Early Bird Race Report, Robbie

early bird crit. Cat 5: 1-10-2010
At the beginning of the race I had the goal of just finishing the whole 40min. of the cat 5. And at the starting line of the race I was as nervous as anyone would have been doing their first full Cat 5 with all the older guys. It’s the beginning of the year and I am doing these rides for conditioning and experience. Everyone says cat 5 is a bit more dangerous since they are usually beginners but since it is learning races and no winners it is more controlled. So it helps my nervousness.
When they signaled us to go I got on some ones wheel and just tried to keep up with the pack as it went speeds of about 21 – 25mph. It is sure a lot easier at that speed when you are drafting the entire time. As the race progressed I had to move to a ton of different wheels as I was at the back and middle of the pack, but I know that the way I was racing I was doing much better than last week. I felt better in the pack and was using some of the things they were teaching us in the earlier clinic and last week’s clinic. (like pedaling all the way thru the turns and which lines to hold in the turns)
About half way thru the race there was fairly big wreck that was right in front of me. About 5 or 6 guys. Some bikes got messed up. I don’t think anyone was hurt bad. Luckily I saw it coming and pulled out. They let us rejoin on the next lap. I was able to hold on and finish with the main group which was my goal. There wasn’t a ton of strategic moving as we were supposed to be learning pack rules and stuff. The race was hard and with 5 laps to go I just wanted to make sure I finished. The pace picked up and we were moving pretty fast. There were about 5 – 8 guys that kind of sprinted for the finish. I sprinted also but was somewhere in the middle to the back of the pack. They taught us in the after clinic that if you are in behind the 12th – 15th place not to sprint or you can cause accidents. I was just glad to not get dropped (last week I got dropped with about 4 – 5 laps to go.) So I was glad to finish and still have some energy at the end. I am going to get to go to one more week so I can be a little closer to Cat 4.
Jr Race.
It was really cool to race with the Rocket teammates again. It was fun to see everyone. It felt like old times last year. The race was a controlled and supervised 30 minutes. We kept a good pace. They had 12 years old in with older kids to 17 years old. The groups got broke up at the start. Robert and I were in the second pack and we kept up with the older group of kids. Robert was riding strong. Almost the entire group spent a lot of time on working with each other and learning drafting techniques. The mentors and coaches were in the middle or right behind us giving advice. The older kids were moving pretty fast and were stronger. Robert and I were just drafting and hanging on wheels. We made it. I think I came in about 4th to 5th. I was totally exhausted afterwards but happy I finished. Special thanks to coach Tom who helped mentor today and gave some really good tips to me afterwards. I hope I can remember them…..I will try. Thanks coach Tom.
-Robbie