1. "The course didn't suit me". You're a cat 4, not a specialist yet. Not everyone does well at crits, but there was nothing tricky about the course. Almost no wind of any sort, 4 lanes for wide, sweeping turns and a full field of 100 riders. The course involved riding one's bike, conserving energy, and using it for a giant attack somewhere in the last 3 laps to try and position oneself for the win. This is a common narrative of most races at this level and the way that many of them have panned out this year. I made plenty of mistakes myself, but its because I deviated from this adage, not because the course was of poor quality. Unless you're winning every single race that ends in a sprint or riding away in every successful breakaway then you can't let a very limited tally of results condition you into thinking that you can only win certain kinds of events.
2. "I'm more of a sprinter". A few of the races didn't finish in a typical bunch sprint, but the length of the effort from where the hill kicked up to the finish line was a whopping 24 seconds. It should have been a sprinter's paradise. As a sprinter you should have been able to tell that the pace would pick up in the last 5 laps and that you needed to work on keeping a good position coming into the final turn in order to unleash that 1900 watt kick from your wattage cottage.
3. "The course isn't fun". Then why are you racing it? If its THAT boring then stay home, watch reruns of Sex and the City and knit a scarf. We're supposed to race because its fun. Its obvious that none of us are pros, but the race is 40 minutes from the DC metro area and its a chance to get outside, do something different from normal Saturday rides, and hang out with a generally friendly and laid back group of people. I've raced in 4 states so far and MABRA has been fun, friendly and welcoming. Its been pretty stress free and the people have been pretty cool. If you're not having fun being around said people then you must have some extremely odd social preferences. With many of us being perennial 4s we shouldn't be sweating most of these races and realizing that we do this because its a positive and productive outlet for the aspects of life that we loathe and spend the work week trying to get away from.
4. "The pace was really high." Well, thats collectively everyone's fault. Swarming seems to be the norm, albeit a very unproductive one at that. The average power for the straight 4 races I have done this year has been, on average, 25 watts higher than for 3/4 races. We are making the races harder for ourselves and diminishing our chances because of collective impatience. The race swarmed on at least 20 of the 32 laps yesterday and for no reason. Overtaking the peloton on both sides only to pull onto the front and go the same speed doesn't do anything but waste energy. I, like many others, want to have a good position to conserve energy and whatnot, but swarming over and over does nothing to accomplish that. Watch this, this, and this and try and tell me if there is any of the swarming that happens on almost every lap? Teams move up for leadouts at the end, but with a few exceptions, this doesn't always happen in local 4 races (see number 5). But why are we all working 10% harder than we need to only to have it diminish our chances of finishing strong? Its a 'prisoner's dilemma' situation, but has an easy solution
5. "I got stuck chasing down those breaks". Well, I've been here before and the key takeaway is to look at the results from this season and see how often breaks have succeeded. It happens, but just take a look at how the breaks in the higher categories start, end, and are chased down and it shows what we as a group do wrong. Breaks that start with a huge out of the saddle sprint probably don't need to be immediately chased down so that the entire speed of the peloton increases. With attacks going every few laps, this adds up a lot. The solution is to realize that most of them won't stick so don't get caught up burning matches to chase them. Letting something dangle for a few laps and slowly pulling it back requires less power and leads to the same result. It also leads to the riders in the break tiring themselves out longer.
6. "Our leadout got disrupted". This is kinda funny considering that the course was so wide at RSR that it was almost impossible to get boxed in in a finish where 50+ riders were gunning from the line at the same time and in the same proximity. I've seen Bike Lane setup some nice leadouts for each other, but if you watch the way many other races in many categories have finished this year there are often no semblances of organized leadouts. You're not Cavendish and you don't need 4 dudes putting down 500+watts for the last 3 laps to get your massive meat pistons up to speed when you have tons of riders who are unintentionally doing almost the same thing for you by accelerating and sprinting themselves. Its the 4s, if you're that much of a sprint specialist that you need a leadout then you wouldn't be racing in this category to begin with.
Other Coach Puppet mentions:
Lets get better at gluing tubulars. There were 3 rolled tubulars in the 4 race and 2 in the 5 race. Glue is cheap and it doesn't weigh much and it wasn't hot enough out to make it tacky. I've only heard of one rolled tubular in Arizona where people race in 95 degree weather most of the year. A quick search on cycling news shows that there were 2 significant instances of rolled tubulars in the pro peloton on the last year. Debating if someone needs aero wheels is kinda pointless, but if people are going to run them at least put the tires on correctly so you don't endanger yourself and other riders.
Have fun. At the end of the day we're recreational bike racers and we should be happy that we're not living our lives like so many unproductive and lazy people. If you're feeling in the dumps because you didn't podium remember that most people would be at home stuffing down waffles while watching Entourage reruns and increasing their BMI by the minute. Be glad that you're doing something productive and that your chosen sport doesn't involve something that requires you to swim before, ride after, and make putting your shoes on and clipping in the toughest part of your competitive event.
Be friendly.
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