Category: W4
Field Size: 39
Length: 48 miles
Teammates: Nancy
Places: 2nd (me) and 10th (Nancy)
The course was largely flat with a couple of small rises throughout and a few larger rollers in the last 5 miles of the 24 mile loop. Road quality was good in some stretches, rough for most of it, and downright bumpy in parts. There were a lot of potholes in the road, as well as some stretches with a lot of cracks in the road that made it very bumpy. As a result, we had to spend the whole race in the drops, which reminded me that I need to go back to stretching my hamstrings more often, since riding in the drops for 2 hours makes my lower back very sore. Anyway, nothing exciting happened in the first lap, though it was nice to be able to see the last 5 miles so that Nancy and I could plan our move. Near the beginning of the second lap a small bunch of girls, I think mostly from the Stevens team, decided to up the pace a bit. I think they were trying for a breakaway, since I had to really sprint to catch up (they attacked on a corner), but enough of the pack responded that all it amounted to was a fast couple of minutes. I realized during that effort that although my legs felt fine keeping up a steady pace, they were really tired when I tried to bring up the speed to chase. I think that the sprinting on Saturday tired me out more than I realized, and I also didn't recover properly, since I was outside the whole day watching the other races (my boyfriend Jose did the Pro/1/2 race, which started around 2:45pm). Anyway, next, disaster struck - I saw Nancy pull over and stop. I could only assume that she had a flat and hope that she could swap out her wheel fast enough that she could still chase and get back on. I tried to look back for her, but I couldn't afford to stay in the back of the pack forever, and I couldn't drop back to help her chase if I couldn't see her, since I didn't know what had happened. Luckily, it turned out that she had gotten a large clump of packing tape stuck between a wheel and her brakes, which had made her think she had a flat. I'm still confused as to where the tape came from. Anyway, she got going again pretty quickly and caught the pack after chasing for 25 minutes. I was so happy to see her when she caught back on, she did a fantastic job chasing us down. I had been slightly disappointed that no one was pushing the pace in the pack, but I was glad that they didn't because it helped Nancy get back on. In the last 10 miles or so, the mentor who was with us tried to tell us to start upping the pace, but I think people were either tired or lazy, and we didn't speed up very much. Since I was being lazy at that point and trying to save my energy for the end, I can't really blame them. There were a couple of small moves near the enough though, especially when we hit the rollers. I was actually marked out by one of the Stevens girls who recognized me from some of the races that I've done well at, and she warned her teammates that I was going to sprint up the left side and that they had better go with with me. Well, little did they know that even though I had planned on making a move a few miles later, I found that my legs simply didn't have it in them, my top end was too dead to pull it off. So we went to the finish pretty much in a pack. One girl got off the front with probably 0.5 km to go, and I couldn't catch her. I barely even made it back to the front of the pack by the last kilometer, since I'd gotten boxed in a little ways back. I still managed to pick up the pace enough at the end to snatch second place by a wheel, but I was still at least 5m back from the winner. Nancy still managed to snag 10th place, which I think was phenomenal considering her bad luck earlier and the lack of help from me. So it looks like we're very good at coming up with plans, but not I'm not so good at executing them successfully. I guess I'll just have to keep practicing :-)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Merco Grand Prix Crit 3/6/2010
Category: W4
Field Size: 26
Length: 21 laps (0.8 each)
Teammates: Nancy
Places: 1st (me) and 9th (Nancy)
The course was nice and flat, with 6 corners and a chicane. The corners were nice and wide, so it wasn't too crowded on the course with our small field (unlike the Men's Pro/1/2 race with the full 125 racers). Road quality was pretty good, with some Botts dots everywhere and somewhat rougher pavement on the chicane. In our 21 laps, there were 6 primes, which was really nice because I think it helped keep the pace a little faster and safer, since every couple of laps we'd get people attacking to line up a nice sprint for the prime. I managed to win the 2nd and 6th primes, which I decided to go for mostly because I wasn't always comfortable in the back of the pack. There weren't any serious breakaway attempts, since the pack responded quickly to the few times that someone made a move. I actually spent a lot of time at or near the front of the pack in an attempt to really drive the pace, because I knew that if the pace was too slow, not only would it be more dangerous, but the pack would be too fresh at the end for me to make a move with Nancy. Unfortunately, no one wanted to pull the pack at a decent pace, even though we did speed up in the last 5 or so laps, so I ended up deciding to just push the pace on the front for the last two laps before making a final sprint on the home stretch to win by a length. I think I succeeded in stringing out the pack a bit, but unfortunately I was never in a good enough position next to Nancy that we could make a break for it instead, since I was already up front. I also knew that with a few laps to go, if I stayed near the front but the front riders got tired and stayed there (as often happens it seems), we'd get boxed in by the entire pack coming around us on both sides, destroying any chance we had to make a break for it. So I guess that I learned that I need to figure out how to anticipate the moves within the pack a little better so I can avoid getting stuck behind slower riders. I also need to work on being aware of where my teammate is and do a better job setting up for a move. Even with a less than ideal setup for the finish, Nancy did well in the field sprint by staying near the front, so all in all, I think it was a good race experience for both of us.
Also worth noting is that this race was the best organized one I've seen yet. There was an announcer who kept up a commentary on the current race, as well as sharing interesting tidbits about racers or things going on in the cycling world. The street corners were blocked off with trailers from semi trucks, making it absolutely impossible for a vehicle to get on the course by accident. The front straightaway had fencing on both sides, about a yard into the street, to make room for people watching as well as to better control when/where people could cross the course. In addition to being well set up, it was clearly well sponsored (mainly by the Merco Credit Union), since even the Cat 4 Women got cash prizes for the first 10 places. I won $50 for first place! I also got a trophy, in the form of an engraved and painted river rock, as well as a champion's jersey. The prizes for our primes weren't cash, but they were worth three boxes of energy bars (some combination of Clif, Luna, and Mojo). Winning felt a lot more special when I actually won something besides bragging rights, since the other races I've done haven't actually bothered with podiums or real prizes.
Field Size: 26
Length: 21 laps (0.8 each)
Teammates: Nancy
Places: 1st (me) and 9th (Nancy)
The course was nice and flat, with 6 corners and a chicane. The corners were nice and wide, so it wasn't too crowded on the course with our small field (unlike the Men's Pro/1/2 race with the full 125 racers). Road quality was pretty good, with some Botts dots everywhere and somewhat rougher pavement on the chicane. In our 21 laps, there were 6 primes, which was really nice because I think it helped keep the pace a little faster and safer, since every couple of laps we'd get people attacking to line up a nice sprint for the prime. I managed to win the 2nd and 6th primes, which I decided to go for mostly because I wasn't always comfortable in the back of the pack. There weren't any serious breakaway attempts, since the pack responded quickly to the few times that someone made a move. I actually spent a lot of time at or near the front of the pack in an attempt to really drive the pace, because I knew that if the pace was too slow, not only would it be more dangerous, but the pack would be too fresh at the end for me to make a move with Nancy. Unfortunately, no one wanted to pull the pack at a decent pace, even though we did speed up in the last 5 or so laps, so I ended up deciding to just push the pace on the front for the last two laps before making a final sprint on the home stretch to win by a length. I think I succeeded in stringing out the pack a bit, but unfortunately I was never in a good enough position next to Nancy that we could make a break for it instead, since I was already up front. I also knew that with a few laps to go, if I stayed near the front but the front riders got tired and stayed there (as often happens it seems), we'd get boxed in by the entire pack coming around us on both sides, destroying any chance we had to make a break for it. So I guess that I learned that I need to figure out how to anticipate the moves within the pack a little better so I can avoid getting stuck behind slower riders. I also need to work on being aware of where my teammate is and do a better job setting up for a move. Even with a less than ideal setup for the finish, Nancy did well in the field sprint by staying near the front, so all in all, I think it was a good race experience for both of us.
Also worth noting is that this race was the best organized one I've seen yet. There was an announcer who kept up a commentary on the current race, as well as sharing interesting tidbits about racers or things going on in the cycling world. The street corners were blocked off with trailers from semi trucks, making it absolutely impossible for a vehicle to get on the course by accident. The front straightaway had fencing on both sides, about a yard into the street, to make room for people watching as well as to better control when/where people could cross the course. In addition to being well set up, it was clearly well sponsored (mainly by the Merco Credit Union), since even the Cat 4 Women got cash prizes for the first 10 places. I won $50 for first place! I also got a trophy, in the form of an engraved and painted river rock, as well as a champion's jersey. The prizes for our primes weren't cash, but they were worth three boxes of energy bars (some combination of Clif, Luna, and Mojo). Winning felt a lot more special when I actually won something besides bragging rights, since the other races I've done haven't actually bothered with podiums or real prizes.
Merced Crit 2/28/2010
Category: W4
Field Size: 22
Length: 20 laps
Teammates: Heather and Nancy
Place: 5th (Heather), 8th (Nancy), and DNP (me)
The Merced Crit course had 3 right turns plus a loop around the courthouse with a chicane right after. Road quality was decent, although there were some bumps all around the courthouse. The race course was crowded though, due to the fact that the race organizers scheduled one time slot for 22 Cat 4 women, 10 Cat 3 women, and 20 Cat 1/2 women. They ended up starting the 1/2/3 women in one group, then 30 seconds later the 4 women. We got passed once, but the race also ended a couple of laps early for the 4's field to avoid field overlap at the finish. Unfortunately, my race ended even earlier. With about 6 laps to go, I crashed on the second corner. I was about seventh in the line at the front of the pack, and I was distracted by seeing the first rider around the corner hit the lip of the gutter and nearly go down. Unfortunately, since she had taken a bad line, and I had been watching her, I accidentally took the same line and was down before I knew it. I tried to spring back up and get on my bike, but a half second after standing up the pain kicked in - I had road rash on my right upper thigh. Instead, I rode back to the start hoping that there were enough laps left to get back in by taking a free lap, but there were only five left. They had the medic lady clean my wound, and neither of us realized that I had another scrape until noticed a hole in my sock. I had also scraped a layer of skin off of my ankle, on the bony part that sticks out. I hadn't even noticed the pain since I was paying much more attention to the larger wound. Anyway, I got cleaned up just in time to watch Nancy and Heather in the final sprint. I saw Nancy going up the center just behind a couple of others, then I noticed that Heather was sneaking around the right side to snatch 5th place. I later learned that Heather had actually lost one of her contacts and rode the last lap half blind, so well done Heather!
I was disappointed that I crashed, since I think I could have placed well or won, but it wasn't the end of the world. I knew that I'd have plenty of other races to do, so there was no point in getting all upset. Dwelling on the past is no way to move forward in life - or bike racing! I've been learning something from every race I do, and I think the lesson this time was to pay better attention and to not blindly trust the choices that other people (especially Cat 4's) make on corners.
Field Size: 22
Length: 20 laps
Teammates: Heather and Nancy
Place: 5th (Heather), 8th (Nancy), and DNP (me)
The Merced Crit course had 3 right turns plus a loop around the courthouse with a chicane right after. Road quality was decent, although there were some bumps all around the courthouse. The race course was crowded though, due to the fact that the race organizers scheduled one time slot for 22 Cat 4 women, 10 Cat 3 women, and 20 Cat 1/2 women. They ended up starting the 1/2/3 women in one group, then 30 seconds later the 4 women. We got passed once, but the race also ended a couple of laps early for the 4's field to avoid field overlap at the finish. Unfortunately, my race ended even earlier. With about 6 laps to go, I crashed on the second corner. I was about seventh in the line at the front of the pack, and I was distracted by seeing the first rider around the corner hit the lip of the gutter and nearly go down. Unfortunately, since she had taken a bad line, and I had been watching her, I accidentally took the same line and was down before I knew it. I tried to spring back up and get on my bike, but a half second after standing up the pain kicked in - I had road rash on my right upper thigh. Instead, I rode back to the start hoping that there were enough laps left to get back in by taking a free lap, but there were only five left. They had the medic lady clean my wound, and neither of us realized that I had another scrape until noticed a hole in my sock. I had also scraped a layer of skin off of my ankle, on the bony part that sticks out. I hadn't even noticed the pain since I was paying much more attention to the larger wound. Anyway, I got cleaned up just in time to watch Nancy and Heather in the final sprint. I saw Nancy going up the center just behind a couple of others, then I noticed that Heather was sneaking around the right side to snatch 5th place. I later learned that Heather had actually lost one of her contacts and rode the last lap half blind, so well done Heather!
I was disappointed that I crashed, since I think I could have placed well or won, but it wasn't the end of the world. I knew that I'd have plenty of other races to do, so there was no point in getting all upset. Dwelling on the past is no way to move forward in life - or bike racing! I've been learning something from every race I do, and I think the lesson this time was to pay better attention and to not blindly trust the choices that other people (especially Cat 4's) make on corners.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Cal Poly Classic Crit 2/21/2010
Category: W4/3
Field Size: 14
Length: 40 minutes
Place: 3rd
I went searching for a race last weekend and found that I only had to drive 200 miles to San Luis Obispo to get to one! Since Jose and I just bought our first car (a 1999 Subaru Outback) last Thursday specifically so that we could get to races easier, we decided to drive down. The Cal Poly Classic was a very tough crit. It was half uphill, half downhill, and part of that uphill was rather steep. There were two 90 degree right turns right after each other (not quite a u-turn, but maybe 20 meters between them?) on the downhill part, which was insane. There was one Cat 1 woman in our race, since she was the only one preregistered for the 1/2 race, although she raced again when 4 others showed up. A couple of laps in, the Cat 1 and two others managed to make a break, and I ended up chasing them the rest of the time. For a few laps, I had a SoCal girl almost behind me, which I knew only because people would cheer for her as I went by, but I barely saw her, since I wasn't looking back. I dropped her, and at 10 laps to go, I was 21 seconds back on the 3 leaders. For the next 5 laps, I gained on them (Jose was yelling out how far behind I was every lap), up to only 12 seconds back, and I could see them getting closer. Unfortunately, I couldn't sustain the pace, and I lost concentration on the corners, so I slowly lost time back to probably 20 seconds back until the finish. I found that the 5 or so laps that I was gaining, I took very good lines through the downhill corners, but I'm not great at cornering, so on all of the other laps I ended up having to brake more (I always had to brake, since I didn't want to slide out or go over the hay bales). Part of my difficulty on the corners was due what I thought was a nasty bump in the road exactly where I thought the otherwise best line would take me, so I had to experiment with other lines. Along the way, I lapped at least 3 riders, but I didn't really know where the rest of the ladies were. What I didn't know the whole way was that I was 20 seconds behind the leaders and 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. It was a fight the whole way to try to maintain my distance to the leaders, but I think I'm glad that I didn't know where the pack was. Going it alone was totally worth my 3rd place finish (4th technically, but the Cat 1 doesn't count). It was a really good learning experience for me, since I got some great cornering experience.
Field Size: 14
Length: 40 minutes
Place: 3rd
I went searching for a race last weekend and found that I only had to drive 200 miles to San Luis Obispo to get to one! Since Jose and I just bought our first car (a 1999 Subaru Outback) last Thursday specifically so that we could get to races easier, we decided to drive down. The Cal Poly Classic was a very tough crit. It was half uphill, half downhill, and part of that uphill was rather steep. There were two 90 degree right turns right after each other (not quite a u-turn, but maybe 20 meters between them?) on the downhill part, which was insane. There was one Cat 1 woman in our race, since she was the only one preregistered for the 1/2 race, although she raced again when 4 others showed up. A couple of laps in, the Cat 1 and two others managed to make a break, and I ended up chasing them the rest of the time. For a few laps, I had a SoCal girl almost behind me, which I knew only because people would cheer for her as I went by, but I barely saw her, since I wasn't looking back. I dropped her, and at 10 laps to go, I was 21 seconds back on the 3 leaders. For the next 5 laps, I gained on them (Jose was yelling out how far behind I was every lap), up to only 12 seconds back, and I could see them getting closer. Unfortunately, I couldn't sustain the pace, and I lost concentration on the corners, so I slowly lost time back to probably 20 seconds back until the finish. I found that the 5 or so laps that I was gaining, I took very good lines through the downhill corners, but I'm not great at cornering, so on all of the other laps I ended up having to brake more (I always had to brake, since I didn't want to slide out or go over the hay bales). Part of my difficulty on the corners was due what I thought was a nasty bump in the road exactly where I thought the otherwise best line would take me, so I had to experiment with other lines. Along the way, I lapped at least 3 riders, but I didn't really know where the rest of the ladies were. What I didn't know the whole way was that I was 20 seconds behind the leaders and 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. It was a fight the whole way to try to maintain my distance to the leaders, but I think I'm glad that I didn't know where the pack was. Going it alone was totally worth my 3rd place finish (4th technically, but the Cat 1 doesn't count). It was a really good learning experience for me, since I got some great cornering experience.
Cantua Creek Road Race 2/13/2010
Category: W4
Field Size: 22
Length: 52 miles
Teammates: Nancy
Places: 1st (me) and 3rd (Nancy)
The Cantua Creek road race was 52 miles on a mostly flat course with some rolling hills and larger hill at the start/finish/turnaround. The course was 13 miles out, 13 back, 13 out, 13 back, so we got to climb the hill twice. The race was very boring for at least the first 39 miles, with the pace being very slow, and there being no serious attacks. As a result, the pack was a little dangerous at times, when half the pack would pass the other half because they got fed up with the slow pace. I think that for me the worst parts where when I was riding on the left side of the pack and people to my right would crowd me such that I had to either move forward (not usually any space), to my left (across the double yellow), or back. As a result, I spent a lot of time at the very back of the pack, which didn't worry me too much since it was obvious that nothing exciting was going to happen in the earlier parts. However, it was a very good learning experience for me, and I got some good practice moving up in the pack. The race only got interesting in the last 10 minutes (I'm not sure how many miles it was), and it was because I decided that it was finally time to make a move. I reasoned that there was no way that I would last in a breakaway for very long on the flat section, since the pack had been going so slowing that they had to have a lot of energy left, so I timed my move to be close to the end. I also wanted to avoid having the finish be decided by a bunch of fresh skinny people on an uphill, since I wasn't sure that I could beat them in a sprint. I attacked going into a small uphill with a big sprint, so that I managed to open up a sizable gap right away, since I didn't want to just pull the pack, and I knew that if I waited for someone to get on my wheel to go with, the whole pack would be with me. I was out front by myself for a couple of minutes, but I got caught by two other girls on an overpass. They had bridged to me and we still had some space on the rest of the field, though I wasn't looking back very much to check. Despite being caught, it was actually my salvation, as I was beginning to tire from my continued hard effort. I managed to draft the pair of them as we went over some of the remaining hills (the hills got bigger near the finish), and was soon rested enough to attack again. I knew that I needed to keep attacking and keep my pace up, as I think at that point we were slowing and some of the field was getting closer. I dropped the two ladies with me and went as hard as I could up the finishing climb. My attack had helped string out the pack and gave Nancy the chance to break away to follow me up the hill, along with one other girl, and I could hear Nancy cheering me on as we went up the final hill. I managed to hang onto my lead, and Nancy pulled off 3rd place, with the rest of the pack quite a ways behind us. So although the race started out being boring, it was a great finish for both of us - it was my first road race, and Nancy's first podium finish!
Field Size: 22
Length: 52 miles
Teammates: Nancy
Places: 1st (me) and 3rd (Nancy)
The Cantua Creek road race was 52 miles on a mostly flat course with some rolling hills and larger hill at the start/finish/turnaround. The course was 13 miles out, 13 back, 13 out, 13 back, so we got to climb the hill twice. The race was very boring for at least the first 39 miles, with the pace being very slow, and there being no serious attacks. As a result, the pack was a little dangerous at times, when half the pack would pass the other half because they got fed up with the slow pace. I think that for me the worst parts where when I was riding on the left side of the pack and people to my right would crowd me such that I had to either move forward (not usually any space), to my left (across the double yellow), or back. As a result, I spent a lot of time at the very back of the pack, which didn't worry me too much since it was obvious that nothing exciting was going to happen in the earlier parts. However, it was a very good learning experience for me, and I got some good practice moving up in the pack. The race only got interesting in the last 10 minutes (I'm not sure how many miles it was), and it was because I decided that it was finally time to make a move. I reasoned that there was no way that I would last in a breakaway for very long on the flat section, since the pack had been going so slowing that they had to have a lot of energy left, so I timed my move to be close to the end. I also wanted to avoid having the finish be decided by a bunch of fresh skinny people on an uphill, since I wasn't sure that I could beat them in a sprint. I attacked going into a small uphill with a big sprint, so that I managed to open up a sizable gap right away, since I didn't want to just pull the pack, and I knew that if I waited for someone to get on my wheel to go with, the whole pack would be with me. I was out front by myself for a couple of minutes, but I got caught by two other girls on an overpass. They had bridged to me and we still had some space on the rest of the field, though I wasn't looking back very much to check. Despite being caught, it was actually my salvation, as I was beginning to tire from my continued hard effort. I managed to draft the pair of them as we went over some of the remaining hills (the hills got bigger near the finish), and was soon rested enough to attack again. I knew that I needed to keep attacking and keep my pace up, as I think at that point we were slowing and some of the field was getting closer. I dropped the two ladies with me and went as hard as I could up the finishing climb. My attack had helped string out the pack and gave Nancy the chance to break away to follow me up the hill, along with one other girl, and I could hear Nancy cheering me on as we went up the final hill. I managed to hang onto my lead, and Nancy pulled off 3rd place, with the rest of the pack quite a ways behind us. So although the race started out being boring, it was a great finish for both of us - it was my first road race, and Nancy's first podium finish!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Cherry Pie Criterium 2/7/2010
Category: W4
Field Size: ~40
Length: 30 minutes
Teammates: Kira, Nancy, Heather
Place: 4th
The Cherry Pie crit course was about a mile long and mostly flat, except for a short uphill to the start/finish followed by a u-turn back down the hill. Road quality was decent but not great, and the corners were nothing special. The race started out reasonably well and the pace wasn't too slow. I made a stupid attack about halfway through, not realizing just how much of the race was left, and wasted a lot of energy to not really get anywhere. I also learned that I needed more practice maneuvering through the pack, since I kept getting pushed to the back, and that I need to practice cornering. While I wasn't in a great position going into the last lap, unfortunately Kira was in a worse position, and she ended up crashing because of another rider's incompetence through the downhill turn. I saw her go over her handlebars, but realized that I couldn't afford to get distracted or I would crash too. For the rest of the lap, I managed to slowly work my way forward, despite being blocked in most of the time, and in the end I broke free to sprint after the leaders to snatch a 4th place finish. After the race, we had to wait for Kira to be brought up the hill to see how she was, and we found her with a broken collarbone. Heal fast Kira, we want you back! On a (very slightly) happier note, Kira's bike was unharmed, her body having taken the brunt of the fall, so when she heals up she can get right back on.
Field Size: ~40
Length: 30 minutes
Teammates: Kira, Nancy, Heather
Place: 4th
The Cherry Pie crit course was about a mile long and mostly flat, except for a short uphill to the start/finish followed by a u-turn back down the hill. Road quality was decent but not great, and the corners were nothing special. The race started out reasonably well and the pace wasn't too slow. I made a stupid attack about halfway through, not realizing just how much of the race was left, and wasted a lot of energy to not really get anywhere. I also learned that I needed more practice maneuvering through the pack, since I kept getting pushed to the back, and that I need to practice cornering. While I wasn't in a great position going into the last lap, unfortunately Kira was in a worse position, and she ended up crashing because of another rider's incompetence through the downhill turn. I saw her go over her handlebars, but realized that I couldn't afford to get distracted or I would crash too. For the rest of the lap, I managed to slowly work my way forward, despite being blocked in most of the time, and in the end I broke free to sprint after the leaders to snatch a 4th place finish. After the race, we had to wait for Kira to be brought up the hill to see how she was, and we found her with a broken collarbone. Heal fast Kira, we want you back! On a (very slightly) happier note, Kira's bike was unharmed, her body having taken the brunt of the fall, so when she heals up she can get right back on.
Early Bird Training Series 1/3/2010-1/31/2010
The Early Bird Training Series was a set of short clinics followed by mentored practice criteriums. Every week, the clinic (which was about an hour long) focused on a different subject, and they built on as it went. Following the clinic, there were practice races for all categories, with the lower categories first, since it was mostly for our benefit. For the women's category 4 races, we did 40 minutes, and we were usually split into two fields that raced simultaneously - the experienced (those who'd done 10+ races) and the inexperienced. Being myself inexperienced, I always chose the latter. The course was a perfect training course, about a mile around with wide roads and nice wide turns. The road quality was quite nice, although there were Botts dots everywhere. Each week I had a nice 11 mile warmup, as I rode from Menlo Park to Fremont, across the Dumbarton Bridge. Here's a quick summary of how each week went.
#1 - 1/3/2010
The clinic the first week was a basic introduction to racing and pack skills. We were told that it's very important to stay relaxed and breathe calmly, so that when something unexpected happens, we don't freak out and overreact. Being relaxed also helps absorb bumps on the road. Also a very important lesson was to protect your front wheel, that your front wheel is your responsibility to keep safe. Predictable riding was also a key point, as sudden lateral movements can easily cause a crash, especially if someone behind you has their front wheel overlapped with your rear wheel. Don't overlap wheels was another guideline to follow. Also, ride in your drops during a crit or crowded road race, since you have better control in your drops and it also protects your bars from hooking on other people's bars.
The race was a lot of fun. We had probably 20 people in the inexperienced field, and with the wide course we weren't crowded at all. The corners were wide enough to pedal through, so the pack didn't have too much of a bungee effect. The pace was somewhat slow, and I stayed near the front as much as I could. I think I took off with about a quarter lap to go and dropped everyone for a solo win.
#2 - 1/10/2010
The next clinic was a lesson in how to take the turns. It wasn't quite a lesson in cornering, as they were teaching us the best line to take through turns that we could pedal through. The gist of it was that you should set up the turn by starting wide, then go to the inside as you go around the turn, then finish wide. By doing this, you can keep your momentum more effectively. They had us do drills on a corner with mentors standing in our way to make us take the correct line. We also practiced doing it in groups of up to six, so we could see how it was to follow other people through a turn.
The race was very similar to week one, and once again I stayed near the front most of the race. However, at point I was actually near the back and a couple people in front of me went down because there were squished between a curb and another rider, and I actually went down briefly. My bike and I were ok (so were the others), so I hopped up immediately and chased down the pack, with the help of a friendly mentor. After that I stayed up front and took off in the middle of the last lap for another win.
#3 - 1/17/2010
I think the third clinic was about filling in the gaps and moving through the field. We did a drill where we formed up a double pace line and the mentors would tell someone to let a gap open up in front of them, and then someone else would have to pass them to fill in the gap.
This week we combined the inexperienced field with the experienced since fewer people had shown up (it was threatening to rain and had been raining a little bit). The pace was maybe a little faster, but nothing too exciting happened until it started pouring down rain with 2 laps to go. At that point, I just got up front and pretty much took off with a lap to go, as I didn't trust myself or the other ladies to corner well in a pack in the pouring rain. Once again I won by a fair margin.
#5 - 1/31/2010
I skipped the fourth clinic/race due to a combination of lack of enough sleep for several nights in a row and the fact that it was 40 degrees and raining outside. They said that the fourth clinic talked about making breakaways and how to bridge a gap. The fifth clinic was partly review, and then we did a drill of a threaded paceline, where there was a line on the left and a line on the right, and the last riders in the lines would take turns passing everyone by going between the lines and then taking their turn on the front. This wasn't a situation that would happen in a real race, but it was giving us practice moving up between two riders.
The race this week was a bit bigger, since the final race of the series was a real race instead of a training race, so they actually recorded placings and it was good for upgrade points. The race was probably the fastest of the five, and more people were pushing the pace. After a group of about five of us almost made a break in the next to last lap, I found the perfect opening to gap the field for the last lap and I managed to hold everyone off until the end. A group of five or so tried to chase me down, but I still beat them.
So all in all, the Early Bird Training Series was a great experience for me. I got a lot of practice riding in a pack, learned some important skills, and figured out that I can go really fast for 500-1000 meters. I kept to that strategy for every race since I didn't know how I'd be in a field sprint. The whole experience got me super excited for bike racing, I had so much fun every week.
#1 - 1/3/2010
The clinic the first week was a basic introduction to racing and pack skills. We were told that it's very important to stay relaxed and breathe calmly, so that when something unexpected happens, we don't freak out and overreact. Being relaxed also helps absorb bumps on the road. Also a very important lesson was to protect your front wheel, that your front wheel is your responsibility to keep safe. Predictable riding was also a key point, as sudden lateral movements can easily cause a crash, especially if someone behind you has their front wheel overlapped with your rear wheel. Don't overlap wheels was another guideline to follow. Also, ride in your drops during a crit or crowded road race, since you have better control in your drops and it also protects your bars from hooking on other people's bars.
The race was a lot of fun. We had probably 20 people in the inexperienced field, and with the wide course we weren't crowded at all. The corners were wide enough to pedal through, so the pack didn't have too much of a bungee effect. The pace was somewhat slow, and I stayed near the front as much as I could. I think I took off with about a quarter lap to go and dropped everyone for a solo win.
#2 - 1/10/2010
The next clinic was a lesson in how to take the turns. It wasn't quite a lesson in cornering, as they were teaching us the best line to take through turns that we could pedal through. The gist of it was that you should set up the turn by starting wide, then go to the inside as you go around the turn, then finish wide. By doing this, you can keep your momentum more effectively. They had us do drills on a corner with mentors standing in our way to make us take the correct line. We also practiced doing it in groups of up to six, so we could see how it was to follow other people through a turn.
The race was very similar to week one, and once again I stayed near the front most of the race. However, at point I was actually near the back and a couple people in front of me went down because there were squished between a curb and another rider, and I actually went down briefly. My bike and I were ok (so were the others), so I hopped up immediately and chased down the pack, with the help of a friendly mentor. After that I stayed up front and took off in the middle of the last lap for another win.
#3 - 1/17/2010
I think the third clinic was about filling in the gaps and moving through the field. We did a drill where we formed up a double pace line and the mentors would tell someone to let a gap open up in front of them, and then someone else would have to pass them to fill in the gap.
This week we combined the inexperienced field with the experienced since fewer people had shown up (it was threatening to rain and had been raining a little bit). The pace was maybe a little faster, but nothing too exciting happened until it started pouring down rain with 2 laps to go. At that point, I just got up front and pretty much took off with a lap to go, as I didn't trust myself or the other ladies to corner well in a pack in the pouring rain. Once again I won by a fair margin.
#5 - 1/31/2010
I skipped the fourth clinic/race due to a combination of lack of enough sleep for several nights in a row and the fact that it was 40 degrees and raining outside. They said that the fourth clinic talked about making breakaways and how to bridge a gap. The fifth clinic was partly review, and then we did a drill of a threaded paceline, where there was a line on the left and a line on the right, and the last riders in the lines would take turns passing everyone by going between the lines and then taking their turn on the front. This wasn't a situation that would happen in a real race, but it was giving us practice moving up between two riders.
The race this week was a bit bigger, since the final race of the series was a real race instead of a training race, so they actually recorded placings and it was good for upgrade points. The race was probably the fastest of the five, and more people were pushing the pace. After a group of about five of us almost made a break in the next to last lap, I found the perfect opening to gap the field for the last lap and I managed to hold everyone off until the end. A group of five or so tried to chase me down, but I still beat them.
So all in all, the Early Bird Training Series was a great experience for me. I got a lot of practice riding in a pack, learned some important skills, and figured out that I can go really fast for 500-1000 meters. I kept to that strategy for every race since I didn't know how I'd be in a field sprint. The whole experience got me super excited for bike racing, I had so much fun every week.
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