Pic 1: Sitting in, being lazy.Pic 2: going too early, blowing up, kind of leading out a teammate, and still rolling through in third for the prime
Pic 3: not animating the race in the least
Pic 4: Refer to Nos. 1 and 3.
First race of the year. Didn't expect much, to be honest. Just wanted to roll out from the starting line and see how I felt when the pace got hot and heavy.
Turns out, I'm in better shape than I thought. I woke up this morning at 141lbs, which, to my knowledge, is the least I've weighed since sophomore year at U of I. And going by appearances, I still have plenty that I could lose.
So, while I'm in wicked 20min shape, and doing well in the weight class arena, I didn't know beforehand how the ol' legs were going to react to a couple dozen surges over the course of 75min of lovely crit racing.
Turns out, not too badly. Even found a pair and went for two (2) primes, and placed in the top 3 each time. Unfortunately, most primes don't pay three deep. However, this still gives me hope, in that I was actually in position to sprint for a non-break prime, and that I had legs to stand up and give it a go. And the best part is that while I got beaten, it wasn't by a huge margin, and I have sprinted a grand total of once, yes, once this year before this race. That occurring on a group ride with the IU boys, and going from 20 to 30mph in the little ring, for about 50m. So there is most definitely room for improvement, with raw power production, technique, and positioning on the bike.
The race ended with mixed feelings. I was forced off the road by someone who made the poor choice to stop sprinting, and then drift into me. Which is obviously something I'd like to avoid in race situations. The positive side to this is that I was actually in something resembling a decent position coming out of the last corner, and was ready to put up a decent sprint, riding into the draft and coming around guys who had gone too early on the quarter mile finishing drag.
Didn't work out this time, but there's always next race. Pictures coming soon.
Turns out, I'm in better shape than I thought. I woke up this morning at 141lbs, which, to my knowledge, is the least I've weighed since sophomore year at U of I. And going by appearances, I still have plenty that I could lose.
So, while I'm in wicked 20min shape, and doing well in the weight class arena, I didn't know beforehand how the ol' legs were going to react to a couple dozen surges over the course of 75min of lovely crit racing.
Turns out, not too badly. Even found a pair and went for two (2) primes, and placed in the top 3 each time. Unfortunately, most primes don't pay three deep. However, this still gives me hope, in that I was actually in position to sprint for a non-break prime, and that I had legs to stand up and give it a go. And the best part is that while I got beaten, it wasn't by a huge margin, and I have sprinted a grand total of once, yes, once this year before this race. That occurring on a group ride with the IU boys, and going from 20 to 30mph in the little ring, for about 50m. So there is most definitely room for improvement, with raw power production, technique, and positioning on the bike.
The race ended with mixed feelings. I was forced off the road by someone who made the poor choice to stop sprinting, and then drift into me. Which is obviously something I'd like to avoid in race situations. The positive side to this is that I was actually in something resembling a decent position coming out of the last corner, and was ready to put up a decent sprint, riding into the draft and coming around guys who had gone too early on the quarter mile finishing drag.
Didn't work out this time, but there's always next race. Pictures coming soon.
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