Not a lot of variation in the 2011 pro peloton kits — just about everyone’s going black. As Bike Rumor pointed out, it’s going to be tough for commentators, spectators and possibly even the riders to differentiate between the different teams. Hopefully while the kits are almost all black, the bikes with be a little more vibrant and be able to be used as a differentiator.

Nice Graphic Visualization of the 2011 Pro Peloton

I just saw that the 2010 USA cycling rulebook is now online. It has additions and/or amendments for all types of racing, including some feed zone and assistance changes for mountain bike events.

In the road racing the most significant is something that I always thought was strange that there wasn’t a rule against:

3D4.Riders who have lost contact with the field, and are then caught by a breakaway from the field, may not lead [disqualification]. Riders off the front of the field may not accept assistance from riders who have lost contact with the back of the field [disqualification for accepting such assistance]. Lapped riders may rejoin and race with the field.

2010 USA Cycling Rulebook Now Available Online

Hey all you fellow racers out there — this weekend has two central North Carolina speedway-based criteriums for your racing pleasure. The first is a makeup race in the Ace Speedway Series (tomorrow morning) and then my team (the Tri-Cyclists) is having their race this Sunday at the Orange County Speedway. Details on both races can be found at the links below:

View Carolina Speedway Series Web Site

2009 Tri-Cyclists Criterium

Just a quick heads up for all the racers reading Keefer Madness— registration is now open on Active.com for the 2009 Tri-Cyclists Criterium at the Orange County Speedway August 16, 2009.

The day before, there will be another speedway-based race — a makeup race for the Ace Speedway race series in Altamahaw, NC.

View carolinaspeedwayseries.com

We hope to see you as a racer and/or spectator at both August NC criterium events.

The hopes and wishes of a whole bunch of [racing] cyclists here in the Raleigh Durham area is about to come to fruition — some criteriums locally, meaning a better travel to racing time ratio. It looks like Sundays for the next couple months (starting in July) will be full of bike racing at Raleigh’s Centennial Campus, most likely utilizing the course of the early season Wolfpack Criterium.

This comes on the heels of talk of a semi-regular Tuesday night race series in Chapel Hill on weeks opposite of the Altamahaw, NC Ace Speedway series. Now let’s all get out there, race and support these to keep the local race scene buillding and hopefully growing in the coming seasons.

2009 Weekly Sunday Raleigh Criterium Series Flyer

So since I’ve upgraded to Cat4 road racing this year, I’ve struggled. But, it’s to be expected as it’s early in the season and I’m competing in a tougher class with longer races. US Cycling has finally updated their site with the official results.

So far, here are my results, while not great, are respectable and give me something to build on as my season progresses. Again, it’s early! I haven’t even taken bike commuting back up (though that’s happening real soon.. I miss it!)

01/31/2009 Triangle Velo Winter Race Series Cat 4/5 Race
Rougemont, NC
20th Overall (15th out of Cat4 racers)
(41 total started)

02/07/2009 Triangle Velo Winter Race Series Cat 4/5 Race
Rougemont, NC
37th Overall (21st out of Cat4 racers)
(48 started)

02/15/2009 NC State Criterium
Raleigh, NC
27th Overall
(~30 started)
Bleh! A combination of a crash and fitness (or lack thereof) took me out of this one early.

So far, cat4 racing hasn’t been so nice for me. Granted, I knew this was coming – faster speeds and longer racing has put a strain on my athletic ability. Add to that the fact that in the past week, I’d only ridden one night due to work and everything else is throwing at me.

Now that the whining’s out of the way, on to the actual race report. Like last year, the Wolfpack Criterium in Raleigh, NC was met with dry, but cool weather. I found it tough keeping warm prior to the race, but as soon as the whistle blew, that totally went away.

The Wolfpack criterium course is a nice course – basically four turns, with a nice little hill between the first and second turn. The back stretch has a nice little chicane built in there, so in reality, the course has more like 6 turns in total.

It became evident in the first couple laps that it was going to be a fast fast race. There was a little bunching up in the initial laps on the back stretch, with a massive acceleration on the front straightaway. Unfortunately, someone four laps in touched the inside curb on that chicane and had a domino effect, taking himself and a couple of other riders down. I was behind the crash, and while I wasn’t close enough to be threatened with injury, I had to almost completely stop and go way wide around the downed riders and he others in front of me, avoiding going down as well.

The accident allowed those ahead of the crash to get a major gap. Several of us who had been behind the mishap dropped the hammer, but it wasn’t very organized. I spent a ton of energy trying to catch the pack, but it became a futile effort. I ended up racing my own race, a lot of the time racing solo on the course.

The solo laps transformed the crit for me into an excruciatingly long race. On occasion, I was able to swap pulls with another rider or two, but unfortunately, a good 25 minutes of the race, I was out on my own, losing ground to the peloton.

I did end up beating maybe five across the line, so it wasn’t all bad, but I was pretty disappointed with the results. My parents and sister came out to the race, and I was kind of embarrassed by my performance, having a nice little cheering section on the front stretch. So what did I take away from it? I always miss my photographer/good luck charm/wife/love of my life being there. Her absence was missed for sure. It calms me down, motivates me, etc. I need to get more miles in during the week and on non-race weekends. I basically need to get my fitness up and my weight down to be successful in this new (to me) cat4. That will be a product of continued weight training, starting up the bike commutes again, and the added miles mentioned before. I’ve got realistic expectations for my first year at cat4 and am no hurry to move beyond 4. Here’s to better results, better fitness and better race reports as 2009 progresses.

Wolfpack Criterium, Cat4 Race Data

The team I race with, the Tri-Cyclists is looking for a venue for a criterium. Traditionally, our annual race has been in the Meadowmont neighborhood just inside of the Chapel Hill town limits, and has been a local favorite to race, with its two hills and a very scenic neighborhood course and a wide slightly downhill finish. But early last year, Meadowmont installed large speed bumps/speed tables throughout our annual course, putting an end to that event and having us start to look for another place for our annual race.

My thought is that we should migrate our annual criterium just up the road here in North Carolina to Research Triangle Park (RTP) on a summer Saturday or Sunday for multiple reasons:
Minimal traffic on weekends
Plenty of available parking
Lots of opportunities for clear racing routes

Do any of you reading who work out in RTP have any suggestions for routes that would be feasible as a criterium site and/or have contacts
at your company about seeking out utilizing their roads/parking for a day on a summer weekend?

View Larger Map

Well I’ve arrived back home from my first road race – The Piedmont Triad Omnium Road Race starting and ending out of Davidson Community College outside of Thomasville. So up until this point, I’ve only raced in criteriums, and a single time trial. This morning I added a road race, and it won’t be my last.

The Cat4 guys rolled out at 8:00am. We started right behind them at 8:05am. The course was nice, with an 11.6 loop we did three times. The start/finish was 3 miles off this loop. So the officials and police rolled us out with a neutral start down to the loop. I am not sure of the exact size of the field, but it’s the largest I’ve ever raced in to date. We only had half the roadway at any given time, and we were all bunched in like sardines.

I loved the ride, the course and just being out there. I had one teammate out there, and we both stuck near the front with a fair amount of ease.

The only complaint was the up and downs of the pace. I don’t know if it was a product of the group size, it being a Cat5 race, or the experience levels in the peloton, but we had a lot of braking that would have a domino effect down the peloton. The only other issue was because we were only able to ride half the road, we were packed in, and it made it difficult to move up through the group. Some of that is lack of experience on my part, and some was the lack of experience on others.

The first two laps went completely smoothly and we chugged along at paces varying from 19 to 25. It was a bit annoying as someone ahead of you would jam on their brakes and then raise out of the saddle to catch up. The only hiccup we had was reminiscent of something out of ProTour footage. A dog was standing out in the middle of the road on one of our loops (#1 I believe). One guy was almost able to hop over the little guy, but another when right over the dog with a yelp (from both dog and cyclist). Several riders went down with that and from the hard braking. I barely missed being taken out, with a well-timed swerve. My teammate Stephen also came out of that fiasco unscathed.

But the rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I conserved energy sitting in for most of the way. My only real energy burn was trying to reel in two that went of the front. Coming up the second to last hill, I was pretty spent. I went to shift down from my large ring, and it didn’t budge. After a few seconds, I shifted down on the back wheel, which got the front to drop down as well. But that sputter was enough to put me in a place of fatigue and I got spit out the back on the climb, never to latch back on.

For the first time, I realized there was some wind, and man does it make a difference out there all alone. I spent a ton of energy and almost latched back on to the back, but ended up losing them on the final hill unfortunately. I missed out on a large group finish, but had plenty behind me. I rolled in after the group, happy with my patience for the majority of the race, but really frustrated that I got spit out, after feeling so good throughout the race.

I am not sure where I finished, but I did finish, and everything up to the end I was really proud and satisfied with. I’ll post my official result once that comes through. My teammate Stephen finished 5th I believe, which is freaking awesome. I wish I could have finished with him. Next time maybe I will. The distance was just about at my limits, at least once I got spit out the rear of the peloton. But I like the road race setup. It’s really not much different that doing a group ride, albeit with the edge of competition, and not knowing all the guys in the group you’re riding with. See you all on the roads and in the next crit or road race.

So while I’ve been consistently bike commuting, I’ve had a lull in my race schedule and even my training a bit. Last race I did was back on Memorial Day. OK, I guess I’m not that far out, but I’ve had teammates that have done 4 and 5 races since then. Between work, family, weddings, traveling, it’s been really tough to schedule races.

There’s a criterium Sunday in Greensboro, NC, but I’ll be in no shape with this weekend’s wedding festivities and friends from out of town around. Oh well, plenty of more races.

There are also regular races on Tuesdays, but work gets in the way. Short of taking a Tuesday off, I’ll never make it those races either. Oh well. Here’s to committing to more races through the dead of summer and into 2008′s autumn. I can still achieve my goal of 10 race events this season. The hope is that as June ends, more weekends are going to free up, more group rides will have me in attendance and I’ll have more numbers pinned on my jersey.

I’ll be eyeing the Carolinas Cycling Association calendar and BikeReg closely for the rest of the year. It’s been a bit frustrating having to miss so many races, but life is always going to get in the way. I’ve just got to plan out the rest of the race season and make sure more pelotons have me and my Specialized Allez Comp in them.. hopefully with a few medals to my name.