Race video, critique me?

[The Domestique]

I never know which forums to put these in. I am just getting enough legs to start hanging in these races and I am wondering if anyone will give me a critique of this race. It's a short video and shows a move I make late to help out a teammate. Thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWoLQHo7yP4

I race and post videos weekly. I am wondering if I can crowd-source some tactical coaching. Let me know.

 

[Indurain]

From what I saw you did a good job with what you attempted to do. You kept the pace high enough so no one could attack. I probably would have started my lead out later though. Surely someone else would have kept the pace high. Because if all you're doing is keeping the pace high, but after that he still needs to hold someone's wheel for another 1/2 lap or so before he sprints, it kind of suggests to me he could have won without you. The only thing you did was stopped someone attacking the field prior to that. But if you waited til the last lap then lead him out to his sprint point, then you have had a real effect on the race.

Regardless, I hope he shared the winnings with you. If not he is communicating to you that he doesn't appreciate your team work or you weren't an important part of his win. In other words, race and win for yourself next time.

 

[barn yard]

if you spent more time at the start of the race following good wheels and not getting gapped you might have been able to do another half lap at the end - its all in the positioning but you have said you are already aware of this... so keep working on it.

you rode pretty well in the 2nd half

 

[Bespoke]

Sorry, not in a position to advise but THANKS for posting!

Very cool to learn more about crits through this video.

 

[Esroh the Hoss]

Dom
Do you have a link to the stats for the races. Would like to see the speeds etc

 

[Deagol]

I've never seen a course like that before, traffic cones in a large parking lot...

 

[Microchip]

GREAT video!!! I thought it was a GoPro, then saw the helmet cam was a different make, but that there were 2 other mounted GoPros! Great video, nice point-of-view shots with the picture-in-picture bit!!

 

[hiero2]

Put in my $.02. Other responders are saying the same thing, so I will just reiterate.

1. Should have dropped your sprinter off @ 200 meters, not one lap. Start the effort later. If you just wanted to reduce the group, let off the gas sooner and hook back in to the lead group, take a breather and go again for the lead-out.
2. More attention on staying protected while you are in the group. I would try to stay closer to the front at all times, and not drift back only to catch back on. This should also help save energy in the corners. At the front you have to slow down and accelerate less.
3. -- or 2.a. -- don't let those gaps open in the first place.

Good on ya for helping the team. Good job closing the gap when it opened. Good job stretching the group out while you did.

Great job with the vid. Fun!

 

[hiero2]

One other thing - in the vid, it looks like you might be using 23cm tires. Try 25s. I used to ride 25s as the narrowest - because I couldn't afford separate race tires, and I didn't want the extra flat risk. With all that is being written these days about rolling resistance, I may have been doing myself a technical favor, and didn't know it.

 

[Boeing]

drink lots of water. lots

 

[WillemS]

A lot of things have been mentioned, but may I ask you one, actually two including this one, questions?

What's your ratio of training/riding in (smalls) groups versus individual training efforts?

As you can see in the vid, your endurance is reaching potent levels for these kind of races, especially with some changes in the timing of efforts, but to me it seems that you do waste a lot of energy by not profiting optimally from the slipstream of the rider in front of you. For example, from about 0:32 in the video, you catch the wheel of the guy in the white/red/black outfit but then you break early for the corner (technical error) and have some catching up to do to get his wheel again (then the video cuts to another part of the race).

This may not seem like a lot, but if you have to catch up after every corner while the other guys don't have to, it will cause some unnecessary relative fatigue. Even on the straights, there are moments when I think that you could've been a lot closer to guy in front of you. I don't think that at those points the group was large and dense enough for it not to matter that much.

However, riding close to someone also means risk, especially if you, or the other guy, is not very trained at it. Therefore, the ability to ride well in groups requires training, just as individual endurance requires training. One way to make sure the guy in front of you is also at least a bit trained in riding in groups, is to train often with your usual race team (or friends from another team, for that matter) and try to stay grouped through parts of the race.

But, even if you don't ride grouped in races, training in groups will benefit your skills of riding in a race bunch allowing you to better judge a situation and be more confident in cornering in groups. Thus, that's the rational for my question.

(I used to be fairly good in riding in groups, until I caught a long-lasting injury (~2 years) to my knee and had to abandon riding. Now I've started riding again, but while my endurance approaches my old level, I'm not confident in groups as I almost exclusively train solitary now. When I do ride with a group, I have a lot more post-corner catching up to do, which slowly wears you down, especially at high/race-like speeds.)