itsflantastic
03-05-2006, 05:08 PM
Well,
I just completed my first weekend of racing, and figured I'd give a report of sorts since I did it on a Serotta Atlanta which I got from this board (I'll post a pic or two soon).
First of all, my school (Rutgers) hosted it (the season opener), and it turns out that we put together the Largest EVER collegiate road racing event in the history of the ECCC (eastern collegiate cycling conference). It was tons of fun and we had a TT, Crit, and Circuit race over two days.
The time trial was awesome. It was 4 + miles in 20 degrees with 25 mph steady winds and occasionally gusts. It meant that the first leg into the wind was hellish, I remember seeing 17 mph on my speedometer and thinking "Oh nO! what am I doing here!) but that headwind later turned into a tailwind I did a pretty consistant 30 mph for the next two miles. My first time trial found me in 25th place out of 81 riders which I was pretty happy with, because A: I'd never done one of these before and B: I was registered in a category above what I probably should have.
The Crit was tons of fun too. No crashes. Lots of speed. most importantly, I learned an awful lot. I finished it, but no real "place" to speak of. Once again, I was satisfied because I didn't crash and I had fun.
So how did the Serotta Atlanta handle? Let me tell you, Not only was it the only lugged steel bike there, but it was one of the classiest bikes there. Everyone gawked at it. I think it was probably just as competitive as most of the other bikes and the main differences were definitely with the riders. 90% rider, 10 % bike. . . if that. I had a brand new pair of veloflex tires on, and they spun up to speed so fast. The bike did everything I wanted it to. It accelerated, cornered, held its line beautifully. The atlanta definitely is special and is a race bike underneath it all. Now all I have to do is get some strategies for racing- those might help a bit.
Thank goodness I didn't buy a cannondale (no offense to the cdale lovers here- you know who you are).
Anyway,
Just thought I'd relay that.
Now I'm going to go pass out.
Dan :beer:
I just completed my first weekend of racing, and figured I'd give a report of sorts since I did it on a Serotta Atlanta which I got from this board (I'll post a pic or two soon).
First of all, my school (Rutgers) hosted it (the season opener), and it turns out that we put together the Largest EVER collegiate road racing event in the history of the ECCC (eastern collegiate cycling conference). It was tons of fun and we had a TT, Crit, and Circuit race over two days.
The time trial was awesome. It was 4 + miles in 20 degrees with 25 mph steady winds and occasionally gusts. It meant that the first leg into the wind was hellish, I remember seeing 17 mph on my speedometer and thinking "Oh nO! what am I doing here!) but that headwind later turned into a tailwind I did a pretty consistant 30 mph for the next two miles. My first time trial found me in 25th place out of 81 riders which I was pretty happy with, because A: I'd never done one of these before and B: I was registered in a category above what I probably should have.
The Crit was tons of fun too. No crashes. Lots of speed. most importantly, I learned an awful lot. I finished it, but no real "place" to speak of. Once again, I was satisfied because I didn't crash and I had fun.
So how did the Serotta Atlanta handle? Let me tell you, Not only was it the only lugged steel bike there, but it was one of the classiest bikes there. Everyone gawked at it. I think it was probably just as competitive as most of the other bikes and the main differences were definitely with the riders. 90% rider, 10 % bike. . . if that. I had a brand new pair of veloflex tires on, and they spun up to speed so fast. The bike did everything I wanted it to. It accelerated, cornered, held its line beautifully. The atlanta definitely is special and is a race bike underneath it all. Now all I have to do is get some strategies for racing- those might help a bit.
Thank goodness I didn't buy a cannondale (no offense to the cdale lovers here- you know who you are).
Anyway,
Just thought I'd relay that.
Now I'm going to go pass out.
Dan :beer: