How long to be a credible Cat 4 or am I just crap (road content)

Sounds like you’d fit right in 🙂

CAAD10 and a Belkin top.

Not allowed replica kit are you? Never used to be.

Stourport 123 for me, first of 4 next weekend.

That came around quick!

Mrblobby, let me know if you need a domestique for anything local! 18months later, I remembered I have a bike (even if it is currently just riding around Watopia and Richmond 😀 ) and am still crit-curious 🙂

Holy thread resurrection !
Thought I’d post on here instead of starting a new one. Seen as the TT season has finished for me I fancied having a bash at my first crit before the weather turns so entered the “points grabber” held at salt ayre in Lancaster last Saturday. 40 odd turned up for the 3/4 cat so it made for a exciting race shall we say 😯 My main aim was to not come off or get spat out of the back so was happy when I crossed the line mid pack. Would’ve been quite a bit higher but a couple of incidents on the last lap made a mess of this. Three corners from the finish I was positioned ok (I think) when some guy came barrelling up the inside of me, forcing me wide that caused me to loose several places. Managed to manoeuvre myself back into a half decent position again and was all set for the sprint at the finish. Trouble was as I started to wind it up on the last corner a guy who tried to do a solo break at the bell gave up and decided to sit up in front of me, forcing me to brake and let loads past. Still, I got round in one piece but I’ve got a lot to learn. Because I wanted to keep near the front so I could keep an eye on things I found myself AT the front far to much. In fact I made the schoolboy error of dragging everyone round for a lap near the end instead of hiding and saving my energy 🙄
There’s one more race this Saturday that I might have another go at but it’s certainly wetted my appetite to give them a good go next year (TT’s allowing)

I find making myself as wide as possible, glancing over my shoulder and drifting slightly in is enough to deter most of the dive-bombers…still there’s always one or two who are persistent.

Top dozen riders is a decent position particularly early on, if any goes you’ll be in a good position to grab a wheel if a few try to bridge. If you’re on a sprint finish top 6 should keep you out of the wind until you need to go. If you find yourself on the front then turn it down a bit, someone will always get excited and come through

In fact I made the schoolboy error of dragging everyone round for a lap near the end instead of hiding and saving my energy

Surely just look knackered and slow up in this situation which encourages other people to pass?

Surely just look knackered and slow up in this situation which encourages other people to pass?

Should’ve done but got a bit carried away with myself. Thought I could hold the power I was producing but after nearly 45mins of being on the edge clearly showed I couldn’t. If I’d of spent more time hiding and preserving my energy I’d of had more left in the tank I’d imagine, even trying for a breakaway near the end. Like I said, schoolboy error 😳
Still, it’s all a learning curve so I’ll be better prepared for the next one.

In fact I made the schoolboy error of dragging everyone round for a lap near the end instead of hiding and saving my energy

Spot the Tester 😆

Don’t worry some never learn.

Spot the Tester

🙂

As a tester dabbling in road racing, I tried a few last year. Didn’t have the time to follow up on it this year unfortunately. Took me a couple of races to get comfortable sitting in the pack.

Sat it and waited for the sprint the first couple of races but was really rubbish at that. Second race I actually got into a pretty decent position for the last corner, but I’d never realised just how long it took me to actually start sprinting (probably my most obvious tester tell!) Definitely something I would practice and improve a lot on if I was to have a proper go at it.

The other couple of times I raced I tried a break which ultimately led to being a solo effort, and with some pretty decent tester pace I got close, but it’s hard to hold off a bunch of 40 guys to the line. Seemed like half the pack was riding for a sprint finish, and the other half depressingly resigned to the fact that it’s always a sprint finish.

I used to live in Lancaster, I raced at Salt Ayre loads.

That final corner, the 180 left hander is difficult to get correct. On the final lap, everyone is doing 2-3mph quicker than at any other time but usually they fail to correct for that extra speed so they end up drifting wide – this then leaves gaps on the inside which people will try and divebomb. Meanwhile the poor guys on the outside have been forced off onto the grass as everyone drifts wide.

The technique for it is to turn in later but you need to be up the front to actually make that line choice – if you’re in the middle of the pack you have no choice but to follow everyone else’s wheels.

If you are mid-pack, stay on the left: it’s a tighter turn/shorter radius and you’ll avoid being spat out on the right. The downside is you’ll be leant over more and you absolutely cannot pedal in the turn at all otherwise you will catch the inside pedal and that’ll take half the bunch down.

instead of hiding and saving my energy

That’s a sprinters trick that is 😉 So if you haven’t got a sprint (I haven’t) then I find you can save all the energy you like and it will make 3/5 naff all difference when the lads with quads the size of Chris Hoy wind up.

Speaking of which…..are sprinters in 3/4 races hitting the gym over winter and/or are they naturally built for the sprint?

Feels like I’m stuck between not having the power to weight for hilly courses and not having the outright power when it comes to a sprint on the flat.

What have all the other road racers got planned for winter?

Started at the gym a couple of weeks ago, having neglected any specific strength training for my entire life I figure that a few months in the gym will help get me to the line with a bit more in the tank.

Don’t particularly consider myself an out and out sprinter but it’s where most my points come from.

Most races around here aren’t all that hilly so absolute power probably counts more than W/Kg, most of the climbs can be wrestled up.

2nd cat for next year.

Since you’re a tester, yourmistake was to not go for a breakaway with 10 minutes to go, and time trial to glory. Very nearly worked for me on Sunday at our club champs. stayed away for three miles and caught with 100m to the line.

Forget keeping your powder dry and attack properly!

I’m still struggling with the probability involved with time trialling to glory….even at a decent TT pace, a bunch with riders rotating at the front has to be pretty shonky not to be able to pull back a lone rider?

Even the totally disorganised bunch I was in on Sunday pulled back the lone break rider. Without anyone really wanting to do any work at all on the front.

It’s tough to win solo from distance, even a cat 4 pack of 40 odd riders will be going much faster on the last couple of laps than you’ll be able to go solo, especially with a carrot to chase. You have to time it right, get a big enough gap early enough, and get a bit lucky. If you can team up with one or two others you have a much better chance, but you’re much less likely to be allowed a gap late in the race.

50:50 sometimes, it depends on the bunch behind, if they’re willing to chase or if they’re too disorganised and no-one wants to work. Timing is everything.

Thing is, if you know you can’t sprint and you’ll lose out in a bunch sprint scenario, you’ve got nothing to lose by going for a lone attack in the last few laps. A lot of the time you’ll be caught, chewed up and spat out but just occasionally you can hang on in there if not for a lone win at least to be caught on the line and still score a few points.

Depends just how disorganised they are. I’ve seen elites screwing up a chase by just being disorganised. Just need one rider not doing a proper §turn and it all goes to pieces. Even more annoying when they *don’t* have a team mate up the road and it’s not deliberate.

In the 3/4 races I’ve done this season, I haven’t yet seen one organised effort. People either want to sit on the front and do a big turn or act like a hero and hang themselves 20 or 30 yards off the front putting out the watts but ultimately wasting their time 🙄

Its best when other riders roll up to the front, give it all the chat about needing to work together and then promptly disappear back into the bunch 🙄

In my experience it’s usually a well organised chase that shuts down breakaways, just a couple of guys who work their nuts off then are nowhere to be seen. Whilst it might be folk chasing something down for a team mate I know for a fact that sometimes it’s just someone getting too excited and wasting their energy.

Mainly because I’ve been that guy.

Prob(win) = small number(TT effort) + 0(sprint) I’m not a sprinter. 3/4 races are seldom organised. And sometimes you might be joined by another hero. Never stop trying. WWJD?

What would Jens do?