Re: First Crit Tonight: Bikefanclub.com

I did pretty well for my first time. Here is a little write up I did for my blog.

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I wasn't even planning on racing till next week since I had taken eight days off from riding just to give myself a break. So my fitness was still good, but I didn't feel like I was in top racing form. Monday night (the night before) I had a pretty good workout and decided "what the heck" and told my team I would show up for Tuesday's race.

I was pretty nervous all day not knowing how I would do in the race and fearing that I would be involved in a crash and really hurt myself. These races average around 25 mph with speeds going above 30 mph at times so crashing is no laughing matter. I changed into my uniform at work at the end of the day and set off to the track with my best friend. My wife and girls came down to watch and support me too, which just added to my butterflies, but to tell ya the truth, I was really happy to they came too.

Once I got out onto the course and warmed up most of the butterflies were gone. I felt relaxed and excited and just ready to get going. At 5:30 pm we all lined up at the starting line and they got it started. At the advice of my team members, I stayed near the front of the pack for nearly the entire race. It was really evident that I didn't know the course and my cornering skills were pretty bad. I would head into the corners towards the front of the group and exit the corner a good 5-6 positions back.

The race was very fast. We averaged around 25 mph the entire time with the speed rising to 30+ mph at least 3 different times according to my cycle-computer. I felt like my fitness was very good and even though my heart rate was very high I felt in control and never beyond my limits.

The course is about a 1 mile loop of public streets that have been coned off to keep cars out of the way of cyclists as much as possible. The roads have little traffic in the first place and are in pretty bad shape, there are a lot of potholes and one corner is bricked which makes it pretty slippery. The road conditions just add to the strategy of riding and totally affect what is the most optimum line one should take through corners.

As I said I hung with the group for the entire race and at times rode at the front. About halfway through the final lap my cornering skills caught up with me and I was dropped off the back of the pack on the second to last attack. There were two corners where the entire group attacked each and every lap and as the race wore on I had to exert more and more effort to work my way back up the pack. This is a classic struggle for riders in the back of bike races so I saw it coming and knew exactly what was happening to me. I finished about 15 seconds behind the main group of riders.

All in all, I am very pleased with the effort I gave on my first race. Several of my teammates had warned me not to get too down if I was dropped and lapped by the main field since it's very hard to stay with the group as a new rider, so since I was able to stay with the group I consider that a big success for my first time out.

My ride stats are (this includes warm up and cool down):
Distance: 13.72 miles
Time: 00:37:55 (HH:MM:SS)
Average Speed: 21.7 mph
Max Speed: 30.5 mph
Average Heart Rate: 154 bpm
Max Heart Rate: 190 bpm
Average Cadence: 89 rpm
Max Cadence: 120 rpm
Calories Burned: 1124

Here is a link to my ride charts. This also includes my warm up and cool down. Click any point on the graphs to see where I was on the track at that moment.
http://www.gozulu.com/garmin/hybrid.php?r=812

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The Luna Pro performed well. She was responsive and nimble. In fact my biggest surprise was the bottom bracket/cranks/pedals area creaking like a shanty in a hurricane. It hadn't ever sounded like that before but then again I wasn't punishing it like that before either.

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