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ABD 2010 Memorial Day Weekend Masters Races
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ABD 2010 Memorial Day Weekend Masters Races - CycleCriterium
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Comments: This was my first official race and I was pumped...I'd say a good combo of nerves and excitement. I had gotten some pointers from a buddy of mine that races Cat 3 down in St. Louis and the best advice he gave me was to "trust your tires and know the limits of their adhesion." After the storm, I was thinking "ah great! my first race and done on wet roads no doubt." Suck it up Sarah! So I did. We were lined up according to category and since we were racing with men's groups, the women ended up in the back of the pack. So much for trying to start at the front of the line as people have suggested. When the starting whistle went off I heard Lara say "Crap! I dropped my chain already!" Shoot, with no time to really react and knowing I couldn't do anything I just took off. I was able to stay with the group for about 3/4 of the first lap and then got dropped. As Emily mentioned in her report, the experience was "amazing and humbling." I was alone for about 5 minutes and then rode with Emily for a while. We talked about riding techniques, like cornering and how to stay with the pack, amongst other things. It was nice to have someone to ride and work with. At one point, the pace car came around and there were 2 break away riders just behind it. We thought the peloton was not too far behind but they were no where in sight. We joked and said we were 3rd and 4th place riders. (Hey, it's nice to pretend sometimes.) We also met up with another female rider named Marilyn and rode her wheel for a bit. Emily was about to take her turn to pull when Marilyn said she couldn't draft us (apparently if you're not in the same lap, you can't draft.) Interesting rule. There's sooo much more to learn. What would you do differently?: Since this was my first race I had no expectations. Like most rookie racers, I just wanted to finish and learn as much as I could. Lessons learned: 1) I wasn't prepared for the pace of the group so I'd say I need to do more interval training to be able to maintain a high HR for longer periods of time. 2) I'd also try to start at the front of the group, if possible. 3) In addition to training at a high HR, I need to work on hills. I suck at hills!  Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster: As mentioned above, my body wasn't prepared for the pace of the group. More interval training and maintaining a high HR should help. Last updated: 2010-06-02 12:00 AM
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 2010-06-04 7:30 AM |
New user  122  Chicago, IL |  Subject: ABD 2010 Memorial Day Weekend Masters Races |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Master's (30+)
Age Group Rank = 0/
Woke up around 7 and needed to meet the rest of the team at the store by 9am. Took my time and had some stale cereal and my morning cup o'joe. Yum! Did some last minute reading online about crits and what to expect (I'm a research junkie!). Having read Emily's race report, I took off my saddle bag and fuel belts and put everything I needed into my backpack and headed off to the store. Right before I left however, I realized I left my heart rate monitor in my friend's car from Bike the Drive the day before. Crap! Finally got to the store where Amy, Chrystal, and Lara were waiting and getting everything ready to lock and load.
After registration and a couple trips to potty, we warmed up on the roads just outside the business park. On the way back, however, I noticed increasing clouds and the wind was picking up. Before we made our final turn back into the parking lot, I felt a couple rain drops. Uh oh, this can't be good I thought. We got the word from race officials that it was officially delayed. The radar was showing a fast moving storm cell heading straight our way. The race ended up being delayed by an hour and 15 minutes. We were all sitting in Lara's truck waiting out the storm. At one point, we were all beginning to wonder if the storm was going to blow over b/c it was pretty bad. (Hail was reported in the city!?) The rain finally stopped and we got everything ready...again. Did another warm up on the actual course and headed to the starting line.