Most races I want to win and others are for learning. Today’s Lucarelli & Castaldi Branchbrook Cat 1/2/3 road race was the latter – too fast and too competitive for me to race for the win. However, it offered an opportunity for me to refine my bumping skills, practice drafting efficiently, and get a good workout in!
For the most part I stayed near the back of the pack. I tried to to move up, but riders were riding aggressively and super close together, making it hard to get closer to the front. But the race allowed me to practice my positioning and bumping skills as I had to constantly fight for position even while being near the end of the pack. The crosswinds were also super strong and I had to find many opportunities to get a good draft. The most helpful way I found to save energy drafting was having riders on both of sides of me. I noticed riders on the unsheltered side of the road were putting in a lot more effort than I was.
Ultimately I rolled in for 47th out of 91. Not a dream result, but a great practice race. I also got a great workout. These were the fastest 63 km I have done, averaging 46.8 km/h per my Strava, even faster than my last Branchbrook road race (which was also my first Cat 1/2/3) where I averaged 46.2 km/h over a shorter distance of 43 km. The GoPro footage of today’s race is on YouTube.
Short blog today. Have a bike fit later today with Chris from Rogue Cycles (who raced with me today) and have to get ready for tomorrow’s Lucarelli & Castaldi Cup Race #2 at Prospect Park.
