Women's racing with SUvelo

Road cycling & upcoming rides
Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 13 Jan 2012, 11:26

got sent this from one of the girls in SUvelo

It is with great delight that SUVelo would like to announce the commencement of a new club racing opportunity on the Sydney calendar. One particular initiative that we are proud to introduce is a women's specific grade (A and B if numbers permit). We want to make it a permanent feature on our racing calendar and to do that successfully I would urge all women to try to come along.

The first race will be on Sunday 26 February at Heffron Park with sign on starting at 7am, entry $10

If you could advertise this event to your clubs members and encourage participation that would be greatly appreciated.

It’s sure to be a great morning of racing.

See you there!

Mel


I can't make it, but for those who don't feel like doing waterfall(again...) this would be a good way to mix up the training.

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JoTheBuilder
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Postby JoTheBuilder » 13 Jan 2012, 14:02

I might be interested but would be nice to know whether other club ladies are going? Always makes it a little less intimidating!

Eleri
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Location: Erskineville

Postby Eleri » 13 Jan 2012, 14:13

I'll go, the more we get, the more likely it is there is a B grade I reckon.

AliG
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Postby AliG » 14 Jan 2012, 17:02

I'd help bolster the numbers to get a B grade happening, but will be away...

rhys
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Postby rhys » 14 Jan 2012, 19:12

I'll be encouraging all the girls I know to get involved.

Lizanne
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Location: Wolli Creek

Postby Lizanne » 19 Jan 2012, 12:22

i've been talking to a few ppl about the race, i might need to skip a skating session to join in all the fun

Lizanne
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Location: Wolli Creek

Postby Lizanne » 15 Feb 2012, 08:21

Well good news! due to my coach being away on the 26th i won't need to skip training, it's been cancled.
so i'm going to do my very first crit! woohoo

who else is in???

scully
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Postby scully » 15 Feb 2012, 09:11


Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 15 Feb 2012, 09:15

ya, but my hopes aren't too high. last womens into/lets get on a bike was held on a wednesday morning @ 9. so anyone with study/work couldn't go

Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 24 Feb 2012, 08:33

plan is meet @ the cafe @ 6:00 for a 6:05 roll out.
see ya there!

... oh ya there are guys races too

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JoTheBuilder
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Postby JoTheBuilder » 24 Feb 2012, 09:54

I'm out unfortunately. I've got to work as our crane is going up...

Good luck! And perhaps next week instead.

Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 24 Feb 2012, 10:11

:(

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 24 Feb 2012, 14:15

And I'm out too sorry. I forgot when I said I'd go that I'm ride leader this weekend.

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Stuart
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Postby Stuart » 26 Feb 2012, 10:29

Congratulations to Lizanne on her 2nd place today in the first SUVelo race series. Tell us about it Lizanne.

Also, congrats to Adrian E with a 3rd in C grade. Great riding people.

Results

Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 27 Feb 2012, 15:12

So that was a crit!

I’ve never really raced a road bike before. I did the Ken Dinnerville and the NSW TTT last season, but I recon this was the first real test on a road bike.
I turned up Sunday morning thinking it was going to be a nice friendly roll around, a chance for the newbies and masters to race alongside the elites in a all female grade. Well I thought wrong, it was game on from go. About 200m into the race we were strung out in single file. I was just hanging on the back, looking at my speedo, going 44min left. Just hang on.

Luckily the next lap it clamed down a bit. But this is where it goy hairy. I’m not good at corners or turning right (I am not an ambi-turner *does zoolander pose*) there were a few where I lost my rear wheel and nearly took other ppl out. So I decided to stay at the back this was part tactics (thanks tim), part safety, part the pace was still too fast.

Well with 3 laps to go one of the girls broke away, and the pace in the bunch slowed. No one wanted to chase. This was awesome. I had a chance to recover, and breath. The bunch started to yell at each other, me and another at the back were singled out for no doing any work. But we stayed there, and the breakaway grew to about 200m.

With one lap to go I decided it was time to bridge the gap. I kicked. And man, I need to practice that too. I jumped my rear wheel, and it mad a noise where I thought I tore off my derailleur, punctured, or snapped my wheel in half. But after a quick heart attack I realized I had lost the bunch and made a good chunk on the girl in the lead. When I made it to her I was spent. But we still had a good lead with 4/5 of a lap to go. I sat on her wheel for a sec, then took the lead.

It hurt, I put my head down, and just kept moving the legs. All that was going through my mind was “it’s only a 3 min heart rate with a 20 second sprint” The final corner came up , and we were together, she put on a sprint, and I sat up. One because there was still a big gap to the bunch and I was happy with second, two cause I was a hurtn’ and three, I couldn’t believe what she had left after being off the front for so long.

So I was a wheel sucking pig for most of the race, I feel bad for it, but I now know what to expect(and hopefully with a larger field it's less obvious). It was a good learning experience, and I’m looking forward to doing more in the future.

woohoo for second!

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weiyun
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Postby weiyun » 27 Feb 2012, 15:34

Well done! It's a race right, so anything goes. Egging others to do the work is part of the game. ;)

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 27 Feb 2012, 16:16

Well done Lizanne. Glad I didn't go then! Would have been spat out the back in the first lap. :)

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Adrian E
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Postby Adrian E » 27 Feb 2012, 19:35

Well done Lizanne. Good tactics. If the others fear your kick, then it's their job to them to try to do something about it. Not to get you to drag them around the circuit. That's racing.

My race was a bit of a surprise. I hadn't raced since June last year and felt nervous. I'd come off the back two months solid training in which I'd lost 5kg so I knew I was in pretty good shape but not racing fit. There wasn't anything very exciting in the race except for a child rode on the track in the middle of the C grade bunch that caused a commotion!!! See: http://youtu.be/E1C_DUnkpJ8 Come bell lap I was positioned fairly well at about 6th wheel. I followed the winners wheel and managed to hang on for third in a drag race to finish. It was really nice to be on the podium in C grade again. It's been a lot time between drinks.

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JoTheBuilder
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Postby JoTheBuilder » 27 Feb 2012, 20:25

Congratulations guys! Great riding...

I think you're right Eleri... If Lizanne is hanging on out the back I wouldn't really get a look in. But then again, if she has enough left in the tank to break away after 45mins perhaps she was doing OK... 8)

Lizanne
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Postby Lizanne » 28 Feb 2012, 12:05

this is what the race felt like out of every corner
Image

and then a nice shot of me
Image

timyone
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Postby timyone » 28 Feb 2012, 12:52

I wouldn't recommend sitting on the back at heffron! Top ten, unless a grade where they usually roll through the whole bunch, though it's still bad at the back.

timyone
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Postby timyone » 28 Feb 2012, 12:55

And sitting on for the whole race, then getting second with our a turn will not get you any friends! To some turns!!!!

patn
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Postby patn » 28 Feb 2012, 13:02

what does 'doing a turn' mean in a race that is NOT a handicap? who are they trying to get away from?

haha lizanne instead of winging about doing turns they should have put more effort into trying to drop you
or tire you out more! great work!

patn
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Postby patn » 28 Feb 2012, 13:31

actually some dude said that to me (unfairly too i reckon) at coota last year after a couple of
the intermediate sprints. then about 35kms into the race i got dropped on the first of the bigger
hills (suprise suprise) and enjoyed a leisurely 18km/hr cruise around the rest of the 'race',
watching everyone else slaughtering themselves in the faster grades. don't know if its bad form
to only contest less than half of a road race? enjoyable day out for me though :)

rhys
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Postby rhys » 28 Feb 2012, 14:18

The way I see it, racing at heffron, no one is ever going to be happy. You could ride on the front the whole race and people would still yell at you to hold your line, or that you are doing something silly, going too fast, too slow etc. The best thing to do is spend the whole race avoiding crashes and staying out of the wind, and try not to upset many people with abuse because you're wearing a club jersey. I wonder how much yelling goes in in pro races, probably not as much.

AndrewBurns
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Postby AndrewBurns » 28 Feb 2012, 20:24

Rode the Tuesday night race at Heffron today, it's a handicap so there is actually a level of cooperation at the front and more of a reason to take turns but in a normal graded race just play to your strengths. If you're a sprinter you don't work hard at the front, if you've got endurance and like to time trial then you should be trying to break away from the sprinters or wear them out so they have nothing left at the end. Yelling at you to take turns at the front is just a tactic :P

timyone
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Postby timyone » 29 Feb 2012, 08:49

It depends on handicap or not, in the handicaps they just role through. In non handicaps it can be better to be top ten as there is way less slingshot, and you can follow the race, breaks etc (quite often people who have sat at the back sprint only to find there were people away or the whole field split). If you are bellow 16, or a female in a male b grade field who you are struggling to stay with etc, you don't need to do turns, but if you are equal level, you can probably do at least one or two turns. If they are trying to force you onto the front, and yelling etc, slow until a track stand if you have to, to get off the front.

Turns don't really need to be as long as half a lap on the front, try and work out the windy half of the lap, and do your turns on the other half.

This is just cruisy hefron Saturday or Sunday advice. Club racing only, to learn about crit racing. If its an open or any thing worth getting a bad rep over, feel free to do every thing dodgy, though it may not hel in the long run. For club crits, it's good training to ride well with the bunch.


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