Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Racing is not my thing I guess
This year I really wanted to try my hand at racing, both mountain and road. I made a commitment to do as many races as possible, and to date I've done more races than I did in all of last year. Coming off what I viewed as a successful cross season last year, I felt that I could slide right in to the mountain and road scene and compete on a fairly high level. Nope. I tried the DMV crit tonight(B flight) for the first time and I had to drop out because I couldn't hang. Embarrassing. Here I am, feeling like I'm in decent shape, and I get totally worked. Not just at this race, but just about every race I've done this year. I'll admit, road racing is a lot harder than I thought. There are so many tactics involved that it truly must take years of experience to do it well. Tonight I found myself uncomfortable in the peloton, fighting to stay on the back end. Out of every corner I was sprinting just to hang on. I wasted so much energy. I'm terrible! Coupled with my lousy performance a couple weeks ago at the Choka Challenge, I'm beginning to realize that maybe racing isn't my thing. I guess I just want to have fun when I'm out riding, but my competitive side seems to get the best of me, forcing me to race. It doesn't help that some of my best friends have seem to have given up riding altogether. Some out of necessity, others just don't seem to want to ride anymore. Riding alone is great and all, but where are you guys? The last thing I want is to lose the fun of riding bikes. Any advice?
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5 comments:
I've ridden the last two days in a row! So you just need to move out to DC.
Mike - so you couldn't finish at the Cholla because you tried to race while you were sick and had your brake rubbing, and then found out the hard way that crit racing with the B flight can be really, really fast and technically different than CX. So what? So that means you suck and racing is not for you? Whatever!
It might take years of experience to be the savviest rider in the field, but you should be able to figure out how to race with the pack and not get dropped pretty fast just by practicing the right moves. Seriously, positioning is everything. Treat getting toward the front - top 10 riders or so - like the whole race depends on it. Because if there are a lot of corners, it might. Racing at the back of the field is an absurd amount more difficult when there is a lot of cornering involved. I've figured this out the hard way too. It sucks. You're doing all these sprint efforts just to hang on after every corner, and eventually you're going to get dropped, even if your strong. Then you're too wasted to move to the front when you try.
And even once you are toward the front, you STILL have to keep moving up, because the field will just come around you and before you know it you're in the back again. If your not gaining positions, then you are losing them. And even with moving up, there are effecient and less efficient ways to do it, and smart places in the race to get ahead, and places where it will take so much more energy. Just make your next race all about figuring out how to move up and stay up, in a way that maximizes your draft (hopping someone else's wheel who is moving up, or going through the field gap by gap by gap), and getting there before critical places in the race (like before a turn that strings out the field, or before a hill, or whatever). Once you figure out how to conserve energy through good positioning, then you can be there to start contesting the sprint, or have the energy to start going off the front. But you have to figure out how to conserve your energy before you can start showing off with how you spend it.
Try marking someone in your next race who does consistently well.
The fact that tactics make it so that the strongest person doesn't always win is the most fun part about road racing - or most frustrating - depending on what end of the stick you're on. Sure, you got dropped by people you could probably easily beat in a CX race, but just wait until you figure it out and then you end up beating guys you know are uber-strong.
Sorry if that was a little more than 2 cents worth.
Lorena, thanks for the awesome advice. You're exactly right! I need to give myself more time to master the ins and outs of road racing. I guess I'm just a little too impatient and competitive. I'm really proud of how well you are doing this year. I hope to be able to tag along on a ride sometime this year!
"but where are you guys?" San Jorge brother. San Jorge. It was a bummer that you couldn't make it to rawrod. You were missed. Horse Thief was espectacular.
Mike we need to get you on the stage! Give Doug a little competition!
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