Race Report

[BalaRoja]

I sure posted my share of questions (some smart I think, some silly I admit ) in another thread:

This past weekend was the race itself finally. OMG, the nerves. I was near putty as the start approached. Despite the months of training, the preparation, and the 200x or so I told myself I was ready, it sure did not feel that way at the start line.

Then it was just another bike ride, at least at first. I managed to stay near the front but also moved around a bit to try to get in a better spot (shelter from the wind that is). While I was shuffling around working to a better position, 2 girls launched a big attack. I noticed of course when suddenly everyone around me picked up the pace a bit. It seemed like a slow reaction though because the two attackers had gotten what looked like a big gap real, real fast.

With the winds being what they were (strong tailwind), there wasn't as much of an advantage to drafting. Plus the pack didn't seem that organized and there was this general looking around with people's expressions almost saying "so who is going to go up front and pull these two back?" It was obvious to me that getting a big group of people organized to do a dedicated chase is not easy! Possibly if a large number of riders had been in the bunch from one team it might have been different but I don't have enough experience to say for sure.

Anyway, now that the 2 girls seemed to be getting enough of a gap to be gone for good, a few others tried to escape too. This time I was ready and went with 3 other girls who made a move. Once again the pack was kind of loafing. We got plenty of separation and began working together. Lo and behold, getting 3 other people to work with you on a break was way easier than getting 25 or so in the pack to work and chase a couple of riders

The pack eventually got it together it seems but by then we had a comfortable margin. The terrain features (lots of curves and short hills), made it easy for us to be out of sight. I think that made it seem as though we were further ahead than we really were. No matter, it all worked and we didn't have to deal with the pack again.

The 4 of us stayed together till about the 10km mark to the finish and then one cracked and went off the back. Then one of the girls took a flyer at around the 5km point and I grabbed her wheel. Our remaining breakaway companion was toast and she was well back.

Once we lost our former breakaway partner, we slowed things down up till about the 1km mark. I got the feeling this was where the games kind of start between riders. Being fairly good over the short stuff (< 5 minute long), I liked my chances and soon went kite. I didn't glance back but friends at the line who watched the finish said I had a big margin over the other woman, who looked like a climber type (she was pretty small/lean). So that was that. A 3rd place out of about 30 in my first race and one darn big grin on my face

[SheFly]

CONGRATS!

Sounds like you had a great race, and played it really smart. I like that you ended up with a small chase group. As you have learned, a big group will look for someone else to initiate something and do the work, but a small group has a common goal (get a gap on the group, and chase down the lead), so is more willing to share the load.

So, when's the next race?

SheFly

[BalaRoja]

Thanks

You betcha about getting a few people to work towards a common goal being more successful than getting 20 people to agree on anything. Ironic how a bike race can be like real life

Next race is in two weeks or so. Now that I have some idea of who's who and maybe who to watch, hopefully I can anticipate things better. Probably something that comes with experience.

I read so many grueling accounts of people's first races, getting shelled out the back, etc, that I was as happy that that didn't happen as I was to get a nice result.

[redrhodie]

That's fantastic! Did you expect to place so high, or are you in shock?

[Eden]

Nice work!

[BalaRoja]

That's fantastic! Did you expect to place so high, or are you in shock?

Um how about this: hoping yes, expecting not necessarily I suppose I figured the first time I did something, even if I was fairly well prepped for it, that I'd somehow manage to screw up at some point. Apparently I didn't this time.

I've got all the charts and figures telling me where, in a relative sense, I am performance wise. Then again, come race time it is still a bike race and nobody wins those based on a chart or a w/kg figure or some great training session from 3 weeks ago. Like I said, I have heard and read so many accounts of people, even fit women, getting dropped badly in their first race that I was intimidated for sure. You bet there was a voice in my head that could be heard repeating: 'please don't let me get dropped' (x100)

Nice work!

Thanks Eden and for all the advice in the other thread. It was definitely helpful for me.