Well..did my first race after being off the bike for 5 years... Since USA cycling says I still hold a cat 3 licence I decieded to get a one day licensce.
Prep was good..started riding again in November and have stayed pretty consisent.(spelling). Going in my motto was "just hang in the pack". Although that old racer in me says...yeah but if you hang in till the finish and feel good..who knows... Well after much wheel sucking I was sitting about 20 deep with 1km to go and feeling especially well. All the old instincts start taking over at this point. I know that at 200 meters we have the whole road...so I line up as far to the right as possible so that when the pack opens up I woluld have a hole on the right the break free for a good sprint. This all sounded good until the guy about two places ahead of me goes down and the whole pack shifts hard right...knocking me off the road. So much for the blaze of glory. However I had fun despite the bent handlebars and new grass stains on my new jersey. I can't wait for more.
congrats on your first race in a while. i am a newbie at all of this...whats it like being there for the first time...in your case in 5 years, any different than your very first time?
Originally posted by texastrack04 congrats on your first race in a while. i am a newbie at all of this...whats it like being there for the first time...in your case in 5 years, any different than your very first time?
Hi
Its alot different because just like 'never fogetting how to ride a bike', you also know how to hold a wheel, position yourself in the bunch and win races. It just takes awhile until the legs and lungs are as willing as the mind 😄
how do you train for races? do you do one to see where you are or start out slow? sorry for all the questions, i just wanna be competitive at this and maybe even be able to win a race some day!!
Originally posted by texastrack04 how do you train for races? do you do one to see where you are or start out slow? sorry for all the questions, i just wanna be competitive at this and maybe even be able to win a race some day!!
It was much different than my first race, very few nerves this time. This time around it was lets just see where the fitness is. I train for races by doing races. Being that this was my first in a while it was just about testing fitness. Later in the year I'll think about having a go at it. Although after seeing how crazy the cat 5 field was made me think hard about renewing my racing licensce sooner to cat 3 🙂
