Last Saturday I rode in my first crit. I'm 22 and relatively fit, so they threw me in with the B grade riders (Masters B + Elite C). No idea how that translates over to the US system, as I'm in Australia.

First impressions:
Supposedly the race was quite a fast one, ~41-43km/hr. It was noticable towards the end with less organisation and people less willing to do the work, the speed dropped right off and we started to bunch up. With 53 riders, some of the corners got a tad dicey decent during those slower moments.
Given that it was my first crit, I spent most of my time towards the middle-tail end, getting comfortable with the circuit and the people I was riding with.

Best moment:
Moving up through the field, finding a wheel I liked, then all of a sudden ending up on the front end. So I got to drive the pace for almost a lap - hard work

Unfortunately my Garmin ran out of juice around the half way point, before I ended up at the pointy end. But I'll link the segments below.

http://app.strava.com/activities/32579367

For anyone thinking about racing, and being unsure - just jump in and do it. It's SO much fun and you learn a LOT. I'm looking forward to the next one.

~41-43km/hr

Well... that is fast... I've never done any road racing (a lot of mountain bike xc race though) so I don't know how it is to be in a big pack of riders.

For going 41-43km/hr, can you tell me how fast you go on when there is not much wind on a relatively flat course ?

Thank you.

Get off the front! And when the pack bunches up like that, that's your cue to GO. Just attack and hope someone strong comes with you. Go all out for 30 seconds and don't look back. Just check for shadows (on the floor next to you) to see if anyone came with you.

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I only train on days that end with "y".

Eli

thats a pretty good clip. the key to a crit is staying upright... sometimes hard to do in the back =]

Strava has problems with the circuit it seems, lots of half circuits with unreal speeds.
But I like the course! (from my chair at least, I wish we had similar tracks around here)
What was this circuit built for originally?

That's why I use the Garmin and upload to Strava.....the GPS results are much stronger.

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2012 Fuji Altamira SE - 6.42kg

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It was built specifically for bike racing. You can see some video of it from one of our club races here.

That's pretty wild. Never seen a crit without corners before.

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2013 Wilier Cento1 SR || 2009 Ridley Crossbow || 2011 Yeti AS-R 5 Carbon

Yeah it's not exactly the most technical circuit...

OT question: how did you get the video sync'd with your GPS location/route, HR, and speed?

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Exp001

I didn't make the video, but the guy who did is a member of WW.

Try sending a PM to petal666.

Time stamps in your gps track have to match the time in your video. Here is one program I know people use:

http://www.dashware.net/

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2013 Wilier Cento1 SR || 2009 Ridley Crossbow || 2011 Yeti AS-R 5 Carbon

Wow, that is marvellous. Such a track for bike racing only, amazing!

I'm reminded of a course near Sacramento, CA: "The circle of death". They eventually added corners to reduce the carnage.

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Fuji SL/1
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Wouldn't adding corners increase the chance of crashing?

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