Awesome job getting out there!! Someone said to me the other day, “You don’t need to be perfect to race.” The important thing is trying it out and learning and then getting out there again. Goal #1 can be “finish with the pack”. It feels soooo good when you’re there. And then the goal becomes “finish in the top 10”, and then “podium”! Your learning points are all great ones–glad that you felt comfortable in the big pack and that you were able to turn within the pack well. Very important to learn about the warmup time for YOU. I need a long warmup as well, and I usually try to get to the start about 90 min ahead of time because I hate feeling rushed. (For a 7am start time, that really truly sucks…)
Great job! Are you still going to do Folsom next weekend?
Hey @trjosh now we just need to get you on a bike! Did you make it out to Land Park?
@dhellman ya thats the flip side of “you don’t need to train before you start training” LOL. The competitor in me (and ego) wanted to race with a higher ftp, but to steal a line from Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it present.” The important thing is to lay down a marker, no matter where you are, and then replan. Know where I need fitness to be, found a guy on Strava with similar numbers that raced with the pack and his laps were 269W, 217W, 250W, 233W, 246W, 254W, 243W, 227W, 230W, 287W which is totally doable if I get ftp up to 270+ (or 260+ and able to hold 30 minute threshold in TR workouts). I’m sitting just below that right now…
Are you coming out for the Folsom Winter Crit? Weather not looking good for Saturday, plus my girls are home this weekend. After our O-Dark-20 race I froze my butt off and watched the 9-14 year old juniors turn a few laps, and then Cat 3/4 race. There was a guy off the back the entire race. And another guy OTB a lap or two later. So if the stars align I just might make it out this Sat, but probably not.