{"id":3853,"date":"2016-03-01T15:48:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T23:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/?p=3853"},"modified":"2016-03-01T15:48:34","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T23:48:34","slug":"first-ever-criterium-race-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/first-ever-criterium-race-report\/","title":{"rendered":"First-Ever Criterium, Race Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by committed o2fitness-athlete Trixe Bradley. Enjoy the perspective from her first, fast and furious criterium.<\/p>\n

\"trixie4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was my first Crit race and I did not know what to expect. \u00a0I made myself a goal last year to throw myself into cycling and race as many races as I could. \u00a0Thankfully, I have had Julie Young on my side training me and getting me physically and mentally ready to race. \u00a0Her advice is take each race as an opportunity to learn and grow as a cyclist.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the race early to make sure I had time to warm up properly and could figure out what I was doing. \u00a0I had read that most people bring a trainer to warm up on however I was familiar with Folsom and knew there was the bike trail I could hit for my warm up. \u00a0After I checked into registration, I asked a fellow cyclist parked next to me to help pin my number on my jersey. The little things that you need help with when flying solo. \u00a0LOL<\/p>\n

\"trixie<\/a><\/p>\n

Julie had my warm up all mapped out for me so I hit the trail and followed my coach\u2019s plan. \u00a0I must admit that I LOVE not having to think about it…I love that I just have to follow everything Julie says! hehehehe \u00a0She also told me my first objective during the race was positioning. \u00a0I needed to keep fighting for a good position towards the front!
\nThe women 3 and 4 racers were lining up to do the practice lap and to my surprise I saw a Bright Orange Jersey. \u00a0I was overjoyed to see Sara. She had come to watch. \u00a0She gave me some great advice. \u00a0It was that during the practice lap to observe the road. \u00a0Take note of any man holes, potholes etc. \u00a0She also told me to stay in a fairly big gear to start. \u00a0One I could jump on! \u00a0I felt very excited and anxious to get this race going.<\/p>\n

\"trixie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After our practice lap, we all lined up and they discussed how the race would go. \u00a0They asked if it was anyones first time racing and we had to raise our hand. \u00a0So, I did but wasn\u2019t happy that it would put a target on my back of NEWBIE. \u00a0LOL Well, the race started and all I could think was work on positioning. \u00a0I was feeling good \u00a0and was very comfortable in the pack. \u00a0After a few laps I was feeling these big lulls in speed. \u00a0It would slow down and I was having to brake a lot in the group. \u00a0At that point, I knew I did not want to stay where I was. \u00a0I was constantly trying to move up and get around. Just about the time, I was on the move the group would start to pick up pace. \u00a0I would hear women yelling a rider on the left when a gal was trying to break away. \u00a0All I kept doing was trying to catch a wheel as one was trying to pass. \u00a0It was still early in the race and I was trying to continually get up towards the front. I knew I did not want to stay in the group when it lulled however I spent a lap working to hard and was realizing that I was setting myself up for failure. \u00a0I needed to be smart and use others to help pull me rather than try and be a work horse. \u00a0At one point, I was losing steam and saw the group getting away. \u00a0All I could think was I am not going to get dropped. \u00a0I knew if I caught them I would be fine and it was just going to be hard for a short amount of time. \u00a0So, that is what I did. \u00a0I hit it as hard as I could and got back to the pack. \u00a0I heard one of the mentors who was riding with us say wow nice job! \u00a0I regained myself and started again to try and move up. \u00a0After that I would take those times during the lull to move up a little if I could but to be honest I didn\u2019t really know what to do. \u00a0I realize now… that I was trying to move up at all the wrong times. \u00a0I was trying to sprint ahead when everyone else was doing the same. \u00a0I was using to much of the down time to play it safe. \u00a0I realize now that during the lulls I need to attack while everyone else is tired. \u00a0I need to get into great position then and fight for my place.<\/p>\n

Overall, I am happy with my accomplishment. \u00a0Out of 18 Cat 4 women I came in 10th. \u00a0Not great but not terrible either. \u00a0Most important is I had fun and I felt great physically except for that 1 lap when I was being a NEWBIE rider.<\/p>\n

I felt strong and was not torn up after the race. \u00a0It was very apparent that all of the specific training Julie is having me do is paying off BIG TIME! \u00a0Yes, I need more time racing to continue to learn how to strategically play the game but physically I felt like a WINNER.<\/p>\n

I am so excited to continue racing. \u00a0This weekend I will be racing in the Madera stage race. \u00a0Another new and exciting opportunity to learn!!<\/p>\n

\"trixie<\/a><\/p>\n

A BIG thank you to Sara and Julie for coming out to support me. \u00a0I could hear coach Julie at every lap yelling move up, push! \u00a0Sara, I saw by my mom and my kids yelling and cheering me on. \u00a0It was a GREAT DAY!<\/p>\n

Trixie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributed by committed o2fitness-athlete Trixe Bradley. Enjoy the perspective from her first, fast and furious criterium. It was my first Crit race and I did not know what to expect. \u00a0I made myself a goal last year to throw myself into cycling and race as many races as I could. \u00a0Thankfully, I have had Julie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3855,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3853\/revisions\/3855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/silversagecenter.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}