tetonrider

there was a cool infographic in their local cycling news about which riders had come from which towns in the department. (this was in la manche, normandy.)

they get REALLY excited about the conti & pro tour riders -- of course they do!

PepeM

Funny you mention that. A friend of mine who lived in Spain for two years mentioned that while there were far more races for the pros and/or really serious riders, the amateur scene was a bit lacking and that as a lower category racer it is much easier to find suitable events here in the US than over there. I was a bit surprised but I guess it makes sense.

Doge

@tetonrider - nice write-up. I had no results to post about - so hadn't seen that. As a videoing spectator I treat Euroraces very differently. No sidewalk that could be a shortcut is safe. Actually I just tend to hide behind barriers.

tetonrider

i haven't experienced it but have heard that the type of rider you describe is more likely to do fondos over there. i know people who have traveled and then done some mass-start fondo with thousands of riders.

but the actual races are left to the ones who might have a real future in the sport. there are always exceptions.

in france, they do have categories (1, 2, 3) mandrakes may allow only 1s or 1s/2s/3s. you might even have elite events where teams must be invited, but it is 'elite 1/2', so the team can send 1s or 2s (or both).

that's an interesting observation. i found that at this race the finishing straight had excellent barriers that kept racers (and the crowd) safe, as well as barriers around the KOM. however, spectators were free to walk along the course -- and some did. if they made a bad choice they might get clocked.

what i was not particularly prepared for (my own fault, and it was OK) was that i just didn't know some things that were common knowledge. as an example, the guys who had done this course before, which was probably most of them, know things like 'you always go left around the 3rd roundabout.' it took me a couple laps to learn that stuff, but by then it was too late as far as being in the mix.

you also have to have a high level of trust in the rider in front of you. these guys, in general, are really, really good at navigating this stuff, and you have to trust that the guy in front of you is going to guide his bike on the right path. i didn't have that immediate trust. part of that is a head-game due to some residual PTSD from breaking my femur. (if anyone has something positive to offer on that front, i'm all ears; i work on it all the time, but it often takes me a few laps of a race (crit or circuit) or even up to an hour of a RR to fully settle down, no matter what i do. it wasn't always that way. it has certainly made it even tougher for me to get results the past couple years.)

it's not that the racers there are dramatically better bike handlers (though the reality is that many of them are; part of that is the path they're on) but rather that they have been dealing with these roads and their hazards all their riding lives/racing careers. you get used to it. wish i had time for a few more races this trip to get into that flow. i'll have to go back next year--hoping to maybe find some racing there in the spring to use as prep for our season here.

well, that and the fact that i'm really thinking of going back to a nomadic existence. i love learning new languages, cultures, etc. on my recent trip i had all i really needed -- laptop, some clothes, and my bike. if i had my blender i'd have been ALL set.

Doge

My experience is primarily the youth (15-16) and junior (17-18), the "local" kremese and the junior UCI stage races. While most finishes are well protected, mid race, anything they can ride on goes. As you know, a sidewalk may have a 3" curb. More often than not, if the kids can jump onto the sidewalk to cut the apex, they will. Daniel was not into that level of risk, and generally did better on open road vs city. I did see a number of crashes. So while I accept the skill is high, seems the risks taken may be higher still. Not all that different than the Redlands PRT crit with 6+ crashes by pros.

Driving in Portugal with my wife I commented these drivers were crazy - they must be crashing. I went home and looked it up. Yup, they die more per mile than in the USA.

My basic view of competitive cycling is it is a European sport. They want it more and will do more to win (than us over here). That was Daniel's take away too on being a pro. He said he'd have to move to Europe - and he didn't want to. So that was settled. Way to kill a dream, but also great timing.

hubcyclist

I can attest to the crazy Portuguese driver thing. My parents are from there and I've been several times and the drivers are fast and aggressive, even on winding mountain roads. It's nuts.

Doge

It is actually hard data to get and I can't find it now. It needs to be fatalities/mile driven. Many world stats are based on fatalities/population fatalities/car owned.

For USA 2014: to 1.18 deaths per 100 million miles traveled
https://www.nsc.org/learn/about/Pages...cles-2014.aspx

Closest thing I can find now is Brazil - they speak Portuguese - 55.9/1B km = 620M miles or 9 deaths/100M miles, so 5X the USA rate for the same distance. I recall Portugal being higher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ted_death_rate

tetonrider

oh, yeah--that was definitely the case in this race. a couple sections of the course had barricades, and while the course was closed that didn't mean riders only rode on the road -- anything was fair game, and jumping on/off the curb happened rapidly and randomly. if i was a spectator in some of those sections, i'd have been on high alert.

an analogy i'd draw is that i grew up driving in cities and merging into highway-speed traffic was normal, but after living in a rural area for a long time i lost that 'edge.' after a couple days back in that atmosphere, it all comes back to me. the level of danger is the same but you get accustomed to it. i suspect the same would have been true after a few more races.


driving in paris @ rush hour was way more intense than any bicycle race, but i feel like bike racing prepares me for tough driving conditions. anyone else feel that way?

the 12-exit roundabout around the arc d'triomphe on the champs was super intense. when i picked up my wife & kid at the airport and drove them downtown my wife's comment was, 'i could say alot of bad things about you, but a lack of guts is not one of them.' maybe she could have chosen her words a bit better.

i'd say that driving around brussels within minutes of picking up my rental car (after not having driven stick for 20+ years!) while trying to figure out directions AND eat my breakfast was maybe even more intense.

well, better to figure it out sooner rather than later. dreams change over time.

the same could be said of many things: for example, there are kids who actually realize the importance of college w/r/t landing a good job, and they treat it that way; many others are just coasting through and treat it more like a hobby. racing there isn't *just* a hobby -- it's a way out.

maybe that's like junior football here?

gsteinb

Last race of the year.

App Gap hill climb 40+ winner. Second best time on the day.

30 races
5 wins
12 podiums
20 top 5s

Enthalpic

It makes me more comfortable tailgating... but I'm not sure that is a good thing.

Congrats.

tetonrider

congrats!

...and weren't you saying something about it being an off year?

shovelhd

Nice job Gary.

StephenH

My semi-annual foray into racing via long-distance racing involved a 4-man team at the Texas Time Trials, in the 24-hour event. We were the only 4-person male team, but did set a new course record, beat out the mixed teams, etc.
The course is a 26.5 mile loop with around 1,000 feet of climbing per lap (all on hills, no big climbs).
I did four laps on it (spaced out, not consecutive) with:
1:21:15 for 19.57 mph
1:22:00 for 19.39 mph
1:21:38 for 19.48 mph
1:24:37 for 18.79 mph
First two laps were at night with lights, third lap with lights at dawn (dark start, daylight finish).
Fourth lap, I was getting tired and wind was also picking up a little.
This was riding my new Venge with stock wheels, regular gear.
This is "pretty good considering it's me", maybe not so impressive otherwise!

rideaz

Nice job! And congrats on a solid season!

scheibo

The local hill climb series started this Saturday - last year I ended the series 8th overall after consistently placing in the back half of the top 10, this year I wanted to challenge for top-5 in both the series and in an individual week. The first climb of the series is the same each year, and last year I rode the climb in 28:18 for 9th. When I was coming up with my goals last season I wrote down that I would need to improve to ~26:40 in order to challenge for the position I wanted. My best times outside of the race are in the 29:00's, so I wasn't really sure it was doable, but I always seem to get a boost on race day.

The climb starts out at 9-10% avg for the first ~2 miles, has a mile of false flat in the middle and then is around 7-8% with some steep bits for the last 2 miles. It also historically starts out pretty hard. My game plan going in was to pace off of Ygduf for the first section, hold his wheel on the flat and then try to pass him on the 2nd steeper bit. Chris led the neutral rollout to the base of the climb and somehow managed to gain like 10s on the pack in the 500m to the start (despite him braking and trying to wait for us), but the pack quickly swallowed him up and it was all about just trying to stay in the group. Last year I was a little gung-ho and led the race during times in the first 8 minutes, this year I tried to just stay in the wheels. When the lead pack started splitting at the front 6-8 minutes in I tried to stay up at the front but eventually slipped back to where Chris was in about 8-10th.

Luckily, with the leaders going up the road the pace stalled a bit on the flat section and I was able to recover while trying to follow whoever's wheel was steadiest. I ended up making it to the second portion of the climb in a good position and was able to follow Kevin Metcalfe's when he started applying pressure. I was only able to hold on for maybe 3 minutes - every time we'd enter a corner he'd stand and get a gap on me which took time to claw back. Still, following someone wearing stars and stripes felt pretty good (masters hill climb champion). When he shook me off around the 20' mark I just tried to maintain tempo 10-15s behind Kevin as I knew there was the looming threat that Chris would come back and pass me (I sneaked a look once and it seemed like I had 10-15s on him as well). In the end I crossed the line 13s behind Kevin and 2s ahead of Chris who made a late surge to catch me. I had know idea what my place was until after the finish, but it turns out I rode 26:36 and came 4th behind a national champ, state champ and guy who trains regularly with Laurens Ten Dam, so overall a pretty good race!

hack

Well done!


Ygduf's power data saddens me as I know I'll never be LKHC material. Now ... if these were 60s hills, I'm in.

Hermes

I miss the LKHC. On second thought...nah. Nice racing @scheibo.
@hack Kilo for you. Although you may need a couple more seconds than 60.

furiousferret

Great year!

hack

I'll shoot for sub 70 ... downhill though.

tetonrider

that's a great amateur career for most folks!

tetonrider

i thought about your response and my post.

what i should have written was something more like this:
"anyone else feel like their driving is different after racing a bike?"

i definitely become more comfortable with some risks. not saying this is a good thing, but it happens. i'm more comfortable tailgating/drafting, and looking for openings.

while speaking with a friend tonight i made the comparison that racing in europe was something like merging onto a freeway around LA. when you're from a rural area, those first few merges (races) are scary as hell, but if you live there or after you've been around a few days it's NBD. (i'm speaking as someone who has lost their freeway-driving 'edge'. )

carpediemracing 

I started racing before I started driving.

I got my license and promptly got a speeding ticket. Thankfully I was driving a woefully underpowered Sentra (56 HP!) and my friend "dropped" me on a hill, which is of course a very familiar thing for me. I was in 4th, pedal to the floor, going about 85-87 mph, when I saw smoke pour from my friend's tires. He didn't have a Top Fuel dragster so it had to be him locking up his tires hitting the brakes. I slammed on the brakes. I was clocked going 70 in a 55, cost me probably a year in entry fees, trip to court, etc.

I used to think I was being more efficient if I got close enough to look out the next car's front windows. That way I'd be drafting AND I was safer because I could see what was coming up.

Apparently someone looks out for idiots because I made it through that period without hurting anyone.

Nowadays one thing is the "should I pass one more car before I move over" kind of thing. It's the "patience in a crit" feeling, like when can I make my move without being stupid about it (going 90 mph in the car or having to do a jump on the bike).

topflightpro

Yes, but have you pointed out a pothole while driving?

gsteinb

Thanks, folks.

Teton: I think I talked to you during a spell where I was getting loads of results, but no wins. At a certain point losing races for things other than form gets a bit frustrating. A good problem to have, for sure, but the reality is between me having a nice 5 win season and some other worldly 15 win season comes down to tactics.

I tend to drive really slow after races. My wife yelled at me sunday that we were never going to get home unless I tried to drive the speed limit.

Duke of Kent

Final two races of the season. Home STXC and XC races. Came to the conclusion that my body simply does not respond well racing in the morning. Unfortunately, collegiate races start between 8-10am without fail. For this reason, I won't be racing collegiate nationals.

While I did well enough, taking 4th and 3rd out of 16 racers, I never felt "good" during the races and was quite a bit slower on my home course than my normal afternoon lap times. I couldn't make my legs hurt, which was a very strange sensation. Just felt numb.

For comparison:

I've done three laps in a row on the course, in training, with climb times all 7:30 or below. On Sunday, I didn't crack 8:00 once. We did 4 laps Sunday, but I felt I had trained well enough to sustain at least a sub-8:00 pace up the climb on the 4th lap.

While I did race STXC on Saturday, I stack training days often enough that I don't feel this was a limiter in my performance. If anything, I usually feel better the second day.

The only remedy to this, as I see it, is to completely change my training routine to ride in the mornings.