Cold windy practice crit
Yesterday, I raced in the weekly practice crit. The forecast called for rain, and if it had been correct, I would have bailed. Rainy crits make me nervous. But it didn't and I didn't.
There are two races. First the 'B' race, then the 'A'. The organizers are always looking for racers to help corner guard the course. Since the whole thing is a volunteer effort, I organized traffic at corner 2 during the B race. That means I didn't warm up at all. After sitting in the cold wind, I did one lap, and it was time to race.
There were a lot of break attempts. I didn't initiate any, but I attempted a few ill-fated bridges. There were primes, but I couldn't go for any. On the last lap, I was in the pack. There were a few riders in a break. With half a lap to go, the pack inexplicably slowed down. If it was a real race, I would have waited it out, knowing that I'm weak at long finishes. But I seized the opportunity and went for it. I'm not sure if I ever got a gap or not, but I was giving it what I had. But by the final turn I was getting swarmed. I put my head down and held on for 9th or so.
There are two races. First the 'B' race, then the 'A'. The organizers are always looking for racers to help corner guard the course. Since the whole thing is a volunteer effort, I organized traffic at corner 2 during the B race. That means I didn't warm up at all. After sitting in the cold wind, I did one lap, and it was time to race.
There were a lot of break attempts. I didn't initiate any, but I attempted a few ill-fated bridges. There were primes, but I couldn't go for any. On the last lap, I was in the pack. There were a few riders in a break. With half a lap to go, the pack inexplicably slowed down. If it was a real race, I would have waited it out, knowing that I'm weak at long finishes. But I seized the opportunity and went for it. I'm not sure if I ever got a gap or not, but I was giving it what I had. But by the final turn I was getting swarmed. I put my head down and held on for 9th or so.
Labels: racing
Posted By posted by recursive on 10:18 AM
2 Comments:
Story time from one of the old timers (me): Back in '96 when *Lance* was preparing for the Atlanta Olympics, he rode in Superweek. I saw him a number of times, but up in Sheboygan I remember him parking himself in a lawn chair before the race, signing autographs. No warm up, he just hung out. The first 10 laps of the race must have been his warm up, because on lap 11 he was off the front ... quickly gained 30 seconds and held it for about another 10 laps. Then I think then he simply sat up, got caught, and packed it in for the day, gone. Now maybe he rode 100 miles that morning, I don't know, but that was impressive going from the lawn chair to off the front of a Superweek Pro 1/2 race with relative ease.
Just thought I'd toss that out there after reading your story.
:^]
John Wilke
By
Anonymous, at June 8, 2008 6:15 PM
Wow. Really gives some perspective to us mortals.
And that was before he got fast too.
By
recursive, at June 8, 2008 9:55 PM
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