Race Report

[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.