Did my first race today.

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:29 pm

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25655662

It was at the Saltayre circuit in Lancaster, surprised the average speed was so low, guess that's due to the bends, there was people ranging from novices like me to elite and premier calender racers, there was this elite guy from Rapha Condor and it clearly was a walk in the park for him, he was just tootling around with us all, he was not actually racing.

It was pretty hard and I made LOTS of mistakes, about twice I was off the front of the bunch, once I did like a whole lap and was about 50 meters in front, I did not want to slow down too much but they was not catching me, I thought what an idiot I was.

I then led the whole bunch for 3 laps, or 3 miles which was tough work, apparently that was longer than usual, next time after half a lap I will move out and let them through.

The bunch split up, and we all got lapped, if I had noticed this and not wasted so much energy I think I could have caught onto this group and help onto them and possibly came in the top 10, maybe even higher, I came in the top 15 I think, there was about 25-30 riders I think.

The sprint was fun in the bunch I was in, was like almost to the back then I set off and got to the front, a slight gradient and a headwind made it harder.

Was a good race and now I want to do loads more races, I'm doing the same one in 2 weeks time and perhaps will get a BC license cause I want to do races where I get categorised.

menticknap · Post by **menticknap** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:50 pm

You call an average speed of 23.6mph "so low"?

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:56 pm

menticknap wrote:You call an average speed of 23.6mph "so low"?

Well yeah, in a bunch of 20+ I'd have thought we'd be doing 26-27

I mean 23.4 is like TT speed. We only did 34 miles.

timj · Post by **timj** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:16 am

Hi Will
i think the term run before walk comes to mind!

PhilBixby · Post by **PhilBixby** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:23 am

As you've just discovered, Will, racing is about much, much more than just average speed! Well done for getting a number on your back.

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:28 am

Thanks.

I just wish I started racing last year, I don't know what I was scared about tbh, I'm more confident in a bunch in a race than in a group on a club run or even chaingang, I think it's because the pace is constantly kept high and minimum braking, I was like 3cm off the back of some peoples wheel.

There was some barging going on though, at one point I had to force myself into the back as it was like singling out maybe due to headwind and I was outside of the line, dunno if I should have barged my way in.

And on one part, some guy who was sat in the bunch all the race got to the front, he said, we might as well start rolling it through we're gonna get lapped, when he'd being on the front less than 30 seconds! So that got some people annoyed, but it made me think maybe I was not spending enough time on the front. I rekon I spent more time "on the front" than everyone else, only because I did various mistakes meaning I ended up way too far in front of the bunch and I just got took in by the bunch as they hurtled towards me.

PhilBixby · Post by **PhilBixby** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:45 pm

If you're in a group, working to chase or working to stay away, you want to be sharing the work. You can work harder for twenty seconds than you can for two minutes, so if you take shorter turns you'll go quicker as a group assuming you keep rolling through smoothly - watch how the pro's do it in a break. Doing well in races means using your strength wisely; sitting fifty yards off the front - satisfying though it may feel - is wasted effort. Riders probably grumbled at the bloke who suggested rolling through because he'd not done a stroke of work until it was too late. For those who've taken turns, and are still getting lapped, it's very frustrating...