Some good racing tips...

[BikeMomma]

Hey Ladiez...

I found this website with some good racing tips. Thought I'd share.
http://thesportfactory.iuplog.com/de...sp?item=116457

Happy racing this season...
~BikeMomma

[bluerider]

Thanks BikeMomma! Great timing...was thinking about my first race this summer...and how physical training can prepare you to give it a go...but the tactics, change in momentum, pacing will through a newbie off...

Can't wait!

[RoadRaven]

Hey there Bike Momma, thanks for the link
Very useful little site you found
I have saved it to "favourites" so the other net-surfers in this house can peruse

[BikeMomma]

Cool....glad you gals can use it too. I actually haven't had time to peruse myself (hence the quick post), but from what I did see, I knew it was a goldmine of info.

Good luck on your racing Bluerider (are you racing too, RoadRaven?). My first two races are next month (Feb 25 RR & Feb 26 Crit), so I've been trying to gather tips & tricks, too. My lbs hooked me up with a team out of Santa Rosa CA (actually the "club" part of the organization -- they have an elite women's team too), so I'll have coaching from a first-rate group and an opportunity to ride with top-notch ladies. Should be quite an experience, as I've never had coaching before! Can't wait! Team ride is next Saturday.

[RoadRaven]

Hi BikeMomma... well, kinda wannabe racing, I'm thinking I need to actually start a thread in the forum for personal races/achievements to keep me on track and accountable...

I was supposed to do my first TT club race last Saturday... but I chickened out (my partner and two sons are in the top grades and I don't wanna be an embarrasment by trundling in last in the grade I would ride in). However... I did the same course the following day, and the weather conditions were almost identical, and based on the time I did, I would have come 4th in the Saturday race... so maybe I am ready to stop TTing on my own and start doing it with the club.

I am impressed you are doing a Crit... my 16 1/2 year old son entered a local 2-day tour which involved two road races, a hill climb and a crit. Watching him race the crit made me think that it is not really my kind of race.

(Just putting on proud mum hat... he came third in his grade - Under 19 - and if he had a bit more strategic experience would have come 2nd or 1st... but he is still chuffed... he won $175 - his first prize money)

Will be thinking of you... its Saturday here as I write this, so I'm guessing your ride is only hours away...

[BikeMomma]

Wow, RR, sounds like you need to just forget the solo bit and enter your fast self! Fourth is NOT bad at'all!! Racing IS the best training, because training can't match the intensity of a race. The closest I've gotten to that sort of intensity in a training ride is when we used to drive about 45 minutes away every week to meet riders from another city for a 40-mile very fast ride....we'd call it a "practice race". It did get pretty competitive.

Not sure how I'll do in the crit, or the road race. This is just for fun...if it turns out I'm able to keep pace and I'm feeling strong, then I might think about getting seriously competitive and trying an attack or two. I haven't raced in about 14/15 years. A long time to be out of it. The crit I'm mostly doing for my kids, so they get to see Mom out there racing. That will make their day (and mine, to see their faces!).

My ride was fun! Lots of big-name riders there. The elite team is AWESOME this year. I'm just a club rider, so it was neat to get to ride next to such talent. Coach had a funny comment, though -- "Funny how, when we have a group of women riding together, a whole bunch of guys show up to help!"

Keep riding, gals!
~BikeMomma

[Pink Kona]

Hey Bike Momma! Long time no chat!!! How'd the race go this weekend? I can't wait to hear!
Jen

[BikeMomma]

I was wondering where you'd disappeared to! How have you been?

The weekend was a blast. I played it by ear for the crit on Sunday, because I wasn't sure how I'd recover from Saturday's RR. But I ended up doing it, and boy, to see the look on my kids' faces was totally worth it!

I'm at work right now, so I'll have to post details later, but here's a somewhat abbreviated version, at least. For the RR, there were about 70-odd entries for Cat 4 (WHOA!! ), so they split us into a group of 50, and then grouped the rest into another heat that they started about 5 minutes later. I was in the first group, so we had about 5o gals start, and I ended up placing 22nd, with the peloton (the few breaks were brought back), but didn't have the legs, lungs, position, or gear (uphill finish - I sorta screwed it up!) to be competitive in the sprint. We dropped a whole bunch of ladies off the back as the race progressed, and it did get pretty intense there at the end. I was pretty proud of how I did, since I had no idea going in how I compared to other ladies in my Cat and considering how little time I really have to train.

In the crit, as with most womens' crits, they grouped us in with the 1/2/3's, and it was reeeally fast from the start. I suspect they were trying to get rid of us right away. Well, we lasted about 10 or so laps before they pulled us, as the "fast train" was approaching. They placed us together with the 3's for the official results in the position we were pulled, and I was sitting 10th (out of 12 whistled in) at the time. I'm pretty sure that at least a couple people pulled themselves, though, so had they stayed in, the "finishing" list would have been longer. We had started working together to try to stay out longer, but I knew it was inevitable we were going to get pulled. There was an awesome 1/2 field.

I think it's almost a good thing they pulled us when they did, though, because it had started to rain just as we started and the roads were VERY slick (first rain in several weeks). Several ladies went down during the course of the race, and there were even more crashes in the Mens 1/2's race that followed ours. I think their race started out with about 60-70 riders and maybe 30 finished. Crazy!

For the McLane races this weekend, more nasty weather is promising to come, so that combined with already full fields, have convinced me to stay on the sidelines and help with the race logistics/support and to be available to help out my club (McGuire Cycling). Are you going to make it down or do you think you'll have to pass? It is a long way to travel from Washington for bad weather.

So tell me how your winter has been! Have you raced yet this season....and are you still concentrating on the track or are you doing some road? Questions! Questions!

Take care...my short post turned into a long one....bad me!!
~BikeMomma

[Pink Kona]

Nice job on the race! I have a friend who is down in your area - she rides for VeloBella and from my understanding the majority of the Pro1/2 womens field uses those races to prep for the NRC calendar. Way to hang in there! I think it was called the snelling race or something like that. She said it started raining - for the first time in awhile and the roads were super slick - making it hard for most people to stay upright! Sounds like a good old Washington race. Except up here it rains all the time.

I wish I could make it down for some of the early races - but I may have to wait another year until I can get some financial support to make that feasible. This bike racing can get expensive really quickly!

The winter's been good - full of training. I managed to do 20 hours a week during January. I'm tired just thinking about it! The body responded well though and I avoided any injury. It's reassuring knowing my body can manage an increased load. This weekend I'll get to see where my fitness is stacked up next to some local riders at the ever notorious and always rainy/snowy Mason lake series. It's hard to believe its been one year since I started. There's so much to learn! And so much aerobic capacity to gain... slow and steady... these things take time, I know.

I'll definitely let you know how the first races go - and hopefully the weather will improve for your racing down there this weekend! Good to hear from you and keep up the good work - it is so awesome that you decided to get back into racing!