Just curious how many of you have the the opportunity of winning a race, of being in the lead or fighting back and forth for the lead. I just got back from a great solo ride and as I was hammering away I imagined how great it must feel to have the whole pack behind you, chasing you. I know I never have and likely never will. Thats why I always set a “time goal” and achieving it is my win. Share your stories and brag a bit…you deserve it.
I’ve won some bicycle races. Once I won 11 criteriums in a row- all local cat 4 and 3 stuff, but fun anyway.
Everyone breaks the tape at Ironman though!
I’ve won some bicycle races. Once I won 11 criteriums in a row- all local cat 4 and 3 stuff, but fun anyway.
Everyone breaks the tape at Ironman though!
11 crits in a row. That is impressive. Who cares what cat, putting together a string like that is impressive, especially since even the best efforts in bike races can be negated by bad luck.
I think, winning isn’t always all its cracked up to be. Seldom do you get in a real epic battle to the finish.
I have won two races, so far this season (I think I have a shot at a couple more; I did my first crit ever today and didn’t crash, so this bodes well for the rest of the season).
One was a large 5 mile race (500+ racers), but the competition wasn’t great and I just pulled away at one mile for an easy win by over 20 seconds (27:18). If there was a lead car it would have been cool, but there was just some dude on a bike with a walkie talkie, so it was kind of lame. It was a nice feeling to hit the mile mark and know I had the race in the bag, that I could take these guys whenever I wanted. By the time they gave out the awards, eveyone had left. Truth is, nobody usually cares who wins.
I also won the 3000m at my USATF regional indoor champs as well. A little more of a race, some HS kid took it out. I let him go, since I know my pace. I brought him back just past the mile and held him off by several seconds, but again once I went by, that was it, no battle. I did a couple of indoor races last year and actually got in some good races, one win and two thirds, but good racing in all three. I think I actually had more fun (more of an epic type race like you would like to imagine in the two third place finishes.
I think if you really want to have fun, do some bike races. I just race for training, so I am always doing solo breakaways and getting on the front and driving the race to split the field. You won’t win any races this way, but to be honest, the best strategy in most bike races I have been in, is seems to be to sit in the field, do not work andjust wait to the end, when a lot of people have gotten a bit tired and it is easy to get a good placing. This takes extreme patience and is no fun, so the heck with trying to win. I still get some okay results, a couple top tens last year, both races I was in it till the end with a chance to win.
I guess my point is, that even if you don’t have the skills or ability to win, if you are a decent rider, in a bike race you can live out your fantasy.
you know this is a great question, at least for me. Continuing knee problems are forcing me to realize that my racing career is more then likely very close to an end and this question made me think back to how very fortunate I have been in racing. I’ve been doing multisport races since 1984 which is also the year in which I won my first multisport race and have continued on from that and won close to 100 multisport races overall. Some races I have won overall numerous times such as the Heart of Dixie triathlon in Mississippi 5 times and the Sandman triathlon in Gulf Shores, AL 11 times. It gets a lot harder to keep winning races as I get older (44 now), when you consider that I have been in the sport for 21 years now, and was a competitive runner for 7 years before that. I can still give people a run for their money though. I’ve taken overall at a couple of club races already this year and was 4th overall at the Spring Sprint last week (about 800 entrants). It is a great feeling to cross the line knowing that you were the best on that day of the people that showed up.
I was a swim team kid. Hang around in that sport long enough, and you’ll end up with a shoe box full of blue ribbons by the time you’re old enough to drive.
My biggest win came in high school: Grand Rapids City League champion in the 200 yard free junior year. Then senior year, I had everyone chasing me trying to beat me, which was both kind of neat, and kind of scary. Actually went faster senior year, but ended up losing to a girl who had one of those big time drops between freshman and sophmore year and I just wasn’t going to go 1:59 like she did.
I have won many races in track and swimming while growing up. I won a couple of local 5K’s last year in my return to sport. It all depends on who shows up as to how high I finish.
It really is a special feeling to come across the line first, but overall it is just for fun so I don’t get too hung up in winning.
Been a long time, but I’ve won a few back in the early 90’s (if memory serves 4) not counting the monday & wednesday night race series and high school track/CC.
It always felt good to lead running, made me run faster. But in triathlons I never felt “great” in the lead until I crossed the finish line, felt hunted. I always enjoyed chasing better than leading.
I’ve broken 23 tapes in 20+ years. NONE in the last 9 years…the best in that time frame has been a second place at a local duathlon…family and career have superceded full on multisport pursuit. Choices. I don’t regret it. I’ve had just as much fun in the last 9 years, WHEN I’ve not been deployed and been able to compete…
This year I’m returning to really good form…next year…we’ll see…if I can find my way to a position that keeps me home for a while…
Regardless…I look forward to each and every opportunity to toe the line against you all…for me…its all about doing the best I can on that day…nothing more…nothing less…
I’ve won quite a few road, track and cross-country races during my 27 years of running but it took me until my 15th year of triathlon to win a race overall and then I won 2 back to back … A sprint race followed by the provincial (Ontario) Long course championships which was a nice way to finally get an overall win. It is fun to be running with the lead mountain bike like I’ve seen others do for so many years. Now that I’m 38 and winning races overall (which I couldn’t come close to when I was in my twenties) I figure that I must be nearing my prime but my injury plagued winter may make it hard to repeat this summer unless it happens in late August again 
I’d brag if I could 
My best was second in a local slalom ski race when I was about 15. I was way in front until, you guessed it, the last guy beat me by a gnats cock. Hugely disappointing.
I later came third in a freestyle ski competition but never found out til a week later as we had to leave before the awards ceremony. I was 18 for that one and it was a friggen long time ago.
Since then I’ve been MOP or BOP at pretty much anything that is based on speed. Except of course the unofficial downhill on a tri bike championships in my area. I’ve never been passed when I’ve been aero.
Remember, without losers (like me and the unwashed masses) there wouldn’t be any winners
In the late 60’s I won my heat in a surf contest, and later in the 70’s I grabbed many a heat ribbion in swimming… And now I win just about every one of my workouts, as long as I go alone…
I won the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival Turtle race in 1978. Man that was a fast turtle.
Seems hard to brag as it’s just state level stuff, but as a bunch sprinter I’ve had about 10 cat 2 victories. I went to nationals in 1990 for collegiate cycling after winning the region road race in a sprint. I took a break and now race masters 35+ and won three races last year and so far have taken a 2nd and a 5th. One thing is odd is having a hunch you will win as you sit in a pack of 40 riders. Your brain is so occupied on how you will make it happen, secretly wishing even your own teamates will get chased down, then once you make a choice on who’s wheel you will follow and waiting for the right time to go. Most go too early, they get antsy and can’t take it, especially on a hill finish. It is so rewarding when you read it all correctly and actually come first. My business is in the tank and money is tight, so I actually race to pay my race bills. If I can win even $30 I’m so pleased. 20 for the entry, 10 for gas and a little food. Feels like breaking even anyway. Feel bad if I don’t return my fee. Could have won it Saturday if one more guy would have gone just a little harder, he didn’t so I couldn’t. Coulda shoulda woulda.
Not that my opinion means jack squat, but I don’t think that any of you need to be apologetic if you win a race that maybe doesn’t have the best competition. You can’t beat them if they don’t show up. The idea of a race is to win. You have all one, and need not qualify it one bit. Stop apologizing!!!
Yeah, it’s cool. But those are never my best or most memorable races. The key is to cherry pick little races or move to a place where there are fewer competitors: Moved 2 years ago from a more competitive and populated area and always finished between 5th and 15th in road running races to this corner of this desolate state and I show up at a 10K and am often the only person under 40 minutes … Two weeks ago was cool: A pack of 5 guys ages 15 to 42 duked it out for an entire hilly 5K. All of us led at one time or another and all finished within 15 seconds of each other, all in the mid 17s. I couldn’t hang on and was 4th: The eldest competitor won.
None since I stopped racing USCF…Juniors…lots, CAT3, quite a few, CAT2…at least 20…CAT1 - 1…then I put a Shimano lever in my leg and that was that.
Won my first race this year. Half-Marathon.
Time was a pedestrian 1:23:50.
Small local race.
I thought it would be really cool to win a race, but it was not as big of deal as I thought.
Life IS about the journey, not the destination.
My 15 minutes: In a small town, long, long ago, won a few local swim/run biathlons, 5ks, but greatest win was the Volcano 5 Mile Run, terribly grueling course (the old course, not current one for anyone who is familiar with it). Very competitive field. First year I did it, was 2nd female. Next year was first but as there was a 10 mile run that started ahead of us finishing at the same time, I was lost in the crowd and didn’t get any fanfare at the finish. My husband didn’t even know I was first female. Actually placed 10th overall in the 5 mile field. I went and helped at the finish line afterwards. Got a beautiful hand blown glass plate as my award.
Greatest ever race was the next year. A competitive friend and I were shoulder to shoulder the entire 5 miles through the volcano, passing other people who had started the longer race ahead of us. She got me at the sprint to the finish but I was happy to be second on a great battle. Always happy to loose in a great battle instead of winning in a weak field.
I´ve won a few triathlons / duathlons / run-races (not many, around 20 i´d say).
The one i remember most was my first win. A duathlon north of Berlin / Germany. It was a very twisted course in the woods. On the first run i had lost contact to the leaders and i thought that i was in 10th place or so… I passed three early on the bike. It was a out-and-back cycle. Approaching the turnaround i was starting to wonder where everybody else was. My heart was starting to pound harder and harder the closer i got there. First i was thinking “hey, i´m not that far behind” …then i started to think “maybe…maybe…” but didn´t allow that thought to really sink in. At the turnaround i realized i was leading. I was really shocked. I was flying home.
On the second run i was so scared that someone would take that away from me that i pushed as hard as i could, i outran everybody by 3 minutes. On the last 2km i looked back every 10 meters.
It was only a small race and i have won other stuff later. But the feeling after that first win was super.
Axel
Won my first races last year. A duathlon and quite a few TT’s (including an international TTT). I picked up my first silverware in a Triathlon yesterday !
My only regret was I didn’t know I was winning at the time so I couldn’t savour it until the shock had died down. I’d love to break the tape knowing I was the winner.