Orwell Wheelers 2015 Club League Round 02: Corkagh Park Crit 30 mins + 2 laps

I missed the first round, the Pine Forest TT. That day was really bad weather-wise, plus I had to work late. I was able to attend the first Corkagh Park Crit.

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View the Ride on Strava.

Back in business, if you can say that about your first proper race. My Patellar Tendonitis magically subsided, a few days ago, so I decided to race this evening. My training was hampered for six of the last seven weeks, so I can only get better.

I was a little apprehensive at the start, as I didn't want to go too hard too early and explode. Followed the wrong wheels and they got dropped, so I got dropped.

The Garmin and I had a fight again (our first in a long while), I had disabled all the segments, but it re-enabled them again, so every lap it was on the map screen. I wanted my "3 Second Power" on the screen. Spent some time fiddling with it and lost concentration.

Rode on my own for awhile then got picked up by the faster, chase group. Riding in a bunch, even at the back, was so much easier. Stuck with them for five laps. I tried to move up in the group, but expanded too much energy. Should've stayed at the back, as I was comfortable drilling it outta the corners and taking it easy on the uphill finishing straight.

Got a stitch and fell off the back. Couldn't get back on and dropped out just as I was about to get lapped after 25mins of 30mins+2laps

Legs will be freshly shaved next week and I'll be aggressive in the early exchanges.

What was learned

I needed to be well placed at the starting laps of the race. I also needed to adapt my training to suit the racing.

While chasing, I matched my 5, 10 and 20 min, peak power record for 2015. This was fine, as I had build this base of longer Intervals over the Winter.

When I was in the back of the Semi-Limit Chase Group, I hard to sprint out of the corners. These short sharp accelerations were not something I had practiced before. So I heeded the advice of one of the other guys in the club. He said he was doing 30 second all out efforts, with 30 second rest intervals, because racing was constant little accelerations. I would factor these into my training over the coming weeks.