carpediemracing 

The race last week that I did on my low volume riding schedule (16 hours in 2 months and a week). For the first time I added some info on the bike, using a picture I took at the race (and posted here under race rigs).

One former pro that I first raced "against" when we were Juniors, one former multiple national champ / Olympian that had literally never talked to me in the 30+ years I've been racing, some friends and regulars.

dayday82

I just shared the video, that's all. Other members were the ones who were pointing fingers, talking about lawsuits, etc. I've posted other crash videos in the past without all the drama so not my fault.

furiousferret

Enjoyed the video CDR!

zitter

video from the williams. good footage of the UHC crash too

jmikami

Quote from video ... bike is good on 6+ hour rides

um, most of us state number of hours per ride, not month when making that claim

Thanks for posting your videos and glad you were able to nab another low volume podium.

carpediemracing 

Heh. I think the longest I've ridden (on one ride) with that stem is I think about 5 hours, but with the drops in the same place (i.e. old bars), 9?, and so I figured 6 hours was a safe number.

Just to be fair/clear this was that low volume bronze I'd mentioned before. I have some other low volume field sprint wins but not much else and definitely no podiums. Well maybe a 5th or a 7th or something like that, but not a 3rd or higher. Okay, I just checked, I got a 4th this year, at Bethel (as well as 29th, 12th, 7th - won field sprint, 9th, 15th - won field sprint). Outside of Bethel I only raced Nutmeg and a Ninigret ("Mystic") and at the latter I got 9th in a mistake-laden last lap.

Hermes

CDR, I liked the vid and the annotation. That kind of composition and editing takes time to get it right. You did seem to end up on the windy side of the peloton more than I thought you would. However, the competition does not always give you what you want.

carpediemracing 

Thanks.

The video took basically all my free time this past week since I transferred the files to my computer. Sunday I worked a race and Monday I was doing a lot of follow up work, but Monday evening I thought of the story/theme, pulled the video I wanted, and that started the framework. I worked a couple hours each night, one night I was up really late (1 AM?). The version online is the 5th version of the clip, the first 3 were significantly altered - the first version was terrible, the last two were mainly typos and filling in some missing info in the credits (missed a rider or put them in the wrong order). The promoter made a point of asking me when I'd put the clip up and so I decided to push a bit. Plus I'd finished all the trailer work etc so I had time again. I finished the last version Sunday; I figure I have 15-20 hours in this one, plus the computer time. Computer time means importing files to iMovie, "sharing" aka creating the clip from iMovie five times, and then uploading to YouTube, each of which are overnight or multi-hour jobs for my computer, drives, and internet connection. Relatively speaking this was quick, simple. I noticed a few things I'd change on the live clip if I could but it's okay, it's out there now.

There's usually a back story to my choices in terms of editing. In this case I've been trying to hammer home the idea of sheltering to the side. Many local riders I know try to shelter by riding behind someone, not realizing that the wind isn't really hitting them head on. This relates to the Tuesday Night races where I'm trying to help the new racers. I even have a Cat 3 teammate that even when he knows which side the wind is on he still messes it up, and then says "I knew the wind from from there but I kept forgetting to set up for it". Then he gets shelled and demoralized.

Therefore I tried to find situations where I screwed up the shelter thing and tried to correct things.

Also, at that same course, I've jumped into the wind side for a bunch of previous sprints, and it really irked me that I made such errors. This time I did it right, waiting enough to get to the correct side, even though I felt like I was running out of time. Had someone asked me when I jumped I'd have said "about 50-75 feet after I got shelter". I didn't realize I jumped at pretty much the same time I got to shelter.

I didn't have room to say it but a big part of the sheltered jump was that I used the four riders to the right front of me as shelter as I got up to speed. My guess (no confirmation) is that at least one of them went right to go after me, and that would have really blocked things up for the field. As soon as someone jumped right they'd have basically hit an aerodynamic brick wall. After I made sure there was no one behind me (for safety but also to deny them shelter) I went to the right curb. Had someone been just a bit behind me I'd have stayed left so they'd have to pass on the wind side, and I probably would have eased to give myself a second jump. Since I was totally clear I went for it.

I don't have pictures but it seems I won the field sprint by a safe margin, considering the others didn't pass me for at least 45 seconds after the line and I just coasted/soft pedaled. Ian, who placed just behind me, was the first one to roll up to me, and he rolled up to me in the first curve/corner.

I mention all that not necessarily because you'd want to know but to try and help those that watch the clip and try to relate it to their own races/situations.

mattm

From a socal crit a few weeks ago - love how Holloway just BLOWS by everyone at the end!

Now that's a sprint.

globecanvas

Kid pushes a big gear.

jmikami

I am sure that most have seen this (Stage 5 of the Tour de Suisse) by now, but this seems to be exactly how I feel when riding in the front half of the group. Seems like everyone wants better position than they have.

mattm

Burlingame p/1/2. They took us to school!

shovelhd

Talk about a technical course.

Ygduf

I recognize those dudes now. Weird.

zitter

video from Sunday's race. circuit race featured a nasty 1km dirt section. you can see me avoid the crash at 1:35 by riding/flying over a guys bike. unclipped and dropped my chain, had to burn a couple matches catching back on as it was only the 2nd or 3rd lap of 8

hack

I'm guessing they took notes on UHC during their visit to Tulsa.

shovelhd

I hate that rolling chop-a-thon racing. Hate it.

mattm

ha that's because you're one of us!

its a good feeling though to realize they're just humans like us.. for the most part.

Wylde06

Last 2 laps from a couple weeks ago. Could have done a few things different (stick to wheels a little better), but overall im happy with this race

carpediemracing 

The crash after the finish - someone go straight or turn off or something?

Stick to wheels better, as you say. Even if you're off to one side 1-2' while being 1-3' behind, it's better than being 5'-10' behind. A lot of times one side will be more sheltered than the other, so for example if the wind is slightly from the left then sit 1-2' to the right side and slide up as close as possible to the rear wheel. For my helmet cam clips if I can't see the whole rear wheel on the screen then I'm in about the right territory. If you can find someone trustworthy to follow it might be worth it just to sit on their wheel for 5 laps at a time and try to stay closer. You want someone that stays seated most of the time, holds a good line, and doesn't panic easily. When I was learning it was one of my bigger teammates, he didn't have any jump so he was perfect to follow. He stayed seated almost all the time so that was also good - in fact he almost never made out of saddle efforts until we started racing together collegiately and I taught him how to rock the bike more.

Also if the inside is clear on a turn don't be afraid of cutting the corner. It looked like there were a couple turns where there was no one to your inside. You could have taken a much more aggressive line, like one you'd take if you were riding alone, and been closer to the wheels at the turn exit. The "turn parallel to everyone else's line" only applies if they're next to or behind you. If you're clear of them then forget it, you can dive a corner. Just check to make sure you're clear first.

A good thing is that you don't seem to look down. Either that or your camera is pointed really high Seriously, though, you're riding with your head up. It's better than me, a lot of times my footage is all butts and ankles because I'm so redlined.

Wylde06

I was talking to the guy that went down first after the race. He said he remembers seeing a crack in the road and a rock then the next thing he remembers is getting up off the ground. The guy behind him locked up brakes.

From what I remember (I will upload the rest of the race tonight) I was sticking to one or 2 riders wheels for a few laps at a time during the race. I will have to watch the video to be sure but thats what I remember. It is something that I am definitely working on. I was a lot better at the end of my cat 5 season and the beginning of last year, but after a guy slammed his brakes in a corner taking me out last May, it has taken me much longer than I anticipated to get comfortable again close in the pack and shrink my "sphere", especially in turns. By the end of this race I was starting to feel pretty comfortable.


I kept telling myself this everytime I did that. There were a few times where I took an unneccesarily wide line.

When I first got the helmet mount for my camera earlier this year I had it set way too low then I saw a picture I think of you and moved it back.

https://www.shellhamerphotography.com.../RtB-991-L.jpg

As long as im not off the back I try to keep my head up (for obvious reason)

carpediemracing 

I think it's great that you keep your head up. I'm not as good with that and sometimes I get surprised, even almost missing a turn in point here and there in crits. No excuses for me, so it's good not to see that in someone else's riding.

The picture is a good illustration of the potential of riding closer to the side of another rider. If you can park yourself on their quarter, like 7 o'clock or 5 o'clock, and just copy what they're doing, you'll probably be in good shape. In the picture you're a distant 4 o'clock. If you could have planted your front wheel where that "<" shaped line is on the pavement, pointing to the rider's rear wheel (under the "ME" of the watermark), you'd be about 1-2' to the right and just behind the rider in red. To do this it might help to look down just before you enter a corner, to see who is to your 4/8 o'clock, i.e. just behind but to the side of you. If there's no one there you should move in a bit. If you're already on someone's 5/7 o'clock then just stay there, 1-2' to the side, 1-3' back.

I seem to choose the outside line nowadays but before I'd want to be to the inside. I think both have their merits. In high speed corners the outside collects the crashes so that's the reason for staying inside. On the other hand I seem to be able to find myself inside of the stuff as it slides out (it helps that I'll back off a bit if something doesn't seem right) so being more outside isn't really a problem for me.

jsutkeepspining

I'm going to echo what CDR said. You spend too much time way out of the draft. If you can stay super duper close to wheels. It will save more energy then you can imagine, and hard efforts will suddenly become soft pedaling exercises (i've ridden wheels coming into a sprint at like 35+ mph where i'm so close to the wheel in front that i don't even have to put weight on the pedals).

Also cornering. You seem to be losing speed/position in every corner. This shouldn't be the case especially considering how wide the field is. if anything you should be charging into holes every corner so the out of the corner jump is easier.

I might hook my virb up tonight for my training race, but i don't think it would be very interesting

globecanvas

Sorry to pile on, but yeah, you are basically riding solo. The problem with dangling off the back of the pack is the riders in front of you are not going to be very predictable and confidence inspiring, which prevents you from getting right up on their wheels, so it becomes a bad feedback loop. If you can get yourself right into the pack, wheels will be more predictable and easier to follow.

Spend some mental concentration to save a lot of physical effort. If you are in the right situation on the right wheel, you can get literally inches off that wheel and you just get sucked right along. It takes a lot of focus though.

jsutkeepspining

Here's the last two laps of our weekly training crit. I missed/let the break go (I had a teammate in the break ). Luckily everyone was content with going slow during the rest of the crit, so my upset stomach and sore body could somehow cling on. Yes i did break 39 in the sprint, cross checked with the srm says 39.5 mph top speed in the sprint into a minor headwind. Enjoy.