Heffron today
You just have to decide closer to the time. RBCC is typically quite cautious and would cancel/shorten the race if the condition is not right.
Wind is part of the given at Heffron and will affect all.
Good luck!
Wind is part of the given at Heffron and will affect all.
Good luck!
Well I raced, but I didn't finish this week.
The wind was hard work and a gap opened on the corner before the hills on each lap so I wasn't getting the benefit of drafting for the hardest part. I also tried to push the pace on the second lap or so as it was a bit slow, and I think that burnt me out a little. I should have sat on the back from the beginning as once I got on the front I kept trying to roll off but no one would come around, so did too much work for the first few laps.
No computer so no idea what the speed was.
I'll try again next week...
The wind was hard work and a gap opened on the corner before the hills on each lap so I wasn't getting the benefit of drafting for the hardest part. I also tried to push the pace on the second lap or so as it was a bit slow, and I think that burnt me out a little. I should have sat on the back from the beginning as once I got on the front I kept trying to roll off but no one would come around, so did too much work for the first few laps.
No computer so no idea what the speed was.
I'll try again next week...
Sounded like you became the sacrifice for the Wind God of the day.once I got on the front I kept trying to roll off but no one would come around...
Well done for the first race there. The wind is tough and learn to hide as much as possible unless you know you are stronger than the rest.
This was actually my second time. I did it last week and finished, coming in 6th but there was only about 12 in the race to begin with - and about 3 or 4 dropped out. This week was a bit faster, but the bunch didn't split up as much.
Damn, I thought Heffron would be cancelled so I went out west for the Tour of August at Horsley Park.
There were about 100 riders in 5 grades. Apparently quite a few were burgling in grades lower than their normal ones, attracted by the prize money.
D grade had only one pack most of the race, as in that wind once you dropped off you were gone and the dropped riders were too strung out to reform. I got dropped on the second lap; I thought a downhill/downwind section would be the right place to grab a drink and recover for a second, but a gap opened up almost instantly. From then on it was just a painful solo grind to finish about 9th to 12th out of about 20 starters (and pass quite a few C grade casualties).
Heffron would have been more fun, especially now that the two guys who got me in my first race have been moved to C. I know what Orphic means about the problem that not many Heffron D-ers are willing to take a turn up front, though!
I suppose, with hindsight, that I picked the wrong place to ease up, because at about 50 km/h the pack had strung out and the slightest loss of pace saw you drop out of the slipstream - and, I just realised, the win was so strong that the slipstream of those ahead was going downwind at about 50km/h and therefore didn't extend as far behind their bikes as it would have when they were riding upwind.
So, would it would have been better to have tried to hold on for a while longer and then rest up on the next hill or level patch, or even when we turned and went back into the wind????
There were about 100 riders in 5 grades. Apparently quite a few were burgling in grades lower than their normal ones, attracted by the prize money.
D grade had only one pack most of the race, as in that wind once you dropped off you were gone and the dropped riders were too strung out to reform. I got dropped on the second lap; I thought a downhill/downwind section would be the right place to grab a drink and recover for a second, but a gap opened up almost instantly. From then on it was just a painful solo grind to finish about 9th to 12th out of about 20 starters (and pass quite a few C grade casualties).
Heffron would have been more fun, especially now that the two guys who got me in my first race have been moved to C. I know what Orphic means about the problem that not many Heffron D-ers are willing to take a turn up front, though!
I suppose, with hindsight, that I picked the wrong place to ease up, because at about 50 km/h the pack had strung out and the slightest loss of pace saw you drop out of the slipstream - and, I just realised, the win was so strong that the slipstream of those ahead was going downwind at about 50km/h and therefore didn't extend as far behind their bikes as it would have when they were riding upwind.
So, would it would have been better to have tried to hold on for a while longer and then rest up on the next hill or level patch, or even when we turned and went back into the wind????
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