Racing in North Carolina

ByMike Byrd

Originally written in August of 2006

Here’s my report from racing this weekend – my first races in North Carolina as a Swami Cycling Club (I hope I did you guys proud).

I raced a 10 mile Time Trial on July 23rd at Lowes Speedway. I finished 2nd in the Cat 4 group with a time of 21 minutes and 24 seconds. This was also good enough for 17th overall. So I felt like my fitness was pretty good. This weekend was a big race weekend in Charlotte. There were Criteriums Thursday-Sunday around the area. There was also a Team TimeTrial on Thursday.

I took part in the TTT on Thursday with some riding buddies that I’ve been riding with in Charlotte. It was a blast and we all had a good time. Riding a TTT was new experience and I’m looking forward to doing it again in the future.

Friday night was a Cat 4/5 crit in Statesville. I had high hopes of doing well because I felt my fitness was coming up just in time for the races -but should have known I was in for an eventful night as my truck flatted on the way to the race. The course in Statesville was technical and hard -6 90 degree turns and for some reason, the course seemed to be all uphill.I was told to get to the front at the start of the race but the riders started lining up on the start line 15 minutes before the race.

I kept my legs moving feeling confident that I would be able to move up after the race started. My plan was short lived. I was at the back of the pack going into turn two at the bottom of the steep downhill (the only hill on the course) and sure enough, some guys tangled and went down. I tried to avoid the crash to the right and ended up bunny hopping up on the sidewalk, tried to dodge a haybail, only to find out there was a 2nd curbon the other side of the sidewalk. Thankfully, I was able to almost come to stop before falling over. I picked myself up and got back on my bike and tried not to pay attention to the screaming and cussing behind me. I thought for sure I’d be able to catch back on the main pack.

Well after 20 minutes of suffering, the leaders of the race caught me. I hung on to them for 2 or 3 laps and then called it quits. I was cooked. Turns out that out of 75 starters, only 14 finished!

This was a big wake up for me. Seems the crit racing here is a little different – ie….there are HILLS in the crits. Statesville made all I the criteriums I raced in San Diego seem pancake flat.

Saturday was the Cat 4 Colisieum Criterium. My confidence was pretty shot after Friday night and I just wanted to finish with the main group. The course was barely under a mile long and trapezoid shaped around a large parking lot. The finishing straight was a decent upgrade, after turn 1 it was a climb to the top of the parking lot. After making a sweeping 180 degree turn, it was all downhill to turn 4. We were entering the last turn at anywhere from 30 to 35mph. I felt pretty good during most of the race and stayed in the top quarter of the field. We were averaging about 22mph up the uphill stretch and several times I felt like I was at my limit and thought about dropping out. But I hung in there. The whole group was together on the final lap and I was on the inside of the course going into the sweeper at the top of the course. One rider attacked and for some reason I had an opening on the inside and nailed it. I put the hammer down and tried to close the gap to the rider in front of me. When I came out of the sweeping turn, I looked back and had a large gap on the field so I put my head down and pedaled as fast as I could. I didn’t catch the rider in front of me, but did manage to hold on and finish 2nd in the race. The good news is that I got my confidence back for Sunday.

The race on Sunday was in Winston-Salem. I didn’t get to pre-ride the course so I started at the back too get used to the course. It was a very cool course though a neighborhood. The streets were covered by big oak trees so we didn’t have to suffer with too much sunlight. It was another difficult course with lots of turns (6), a chicane and small power climbs. I don’t know how they do it here, but is sure seemed like the course was 75% uphill. The finish was once again an uphill finish. This race was super fast. We were averaging about 25-26 mph through the neighborhood and this went directly in a long uphill, right turn, more uphill, right turn again, more uphill to the finish. I was suffering during most of the race and tried to stay at the front of the group and made sure not to ride on the front of the group. I did win one preme though which gave me some confidence going into the final. Once again, the group was together coming into the last turn. I was on the inside of the last turn, but it didn’t work as well as Saturday. Coming out of the last turn, the rider in front of me slowed so I had to slow to get around him on his right. I figured I was out of the sprint but still went after it hoping for a point or two. I guess I had a decent sprint because I managed to finish 8th overall. Not bad considering the position I started the sprint in.

I started the 35 and older race an hour later. Big mistake. Turns out there were about 6 past national champs in the race. Plus a lot of Pro/1/2 riders. Needless to say, the first lap was fairly easy and after that, I didn’t stand a chance. These guys were pulling 28-29mph on the back side of the course through the chicane. I just wanted to stay with the main group and kept trying to fight back on after guys would pop in front of me. I managed to finish 5 laps before calling it a day. I was pretty much anaerobic for 3 of those laps. This was a real eye opener. I have a lot of work to do if I want to get that fast!

So Overall the results weren’t that bad, 1 DNFs, 1 2nd place, 1 8th Place, and 1 ‘Pro/1/2 guys are SUPER Fast’. I won a total of $135 and a pair of socks so I did get ‘paid’. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the racing so far in NC. The courses are super challenging. I’m looking forward to more races and getting better. I don’t know about making Cat 3 this year, but I’ll keep trying.

Mike

PS A group of us went to the Bank of America Criterium downtown Saturday night. It was super exciting to see all the Domestic Women and Men Pro Team competing in an event. Nothing like seeing the big boys race up close and seeing how fast the Pros really are. They can suffer bigtime.

The Bike Racer

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the Internet. My name is Mike Byrd and this is my website. I enjoy sports, being outside, new challenges, marketing and anything that comes my way. I am the author of the blog posts on thebikeracer.com. I enjoy writing about cycling, poiltics, coffee and anything else that fits in the "My World" category. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to say up to date on anything new that gets posted to thebikeracer.com.

Similar Posts

  • 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 3 (6/22/12)

    ByMike Byrd

    Today was a rest day for Chester and I at the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships. Today were the Criterium Championships and unfortunately (or fortunately) they don’t have a crit class for tandems.  

    We slept late and headed down to the races to see the Paralympians that were able to do the Crit race.  It was inspirational to see them racing.  Watching them race definitely puts things in perspective.  They don’t see it that way and race as hard as any able bodied athlete, maybe even harder, but for me it definitely makes me realize that I shouldn’t be ‘sweating the small stuff’.  I hope that makes sense.

  • Race 2 – 2011 North Mecklenburg Cyclocross Series

    ByMike Byrd

    Charlotte area racers were treated to a tight, technical course for round 2 of the North Meck Cyclocross Series on Tuesday night.  The race management crew from Charlotte Sports Cycling added a spiral section, several off-camber turns, and reversed the course direction from last week- providing a good challenge and a much different feel from last week’s course. 

  • 2012 Brushy Mountain Training Ride 5

    ByMike Byrd

    4/4/12    Andy and I made it up to Brushy Mountain yesterday.  It was my 5th time to Brushy this season.  It’s always fun to start the season of with a bunch of trips to Brushy to get into shape.  I set a PR on the last trip and this weeks trip was just a steady state ride, especially with a VO2 test on Friday and the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek on Saturday.

  • Race 3 – 2011 North Mecklenburg Cyclocross Series

    ByMike Byrd

    Proper cyclocross weather finally came to the Carolinas for the last round of the North Meck Cyclocross Series on Tuesday night. Racers were challenged with a wet, windy course and temperatures in the high 30’s.  Afternoon rain tapered off before registration opened, but the course got slick and muddy as the night went on.  Promoter Neal Boyd setup a slightly less technical course for the conditions, and DeFeet provided some nice prizes for the final round podium finishers.

  • In Shape?…Maybe Not!…

    ByMike Byrd

    It’s been a long season so far. I don’t know if I’m in good shape or not. I participated in the Charlotte MotorSpeedway Time Trial on June 9, 2010 in the Category 3 group. I got to the track early enough to register, get a start time assigned, and then have a solid warm up. I don’t like riding a trainer so I warmed up on the small track inside the big track. I immediately noticed two things….people warming up on TT bikes not using their aero bars (which I can’t understand) and the wind. It was pretty obvious that we had a big headwind going all the way down the home stretch between turn number 4 and turn number 1. It was the most wind I had experienced in the 3 years that I’ve been doing the TT.

  • |

    A2 Wind Tunnel

    ByMike Byrd

    From cyclists to race cars, the motion of an object is determined by the sum of the forces acting on it. Those forces have both strength and direction and they can be observed and measured to predict future motion. Watch how an aeronautics engineer works with Newton’s three Laws of Motion to test the best posture and helmet for a cyclist in a wind tunnel.