[ashpelham]

Tomorrow, 1:30pm CDT, Anniston, AL, Sunny King Criterium, Cat 3-4 Race...

4 Sharp 90 degree turns. Keep the rubber side down.

45 minutes of sheer torture. hating life. Hating cycling. Anyone can endure 45 minutes of anything....

Top 5 places pay up $105 down to $30, the entry fee. I want my entry fee back, at least.

No matter how much it hurts, keep pushing. It's 45 minutes.

Last year, I quit during the race. Hated myself for it.

Proper warm up on the trainer, with some hard efforts mixed in. At least 45 min on the trainer.

Get to the line up early.

That is all.

 

[Eric_H]

Tomorrow, 1:30pm CDT, Anniston, AL, Sunny King Criterium, Cat 3-4 Race...

4 Sharp 90 degree turns. Keep the rubber side down.

45 minutes of sheer torture. hating life. Hating cycling. Anyone can endure 45 minutes of anything....

Top 5 places pay up $105 down to $30, the entry fee. I want my entry fee back, at least.

No matter how much it hurts, keep pushing. It's 45 minutes.

Last year, I quit during the race. Hated myself for it.

Proper warm up on the trainer, with some hard efforts mixed in. At least 45 min on the trainer.

Get to the line up early.

That is all.

Stay relaxed. It is just a bike race and the beauty is that there is always another one if this one goes bad. Don't make it out to be more than it is.

Make sure you have eaten and drank enough. For 45 minutes you will only drink a little, do pre-hydration is key.

Get to the start early and line up on the front row if possible. Focus on staying in the front 30% of the field for the first 20 minutes because that is when the field is getting whittled down. If you can sprint very well relative to your competition then play the card, otherwise figure out how you are going to be getting that minimum of $30 back (ie. attack!).

 

[reklar]

One thing to keep in mind is that at some point relatively early in the race there will be some fast laps. Just hang on during those. Everyone will be suffering. If you can stay near the front (but not at the front) during those, you'll be okay. That's easier said than done however.
Good luck!

 

[slowdave]

My first crit of the year and second A grade race ever all went well for the first hour, then the final three laps all went great feeling good in about 5th wheel into the last turn when bang, the guy in front of me swings wide and takes out my front wheel and i hit the deck at about 50kph. Bounce into the gutter, after what seemed an eternity i find i now need a new helmet and 6 stiches in my right elbow, to go with that fun stuff i have more fixamol than skin on my right leg (thanks for the shaving tips people). Ahhh well its all fun and im sure that i was over trained anyway. How long before i can race again with stiches? Have fun out there and keep the rubber down.

 

[The Carlster]

if you're drafting properly and near the front as not to get sling-shot in every corner, you should be able to ride w/ minimal energy expenditure and keep your S together 'til things get spicy w/ a couple of laps to go.

good luck - let folks know how you do.

if they have decent primes, you can snag one of those (get your $$ back) and then it's less pressure at the end too.

 

[reklar]

Well, how did it go?

 

[ashpelham]

Race report...

Well, I kept the rubber down. That was good. The race was really well organized, and I was totally prepared, from a mental and warm-up standpoint. The race that ran before mine, a 30 minute Cat4-5 event, featured quite a few of my teammates, who have been at their game for several more weeks than I have been this spring. When I arrived to see them start, I was a bit shocked that they would not be in the race I was in...

This should have been a warning to me. When the 3/4's started, with me sitting in the front 10 riders, we launched like we had been shot out of a gun. I clipped in quick, and we were off. Apparantly, the folks behind us had a little more trouble getting clipped in, and they suffered for it.

Speaking of suffering....After about the first 5 minutes, it was clear that this thing was going to be run very fast. Very, very fast. We streaked around the corners in tight fashion. My cornering was much better than it had been in the past, and I had no trouble maintaining speed in and out of them. This is attributable to some cornering work I've done this spring.

But the pace was simply too hot to handle. BBC (Bham Bicycle Company) had their usual group of bad boys driving the pace, and Bob's Bikes had some machines off the front as well. Aaron's also had a man off the front after 5-6 laps, and the pace was burning along at about 28-29mph. The group that had stuttered a bit at the opening bell caught back on, and started eating us up. I was dropping like a rock. My lungs filled with tightness and fluid, and I was toast.

Not enough racing this year for me. There were quite a few primes, ranging from $25 to $75 in the first half of the race. Great event, great participation, great crowd. Cycling.TV was there as well. On the way off the course, in shame, I rode past the Toyota United boys arriving. That was pretty cool. JJ Haedo is a monster.

My next crits are planned for June 17-18. Assuming I have cleared the fluid from my lungs by then! I need to work much harder between now and then. I felt strong progress in Feb-March, but the heavy work load at my office killed me between 3-15 and 4-15. That will always be a hurdle for me, in my profession.

I didn't get my race fee back, but it's interesting to see just how far off I am. I perhaps had no business in the 3-4 race.

Finally, I just enjoy road races more than crits. Crits are more popular and more convenient, but road races just have lulls in the action that allow me to recover. There is no recovery in a crit.

Tips for the next 5 weeks training would be nice.....Hint hint....

 

[Eric_H]

Race lots

Tips for the next 5 weeks training would be nice.....Hint hint....

If you have a local mid-week criterium series, use that as your training. Nothing will make you a better criterium racer than racing a lot of criteriums.

Otherwise, you need to focus on power (sprints) and speed (fast intervals or motorpacing).

 

[pigpen]

The race you were in was a good race.
My wife, daughter and I drove over to Anniston to watch. My wife had never seen a crit and did not know what to expect. The 3/4's put on a good show. Lots of speed with a good size field.

The funny thing is that your race was the only one we were able to watch. My 2 1/2 year old freaked out and we ended up driving back to the ham.

How about the far corner from the start line at the bottom of the course.
What speeds were you guys hitting there. That had to be the fastest corner on the course.
I took my wife and daughter down there and she could not believe her eyes.

 

[wooliferkins]

Ideas from a non racer

Just thoughts not criticism. Sounds like you need to nail your speed work, intervals and the like. How did the pre season miles go? Bit of strength work in the gym? (check out Craig McCleans quads in the piccy on his site) Sounds like you're having a ball, which I think is key. I would ask questions of myself if i thought i was "resting" during a road race. Shouldn't you be in your zone working as planned? Hold on to the enjoyment, good luck

 

[ashpelham]

Pigpen: Thanks for coming out to watch. Pretty good crowds, even thought I sort of feel that last year was a bit bigger. In an event, it was as fast as it looked. I was too stunned to look down at the speedo, but I am sure it was 30mph in that corner you speak of. We were really opening it up on that corner, and in the subsequent straightaway.

I have a lot of work to do on speed and holding it at that point for a while. Base miles: check. Sprinting: check. Steady-state, high level speed work: not check.

Thanks for the input!!