Hagerstown Results

Thanks to those who offered advice prior to the race. All of your advice was spot on, but I had to experience it for myself I think to really understand.

Hagerstown gave me an appreciation for the speed of 1/2/3 races as well as motivation for training. As BJ Basham noted on his race preview, there was a small rise in the course that did wear on me after while (like after the 2nd lap), but actually...I found that the hardest section of the course for me was into the wind / crosswind on the opposite side of the course. That surprised me because in our warm ups I didn't recall feeling the wind, but it was hurting me as I rounded that corner. Another thing that surprised me was the degree to which the accordian effect played out even in the 1/2/3. I was expecting smoother cornering, but I found myself having to slow down and then accelerate. By the time I figured all of this out, wasting far too much energy than required for the first 4 or 5 laps, I got caught behind a crash early in the race. A gap opened up and several of us never bridged it.

Out of the gates, I started out on the front of the pack but I found myself drifting back quickly. For example, in prepping a smooth line for a corner, I'd brake ahead of the turn to allow myself some room to rail the corner coming out with more speed, but as I let a gap open up prior to the corner, other riders took that opportunity to move up in front of me and then I'd have to brake, lose my momentum and accelerate coming out of the corner. So, I found myself moving back quickly, not so much because I was going that much slower, but because I wasn't jumping quickly enough to stay on wheels.

takeaways from this one
1 - jumping more quickly to stay on wheels and to not lose ground and staying closer to the front in the early laps of the race
2 - quicker processing on how to ride the course...ie. on riding the outside line coming around corner 4 to stay out of the wind
3 - riding better lines on the corners
4 - improving fitness so that the first (3) items aren't so critical to me lasting in a race.

One thing that sort of urks me a bit is that I know these things from past "lessons", but I didn't execute. I think that I would have had a better shot at sticking around for the duration of the race had I just focussed on some basics. Also, of course, I have some work to do with my fitness level and when I improve my fitness, I won't have to do everything so perfectly in the race just to survive. Lastly, I was amazed as I sat on the sidelines watching the race to see the strong guys out front attacking. This sort of puts it right in your face...the difference in fitness levels. Here I am watching guys attack off the front full into the wind after I just got dropped off the back.

In any case, I'm psyched for the new challenge.