Salem Witches Cup 2011
The Salem Witches Cup did not go as well for me as I had hoped. I had expected to get pulled (like I did from the Attleboro Crit), but I didn’t expect to get pulled after only 4.3 miles! I only made it 9 laps in 12 minutes. The race went on for 40 minutes total… Ouch.
From the plotted speed, you can see when my legs decided they’d had enough. Right at about 3.1 miles in, my speed drops from 25mph average to 22 mph average.
Maybe commuting by bike (for the first time) for the week prior to a race was a bad idea…
And probably better bike. I use a heavy 7 speed bike which puts me at a disadvantage to the other riders right off the start. It doesn’t give me the selectability for gearings as other bikes, allowing for more optimal/efficient effort. It’s also a lot more effort to accelerate the bike than everyone else’s bikes.
One thing that I did notice I did well, was my cornering. Being not as sharp cornered as other Crits, this course is considered a very “safe” course. The turns are easy. I was able to do them without braking…. At least I would have been able to, if it hadn’t been for everyone else braking in front of me. Oh well. Next year I’ll do better.
