EBC Criterium (My First Race)

Cheesus Crust, racing is fun! Anxiousness, nervousness, fear, excitement all were going through my head. Right after the referee blew the whistle to start and hearing all those cleats clicking into place I was like "Oh scheisse, here we go!" My last two practice races at the Early Birds Criterium weren't very good for morale as I got dropped and lapped. But this race was different. Other than the fact of being a real one, I was a bit more "educated" in the art this time. With Dan next to me, we blasted off from the starting line. The first couple laps were pretty fast and it felt awesome. All you hear is the harmonious hum of spinning wheels. I felt like a bee in a drone of bees going super fast without any real effort. That's pretty much how it went the whole race. I just drafted directly behind another wheel like Boner told me and occasionally darted to the front when I fell to the back of the pack. Gaz always told me to watch the front instead of the guy in front of my wheel and that helped.

I was very surprised I had so much energy throughout the race. Knowing how to draft makes a huge difference but I maybe rode 10 miles the week prior because I was fighting off a cold from digging too deep in the GPC Century. All those interval training lingered over and I was recovering fast after some medium-hard efforts to get into the front. By the end of the race, I still felt I had a lot of snap in my legs. I have to attribute that to some better turning. I learned it was easier and faster to hit the apex and come out wide while pedaling which saves a lot of effort. I came in 23rd out of 47 and Dan came in 18th (good job man!). I felt I could've done better but my original goal was to simply finish with the pack without crashing or doing anything stupid. Didn't want to screw up my first race by trying to be a hero and taking risks haha.

Speaking of heros, Cat 5's is a scary place to be. I heard a lot of yelling in the back from sketchy people doing risky things. All those sudden movements, trying to dodge the dots, trying to hook people, turning in the middle of a turn, and sparks coming at you! Yes sparks, some dude hit his pedal on the ground towards the last turn with sparks flying out towards me and I was like oh crap! I thought that happened to me earlier on turn #2 but it felt more like I hit a water bottle with my right pedal.

Things I've learned:

1) Start in the big chainring. Thanks for the tip Dan, it works =)
2) Don't overlap wheels if possible.
3) Position plays a big part in winning crits!
4) Watch the front and try to stay around there
5) Look next to you before you turn
6) Moving up from the inside is MUCH easier than moving up on the outside...but harder and scarier
7) Go wide on the turns after the apex and keep pedaling
8) Sprint in the drops and not the hoods on the last lap!