VanceMac

Racer Ex 

You could do a shouldered bolt or go to grade 8. If you have good support with the spacers the bolt won't be taking that much load...a lot of the weight should be right over the bolt.

I was thinking about this on my ride...I have an old carbon aero fork that I've been using to make spacers from. You could fill the inside with some expanding foam or epoxy then drill for the bolts if you wanted it even more well supported.

Of course now that your club is promoting the "Anorexic Open" on GMR you and all your teammates can go **** yourself. SDSR is bad enough.

Cleave

VanceMac, I expect to see you on the start line. Racer Ex, such language from a Mod!

Ideally, I'll rig something up to test my TT position before VoS. I can work on a "final" installation later. The fork idea is definitely McGyver thinking. I like it. I was thinking that I could potentially re-purpose some of the unused extension spacers from the build kit.

The Red Devil

Cleave that's a bummer about Tom's Farm...it was close and fun.

sarals 

Yesterday was the Cherry Pie Crit, my second ever criterium experience. I was entered in the W Cat 4 and M 35+ races. The Cat 4 was first, at 9:20 AM, and the M 35+ was at 2:10 PM.

Cat 4, field of 25, combined with Juniors. There was no neutral lap, but a mentor did shepherd the field for the first lap.

I warmed up on the trainer for 30 minutes and felt good when I rode up to the line. I was not as nervous at the line as I thought I would be, I think it was too cold to be nervous.

The whistle blew and the pack started off at a fairly relaxed pace on the downhill start. I decided to stay towards the rear because I had no idea who these girls and women were or how they would behave. I noticed in the first turn that the cornering skills were sketchy and that I'd better establish a line through a corner and not surprise anyone. I also decided I could move up on the corners. The pace stayed moderate on the first lap, and I moved up to mid pack on the short climb to the finish. I didn't like my position (I was on the inside) for the 90 degree turn at the top of the hill, so I backed out, thinking I could make it up on the descent and the right hand sweeper at the bottom of the hill.

I did do that, passing several riders on the way down the hill and then a couple of others in the sweeper. I held my position to the tight left hand turn, popped another rider at the apex, but when I came off the saddle for the acceleration, my right foot came unclipped, and that caused me to loose some positions - just that fast!

I was still attached, but towards the back, at the end of the second lap.

On the third lap, a gap opened between me and the back of the pack. The pace had really come up and the field was strung out. I checked my six in the right hand sweeper, and there were a few riders behind me, one on my wheel. I held a solid pace through the back flat section of the course, but I was working really hard. The gal behind me came around me and said "you've been doing all the work, get on". I did, and held her wheel to the top of the hill.

Then I started to fade. I dropped back steadily for several laps. I started to feel better, though, and I knew I would NOT be lapped, and that I could close on the two riders in front of me.

On the next lap I put in an effort on the hill to close up to the gal on front of me, and was moving up. However, the race official whistled her and me off the course right then (and three girls behind me) and gave us finishes. The race director told me later he felt we would be lapped - I didn't, but I didn't contest him.

I rode around, had lunch and tried to stay loose for the M 35+ race four hours later.

No avail. The pack went off fast, a 2:21 pace (as fast as the men), and I was dangling on the back at 35 MPH through the right hand sweeper at the bottom of the hill. I worked my fanny off to stay on the wheel oif the woman in front of me (we went through the flat section at 27 MPH) but my legs were screaming at me - not just tired, but that deep "there's nothing here" ache. I got gapped just a little at the chicane at the bottom of the hill, but it was enough to put me into the wind and the headwind, and it was like slamming on the brakes to me. I knew I was done, and I left the race. The officials gave me a finish.

I found out I need: 1) much more experience; 2) don't race with the M 35+; 3) I need to be more aggressive; 4) I need to improve my five minute power.

The Snelling Road Race is in two weeks.

AzTallRider

Again, great job... what's up with your pedal/cleat? You want to fix that, pronto!

valygrl

Nice work Sarah!

from my limited experience, you should revise this:
"I decided to stay towards the rear because I had no idea who these girls and women were or how they would behave. "

Start towards the front. If you don't belong there, don't worry, you will get spit out. Front is safer, the mistakes happen behind you instead of in front of you. I totally had to FORCE myself to use this strategy, but every time I did, it was better than when I started in the rear, got stuck in the accordian, and spit off the back.

sarals 

Valygrl!!! Thank you, hon. Yes, I know that, too - and I will force myself up there. I had opportunity, too.

AzT, I was wearing shoe covers. The one on the right foot apparently was partially over the cleat. Problem solved! All is working fine today - even my legs!

VanceMac

Good stuff, Sara. I'll take getting chewed up by the big dogs over just about anything else.

valygrl

I'm just lurking around in here stalking Sara and Ex, I've got a couple more years (2, in fact) 'til I am 50+ -- but it sure is inspiring to read all y'all's race reports!.

Cleave

So I didn't race yesterday. Instead I watched the Master 55+ and 50+ races at the Roger Millikan Memorial Criterium. Stopped in the middle of my training ride to hang out and watch a few races and cheer for some teammates and friends. It was definitely weird watching these races since I only watch when I can't race due to injury or illness but it was still fun.

The Masters 55+/60+ race had a combined CASH purse of $1,500 ($1,000 for the top 10 in 55+ and $500 for the top 10 in 60+). The field was predictably extra large. Hope springs eternal and the race started fast. Guys were getting dropped on the first lap (though one of them had a mirror on his helmet -- makes me think of that line from the movie, The Gumball Rally, "Whatsa behind me...). The 55+ field was especially stacked and there were a lot of attacks. Some of the breaks had some promise but it wasn't until about 5 laps to go that the winning break got clear. It contained -- surprise, surprise -- two guys with World Champion stripes on their sleeves, Mark Hoffenberg and Keith Ketterer. Mark took the sprint easily and he dedicated his win to his son who died unexpectedly last fall.

The Masters 50+ also had a lot of fast guys. This race was also punctuated by numerous attacks but as in the 55+ race the pack reeled in all of the prospective breakaways. I happened to be watching at turn 4 and with less than 5 laps to go I heard the Race Director on his radio saying something like, "If he has to go now, he has to go hard." Next thing I know after the pack passed us, a big semi comes barreling around turn 3. I thought he was going to turn into a driveway just past turn 4 but instead he keeps heading down the straight and about halfway down the cab makes a hard left into a driveway and then stops with the trailer blocking the road! The driver jumps out of the cab. I guess he needed to open a gate. Well you can imagine that on a 0.7 mile rectangular circuit that the pack rolled around pretty quickly.

A bunch of people, race volunteers and spectators, jumped into the road waving at the pack to stop. Actually, at this point a few guys had taken a flier and were off the front. The pack almost came to a stop as I watch the driver jump back into the cab and drive into where ever it was he needed to go. The officials at the corner then yelled that the race should proceed. Apparently, the pack thought that they were coming into the bell lap but there was no bell. Regardless, a few guys came out of turn 4 on the next lap and sprinted. Unfortunately, the officials had added another lap. I never heard a bell for either lap. Some different guys sprinted for the real finish and a splintered field half-heartedly raced to the finish. It was definitely a cluster. The Race Director should never have let the truck on the course so late in the race even though, as I heard later, the truck driver was irate about waiting for however long he was waiting.

Last, the races were relatively safe. I saw one crash in the 55+/60+ race and the four guys who hit the deck walked away. The was a single-rider crash (that I didn't see) in the 50+ race. I saw the crashee after the race.

I ended the cycling portion of my day by riding with one of my teammates to his house and then riding solo for the final 14 miles to my house.

sarals 

Great report, Cleave! Trucks on the course???? Irate driver or not, that's just unbelievable. I'm glad that little fracas turned out okay.

sarals 

Oh, young lady, I'm not worth stalking! I'm the poster girl for "what not to wear".

As far as I'm concerned, you are more than welcome to post here, and not just lurk. This is a great group, come on in!

AzTallRider

Last year, during the VOS P-1 RR, they let a car on at a bad time and place, as the leaders were coming around a corner. A couple of guys plowed into the back of the car, but fortunately came out 'okay'.

shovelhd

I do a training crit near Boston several times a year. The course is open to traffic. When there's a car on the course we neutralize. Every race some numb nut collegiate rider attacks. Pees me off.

sarals 

VM, those Big Dogs bite hard, too! It didn't help that I was so tired, either.

sarals 

I did the bike portion of a triathlon a couple of years ago "in traffic". The course was not closed to automobile traffic. That was totally stupid.

AzTallRider

I was really slow in the TT today. 26 of 32. Cleave was much faster.

Cleave

^ Much faster is such a relative term.

I thought I was going and went faster than last year. Turns out I didn't. Still haven't downloaded data as housekeeping is in my room I feel like I was faster on the outbound leg but the data will tell me for sure.

Hermes

I was looking at the results for VOS and noted that Larry Nolan is now 55+. That just seems wrong.

Hermes

Remember what happened to Arnold.

AzTallRider

At least Ex has the decency to let me move to 60+ before he hits the 55+.

AzTallRider

I'm pretty sure Larry Nolan won the 55+ RR today, in a group of 5 or 7 that managed to get a bit of a gap. Not sure if it was from an earlier break, or whether they just made better time up the finish hill. Speaking of that hill, the pack rode away from me the first time up, and there was not a thing I could do about it. It's been a long time since I was that deep into Offthebackistan. There was only one guy behind me. I told the ref's I was quitting after the second time up, as I was already not racing tomorrow, and riding slowing around the course for another lap didn't have much appeal nor merit. I stopped and waited to watch the finish. Ex and I will be discussing how best to proceed from here - not sure whether to just cool it for awhile to mend, or whether to start trying to get the strength back.

Cleave

I guess, I ask, "How far behind the lead group was I?" Didn't see you hanging at the finish or I would have stopped.

Fell off near the top of the climb on the first lap. Four of us chasing and the field was almost always in sight. Caught them about 3/4 of the way around. Fell off again with one of the same guys in my previous quartet. We chased (he did 2/3 of the work as my back started hurting from being in the drops for so long) and caught a group of 6 or seven about a mile from turn 2. I ended up finishing either 3rd or 4th in the group just trying not to lose more time.

BTW, with 50% of my weekly training at the track, I seem to be OK on the flats or false flats in a group (closer to the intervals we do at the track), but forget about my climbing right now.

AzTallRider

There was the small lead group, then another group, then yours... I saw you flash by!