Rained appeared in forecast after I registered yesterday, good chance will be wet for my 3rd crit on Saturday. About 30 pre-registered for the cat5, gonna be fun keeping rubber side down!
Advice?
Don’t stress about it. Lower your PSI. Ride at the front. Keep yourself smooth and controlled. Brake before the corner. Win.
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I’ll work on achieving a zen-like state for Saturday 
It rained the entire crit last year at Tour de Murrieta. I attacked from the gun and stayed away to the finish (3 bridged up). Not saying this is what to do, but there’s no doubt we were taking the corners so much faster and in part why we stayed away.
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Mostly this. 
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I need some subliminal programming, the cycling version of this:
Life jacket?
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one advantage of being a clydesdale - always packing a life jacket!
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Bwunananah…
Thank god I have a hole…Captain_Danishman just sounds silly.
Back to the OP…don’t race.
Rainy low Cat. crits scare the bejesus out of me.
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yeah I just need to finish… hoping to tailgun and when they all fall over like dominos on the last corner, slingshot around them for the win
Captain_Danishman LOL
Some good advice given already, but yeah, ride at the front and lower your PSI a bit.
riding at the front is the other plan, I’m a sucker for trying to make the break
At the front, not on the front.
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I’ve done several rain races and after the first 5-10 minutes I seriously forgot it was raining. The only real thing you need to be mindful of is whether any of the corners are slick, like painted lines or new asphalt etc. The water only really matters in the turns and then usually only if the road is unusually smooth.
The one time I had a rough time was a super technical crit on a freshly asphalted street that was like an ice skating rink. I freaked a bit and got lapped within 15 minutes but their were guys who looked to me like they hardly backed off at all. Of course, other guys crashed
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Things to remember for a rainy race:
- Lower tire pressure
- Clear glasses (Trust me, clear far outweighs tinted lenses in the rain!)
- cycling cap - To try to reduce the spray from tires in front of you
- Shoe covers - these can be helpful to keep your feet dry, and they’re aero!
- Wet brake pads. If you’re using carbon rims/rim brakes, you might want to make sure you can brake in the wet. My go-to is alloy rims in the wet with kool stop wet brake pads.
- A towel for after
- A spare kit or just a jersey in case you podium
Can’t be looking all muddy and washed out for the pictures!
Wishing you the best, and looking forward to hearing your recap!
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Doh! That’s my problem!
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Definitely didn’t think of the towel… I’ve got disc brakes so that one is covered. Some of my competitors have already moved up to cat 4, so if luck comes my way I’m going with the “muddy cross look” for the podium!
Original plan was to ride the 15 miles into the race, and get my warmup, race, and then do a depleted ride home. Hoping the early AM weather is good enough to ride in and not drive, even if it then starts really raining…
An Ass Saver thing is great in the rain too if you have one and the carry no weight or aero penalty. Even pros use them in rainy races.
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Haven’t used my fender since the rainy weather we had two years ago, and I didn’t notice any real drag when using them:
https://www.trainerroad.com/forumuploads/short-url/fBr7EKctvxqqeGp1PbNJdKiYtv5.jpeg
Wouldn’t take long to put them on.
That’s what you call pulling a Bradbury. It’s a bold strategy. I hope it pays off.
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