I’m a 44 year old guy who for some inexplicable reason has decided to try bike racing. I’ve done a couple of road races and I did my first crit this weekend (Allen Park race in suburban Detroit) and I lived to tell the tale. There have been some postings lately from other aspiring racers so I thought I’d share my experience.
The Cat 5 race was only 30 minutes plus 3 laps so I assumed it would be super fast right from the start. I didn’t know what to expect but I figured my big battle would be just to keep up for a respectable portion of the race. I took off hard at the start since I was afraid of getting dropped but it turned out these guys were not going any faster than I could go. The course turned out to be pretty easy. It was flat, .65 miles per lap and it was shaped like a letter “D” so it really only had 2 turns. We settled in and cruised along at 22 - 24 with bursts into the high 20’s. There were no breakaways and the pack stayed together, just getting gradually smaller as we went along. Most of the riders seemed capable of going fast but no one was either able or willing to go fast enough to open a gap and hold it. The worst parts were when the pace slowed down. That is when everyone bunched up and things got squirrelly.
I was having a grand old time until we hit 3 laps to go. At that point, the pace slowed way down since no one wanted to lead. At one point we were only going about 18 mph. The pack got extremely nervous as everyone fought to stay at the front but not be in the lead. Lots of near misses and some bumping. Twice I had to stiff arm someone to keep them from hitting me. I finally decided to check out the back as soon as I got a chance. I had proven to myself I could keep up with these guys but things were starting to look dangerous and I had no interest in being around for what appeared to be an imminent blood bath. I’m way too old to be explaining to friends and co-workers that a scraped my knees and arms falling off my bike.
Unfortunately I had gotten myself stuck in the middle of the pack. We were approaching the last corner before the bell lap. I was still desperate to get out of the pack and just follow everyone home at a safe distance but there was no way out. Then the pace suddenly jumped into overdrive. A space opened up in front of me. My thoughts of death must have clouded my subconscious since as soon as the space opened, I heard voice say “come to the light.” I pedaled as hard as I ever have. I was only thinking of escaping death but I squirted out of the mass of humanity I was in and found myself on a wheel about 8th in line as we heard the bell. I felt safe again so I instantly switched from quitter to racer.
I entered the first turn of the last lap and in my excitement I hit my inside pedal on the pavement but did not lose control. We continued on at high speed. We came into the last corner. I was inside but this meant that several riders who had moved up the outside were stacked up on my right. We all had our eyes on the same apex point and they gave every indication that they were intent on killing me as we entered the corner. I put my elbows out, stuck to my line and won the race to the apex. Somehow I made it through but I’m still not sure how. I exited the corner still in 8th with about 75 yards to the line. I picked off 2 guys early and the guys on my outside got blocked by them. As I sprinted for the line, I came up on a guy who was dieing bad. I threw my bike to the line and ended up getting 5th by about an inch.
Average speed: 23.1 Max: 32.9 (a new flat ground PR-I didn’t think I could go that fast) Ave HR 169 Max 192
Great fun! Since I survived unscathed, I’ll try it again soon. Next time I’m going to work on trying to control my own destiny. Things worked out fine for me this time but it was more chance than tactics. I can see that this is definitely a thinking man’s sport.
Great race. Well done. I was supposed to be your announcer but I was with Julian and Bryce at the TT and had no voice from this sinus situation.
You did very well for your first criterium, or for any criterium fro that matter. Most impressively, you made the right observations: You are correct, the most dangerous and difficult part is when the race slows down. That is scary and sketchy. As you mentioned, this is the appropriate time to really be defending your position at the front. Good job- most people don’t get that figured out until they have a couple bad experiences. Good observation on the tentative nature of the racers. It is an odd form of negative racing: They slow down, you slow down… Sometimes the best thing to do is what Bernard Hinault said, “Take control of the race”. You do that by attacking and forcing the others to react. Of course, you have to have the legs for it and the fitness to be able to sustain a repeated series of attacks. Basically, you are trying to establish a rythm- You attack, run a lap, let them catch you. When they are busy chasing you and you are 15-20 seconds up the road you can already be recovering at a steady state. They catch you, they are fried, you or one of your buddies sets up the counter attack. After three of those suddenly you are only racing against 10 guys instead of 20, and the 10 that are left are thinking, “What the hell is going on?” You have just wrested total control over the race. Good job cornering, that final turn is not really optimal, it is a trifle off camber.
All in all, I’d say, way to go! Sorry I couldn’t be there.
That sounds exciting. Do you do any specific training for the crit racing? I have been riding for two years now but exclusively for triathlon. That sounds like a fun and effective way of breaking up the training.
I’ve been cycling for a few years but not competing. Last year I did a HIM. This year I’m just cycling. I’m riding more this year since I’m not running or swimming but I’m also doing intervals and some shorter faster rides trying to work on my acceleration ability.
Last year I did a 12 mile TT and averaged 23 mph, the same average speed as the crit. But last year I had a hard time going much over 25 for even a few minutes and I could not accelerate very quickly. The racing depends more on how quickly you can accelerate than how fast a pace you can hold.
My whole race on Saturday came down to whether or not I could match the acceleration at the start of the last lap. Even if I could have matched the speed, if I did not get to that speed as fast or faster than everyone around me I’d have been screwed. I ended up where I did in large part because I covered about 10 yards at the start of the last lap a little faster than the guys around me even though we all topped out at the same speed. That’s the big difference in training for tris versus mass start racing.
"My whole race on Saturday came down to whether or not I could match the acceleration "
And that is crit racing in a nutshell. I did Allen Park too, and there were guys in our race that can ride 28-29 mph 40km time trials, much below our 27.7 average speed. They just don’t have the acceleration to put distance into the others and settle into their TT pace. The seperation you need to establish a breakaway is quite large, and attacking a rested feild will seldom result in success, however someone will attack and thus there will be a chase to regroup, there are times that you’ll need to accelerate to close that gap. However, you can be the one that chooses to open the gap in the first place. Ride the same acceleration you’d need to to close the gap, but use that energy to open it. Dangle out there so the feild needs to use up some energy to come and get you and go again.
You can be the hammer, or the nail. Its going to hurt either way.
Thats a fun course and a safe place to learn crit racing. I’m sorry I missed your debut, there are training crit practice races all over Michigan including two a week in Metro Detroit. If you’d like to try some more and get some more experience I’d be happy to share some info on the weekly training series.
Great stuff, man. The visuals from your prose were great. I drool over the thought of the final sprints, whether it be in racing or group rides.
Do you join in group rides regularly? That is the best way to get your top-end speed, acceleration and sprint power to improve. Realistically 35+ is needed to win or place high in many races, even in Cat 5 races in Central Florida. Many of the regular group rides around here have sprint points along the way. My tri-buddy and I broke away from the pack this past Sunday and hit 37.2 on the flats. Nothing like winning sprints while on a tri-bike. The roadies don’t seem to like that much!
First off, congrats on the race. You survived, and even thrived. That thing you said about no one wanting to go fast enough to open a gap is partially right. The other part of it is that once anyone moves, every one is sprinting to catch the wheel, so no gap forms.
Now the part that just grates on my nerves…
“I’m way too old to be explaining to friends and co-workers that a scraped my knees and arms falling off my bike.”
I’m in no way trying to disrespect your thoughts on self-preservation. It’s the “falling off my bike” thing. My normal response when any one say anything about “falling off my bike” is “No, it bucked me off – I didn’t make the full 8 seconds…” Sorry, I don’t “fall off” my bike. I crash, collide with something (usually another ridier hitting me), or a flat causes a slide out. But I don’t “fall off”. It’s a figure of speech that I just don’t get… Irritates me to no end.
