luckily the gopro got it all so there will be a nice video from me

Gotta get me one of those puppies. Seems like it can help in learning.

BenFinoRadin said:

luckily the gopro got it all so there will be a nice video from me

Gotta get me one of those puppies. Seems like it can help in learning.

it is really helpful.  i wrote the post before watching it and had no idea what i did wrong, was just kind of frustrated.  then i watched it and immediately see a couple obvious problems: put myself in the wind and let a gap open.  simple fixes!  also, your fellow community of cyclists enjoy watching them.  i have had people approach me at races and tell me they love watching my youtube videos (which are just gopro videos from local races...so far).

Cat 5
This morning I was taught the importance of having a proper warmup and breakfast before a race...

Start of the race was pretty easy for the most part, but started to pick up ~halfway through. At one point the field was split, and I was in really bad shape in the chase group. I tried to bridge up to the lead group at one point but didn't have the legs - I was promptly dropped by the chase group at this point as well. My bridge attempt was ultimately my downfall (and completely pointless as the chase group eventually caught up). At this point I was seeing double and had absolutely no idea what was going on. I knew the lead group was up the road, but wasn't sure if there was anyone behind me. With this in mind, I tried to keep things around threshold and just finish the race. Not until after the finish did I realize I had half the field and all of my teammates behind me. Ended up finishing 27th - meh. 

After a disappointing race I proceeded to stuff my face with sugar and any warm beverage I could get my hands on. I guess it worked because by the time we lined up for the 4/5 race I was feeling pretty ok.

4/5
My only focus for this race was to not let myself be dropped by the lead group and to (attempt to) join any breaks. There weren't any significant moves, so the field stayed together towards the front. 

I made one change for the second race - I let myself lose position on the hill. I found that I was able to draft & corner better (or more confidently) than most of the field, so I would regain any lost position on the straights on either side of the U turn. In the earlier race I got out of the saddle and mashed up the hill on every lap, a decision which led to very sore thighs and a general inability to recover.

Kept this up for the majority of the race, always trying to stay in the top ~20 wheels. Managed to position myself well for the bell lap and caught the wheel of the guy who would ultimately get 2nd. Looking at the video, I could have finished on the podium if I had stayed on his wheel and didn't try to come around with ~100m to go - lesson learned.

Super happy with my result, but I don't think I'll ever submit myself to racing in less than 25 degrees again - that was really unpleasant for awhile. Video with data overlay coming as soon as it finishes rendering.

i stuck with the leaders for several laps. having to sprint out of every corner to stay on sapped me. i lost the wheel in front of me and was stuck in no-mans-land toiling away against the wind for the remaining two thirds of the race. 

once i lost the wheel i just treated it as a workout and TT'd. stayed within sight of Giacomo until the last lap. not sure where i finished overall. good experience and good workout. fitness was severely lacking. 

similar story here. stuck with chase group first half the race. couple riders back from sebastian who was just behind the lead. didn't want to blow myself out early and certainly didn't want to suck wind, not today. I deliberately held that position. feeing good. feeling fresh.

15+ min into the race, coming up that short climb, tight turn, the wheel suddenly got significantly harder to turn over. I was off the saddle.

My spirits took a nose dive at the thought of a mechanical issue. looked down the frame, suspicion confirmed. looked up, a couple riders passed. I gave a medium sprint effort to catch back up, but sorta lost it. then few others passed me.

if it wasn't so damn cold out, I probably would have stuck it out, powered through the mechanical issue, at least to get another race in the bag. but I couldn't feel my fingers. or my face.

I did one last loop, probably rolling with the CAT 5 rejects at this point, maybe there were some riders behind us, who knows. I deliberated a little, but decided to write this one off.

Won't be racing again until I figure this frame / wheel thing out. I'm doing Ironman Puerto Rico next weekend anyway.

my race was whack, but I still enjoyed being there. it's going to be a good summer / season.

Video up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82I0GQ7QP7c

Whoa, so many cars on the course! That's so sketch.

@Jeffrey White agreed. I also think I saw black ice in two places on the course. I couldn't be certain it was black ice or a splash of that road tar that can be really smooth and sorta glisten. one area was that tight turn at the foot of the short climb, just in front of a small manhole cover. I had a really bad crash a few years back riding over a metal grate and that kept freaking me out. flashback w each loop. i wanted to stay on that inside line tho.

Grates are more often rideable than not, but yeah, sometimes not. I've ridden that grate in this race many times.

@SebastianVidal That Jordan dude almost killed you. That was terrifying to watch!

I saw some disc brakes...more worried about those....

@JeffreyWhite I know! I didn't realize how close I came to both him and the car at the time. Although GoPros have a slight fisheye which make things a bit more dramatic.

sebastian that is some SICK wheel surfing in the final straight. in my video you will see the antithesis of that

Dude @SebastianVidal SO MANY watts

Congrats Ulrike and Sebastian and everyone who toughed out the conditions today. Badass.

I second Rigby - mean-ass wheel surfin Sebastian. congrats to Ulrike & all who raced in these temps

Thanks guys!
Yes, was really a tough day, never raced at temperatures like these!

Was to nervous in the final of the 4/5 race and took the lead to early in front of the U turn, so offered an obviously perfect leadout for the winner. Luckily we had a gap, so I was able to finish in front of the rest field.

In the 3/4/5 race I tried to hide and checked out the other riders. Noticed a or maybe the stronges rider. Since she didn't look like a sprinter I expected that she will try to break away in the final. Like predicted she attacked at the beginning of the last lap and went clear for the win. I wanted to follow her, but a girl jumped in front of me and almost stopped at the corner leading to the climb. I expected that the podium is gone, but I was able to jump from group to group and from wheel to wheel and catched the last once with 100-150m to go.
Sounds strange, but even if I didn't manage to stay at the right wheel in the final I'm satisfied with the fact that I was able to anticipate this situation...

Ulrike: That's amazing that you could do your first race in a new city on a new continent and pick out the talent mid-race. I'd love to hear more about how you were able to do that.

Brendan: I don't really know what to say about your get-up, but it definitely adds a new dimension to your Hi-Viz moniker.

And you know that I will not hesitate to Kuato this thread even if the connection is tenuous at best. 

So much awesome. Two seconds in one day?!? 
Ulrike that is pure class!

Brendan you can use garmins free "virb" software to superimpose you power date onto the video. If not for sharing it's a valuable analytic tool.

Viva...

Jeffrey White said:

Ulrike: That's amazing that you could do your first race in a new city on a new continent and pick out the talent mid-race. I'd love to hear more about how you were able to do that.

It wasn't such an amazing move!!! It was just a mix of:
1.) Blank dispair since I had no idea about the strengths of these girls. 
2.) Observation of the other racers to clutch at every straw.
3.) A lucky guess! 

This girl did some strong moves in the biginning of the race, but in the same time it looked like she didn't go deep. Then She disappeared from the front, obviously to save energy. She was skinny, for sure no sprinter. So I was pretty sure that she did't want to end up in a bunch sprint..... that's it!
And of cause something like this is only possible in small fields with barely riders from a same team.

Ulrike you're being way modest. You just demonstrated critical thinking and visual memory and categorization *AND* successfully applied that knowledge practically during a race, something most of us, and certainly I, have trouble doing even after years of racing with the same people.

Kudos and excelsior!

i did the opposite. people started to go and i thought "they are going too early!" let a gap go and that was the sprint finish...i guess that's what happens when you take a bunch of time off of bicycle racing and forget how it works

i need to get a new gopro, the newer ones (like sebastian's) have better image stabilization.  re: data overlay, i know you can use virb (I did) but the issue is that in order to get the better colors you need to do some other preprocessing shenanigans (i think?).  someone who works in video editing can school me, and maybe in another thread...

my video with overlay... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyMapnBrg_g

i'm still really mad at myself about this race.  so watch and learn...in the last 500m, hold the wheel in front of you no matter what!  at least i have the comfort of knowing there's a whole season ahead of me

also, what do youguys think, did this guy chop me or did i err by trying to go on the inside?  49:30 in the video.  it was on the bell lap and i feel like it made me burn one too many matches trying to close the gap.  was still trying to recover by the time the sprint came around

dont think he chopped you...he just took it wide into the turn...the wheel in front of him is where he was headed...it was cold and fast and at the end of a race sometimes the legs refuse to sprint...like sprinting from a break = 

Yeah, you went to a lot of trouble to be in great position as the sprint was starting, but yeah, I guess the legs just weren't there this time, for whatever reason. Your HR was 190 bpm then, so clearly you were exerting greatly.

psst...Yacks has the flu...in bed all day

As for the chop, I don't think he did anything wrong unless he obviously knew he was taking your line.

Yacks feels like Claude today...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z0TJk8IuWs