Hey,
I said I would tell you all my thoughts and impressions, so here they are.
First, thanks heaps for everyones advice on how to approach my first bike race. Can't tell you how many times I went back to that thread and made sure I tried to understand all of the different perspectives and process all the info.
I had the time of my life. There were about 25 guys in the race, and we raced for 45mins + three laps. I only had two objectives for the day: to turn up and start, and then to finish unscathed. Proud to say that I successfully completed both.
Did my fair share of work on the front, did not get yelled at and actually was complemented after the race on the way I handled the bike. It turns out that the course was really tight (not that I knew that, having nothing to compare it to!!), with one REALLY tight turn of less that 90 deg. I found that I had to be much more assertive with where I wanted to ride, and it was almost like there was a totally different etiquette to what you would expect on a weekend bunch training ride. There was a lot more talking than what I was expecting - people telling each other how they felt, indicating where they were going to ride etc. I have never concentrated so hard on the bike in my life!!
Anyway, at the end, my legs were burning as much as they have ever been, and my mouth so wide open that you could have parked a bus in there. But it was that bizarre pain that borders on pleasure - totally different to the pain you feel when you run across the line in a tri, but still kind of similar.
Anyhow, I could gab on for hours about how the race panned out, but that would be boring. All I really wanted to say was thank you for the kind advice and support - without that, there was no chance I would have even contemplated it.
Oh yeah. I came 2nd.
I said I would tell you all my thoughts and impressions, so here they are.
First, thanks heaps for everyones advice on how to approach my first bike race. Can't tell you how many times I went back to that thread and made sure I tried to understand all of the different perspectives and process all the info.
I had the time of my life. There were about 25 guys in the race, and we raced for 45mins + three laps. I only had two objectives for the day: to turn up and start, and then to finish unscathed. Proud to say that I successfully completed both.
Did my fair share of work on the front, did not get yelled at and actually was complemented after the race on the way I handled the bike. It turns out that the course was really tight (not that I knew that, having nothing to compare it to!!), with one REALLY tight turn of less that 90 deg. I found that I had to be much more assertive with where I wanted to ride, and it was almost like there was a totally different etiquette to what you would expect on a weekend bunch training ride. There was a lot more talking than what I was expecting - people telling each other how they felt, indicating where they were going to ride etc. I have never concentrated so hard on the bike in my life!!
Anyway, at the end, my legs were burning as much as they have ever been, and my mouth so wide open that you could have parked a bus in there. But it was that bizarre pain that borders on pleasure - totally different to the pain you feel when you run across the line in a tri, but still kind of similar.
Anyhow, I could gab on for hours about how the race panned out, but that would be boring. All I really wanted to say was thank you for the kind advice and support - without that, there was no chance I would have even contemplated it.
Oh yeah. I came 2nd.