Swords League Race - 24/06/2009... cometh the hour ..... faileth the man

scottreynolds

In whats will read like a sequel from another riders race report here's my first real race report.....

I should have known from the start that it the day would end badly. Cycling home I felt tired and was passed by a hybrid (oh the shame) and then a guy on a bike from LIDL (killing myself now)...... I justified it by saying that I was merely commuting before the race. Home, thought I have a quick carbo sambo ..... peanut butter with brown bread ... still hungry chuck in another one.

Off to the race. TBH this is the real race how can I get from home to the race in 20 minutes. Thankfully I was blessed with fast driving skills. Unforunately thats where the pace ended....

At sign on I was fine being slipped into group 3 until I saw them. They all looked trimm and proper... ready for racing. I felt slow, looked slow and was ultimatly to prove slow.

At the gun I was still feeling nervous and then boom off they went. Whats going on I thought its a wednesday night slow down but off they went flying along at around 38+ km/h .. I managed to keep up for 9 km then started to slip off the back... by 10km I was 400m off the back but they weren't going away just sitting there... I needed a big push so decided to try to get back on.......................

So here I was charging full on towards the group, they were still out of site so I have no idea how far ahead they were now. I flew around the bend, saw a sign for Ballyboughal, our start point, but kept going as there was no marshall. I rode hard for another few minutes and got to Oldtown. I don't remember this on the route I thought and then it dawned on me I had gone the wrong way. I turned and charged back with half of my brain thinking I would make it back maybe to see the scratch group.... however when I arrived back to the turn I was about 6km additionally done and I knew my race was over but I rode hard to end the first lap with full intentions of finishing the race. But one I got to the start I thought there's no point riding hard by yourself for anoter lap and a half and called it a day..... in the back of my mind I was planning my run for the next morning.

I jumped in the car and drove to the end to watch the rest of the race. It was a great finish to watch so I was happy to see that from the other perspective........... thats all for a few weeks as I have a break next week and then a 10m TT I think................

P.S. My run went well. An early 12.5km which I couldn't have done if I finished the race so it was all fine.

biker_joe

Hi Scott
A good report ! And maybe rest up a day or so before your next race !!!
it's much better if you are fresh for a race, rather than tired !!!

As point of interest, I would n't seeing the average kph or mph from riders that completed the race for each group ... I reckon the handicapping is pretty awful at the mo .....

I rode group 5 ( scratch -1 ) I think, and we averaged 24.0 mph for the race, and caught no groups ahead !!

Biker Joe

Raam

biker_joe wrote: »

Hi Scott
A good report ! And maybe rest up a day or so before your next race !!!
it's much better if you are fresh for a race, rather than tired !!!

As point of interest, I would n't seeing the average kph or mph from riders that completed the race for each group ... I reckon the handicapping is pretty awful at the mo .....

I rode group 5 ( scratch -1 ) I think, and we averaged 24.0 mph for the race, and caught no groups ahead !!

Biker Joe

I'll throw up my stats from group 3 this eve. We caught groups one and two before we hit the Nags Head descent on the last lap and we weren't exactly a model of teamwork.

scottreynolds

biker_joe wrote: »

Hi Scott
A good report ! And maybe rest up a day or so before your next race !!!
it's much better if you are fresh for a race, rather than tired !!!

As point of interest, I would n't seeing the average kph or mph from riders that completed the race for each group ... I reckon the handicapping is pretty awful at the mo .....

I rode group 5 ( scratch -1 ) I think, and we averaged 24.0 mph for the race, and caught no groups ahead !!

Biker Joe

There were 6 groups. ah balls. TBH there wasn't more than a minute between 90% of the riders at the end........ you guys just need to work harder

I really feel for the scratch group I do no really. I don't really do resting mid-week so I'll just have to get stronger ala Raam.

Cadex

Solo, So Low…. The ‘Corduff CP’ 24/06/2009 (45k)

First off, glad to hear the lads who crashed are (fairly) ok – hope they’re back in action soon and very sorry to hear that it happened.

This was to be the 5th race I entered and I was thinking that maybe I’d end up in the right group, doing the right things and basically do alright this time. The weather was beautiful (a dry Wednesday race day – mad!), little or no wind, good roads etc., I’d no particular niggles and the bike was running well. I’d no real excuses although, I was last on the bike for the Wicklow 200, looking back now that might have been too long ago.

As it was not too far away and I’d good time, I cycled over (20k) to the start. When I signed on, Joe told me he was thinking of putting me in the 3rd group (promotion?). I was debating whether or not that would be good. If I could ‘live with’ them, my overall speed would be higher and it would be good for me, however, they could be too fast and I’d be ‘out the back’ (again!). Having spoken with Raam/ Peter and Scott, I thought I’d give it a go. As we waited on the line in the evening sun, I was wondering if I’d let my heart rule my head judging by the guys who’d left in the first two groups and looking at the guys around me in the third group.

When we were sent off, I started off doing my share of ‘up and overs’ but lost the ability to keep it up as we ascended the Nags Head. ‘Uh-oh’ I thought, this did not look good. To be honest, it was very quickly obvious that I had nothing like the power and energy I needed to keep up with them and I cursed myself for not going with one of the earlier groups. Despite my efforts, the lads drew away. This was during the first half of the first of 3 laps – bloody hell! I pushed on and went as well as I could but they were going away. After a bit, one of them became detached and I reckoned I’d make it over and maybe the two of us could work together but he ended up stopping, I asked if he was OK and I think he said he had a puncture. ‘Great’ the only one I could catch was a chap with a flat!

Back to soloing around the course debating whether I should take this as a training run (again) or pull up – stubbornness kicked in and I stayed on the bike . This was my first time on the route and I nearly missed the turns a couple of times as there was no marshal on some spots and no other cyclists in sight. A couple of times the marshals that were there seemed pretty surprised to see me - maybe it was because I was on my own so early on. At one point, I saw a cyclist come from a side road and I wondered if I had gone wrong further back but he was just another chap out for a spin. The bike seemed to keep going on it’s own when I got back to the GAA club so I went on through the second lap. During that lap, the fourth group went past and I stuck to them for a bit. If I couldn’t live with the third group though, I wasn’t going to stick to these for long and they got away. Near the end of the second lap I saw a marshal waving a flag then saw the ambulance where the crash had occurred. This definitely woke me up and I hoped the lads were OK. I went on presuming that there nothing I could do. Again, kept going past the GAA and around on my own in ‘automatic’. When I was nearing the finish, one of the marshals asked was I the last. I thought, “everyone is a critic tonight”. I realised that I probably was last but reckoned I must be in front of the man with the puncture (if he started again) and I suppose the guys who went to hospital (sorry!). When I rolled over the line, there was no one there but a couple of motor bike lads further up the road chatting. I asked if the line ‘back there’ was the finish and they said it was, so I sat up.

When I finally rolled into the GAA club, I was absolutely knackered. I asked about the crash and heard about the injuries – rough on the lads. Joe said he thought I should probably go back to the second group next time and I told him I reckoned he was right. This was a serious understatement, the way I felt, an OAP on her shopping bike would have done better. After a quick chat with RAAM I headed off for the cycle home. I now reckon I had not done enough on the bike lately (pretty obvious) but had also probably ‘bonked’. As I went along, I began to feel much colder and a bit sick. By the time I neared the house, I was crawling. I was kept going by the thoughts of my dinner, a bath and a beer in any order or even all at the same time! When I fell into bed later on, I felt completely dead like I had the ‘flu. I’m happy to say, I woke the next day feeling fine, just a bit fed up with my efforts. I heard since that there might have been other groups behind the fourth one so I may not have been the final finisher – no great comfort though!

Stats from what I can remember: Dist: 43km, Ave: 31km/h, Max: 48km/h, time: 1:23 . Loads to learn still….

blorg

I think in our league at least there is a big step up from semi-limit (group 2, where I am now) and semi-scratch (group 3, where I am trying to avoid.)

zzzzzzzz

blorg wrote: »

I think in our league at least there is a big step up from semi-limit (group 2, where I am now) and semi-scratch (group 3, where I am trying to avoid.)

I don't think it's as much of a step up as you think.

Semi-Scratch is definitely a lot more organised though

blorg

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

I don't think it's as much of a step up as you think.

Semi-Scratch is definitely a lot more organised though

Well I want to sandbag down in semi-limit a bit now that you are out of the way When I say sandbag I mean make ridiculous doomed breakaways, turn the wrong way off the course while in said breakaway, start my sprint finish 1km from the line, unclip out of my pedals in the bunch sprint, miss the line, get boxed in at the left side of the road, forget to keep pedalling, etc. All in a nights racing and part of the learning curve, it is nice to have more of a chance to try things out down here and I hope to get it all right at least once before the season is out.

Scott, saw that you made it into the parish newsletter for your previous spin:

http://blog.boards.ie/2009/06/26/thread_boards_1/

lukester

What's limit like in terms of the level of chaos?

blorg

lukester wrote: »

What's limit like in terms of the level of chaos?

I started in limit in our league (Orwell/Lucan/Usher/Tiernans/UCD) this year with El Tonto, Barrabus and Aidan. It was pretty disorganised and ability varied widely, the group would tend to split early on. The four of us tried to get a level of organisation going in one race and did pretty well, taking straight 2,3,4,5 but failing to catch a very strong lone breakaway who was promptly bumped up. Aidan has been moved up to semi-scratch and the rest of us to semi-limit.

Semi-limit is sort of half-organised, it can be difficult getting a good rotation going, even though it is in everyone's interest to stay away and it is no easier trying to hang on at the back and having to sprint out of every corner. By half organised I mean there are a few people other than us willing to throw in and do the work but also a lot of hangers on. A lot of the time you find yourself on the front and no-one coming through. At the same time in the races I have done the SL group is often staying away and contesting the placings (we catch limit if we didn't start with them.) It is very close, semi scratch are generally arriving on our heels pretty much at the finish line- which suggests the handicapping is not far off.

lukester

Tangential query, what's the deal with Tiernan's as a club? Are they an offshoot of Orwell? Is it like the People's Front of Judea? They're based very close by.

Chips Lovell

lukester wrote: »

Tangential query, what's the deal with Tiernan's as a club? Are they an offshoot of Orwell? Is it like the People's Front of Judea? They're based very close by.

Not an offshoot. Totally seperate club.

Raam

blorg wrote: »

I think in our league at least there is a big step up from semi-limit (group 2, where I am now) and semi-scratch (group 3, where I am trying to avoid.)

If I can hang in with group 3 you can certainly do the same!

lukester

el tonto wrote: »

Not an offshoot. Totally seperate club.

I realised they were separate, just wondered if they'd had their origins in Orwell. Never hear much about them, are they pretty small?

Chips Lovell

Actually, that's what I meant, that they arose separately. It seems to be a small enough club, at least in racing terms. They'd probably have the smallest amount of riders in our league.

Raam

biker_joe wrote: »

Hi Scott
A good report ! And maybe rest up a day or so before your next race !!!
it's much better if you are fresh for a race, rather than tired !!!

As point of interest, I would n't seeing the average kph or mph from riders that completed the race for each group ... I reckon the handicapping is pretty awful at the mo .....

I rode group 5 ( scratch -1 ) I think, and we averaged 24.0 mph for the race, and caught no groups ahead !!

Biker Joe

I got an average of about 39kph, so the same. Guess yis were never gonna catch us in that case.

lukester

el tonto wrote: »

Actually, that's what I meant, that they arose separately. It seems to be a small enough club, at least in racing terms. They'd probably have the smallest amount of riders in our league.

Ah ok. Don't hear as much of them as other clubs, have seen the odd jersey around, notably on the W200.

Chips Lovell

lukester wrote: »

Ah ok. Don't hear as much of them as other clubs, have seen the odd jersey around, notably on the W200.

I've been told they're active enough on the touring/leisure side of things, but I don't actually know anybody in the club.

Raam

My own ramblings have made it up...

http://swordscc.bravehost.com/NewsnReports.html#League1109

I'll start this by saying that I am more Andy Schleck than Robbie McEwan. Before I go on, I'll qualify that... if Andy is Barcelona FC, I'm the Kidderminster Harriers version of him. For those that don't follow the National Conference football league in the UK, that's pretty far down the list. Although, comparing the Harriers to me is probably disrespectful to them.