Silver Pail GP 2015

okane1

Going to be my first open race after a few league races last year. Looking forward to it.
Any from here heading to it?

What is the circuit like and expected numbers (A4)?

on_the_nickel

okane1 wrote: »

What is the circuit like and expected numbers (A4)?

Flat. And, because of that, loads.

jntsnk

Big numbers!!!

Junior

https://www.strava.com/activities/127597988 - it's a race where it's a bit of a scrap to stay upright.

okane1

Junior wrote: »

https://www.strava.com/activities/127597988 - it's a race where it's a bit of a scrap to stay upright.

Understand first corner is a challenge to say the least!

Amprodude

I'm heading to it. Flat fast and dangerous finish It was chaos near the finish line last year. Big numbers I'm guessing

Pawlie

I hear the comms disqualified 4 riders in the a3 race for breaking the while line while up the road in and 8 man break that had 1.30 on bunch with half a lap left to race, mind boggling decision if you ask me if they are the only ones that were done, 70% the bunch would have been crossing the line at some stage.

fondriest

Pawlie wrote: »

I hear the comms disqualified 4 riders in the a3 race for breaking the while line while up the road in and 8 man break that had 1.30 on bunch with half a lap left to race, mind boggling decision if you ask me if they are the only ones that were done, 70% the bunch would have been crossing the line at some stage.

I suppose the only thing is that an 8 man break has no need to be on the wrong side of the road . It's not like they're fighting for position or anything like that .

The comms are probably fed up of the juniors taking all the points as well :-)

Pawlie

fondriest wrote: »

I suppose the only thing is that an 8 man break has no need to be on the wrong side of the road . It's not like they're fighting for position or anything like that .

The comms are probably fed up of the juniors taking all the points as well :-)

True, but why wait till 8km to go and then have them pulled out, one the riders said he went over the line after doing a turn and him and four others were told to stop racing,

They were only 4 juniors in break along with 4 a3 lads.

Tough on them to be fair considering how the bunch at times misbehaves.

Hi Ho

Pawlie wrote: »

I hear the comms disqualified 4 riders in the a3 race for breaking the while line while up the road in and 8 man break that had 1.30 on bunch with half a lap left to race, mind boggling decision if you ask me if they are the only ones that were done, 70% the bunch would have been crossing the line at some stage.

Rider in Broadford Masters race got time penalties for crossing the line in a 3-man break! (In fairness, the comminuque said he got warnings). Looks like there's a bit of a crackdown (it will be more than a 'bit' of one when they do it the elites, but we'll see...).

fondriest

Pawlie wrote: »

True, but why wait till 8km to go and then have them pulled out, one the riders said he went over the line after doing a turn and him and four others were told to stop racing,

They were only 4 juniors in break along with 4 a3 lads.

Tough on them to be fair considering how the bunch at times misbehaves.

It is tough on them and obviously not being there I don't know if they got warnings . On the plus side it's nice to see some action from comms on the behaviour of riders , now all we need to see is consistency .

Amprodude

Some riders just shouldn't be left on bikes let alone race. Scandalous riding in patches today in A4 race, bad crash on first lap barely missed it. Some people just can't hold their line at corners/junctions, it's like they are nervous and cant do it correctly. Basic bike skills are sloppy by alot of riders. Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

Hi Ho

Amprodude wrote: »

Some riders just shouldn't be left on bikes let alone race. Scandalous riding in patches today in A4 race, bad crash on first lap barely missed it. Some people just can't hold their line at corners/junctions, it's like they are nervous and cant do it correctly. Basic bike skills are sloppy by alot of riders. Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

You get to the top of one ladder, and find yourself at the bottom of another ... that's life!

Lumen

Amprodude wrote: »

Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted

Congrats!

okane1

Got around in one piece. What I was told about A4 racing I saw today. Random breaking, unable to hold lines, etc. Crash looked bad on the 1st lap on a straight main road.

After 4km I got tired of this so took off solo for 2km. Had a lead but never going to hold out and no one wanted to bridge: sat up. Did a lot of pulling on the 2nd lap but couldn't put any damage into the group.

Finished in the first group, didn't go for the sprint as I didn't trust 30+ guys going for a line.

All in all enjoy my first A4 race and felt good throughout.

inc21

Amprodude wrote: »

Some riders just shouldn't be left on bikes let alone race. Scandalous riding in patches today in A4 race, bad crash on first lap barely missed it. Some people just can't hold their line at corners/junctions, it's like they are nervous and cant do it correctly. Basic bike skills are sloppy by alot of riders. Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

Crash wasn't too bad I'd say, some lads got up, back on and even placed. A4's getting a lot of stick but I'd say A3 is as bad if not worse.

congrats on your upgrade!

Amprodude

okane1 wrote: »

Finished in the first group, didn't go for the sprint as I didn't trust 30+ guys going for a line..

Welcome to racing. Races are won mostly on sprints especially A4 racing and many flat races in A4 come down to a sprint. Just from my experience from racing.

Amprodude

inc21 wrote: »

Crash wasn't too bad I'd say, some lads got up, back on and even placed. A4's getting a lot of stick but I'd say A3 is as bad if not worse.

congrats on your upgrade!

Thank you, it was one of my goals for the year so it's great to have achieved it after crashing in Dungarven. Next goal is to try and hang on in A3 for as long as possible in the bunch and finish in the bunch.

Saw one rider locking totally his back wheel just before the crash. Again inexperience. He may have been forced to break sudden before crash i don't know but using all of your breaking on the back wheel in wet weather is asking for trouble and hazardous especially descending at speed. He should have released on the spot and leave the wheel roll for traction. Hope no one was hurt in today's crash.

Pawlie

Amprodude wrote: »

Thank you, it was one of my goals for the year so it's great to have achieved it after crashing in Dungarven. Next goal is to try and hang on in A3 for as long as possible in the bunch and finish in the bunch.

Saw one rider locking totally his back wheel just before the crash. Again inexperience. He may have been forced to break sudden before crash i don't know but using all of your breaking on the back wheel in wet weather is asking for trouble and hazardous especially descending at speed. He should have released on the spot and leave the wheel roll for traction. Hope no one was hurt in today's crash.

Its not really inexperience that causes you to use rear brake especially in wet conditions,cause if you brake hard with front it will make front slide out and you will come down,and more than lightly at speed you will do your collarbone

JK.BMC

Amprodude wrote: »

Some riders just shouldn't be left on bikes let alone race. Scandalous riding in patches today in A4 race, bad crash on first lap barely missed it. Some people just can't hold their line at corners/junctions, it's like they are nervous and cant do it correctly. Basic bike skills are sloppy by alot of riders. Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

Well done. Fair play.
Now buy a new bike! You deserve one.
(Just kidding'- good luck in A3)

Amprodude

JK.BMC wrote: »

Well done. Fair play.
Now buy a new bike! You deserve one.
(Just kidding'- good luck in A3)

Sound. I hold on to my own machine for now. Might change out the engine and the legs though

Amprodude

Pawlie wrote: »

Its not really inexperience that causes you to use rear brake especially in wet conditions,cause if you brake hard with front it will make front slide out and you will come down,and more than lightly at speed you will do your collarbone

It's not inexperience I guess but 60/40 braking i. e. 60 to the front 40 to the back should save you most times and braking in straight sections and not hard cornering.

StevieGriff

Amprodude wrote: »

Some riders just shouldn't be left on bikes let alone race. Scandalous riding in patches today in A4 race, bad crash on first lap barely missed it. Some people just can't hold their line at corners/junctions, it's like they are nervous and cant do it correctly. Basic bike skills are sloppy by alot of riders. Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

Second road race ever and couldn't get over how tetchy and nervous some riders seemed. The random breaking on flat straight roads just boggles my mind completely. Got caught up behind the crash, everyone seemed alright, had to work hard to get back in contact and I was just left do all the work which was a bit demoralizing. Pulled up after a while and called it a day, wasn't gunna bust my arse for ungrateful folk. Learned to stand my ground a bit more with my line and to be less timid when moving up through the pack.
Taking away a lot from it, legs felt great, can definitely afford to add a few kilo in the quest for a bit more punch.

outfox

Yeah, very nervous bunch. My second race too. My heart jumped into my mouth about 20 times due to all the crazy braking. That crash happened over my right shoulder. Hope they're OK. It was a loud slam when they went down.

Amprodude

outfox wrote: »

Yeah, very nervous bunch. My second race too. My heart jumped into my mouth about 20 times due to all the crazy braking. That crash happened over my right shoulder. Hope they're OK. It was a loud slam when they went down.

My heart would be in my mouth too when I see a crash, it's a scary sight.

jinkypolly

Amprodude wrote: »

Got upgraded to A3 today. Finished in the placings. Delighted, but not looking forward to what lies ahead in A3.

Well done that's great. So in the end how many races did you get points in to make the jump up?

Amprodude

jinkypolly wrote: »

Well done that's great. So in the end how many races did you get points in to make the jump up?

Two races. Had points from last year too.