2019 racing stories!
#376
Version 7.0
[MENTION=89773]TMonk[/MENTION] Booya. Great way to conclude the season. And I really like stealing the kids candy. Not so easy to do.
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#377
Senior Member
Awesome job tmonk! Enjoy your off season.
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#378
Killing Rabbits
I raced what is most-likely my final TNR (Tuesday Night Racing) at the San Diego Velodrome last week. Season ends in October. I'll show up to volunteer (lap cards) or hang out but I want to take it easy. I was reluctant to race last week, but I won the final 12 km scratch race!
#379
Senior Member
You're also more than likely bad in the context of who you're racing against (great bike handlers).
I asked 3x CX Champion about cornering and his recommendation for road was to ride around a baseball diamond (in MTB padding) and go progressively faster. Seems good as most bad cornerers are afraid of pushing their limits and this mitigates that fear factor.
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#381
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#382
Senior Member
#383
Senior Member
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#384
Had my surgery today. Went well, though the anesthesia kind of kicked my but.
Anyway, turns out my clavicle was broken into six pieces. Took some effort to really put it all back together.
Doc said I should recover well.
Anyway, turns out my clavicle was broken into six pieces. Took some effort to really put it all back together.
Doc said I should recover well.
#385
Did the technical A crit again, and again was dropped early. When I caught on a lap down, I stayed on for a fairly long time. I'm getting better at the turns, but I still am not very good. Was gapped and eventually dropped again. When the breakaway came around for the last time, I accelerated to film it, on the last lap. The 4 guys in the break include 1) masters state crit champ current, and former pro in Europe, 2) former pro, multi time national and world amateur champion, 3) current winner of one of the cat 1 Tulsa Tough races this year, and 4) another guy that has won many of the A crits locally this year.
#386
What are you looking at during your turns?
That doesn't look particularly technical. It appears to mostly be wide open, flat, 90-degree turns, though video can distort it?
That doesn't look particularly technical. It appears to mostly be wide open, flat, 90-degree turns, though video can distort it?
#387
it's a half mile course with 6 turns. I'm a cat 3, and I'm fine with C and B crit speeds on this course. The A crit speeds are much higher, and I'm uncomfortable turning at those speeds. For you experienced guys, it's easy and normal. For me, it's tough. I did better last night. For example, once I turned acutely and fast enough that my show scraped the pavement (must have been pedaling through that one). One junior racer in the A crit last night had a pedal strike and dumped it on the concrete. I try to look at the apex of the turn.
#388
Senior Member
Glad the surgery went well topflightpro. Hope the recovery isn't too bad.
#389
it's a half mile course with 6 turns. I'm a cat 3, and I'm fine with C and B crit speeds on this course. The A crit speeds are much higher, and I'm uncomfortable turning at those speeds. For you experienced guys, it's easy and normal. For me, it's tough. I did better last night. For example, once I turned acutely and fast enough that my show scraped the pavement (must have been pedaling through that one). One junior racer in the A crit last night had a pedal strike and dumped it on the concrete. I try to look at the apex of the turn.
#390
Senior Member
I did the last Tuesday PIR Cat 1/2/3 race of the season, and the last road race for me (17 lap points race on a 1.9 mi auto race track). It was a meh race. I popped up to the front and tried to get in a break 3 times, but none of them really broke the elastic and I didn't have the legs to go with counter attacks as they went. I worked my way near the front with 2 to go, then with 1/2 lap to go I jumped on an attackers wheel. The whole pack stayed with us and when the attacker pulled over and slowed I ended up on front, with my team's best sprinter on my wheel with about 700 meters to go which was way too early. I gave it what I had, but with 400m to go or so a group came by moving much faster than I could hold and as I faded it forced my sprinter to come around me, which was much too early for him. So, I'm happy I got forward and in the mix at the end, but didn't have the legs and the timing to help the team to a good finish. End of road season. Looking forward to CX.
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#391
Senior Member
Looks like a clipped pedal caused the rear wheel to slide. Then the rider tried to correct and went high side. It could be the sliding wheel caught a crack or something in the pavement sending him high side. Always hard to watch a crash. Hope the grass was soft enough that he came out with just scrapes.
#392
No matches
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 11,647
Bikes: two wheeled ones
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Looks like a clipped pedal caused the rear wheel to slide. Then the rider tried to correct and went high side. It could be the sliding wheel caught a crack or something in the pavement sending him high side. Always hard to watch a crash. Hope the grass was soft enough that he came out with just scrapes.
#393
good luck with the recovery, don’t get too bored. between the Vuelta & Audible you should be ok right?
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#394
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Southern California, USA
Posts: 10,499
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
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Not road racing. But not so may that read MTB and it could happen on road.
Junior continues with his equipment challenges. Just happened today in a MTB race (Granby Ore Digger)
So far the stock stuff has proven to break more than the trick stuff.
He also continues to stay upright, which I'm thankful for. He did not finish the race.
Junior continues with his equipment challenges. Just happened today in a MTB race (Granby Ore Digger)
So far the stock stuff has proven to break more than the trick stuff.
He also continues to stay upright, which I'm thankful for. He did not finish the race.
#395
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 11,647
Bikes: two wheeled ones
Liked 444 Times
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250 Posts
Not road racing. But not so may that read MTB and it could happen on road.
Junior continues with his equipment challenges. Just happened today in a MTB race (Granby Ore Digger)
So far the stock stuff has proven to break more than the trick stuff.
He also continues to stay upright, which I'm thankful for. He did not finish the race.
Junior continues with his equipment challenges. Just happened today in a MTB race (Granby Ore Digger)
So far the stock stuff has proven to break more than the trick stuff.
He also continues to stay upright, which I'm thankful for. He did not finish the race.
#398
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Southern California, USA
Posts: 10,499
Bikes: 1979 Raleigh Team 753
Liked 380 Times
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259 Posts
I've seen seat posts, bars, rims clean snap a few times. Carbon I have seen break, but never a snap. They get soft, crack but seems there is more warning.
Obviously everything should be properly engineered for the purpose. Equipment should not break outside a crash, mis-install, or a really large rider.
If they sell it as racing stuff - it should not break when used by racers, in a race. There seems to be an issue that since most consumers that buy racing stuff don't use that stuff in a race, the mfg likes to sell for things folks buy. Weight, color, brand. Just that when in a non-crash you can break parts off the bike (as mentioned, not the first time), that is not a good thing. Maybe there should be labels, "No, really OK to race with this".
I was pushing he get the Extralite bars as a replacement. They do 25.4 as they argue the thickness and stem/bar angles are better. They also weigh under 100g. All their stuff is way lighter and sturdier in our experience.
Anyway they were too narrow, so I think we went with an ENVE carbon bar. I do not expect any more bar issues, however I do expect something else.
Obviously everything should be properly engineered for the purpose. Equipment should not break outside a crash, mis-install, or a really large rider.
If they sell it as racing stuff - it should not break when used by racers, in a race. There seems to be an issue that since most consumers that buy racing stuff don't use that stuff in a race, the mfg likes to sell for things folks buy. Weight, color, brand. Just that when in a non-crash you can break parts off the bike (as mentioned, not the first time), that is not a good thing. Maybe there should be labels, "No, really OK to race with this".
I was pushing he get the Extralite bars as a replacement. They do 25.4 as they argue the thickness and stem/bar angles are better. They also weigh under 100g. All their stuff is way lighter and sturdier in our experience.
Anyway they were too narrow, so I think we went with an ENVE carbon bar. I do not expect any more bar issues, however I do expect something else.
#399
I've seen seat posts, bars, rims clean snap a few times. Carbon I have seen break, but never a snap. They get soft, crack but seems there is more warning.
Obviously everything should be properly engineered for the purpose. Equipment should not break outside a crash, mis-install, or a really large rider.
If they sell it as racing stuff - it should not break when used by racers, in a race. There seems to be an issue that since most consumers that buy racing stuff don't use that stuff in a race, the mfg likes to sell for things folks buy. Weight, color, brand. Just that when in a non-crash you can break parts off the bike (as mentioned, not the first time), that is not a good thing. Maybe there should be labels, "No, really OK to race with this".
I was pushing he get the Extralite bars as a replacement. They do 25.4 as they argue the thickness and stem/bar angles are better. They also weigh under 100g. All their stuff is way lighter and sturdier in our experience.
Anyway they were too narrow, so I think we went with an ENVE carbon bar. I do not expect any more bar issues, however I do expect something else.
Obviously everything should be properly engineered for the purpose. Equipment should not break outside a crash, mis-install, or a really large rider.
If they sell it as racing stuff - it should not break when used by racers, in a race. There seems to be an issue that since most consumers that buy racing stuff don't use that stuff in a race, the mfg likes to sell for things folks buy. Weight, color, brand. Just that when in a non-crash you can break parts off the bike (as mentioned, not the first time), that is not a good thing. Maybe there should be labels, "No, really OK to race with this".
I was pushing he get the Extralite bars as a replacement. They do 25.4 as they argue the thickness and stem/bar angles are better. They also weigh under 100g. All their stuff is way lighter and sturdier in our experience.
Anyway they were too narrow, so I think we went with an ENVE carbon bar. I do not expect any more bar issues, however I do expect something else.
#400
Tuesday Night Crit, A race. This is the non-technical oval-ish type crit. It's the last one of the year, and the first time I have done it in a couple of months, and first time this year I did only the A instead of A+B. Low wind day and unusual direction, so more of a chance of a bunch finish. I sat in for first 20 minutes, letting other people bring back attempted breaks. A break of 3 riders had gone up the road and was off the front for a couple of laps. But the bunch was getting closer to them. My one teammate in the race lifted his arm and pointed forward. I was in the back. My plan was to just sit in and wait for a possible sprint, while my teammate the breakaway specialist could maybe get in a break. After he raised his arm, I rode up to him, and he told me to attack and try to bridge up. So I was considering this, and thinking about what part of the course might be the best moment (maybe not in a headwind). I had drifted back again, and then Jesus on another team attacked from the back, and I was able to immediately get on his wheel. He covered half the gap, I came around and covered the 2nd half. Always follow Jesus. And then it was a break of 5. The break had been perhaps 25 seconds up the road. Somebody told me 30 seconds, but I think it was less.
We had good team representation. All the major teams represented, but not the strongest guys of each team. So we were sort of the "B level" breakaway. We continued to stay away and work together. Then another rider from the strongest team bridged up, and I thought we were done for. He did not take pulls and just sat on. While his teammate was opening gaps and not working hard, either struggling or playing games. At one point a teammate on the sideline said we had a 30 second gap. Later I was told we had perhaps a 0.67 mile lead. The issue was that it was dark, and I had my shades on (and no contacts), and I could not see what the gap was when I looked back.
With 5 laps to go, Jesus was urging us to work harder in the break. He was taking hard pulls. In my pulls, I was going 350w, often in the headwind area. It seemed like the other 2 guys weren't going as hard. And at that point we had the couple guys from the strongest team just sitting on. The group behind was chasing, but I couldn't tell where they were.
With one lap to go, I thought we maybe had it. With half lap to go, I was last wheel of 5, conserving energy and ready to sprint. I felt there was a possibility I could win the sprint given who was in it. Me winning the A crit would be amazing. Hard to come up with an analogy here of what an upset that would be. Right at this point, as we were going through the chicane, BOOM, the group catches us and is blowing past us. Turns out that the two strongest teams were chasing (despite having teammates in the break), they had rapidly closed the gap. I immediately hit the throttle and was 4th wheel, behind one of the strongest sprinters. I stayed on his wheel, tried to come around in the last corner, but could not pass him. Ended up 4th. Less than a bike length away from the podium.
Far different than the technical course where I am getting dropped within 10 minutes. Anyway, the result for me might have been better had I not gotten into the break. But I'm glad I did go for the break and got into it. It was a better learning experience. And gives me more confidence. And I'm pleased that I was able to get a 4th despite getting caught. That's my best finish ever in an A crit. I'll do a video later.
We had good team representation. All the major teams represented, but not the strongest guys of each team. So we were sort of the "B level" breakaway. We continued to stay away and work together. Then another rider from the strongest team bridged up, and I thought we were done for. He did not take pulls and just sat on. While his teammate was opening gaps and not working hard, either struggling or playing games. At one point a teammate on the sideline said we had a 30 second gap. Later I was told we had perhaps a 0.67 mile lead. The issue was that it was dark, and I had my shades on (and no contacts), and I could not see what the gap was when I looked back.
With 5 laps to go, Jesus was urging us to work harder in the break. He was taking hard pulls. In my pulls, I was going 350w, often in the headwind area. It seemed like the other 2 guys weren't going as hard. And at that point we had the couple guys from the strongest team just sitting on. The group behind was chasing, but I couldn't tell where they were.
With one lap to go, I thought we maybe had it. With half lap to go, I was last wheel of 5, conserving energy and ready to sprint. I felt there was a possibility I could win the sprint given who was in it. Me winning the A crit would be amazing. Hard to come up with an analogy here of what an upset that would be. Right at this point, as we were going through the chicane, BOOM, the group catches us and is blowing past us. Turns out that the two strongest teams were chasing (despite having teammates in the break), they had rapidly closed the gap. I immediately hit the throttle and was 4th wheel, behind one of the strongest sprinters. I stayed on his wheel, tried to come around in the last corner, but could not pass him. Ended up 4th. Less than a bike length away from the podium.
Far different than the technical course where I am getting dropped within 10 minutes. Anyway, the result for me might have been better had I not gotten into the break. But I'm glad I did go for the break and got into it. It was a better learning experience. And gives me more confidence. And I'm pleased that I was able to get a 4th despite getting caught. That's my best finish ever in an A crit. I'll do a video later.
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