
Accidentally get in a small break! I was just following a wheel and three of us slip away. Get shouted at to help on the front more. Tell him to fuck off. The break doesn't last long.
Twenty minutes to go. I'm still there. Ten minutes to go. And still I'm there. And feeling good. People are getting dropped at a rapid rate. But not me.
Three laps to go. Going to bury myself now. This is AMAZING.
Two laps to go. Get myself in the top ten. Cruising.
Last lap. Bloody hell. I'm still here! I'm going to be in the sprint! I don't even feel too bad.
Into the last hairpin. About eighth wheel. Positioned well. Someone not positioned so well dive bombs down the inside. A desperate attempt to move up. There's no space. Nowhere to go. He hits me. I go down hard.
Race over. Blood. Bruises. Broken bike.
But I f*****g bossed it.
I can't wait for next time.
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These and other such thoughts on cycling are on my blog here: https://e17blade.wordpress.com/
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Comments
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Well done on the 6th race, shame some chopper took you down but it seems you have made great progress in fitness and positioning, you do however have to have a bit of luck in the bun fight that happens on the last lap.
What stopped you from working in the break?
Once you told then others to Fark off did they stop riding as they didn't want a hanger on?
Maybe if you had worked you would have stayed away?
Happened to me in a road race earlier this year and once off the front the 4 of us got organised very quickly and opened up a 2 min gap, then 2 of us went on to break away 2 laps from the end and stay away, I took him in the sprint but was lucky as it was a case of who was less tired.
Well done though!Obsessed is a word used by the lazy to describe the dedicated!0 -
Cheers JesseD.
What stopped me working in the break? I wasn't strong enough. Or at least I didn't think I was. I was just trying to move up along the outside, overshot a bit and took two with me. This year was both a huge step up in fitness/strength and a massive learning curve tactically. By race six I was probably there or thereabouts, but didn't really believe in myself. If the other rider hadn't been so abusive in his request for help I might have gone with it, but he got my back up so I told him where to go. Bear in mind that my only goal at that point was to not get dropped. If I had the same opportunity now I'd be shouting at the others to work with me. I think.
It took me a while to get my bike fixed, grow my skin back and (most of all) get over the nerves of being back in the thick of a race again. In race ten I finally managed to not get dropped and finish in the front group. I crossed the line with tears in my eyes. I have never trained even close to as hard as I have this year to get in such good shape.
What a year.0 -
Well done on your progress, and shame about the chopper.0
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Enjoyed reading that, well done.
Any Strava links?0 -
