Trying something for the first time - Crit racing

It has been a huge gap in my blogging/reflection writing. My last entry was June after I did some track cycling in a UCI velodrome.

On Sunday 14th October, I did my first crit (criterium) race at a course which I have seen many crashes occur. I have watched the SKCC crit races for about 7 years now, have done a latte lap ride (learn to crit) there 3 years ago and finally a race Sunday.

Crits do not come natural to me - you ride in close proximity to each other, you corner in a group and fast, the intensity of the races are high and you generally do all this with people who are strangers. To give a bit of context, my heart rate was > 170bpm the entire time with 190 at the final sprint.

Due to the Melbourne Marathon, there were plenty of road closures and it was near impossible to drive there and back. I decided to ride in and with the latte laps at 6am, I had to leave the house at 5am. Latte laps is a "learn the skills" sessions by Ridewiser. They teach you the skills you need for cornering and holding the line. To be honest, I didn't learn too much from the latte laps as I had been practising those cornering skills when I joined Lead Out in Jan 2017. I did pick up a few tips about where on the particular course I should aim my eyes at when entering the apex etc etc....It was also good to ride the course and be familiar with the lumps and bumps prior to the race.

We went around the course for about 10km or so from 6:15am - 7:15am. E grade were suppose to start at 7:30 but due to the high number of people from the latte laps entering the E grade race, their race didn't start until 7:45am. All the females who did the latte laps entered so Womens C grade had pretty good numbers compared to last week (8 entries).

A few of us waited around in small groups watching the E grade race. It did appear to be much faster than anticipated as all first-timers needed to race E grade first. I had a muesli bar during this time as I was getting pretty hungry with the 4:40am alarm, 30km already in the legs over 2.5 hours.

When they called for the Womens A, B and C grades, I decided to stay at the back of the group as I am not confident about riding in the middle of the pack especially for the first ever crit.

The first few laps were good and manageable. After 3 laps or so, Womens A grade overtook us but then a few of the C grade women decided to overtake that group (not a breakaway). I could hear a few disgruntle comments from the Womens A grade as well as the C grade marshall who were riding with us. He ended up riding up to them and I think eventually calmed them down to allow for Womens A to properly pass. I was at the back of the split and ended up being the beginning of the 2nd group. I just pedalled consistently and found that I was in a group of 4 and we just did rolling turns. Another rider joined us later and we worked in a group of 5 until the end.

What I thought was 35min + 3 laps ended up being more close o 35min + 1 bell lap and we were told to sprint for the final straight. I was at the back of the group of 5 and ended up sprinting and weaving past to gain places and riding across the line in front. That was a small personal win for me and I really wanted to see where I sat as I had been working on my high power sprints for a while now.

After the race ended, I ended up riding home but really feeling how tired my legs were. It ended up being a 70km day but due to the high intensity, my legs were totally spent. I ended up transferring my membership from Caulfield-Carnegie over to Hawthorn. I found that I obtained nothing from being a member of CCCC but I have seen plenty of support from other clubs. I ended up choosing Hawthorn for a change, their proximity to my house and a few of my friends being already part of the club. A few hours after joining the club I received two emails of welcome and a welcome pack for Women@HCC which was a great support. I am aiming at a Hawthorn CC crit during the season but will need to rotate it between MelburnHurt & the crits on the Wednesday evening.

I have also bought a season pass for SKCC Sunday crits and aim to do at least 5 for the year.