First bike race and a WIN!!!
MozBiker
Posts: 77
After twice not being able to participate in a race today was the day I finally managed to get racing!
It was a 60km race, relatively flat course with a few small hills. To start I must say I was very impressed with how organized it was despite being in Africa! Support vehicles, waterpoints and police escorts(since road closure wasn't an option).
We were about 25 riders in the road category. One of my training friends pointed out the riders I should look out for.
After setting off 15 minutes late, we had a neutral zone for about 500m. Then we were off! A group of 5 riders immediately gunned it and pushed hard on the hill right at the start. In this group were two of the dangerous guys. I followed after and the last of the dangerous riders also joined me as well as one more rider.
So here I am in a 8-man breakaway 3km into the race. And I was still feeling great. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. We held the pace quite high for about 15km. On the first open flat stretch we could see the main group was about 2km behind us already so we dropped the pace a bit. We were taking turns at the front but I was trying to work the bare minimum.
About 7km from the turn around point(it is an out-and-back course) a guy two places in front of me dropped one of his bottles and I rode straight over it. Thankfully it hit my wheel squarely and I just rode over it, but that could've easily taken me down and the three guys behind me.
By this stage one of the riders in the break was suffering. We started picking up the pace again towards the turning point. We were riding around 33-36kmph against the headwind.
We turned and had a nice tailwind now. Immediately 3 guys attacked and I had to put in a 50kmph sprint to get back on their wheel. I closed the gap and one more rider. 3 other guys couldn't close the gap and we dropped them. Now it was a 5 man break with a tail wind. We started working together more efficiently and taking turns at the front. We were doing 45-48kmph at this stage to get a gap on the dropped riders. Since we turned around we could see how far ahead we were of the main peleton. There was one big group, two smallers groups and way behind one rider by himself.
And I was still feeling very good. We dropped the pace and we were doing between 42-45kmph now. I decided to take a bottle at the next water stop as it was stinking hot. Around 36 degrees celcius. Pace dropped a bit as the others had the same idea as I had.
Then in the last few kilometers we had a slight descent all the way to about 1km from the finish, where it rose slightly.
The pace dropped to 36kmph as no one wanted to be on the front. I moved up to 3rd wheel. I had already scoped out exactly where to start sprinting. 300m from the finish I shifted simultaneously with another guy and then I jumped. The guy on my right came up fast but I accelerated hard and caught him, passed him, shifted again, put my head down and pedalled like hell. I saw him come on my right and I pushed more. Slightly more distance between us. The finish line is right there. I throw my bike forwards at exactly the right moment(as I saw later on the video footage). I took the sprint by 3/4 of a wheel. Max sprint speed: 62,3kmph. Average speed: 35.7kmph.
First race I've ever done and I won! I could hardly believe it.
And the best part is that I don't use cycling shoes. I just ride flat pedals with cages and running shoes. It raised quite a lot of comments after the race I can tell you that much.
Hope you enjoy reading my report. And thanks for all the advice I have gleaned from my previous threads and your answers to them.
It was a 60km race, relatively flat course with a few small hills. To start I must say I was very impressed with how organized it was despite being in Africa! Support vehicles, waterpoints and police escorts(since road closure wasn't an option).
We were about 25 riders in the road category. One of my training friends pointed out the riders I should look out for.
After setting off 15 minutes late, we had a neutral zone for about 500m. Then we were off! A group of 5 riders immediately gunned it and pushed hard on the hill right at the start. In this group were two of the dangerous guys. I followed after and the last of the dangerous riders also joined me as well as one more rider.
So here I am in a 8-man breakaway 3km into the race. And I was still feeling great. I was thoroughly enjoying myself. We held the pace quite high for about 15km. On the first open flat stretch we could see the main group was about 2km behind us already so we dropped the pace a bit. We were taking turns at the front but I was trying to work the bare minimum.
About 7km from the turn around point(it is an out-and-back course) a guy two places in front of me dropped one of his bottles and I rode straight over it. Thankfully it hit my wheel squarely and I just rode over it, but that could've easily taken me down and the three guys behind me.
By this stage one of the riders in the break was suffering. We started picking up the pace again towards the turning point. We were riding around 33-36kmph against the headwind.
We turned and had a nice tailwind now. Immediately 3 guys attacked and I had to put in a 50kmph sprint to get back on their wheel. I closed the gap and one more rider. 3 other guys couldn't close the gap and we dropped them. Now it was a 5 man break with a tail wind. We started working together more efficiently and taking turns at the front. We were doing 45-48kmph at this stage to get a gap on the dropped riders. Since we turned around we could see how far ahead we were of the main peleton. There was one big group, two smallers groups and way behind one rider by himself.
And I was still feeling very good. We dropped the pace and we were doing between 42-45kmph now. I decided to take a bottle at the next water stop as it was stinking hot. Around 36 degrees celcius. Pace dropped a bit as the others had the same idea as I had.
Then in the last few kilometers we had a slight descent all the way to about 1km from the finish, where it rose slightly.
The pace dropped to 36kmph as no one wanted to be on the front. I moved up to 3rd wheel. I had already scoped out exactly where to start sprinting. 300m from the finish I shifted simultaneously with another guy and then I jumped. The guy on my right came up fast but I accelerated hard and caught him, passed him, shifted again, put my head down and pedalled like hell. I saw him come on my right and I pushed more. Slightly more distance between us. The finish line is right there. I throw my bike forwards at exactly the right moment(as I saw later on the video footage). I took the sprint by 3/4 of a wheel. Max sprint speed: 62,3kmph. Average speed: 35.7kmph.
First race I've ever done and I won! I could hardly believe it.
And the best part is that I don't use cycling shoes. I just ride flat pedals with cages and running shoes. It raised quite a lot of comments after the race I can tell you that much.
Hope you enjoy reading my report. And thanks for all the advice I have gleaned from my previous threads and your answers to them.
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Comments
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Nobody likes a show off!!!
But Fair do's, good effort and not bad of a write up. I don't remember much from my 1st (and currently only) race, let alone what was going on when.0 -
I couldn't resist. I am just so stoked I had to share the story.0
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Well done
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Well done! I'm curious as to why your first bike race was in Africa! Are you from there? Also, I can't imagine the sight on people's faces seeing you win in running shoes Just goes to show it's the rider not the equipment/the bike
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onionmk wrote:Well done! I'm curious as to why your first bike race was in Africa! Are you from there?
Mozambique by all accounts :- viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=13075581&p=20056001#p20056001
well done fella0 -
Well done. Wish I could enter that race if a guy can win wearing trainers. Hahaha0
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I live here in Mozambique since I was born. Hence the need to compete hereonionmk wrote:Well done! I'm curious as to why your first bike race was in Africa! Are you from there? Also, I can't imagine the sight on people's faces seeing you win in running shoes Just goes to show it's the rider not the equipment/the bike 0 -
I think I had a slight advantage in that I came into the race unknown. Only a few of the competitors have ridden with me before. I spent the entire week before the race dialing in my sprint. Gearing and distance etc. I think I caught them by surprise. Second time round I think it will be harder.AK_jnr wrote:Well done. Wish I could enter that race if a guy can win wearing trainers. Hahaha0 -
fat daddy wrote:onionmk wrote:Well done! I'm curious as to why your first bike race was in Africa! Are you from there?
Mozambique by all accounts :- viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=13075581&p=20056001#p20056001
well done fella
Thank you.0 -
Their faces were priceless. The organizer of the event couldn't believe it either when he afterwards saw I was wearing trainers.onionmk wrote:Well done! I'm curious as to why your first bike race was in Africa! Are you from there? Also, I can't imagine the sight on people's faces seeing you win in running shoes Just goes to show it's the rider not the equipment/the bike
Definitely true. You don't really need all that fancy stuff to be a good competitor. All the fancy gadgets would be awesome to have, but alas, a student can't afford all that stuff.
The training aids I had were a speedometer and Strava. 0 -
Well done
Clipless shoes aren't proven anyway to actally make people faster.
https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/vi ... es-science
More important marginal gains probably from aero position quality tyres etc0 -
Thanks mate.Moonbiker wrote:Well done
Clipless shoes aren't proven anyway to actally make people faster.
https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/vi ... es-science
More important marginal gains probably from aero position quality tyres etc
I actually watched that video some time back and it was the thing that made me not feel so bad about not having cycling shoes.0 -
MozBiker wrote:Max sprint speed: 62,3kmph.
You said tailwind earlier. How strong? Because even at 1% downhill 40mph is around or over 1kw. Just curious as that's a solid sprint speed one way or another.0 -
Great stuff, congratulations!
And I love your writing style 0 -
Fantastic result. Keep at it.25% off your first MyProtein order: sign up via https://www.myprotein.com/referrals.lis ... EE-R29Y&li or use my referral code LEE-R29Y0
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burnthesheep wrote:MozBiker wrote:Max sprint speed: 62,3kmph.
You said tailwind earlier. How strong? Because even at 1% downhill 40mph is around or over 1kw. Just curious as that's a solid sprint speed one way or another.
It was about 15kmph tail wind. The finish was slightly uphill though. I think it is a 1% gradient up, very slight.0 -
Cheers mate. Will hopefully have more races to write about soon.Thick Mike wrote:Great stuff, congratulations!
And I love your writing style 0
