Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack

Had about 45 minutes to warm up, but I think I went to hard in the first third- should've gradually picked it up given the somewhat long warmup. The wind was near a standstill at 9:00. Being a 4/5 race there were five of us- Frank, German, Oscar, Tim and myself. The strategy was basically to do your thing until 5 laps to go and try to move up the front. Those who were feeling good would lead German into the sprint.

The race started out at a manageable pace. With a field of 75 it was a little difficult going through the third and last corner. There were six or seven primes which kept the pace high. A few times the cornering got a bit messy with riders strafing a lot. It mainly happened on turn 3 where riders try to avoid the botts dotts as well as the compression phase of the accordian effect. I wouldn't blame them, though, since my rear wheel started sliding at times when I hit the botts dotts in mid corner. I also had my share of being in the front center and then getting swarmed shut coming to the corner- gets a bit nervous as we readjust spacing for the corner.

Speaking of accordian effect, I really noticed it when in the back where I usually like to stay. Given the large field size and finite amount of road, there was a lot of energy dissipated into the brakes. After a while I really noticed it was taxing my legs so I made an effort to get up to the middle, which had less yo-yo and quite a bit more draft, since the stragglers in the back always leave a gap exiting a corner.

At four laps to go I was near the back of the pack, but it was shaped like an up-side-down U, basically a bunch in the front and two tails trailing behind with a huge open pocket in the middle. I tried working my up to see what I could do come last lap, but the pace was too high by then- it hit 32 at times. I got through the last corner on the inside, which took some speed off me. I managed to put in a moderate sprint to maintain my position at 46th... Yay! Is it time to upgrade to 4? Probably not. We'll see what happens in the near future.

Overall it was a scary fun race. No crashes thankfully, but some close calls. I'm getting more comfortable with gaining positions and getting more seat time cornering in the center of the pack. Back to top