Ronde Van Brisbeen Race Report

I wanted to do the Ronde Van Brisbeen last year, but I remember that this time of the season [last year] was pretty wet. I think the CAT5's were also full. So I signed up for this race since it's the 2nd race of the year that's within my city radius, and it was a great way to start off the Criteriums. When I checked the Confirmed Riders list on the Registration website I noticed a lot of my teammates were signed up as well. That being said, I thought I would finally get to know the "team" aspect of cycling.

Since this was a "C" priority race I didn't do much, if anything at all, to prepare myself for this race. My breakfast was the usual bread and nutella with a bowl of cream of wheat and a glass of water. I drove to the race with my mom (I'm taking my Behind the Wheel Test this Tuesday :D) and parked next to Alberto, who is another PenVelo Junior. I was unaware that there were more PenVelo riders parked at another specific area but it didn't matter. I didn't do any specific warm-up, except ride around a parking lot once and do the course twice before the start. After that, I met with the other PV Cat5s and we discussed the strategy. We started right after that.

I had a lot of fun with the course, mainly because of all the turns and the speed/momentum we get before going into the turns. I have never clipped my pedals so many times before, and I don't think I've ever done sharp turns like the ones I did today before (but there are many more to come). The hairpin was probably everyone's burden. Around the 3rd Lap I figured that all I needed to do was to shift into an easy gear prior to the hairpin and just coast instead of braking late and hard to save major energy. The chicane following that was where I clipped my pedals first, but I wasn't the only one, I think I head a clipped pedal once every lap.

Also at the chicane, I was behind another rider who slammed his brakes, causing him to skid, and as a result I did the same thing, fishtailing a bit. I was glad I didn't go down.

So for the first few laps of the race, I was in the mid-front, trying to be as aerodynamic as possible. Again, the hairpin threw me off a bit, especially because the guys in very front were able to get through it quicker then the guys behind them, because of the accordion effect. As a result, I wasn't able to make it through into the front, which was where one of our protected riders was staying. So for the rest of the race, I just rode through hoping not to get dropped. ( Quite a few people got dropped)

In the end, I was able to see the sprint from where I was in the pack. I even contested with another rider just to test my sprint, which I haven't touched base on since August! I think I did good for this criterium especially because I've been training in the Base period, and I'm gaining confidence from my efforts as I anticipate the real training.

Low Point: Not being able to effectively help out the protected riders.

High Point: My effort in the end when It really started to speed up.

Place: Unknown as of now.

Garmin Data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/66740466