Frist Road Race Ever!!

[SheFly]

I agree - in a road race, I am usually only in the drops for a fast descent, tricky corner and the final sprint. in a crit - I am in the drops the whole race.

If you are doing a road race (which you are), I wouldn't worry about snagging bars with someone. A good thing to remember is that your elbows will stick out further than your bars. I said earlier that you need to protect your space - sometimes, that means both hands on the hoods with elbos sticking out to the sides!

As I have also mentioned, don't be afraid of the incidental contact WHEN (not IF) it happens. I have even gone so far as to stick my hand out if someone is encroaching on my space... You will stay upright.

And I will stand by my claim of not eating/drinking when you are on the front of a race. Around these parts, you would likely get shot for that. If you are near the front, fine. Remember that at the Cat 4/beginner level bike handling skills are not always great. I have seen a woman take down a field because she couldn't get her water bottle back into the cage. Don't be that person.

SheFly

[Eden]

I don't think we'd shoot your for eating or drinking on the front here - but we don't encourage it either.... we do tell our newbies to save it for the back of the paceline.

oh.... if you really try to sprint on your hoods you are likely to go out of control and crash yourself if not others too..... so yes always in the drops for a sprint.

BTW - back to the original topic of this thread.... Hey Wahine! was your race this weekend? (the Sublime Sublimity?) How did it go, if so?

[Wahine]

Thanks to everyone for the advice and words or support.

I had a good race. I was so nervous beforehand that I thought I might puke. The category was 31 strong and we stayed in a big group for about 5 to 6 miles. But the course was very hilly, no flats and the hills steep so the group shattered pretty quickly. I thought I was going to die on the first lap. My goal was to stay with the group as long as possible and then just finish the race without crashing. I fell of the back of the lead group at about mile 6. From what I understand, about 7 women stayed together at the front for most of the race. I was in 11th place for most of it but I hooked up with one girl and we worked together to reel in another 2 riders after they fell off the front pack. Then another girl cuaght us and we were a group of 5. I managed to pull ahead with about 3 miles left and held that for a 9th place finish.

The last 100m were... I am not exaggerating here... a 17% grade to the finish. It was awful!!! But I finished and didn't crash. But I didn't get as much riding in a big group experience as I wanted. When I finished I was so out of breath I couldn't speak for about 3 min. Then I went out to eat a giant bacon cheeseburger!!

So yes, I will live to race again. This type of racing will seriously boost my tri times I think.

[dex]

Then I went out to eat a giant bacon cheeseburger!!

Yum.

[Eden]

If you want to see what a flat race is like, try to make it to "Piece of Cake" -veeeeery flat. Few opportunities for breaks to form without a lot of teamwork.

[aicabsolut]

Wow that sounds tough! That's also a very good finish, especially for your first race!

[Wahine]

I should add that it was 9th out of 16 starters for the Cat 4s and only 12 finishers. If you add in the masters women we had 18 in the group and I finished before all the masters. I'm happy because it was a tough course and my first race. But that's still in the bottom half. I have loads of room for improvement.

[salsabike]

Ha. Pretty cool!

[SheFly]

Congrats! Hilly races will break up just as you described. It sounds to me like you did really well! As I have said to others on this board, remember that 9th is still top 10. You don't need to tell any of us how many there were .

Can't wait to read about your NEXT race!

SheFly

[NbyNW]

Belated congrats . . . looking forward to hearing about your next race!