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Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:30 pm
by jules21
jamescbdunn wrote:Suffervision of Sunday's A-grade Crit, pretty boring racing by me. I've been averaging <50km for the last 6 weeks, but it's good to get a view of what goes on in A-grade.

http://suffervision.appspot.com/v/246001
25:30 - some pretender is in full lampre kit. he thinks he's a pro :lol:

wait..

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 5:14 pm
by toppity
great video. Fast race, well done.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 6:21 am
by jamescbdunn
Last 3 mins of HCC Crits, B-grade. Note that there is a 3 man break with 15s gap, so the bunch kick is just for .. kicks:

http://suffervision.appspot.com/v/246002

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:22 am
by toppity
another lot of good footage. Thanks for that. Looks like a hard circuit.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 am
by jamescbdunn
Yeah, the WFB (world famous boulevard! 8) ) is not my favourite course. The uphill sprint doesn't really suit my racing style, and you're punching out 1000w+ sprints (YMMV) every lap to hang on, usually. Lots of lean, young kids race there, and just seem to levitate up the hill!

JD

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:31 am
by toppity
jamescbdunn wrote:Yeah, the WFB (world famous boulevard! 8) ) is not my favourite course. The uphill sprint doesn't really suit my racing style, and you're punching out 1000w+ sprints (YMMV) every lap to hang on, usually. Lots of lean, young kids race there, and just seem to levitate up the hill!

JD
I'm racing vets B grade, and I've got to be honest the fitness levels of all the blokes in the 2 videos posted so far make me embarrassed. I'd be bloody lucky not to get dropped by D grade there I reckon. I think I'll stick to racing with old fat blokes. :?

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:01 am
by jules21
fantastic vision james.

hey toppity, i have been racing D there are it's certainly humbling to look across and see 15 yr old kids floating past you up the hill while you're pushing out max. power. they have no respect for their elders :)

last night was my 3rd(?) race in D after spending 2 weeks drinking Bintang in bali and i'm getting stronger - had the legs to be up the front but just couldn't cut a path through last night on the last laps.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:00 pm
by jules21
felt good in today in Coburg crits (C gr). did a couple of laps on the front, then jumped off the front with 1 1/2 to go (this trick is going to wear thin soon). gapped the bunch by 100?m then got to the roundabout on the back of the course on the bell lap and - again - blocked by motor traffic. game over. 2 weeks in a row. then the bunch slowed and i rode up to the front again to contest the sprint, but got swamped - nothing left in the tank by then. definitely getting stronger though.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:47 pm
by ni78ck
keep at it, one day there will be no cars to stop you!!!!

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:00 pm
by jules21
ni78ck wrote:keep at it, one day there will be no cars to stop you!!!!
i'm beginning to wonder which gods i've offended...

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 4:51 pm
by Crawf
Seriously, where are the marshal's, how is a car allowed on the course?

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 5:10 pm
by jules21
Crawf wrote:Seriously, where are the marshal's, how is a car allowed on the course?
it's run on an industrial estate - they can't close the roads so the marshall has to stop us when someone comes on to the course :x

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:22 pm
by toppity
Raced my clubs weekly race on Saturday. Of all the courses Warragul race it's the course that most suits me, so even though I have been doing very little I had a go. Raced C grade and we had a smallish field of 10 or so. This course is 70% flat with 30% small rolling hills. 5 laps of an 11km circuit. The pace was not too bad for C, with the odd surge. There were a couple in the field (one in particular) who were stronger than the rest of us, and they had a few attacks. No one stayed away for more than a few km's though. At the end of lap three one of the strong blokes had a serious go up the road. A couple of the other stronger riders went with him and I didn't think it would be wise to let them go. This happened on the part of the course I like least and if he had kept on going for another 100m or so I would have popped. Fortunately he stopped as I think we were all on our limits.

After that no one else had enough left to have another go and we cruised around the rest of that lap. In fact it must have hurt everyone as much as it hurt me because nobody made a serious attempt for the rest of the race. On the last lap the pace was subdued (I tried to keep it solid over the rolling hills so people didn't get any ideas) and coming to that last corner (about 1.5km to go) it was still a manageable pace. Around the last corner one of the guys has a go. I had no idea what to do so I followed him. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but there you go. I didn't attempt to take a turn even though we got a 20-30m break. I knew if I did, I would have popped. So I sat on his wheel and held on. With about 300m to go we had been caught but the ordered hadn't changed. I was very close to being baked, but with 150m to go I tried my sprint. Just as I start to go around the guy who had lead out, 2 other guys start their sprints. One on the outside, one on the inside. The guy on my outside got about a full wheel ahead, but I decided to try a bigger gear, slowly pegged him back and just managed the win on the line (by a tire width). Bloody hard race for an unfit bloke like me, but alot of fun.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:12 pm
by toolonglegs
Nice work toppity!.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:32 am
by twizzle
I went, I rode, I got smashed.

Stuart Shaw (Drapac Porsche) turned 35... guess how he decided to celebrate?

40 min +2 laps. After ten minutes, I could taste blood. I got dropped at about the 24 minute mark - I got gapped, and then missed the pass on B grade. I tried for two laps to get past them but every time I had managed to get level with the leaders, some a-hole would surge and I would have to sit up to let them pass. In the end I sat up to let them get a good gap and then TT'ed to the finish. I finished about half a lap down from the remains of the A bunch and 2/3'rd of a lap down on Stuart and one of our riders.

Horrible 30+kph winds last night... I might have finished last, but at least I wasn't one of the numerous DNF's.

29.3Km in 45:00, 359W average, 379W NP, 39.1kph.
The first ten minutes was 397W average, 40kph.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:38 pm
by toppity
that's actually pretty awesome Twizzle. You must had still had a very high solo average in the last 20 minutes to only drop to 39.1 km/h , especially after being baked and in a strong wind. Well done.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:39 pm
by toolonglegs
Man you need to put out a lot of power for the speed you do twiz!... impressive numbers :D .

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:01 pm
by jules21
congrats toppity, just goes to show sometimes when you're baked, so is everyone else..

i raced D at hawthorn again tonight. something not right today, i had a headache riding to work and i never get headaches. went to the front briefly to try and shake things up and found myself in the red, so discreetly tucked myself back in the bunch. recovered enough to hang on but i had nothing for the finale.

i was on the front too when B grade came past - i looked around and saw the field trailing me by 50m and yelling to come back, which i did, but another guy took off with B! disqualified :)

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:49 pm
by twizzle
toppity wrote:that's actually pretty awesome Twizzle. You must had still had a very high solo average in the last 20 minutes to only drop to 39.1 km/h , especially after being baked and in a strong wind. Well done.
TT is my specialty. The laps I wasn't blocked I was averaging around 40.5kph. Where I suck is surges... I need to lose another 10kg to get the acceleration. Hovering around 93.0kg at the moment. I'm having two weeks off over Xmas, a big endurance/weight loss block is planned.


Sent from my iThingy...

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:51 pm
by twizzle
toolonglegs wrote:Man you need to put out a lot of power for the speed you do twiz!... impressive numbers :D .
I'm too wide to be fast.


Sent from my iThingy...

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:58 pm
by toolonglegs
Once you hit 82 kgs you will have 4.5w at FTP or more...Sounds like you will find life easy then ;-)

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 4:44 pm
by nickobec
PDCC D Grade Criterium Report
Sunday 2 December 2012
Kwinana Motorplex

Today's lesson don't sit on the back for the first few laps of a criterium

Anybody who has read any of my race report knows that I like to sit at the back of the pack, mainly because I don't have great confidence in pack riding and my cornering abilities. Another reason is that because of the medication I am on, at the start of races I have to manage my energy carefully, as I have only limited reserves. Fortunately as a race go on, as long as I do not work too hard early, I get stronger and appear to have more energy to burn. So most races, I sit on the back for the first half, and hope other riders chase down the breakaways. Before I can attempt to break or chase breakaways.

Well today's race was not a day for those tactics, it was on from the start, with a couple of big surges, by the second lap a break of five was established. On the 3rd lap, I made an attempt to bridge, I was hoping for company, but it was a solo attempt. Unfortunately the five in front where still working on establishing their gap and I did not make it more than halfway. A lap later I found myself at the back of the second group, with my energy reserves gone and my race over. I just managed to hang on the back of the second group until the finish 30 minutes later, but that was all.

I watched as two riders attempted to solo bridge the gap between the two groups. I was impressed by the tenacity of the only rider who made the bridge, riding on her own for few laps.

So I need to change my tactics for crits, I need to be closer to the front, early in the race, to be able to jump on the moves. The only problem is to work out which moves are worth expending my limited early race energy on. Hopefully that will come with experience.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 7:48 am
by toppity
bad luck Nicobec. Sounds like you are working with what you have got considering the medication. Reading a race at club level mostly comes down to getting to know those you race with. However, that gets thrown out the window when you race against those you don't know.

Crit's are the only races I stand a chance in so I try to give myself the best chance. Our races all tend to be an hour plus 2 laps, regardless of where I race. These races seem to have a few set patterns to them. When no one gets away for the race they go as follows. Fast pace for the first 20 minutes while everyone is fresh, surges for the next 20 mins while people try to get away, solid yet less frantic for the last 20 minutes as people resign themselves to a sprint finish. The next type is the unsuccessful break. This is the same first 20 mins (or perhaps the break gets away earlier), then the next 20 -30 minutes people either try to bridge or some work together at the front to bring the break back. When the break gets caught people resign themselves to the sprint. The last type of race is the successful break (the least likely in the lower grades I tend to race). Same start as above, then the break goes and usually sticks because either no one want to work to get to them, or they are too strong on the day, and then the last 10 minutes we meander like browns cows hoping for a crash in the break (not really :D ). Of course that is a broad brush overview but tends to ring true in 90% of my experience.

The "A" graders here will tell a different tale because breaks tend to happen more often than not.

I keep to the front in the first few laps because the real suffering happens at the back. It is a far easier ride at, or near, the front than on the elastic train at the back. At this point though I have to declare I have never been involved in a significant long break in a race with a decent sized field. The longest is two laps. So I tend to either chase the breaks I don't like the look of or hope that others will chase when I don't have the energy mid race. But I tend to know those I race with so that makes it easier. That is the best trick.

Sorry for the ramble (probably nothing in it you haven't already figured out) and good luck mate.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 1:13 pm
by jules21
tragi-comic race at Coburg this morning. woke up late due to exhausting week, faced incredible block headwind on the ride up Hume Hwy, forcing me into a 45 minute time-trial to make the start. then i punctured. got there just as the bunch was being let go and the ever-helpful coburg people (thanks abby) took my license/money on the start line. i was never going to be competitive after that though, but managed to stay with the bunch and pull my share of turns. the win went to Lock with a super-strong breakaway effort.

Re: Race Report Thread

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2012 6:16 pm
by twizzle
Bridesmaid again. 31km TT, second fastest on the road, third once the age handicap was applied.

31km in 48:56, 356W Avg, 363W NP, 38.1kph. I spent about a minute-and-a-half coasting down the steep bits, which didn't help the power numbers. Aerobars are just too scary sometimes, I got back onto the base bar a few times... 72kph was the max speed.

I was beaten by 59 seconds, the next rider was 41 seconds behind, only three of us bettered the age standard numbers out of 27 starters. Second place after correction was taken by the current UCI Masters M7 (60-65) ITT Bronze Medal holder, I was only 1:53 faster, and he's 20 years older than me!