Race Report Thread

[jules21]

thanks for the reports Vander and G-boaf. good reads. good luck g-boaf with the rest of your ride.

[g-boaf]

thanks for the reports Vander and G-boaf. good reads. good luck g-boaf with the rest of your ride.

It has been tough, but fun too. Today was something else, riding the Passo della Erbe, Gardena, and Passo Sella. Really famous climbs the last two.

Yesterday, 16.2km, 1220m+


Simple really, start at the bottom, gas it to the top and then roll back down, trying not to freeze or get collected by a farm truck or a bus.

Today: 91.2km 3250m+, highest elevation 2240m, minimum 560m elevation:


The first climb of the day had a lot of false sections and mini descents at the start, but when it kicked up it was pretty vicious and very very long. Second climb was Passo Gardena and the third was Sella, both of them super famous. Sella is okay, nothing too difficult. The descents were neutral due to the perceived danger with traffic, and they were right - there were some idiots on the roads. Even with it being neutral I think everyone did go down there fast.

Cedric is still killing everyone overall.

[woohoo]

Sorry t see you dnf'd on stage 7 gboaf, you must be gutted.

[Chuck]

Sorry t see you dnf'd on stage 7 gboaf, you must be gutted.

Let it go mate



Nice going g-boaf, you got to ride some great roads and iconic climbs and really live out a passion of yours. I'm sure it was an experience you'll never forget

[g-boaf]

Yeah, it was great fun. Enjoyed it. The riding over there is better than anything anyone could imagine, and multiply it by three or four. Really didn't want to leave. I could easily live in Brixen or Innsbruck.

The last 60km of day 7 was an untimed procession anyhow for safety reasons (as was the final descent through all the narrow unlit tunnels). You don't have an obligation to start any particular day, and not everyone did do all the days even among the top riders.

Day six, the second last descent was possibly the most amazing of them all.

Definitely do it again next year too, as we all are.

[jules21]

after crashing out with a rear wheel coming loose in the drops type scenario 2 weeks ago, I entered to race again on Wed. I still had a little bit of that raw "I don't want to crash again" thought swirling around in my head and winning wasn't my focus as much as just staying upright.

the crash 2 weeks ago occurred under max. power out of a bottom corner where we ascend a hill and you need to accelerate as hard as you can. I pulled the rear wheel out, which I obviously hadn't properly secured. at least, that was the only explanation I could conjure. the wheel was definitely secured this time - all that remained was for me to prove that there wasn't another, unresolved cause.

about 4 laps in the rear slid through the corner and I thought "unbelievable!" then I realised it was flat. turned out to be glass. all good! changed the wheel and rejoined the race a few laps later. boy was I tentative around that corner though..

[ft_critical]

I pulled the rear wheel out, which I obviously hadn't properly secured. at least, that was the only explanation I could conjure. the wheel was definitely secured this time - all that remained was for me to prove that there wasn't another, unresolved cause.

I find your can mentally recover your confidence when you can figured out what needs to be improved or fixed. Not so for the unexplainable, particularly when descending is involved.

[jules21]

I find your can mentally recover your confidence when you can figured out what needs to be improved or fixed. Not so for the unexplainable, particularly when descending is involved.

yeah I'm good now. I think I'm pretty stupid when it comes to self preservation, it doesn't take me long to block the memories out

[jules21]

missed my usual B grade start tonight at the crits so signed up for A, just for a laugh. I always wondered how hard it was. Now I know. It's very hard. multiple NRS riders, 1 WT rider, an ex-national champ. they go up the hill like a missile. I neglected to take the bottom corner at 100% and was 3 lengths behind before I started pedalling. max. power to the top of the hill for 30 seconds and I was still of the back. my short duration power curve was bouncing off near my all-time max. figures and I still got dropped like a stone. and I'm light at the moment for me. that's another level.

[jules21]

game over. crashed into numpty who fell directly ahead of me. broken collarbone and slightly broken hip. see y'all in 2018 or on Zwift

[cerb]

Bugger! Sorry to hear Jules. Speedy recovery!

Difference between B & A at HCC is (apparently) ridiculous. One of my team mates self demotes at the start of the season due to poor fitness and has to hold back to 'make sure he doesn't accidentally hit the front'.

Put up to A-Grade, he's usually dropped within the opening 10-15mins!

[cerb]

Forgot about race reports since the season has re-started, so a quick summary from me:

Race 1: Sat in and still popped at 55mins due to poor fitness.

Race 2: Was up the front a lot and tried a couple of moves. Was feeling good until my leg cramped up (couldn't bend it) and I had to pull the pin.

Before Race 3: Got new shoes.

Race 3: Dropped within 15mins

Race 4: Dropped within 10mins

Before race 5: Found out that my cleat position was waaay too far forward on my new shoes, moved them rearward 15mm.

Race 5: Rode top 15-20 for basically the whole race. Went in a break for a while and when I missed the winning move (that wasn't going to be brought back), I drove the pace at the front with a couple of others and then buried myself on the last lap at the front. Felt good the whole race, just missed the move!

Looking forward to race 6 on the weekend!

[g-boaf]

game over. crashed into numpty who fell directly ahead of me. broken collarbone and slightly broken hip. see y'all in 2018 or on Zwift

What? Damn!

That's terrible luck. Hope everything mends quickly.

[jules21]

Difference between B & A at HCC is (apparently) ridiculous. One of my team mates self demotes at the start of the season due to poor fitness and has to hold back to 'make sure he doesn't accidentally hit the front'.

Put up to A-Grade, he's usually dropped within the opening 10-15mins!

yeah no one wants to go up. I know a couple of people who do it for training. brutal training.

also the rear positioned cleats thing is supposed to be a thing for big footed riders. I've done it too and feels right. good luck Sunday

[jules21]

That's terrible luck. Hope everything mends quickly.

cheers. if you do enough races I guess you're gonna crash.

[RobertL]

Having done a handful of D Grade club crits, I signed up for yesterday's White Ribbon day criterium at Nundah. For those of you who don't know, it's an awareness and fundraising event for the White Ribbon anti-domestic violence organisation.

Anyhoo, it was CQ "Open" grades - so I entered in Div 5/D Grade, being the lowest. It turns out that Div 5 is about the equivalent of our club C grade, so a grade higher than I'm used to. No worries, I thought, I won't win, but there will be plenty of our regular D graders there mixed in with the C graders.

Wrong! I was the only genuine D grader. I hung on OK until the sprint, and then got left behind. So I finished last in the lowest grade race, making me officially the slowest guy there!

#theonlywayisup

[ironhanglider]

Don't sell yourself short RobertL.
You raced an open and stayed in the bunch till the end. I'll bet that's more than many A grade riders in your own club can claim. Besides someone must have DNF'd so you weren't the slowest.

You'll be a better rider for the experience too, so I'm looking forward to your next report.

Cheers,

Cameron

[RobertL]

Don't sell yourself short RobertL.
You raced an open and stayed in the bunch till the end. I'll bet that's more than many A grade riders in your own club can claim. Besides someone must have DNF'd so you weren't the slowest.

You'll be a better rider for the experience too, so I'm looking forward to your next report.

Cheers,

Cameron

Thanks Cameron.

[Strawburger]

game over. crashed into numpty who fell directly ahead of me. broken collarbone and slightly broken hip. see y'all in 2018 or on Zwift

Bummer! Was hoping you'd be at bright.

Heal quick and well Jules.

[foo on patrol]

That's terrible luck. Hope everything mends quickly.

cheers. if you do enough races I guess you're gonna crash.

What? Not really the case for racing! I have mates that have never had a crash, yet me, I've had around half a dozen.

Foo

[Carriage]

Hawthorn Cycling Club D Grade Crit

I had a couple of goes at racing at SKCC on a three race permit at the end of last season. The plan was to get back into it at the start of this season but I broke a bone in my hand in the last round of hockey so that put a delay on things until last night.

I decided to give the crits at HCC a go for a couple of reasons. It's my club's crit so it's far cheaper here than SKCC and the Wednesday night and location mostly work better for me. The fact that it's hard due to the hill doesn't actually matter so much to me as for one it's shorter but also they're all hard anyway due to it being racing.

So I started out in the middle somewhere and took opportunities where I could to move up positions. This seemed easier than I remember it being in the past. It seemed people were a bit less assertive about keeping their wheel and perhaps also the track allows for wider formations so there were more wheels to get behind. This was all hard work but things seemed to be going okay. I lasted with the bunch until about 22min and was lapped on my second last lap. I ended up averaging 33.4km/h. So an improvement over last time where I was dropped in around 12min and then lapped in another 12 or so in a 40min race. Interestingly, this time around I have a GPS computer and HRM and you can see the tail off in the data. Also, my heart rate apparently averaged the value I got when I did the 8min TT test for the time crunched cyclist training plan I'm trying out. This probably means I didn't go quite hard enough on the test but perhaps it's still okay. Anyway, I'm keen to give it another go but perhaps the week after next instead, though still maybe next week. The current goal is to not get lapped and after that (or at the same time) finish with the bunch.

[RobertL]

Good work, Carriage. I had my first race in June on a 3 race licence, and have since upgraded. I'm in D grade too, so it's good to hear from other D graders on this thread.

Unfortunately, I am going to miss the last monthly crit of the year this weekend due to family commitments.

[Carriage]

Hawthorn Cycling Club D Grade Crit

It felt like I got dropped a bit earlier this time but there were a number of other people in the same boat. We formed a small group. Some managed to ride away but three of us stayed together and we passed a few people at various times. We got caught near the finish line on the lead group's last lap so ~100m later than last week. Progress?

I don't feel as bad after and so maybe I didn't work as hard this week but that may just be because I got to ride in the group. When I was at the front it was probably as hard as last week but when I was out of the wind I got to have a bit of a rest so I'm not sure I could've gone much harder.

[RobertL]

Hamilton Wheelers Twilight Crit C Grade
6 December 2017 at Nundah

This was my first ever race in the HWCC Twilight series, and the biggest field I've ever raced in (about 30 - by a quick count).

It was pretty quick from the start, and I hung around the middle of the pack with a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. We had a tailwind down the main straight and I noticed that the pack surged down there every time. That caught me napping the first couple of laps, but no big deal.

The big sweeping corner at the end of the straight climbs a tiny hill, and I found myself overtaking people there regularly. Then the back straight was into the wind, and I found it pretty easy to move up in the pack along there. I've noticed that before in races and on group rides - that I go OK into headwinds. I presume it's because I am a large, heavy lump of humanity.

Everything proceeded like this until the last lap. The front of the field moved away from me on the second last corner, and I had no hope of catching them down the straight. I needed to work harder there to have any chance. I worked down the straight and overtook a couple of other and finished in the pack about 2/3 back.

Looking at my ride on Strava, I am pleased to note that I average 40.5km/h - which is 3km/h faster than my next best race. And compared to my first race ever in June, I covered the same distance last night and was 5 minutes faster!

[Carriage]

Nice work RobertL. It's always happy times seeing improvement.