Humbled At My First Crit Race (and New Bike Sponsor)

A humbling day at my first ever category 3/4 crit race down at Via Atelier in London with Van Rysel.

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00:00-01:22 Intro
01:23-04:19 Day 1
04:20-06:08 Day 2
06:09-07:29 Race Overview
07:30-08:23 Lap 1 / Course Preview
08:24-16:25 Race Recap
16:26-16:42 Stats
16:43-17:35 Post Ride Thoughts
17:36-19:14 Watching the Elites Race
19:15-20:36 Van Rysel RCR Pro Preview
20:37-20:46 Outro

this weekend I raced in my first ever crit race down in London at the Via Italia Criterium event now this was a 3-day event Friday Saturday Sunday consisting of a range of different races on this 1 km circuit through King’s cross now if you aren’t aware what a crit race is neither was I till quite recently but this is the official definition so it’s a cycling race that requires a blend of fitness and strategy racing Laps on a closed circuit Criterium courses are typically about a mile long and feature two to six turns while avoiding any significant climbs and that describes the course at Via aalia pretty accurately except I think there’s probably more corners than that and it was only about 1 km in distance so I was down at the event with Van risle who are my new bike sponsor still can’t quite believe that one’s happened in this video I’m going to go through my experience down at the via aaliar event covering some of the races what I got up to and then we’re going to go through my race which was the most humbling experience of my entire life so let’s get into it so I made my way down from Manchester to London on the train with the bike on the Friday morning and as soon as I got there I headed over to King’s cross to see what was going on at the actual Gaff met the van rle team who was still busy setting everything up at the stand because the event didn’t start for another couple of hours and then I made my way over to the Via coffee shop now this is a sick shop if you are in the area around King’s cross I would highly recommend going checking it out if you are into cycling or decent coffee basically a bike shop they got loads of cool stuff on display and they make a decent brew as well it’s these guys who are pulling the strings behind the scenes to organize this big event basically the agenda for the Friday evening which is when the event officially started was a couple of community fun races basically where anyone could just show up and have a few laps just for fun and then we went into the first official races of the weekend which started with the fixed gear races which is absolutely ludicrous to me people can race on fixies most of which just didn’t even have any brakes on a course that is that sort of techy and tight it’s it’s crazy but as you can imagine it made for some sick viewing [Music] [Music] this was the first real opportunity I had to check out the racing and get a feel for what it was going to be like look at the course from different angles and stuff like that and capture a bit of the content and let me say I was shocked at how quick they were going on the fixed gear bikes with no brakes it was just outrageous to have the the minerals to be going that quick around the course that’s pretty Technical and tight and stuff in Parts was just ludicrous to me absolutely ludicrous but inevitably with that does come risk uh so there was a couple of pretty bad crashes in the fixed gear races that spooked me out I was already nervous and then seeing uh the crashes like that made me even more nervous but I guess it’s part and parcel of racing a fixed gear bike especially and just crit racing in general so once all the fixed gear racing was out the way I stuck around for the final race of the day which was the category 3/4 race and this was now the one I was most interested in because I was going to be racing in a category 3/4 race the next day so I obviously wanted to see how intense it was going to be what the ride is was going to be like just to get a feel for it so I had a summer semblance of an idea as to what I was going to get myself into the next day now if you aren’t aware again to race at an event like this is supported by the British cycling event you have to register or become a member day pass whatever it is with British cycling to be able to actually enter the event now the way they rank the Riders is category 4 is the entry level for anyone racing so for me just signing up I was put into a category 4 and Category 3 are a little better all the way through to category one who I think are like borderline Elites don’t quote me on that I’m not an expert in this basically the lower the category you’re in the better the rider you are and four is the entry level and it was only when I started watching this cat 3 4 race that I realized these do not look like entry-level Riders these look like seasoned Pros compared to me who has been riding for about 8 months properly so I went home that night basically even more apprehensive than I was before I’d arrived now day two started with the bromton World Championships now I believe this is the biggest bromton race in the whole world it was absolutely ludicrous how many bromton were there I did not realize they had such a CT following like that and in hindsight this was the event I probably should have done it looked fun friendly and people were dressed in ridiculous suits but still drilling it around the circuit on these Brompton so I spent the morning watching all the Heats and then the eventual bromton World Champ was crowned and I am now seriously in the market for a bromton and my race wasn’t until qu 5 in the afternoon so I had a lot of time for the anxious feelings to just build and build and build whil it’s watching in all of the other events that were going ahead prior to mine I went and got all my kit on sorted my bib number and that sort of jazz and then I went over my bike a couple of times just to make sure it was AOK and yeah I’m not going to lie I was absolutely bricking it I really was just because we had seen a lot of crashes out there in the races prior to mine felt like there was a crash or two every single race about 40 minutes away from the race and feel pretty good so far quite nervous just looking how quick people were going in the cap three and fours last night but I’m just going to go at my own thing I got dropped get dropped and eventually by the time the first person starts lapping me it’s going to look like I’m up front anyway so that’s the strategy really winner of the race as well also gets this [Music] Frame so if that isn’t an incentive to gun it and I don’t know what it is and the main issue for me was because we were riding with the cat 3s and the cat 4S I didn’t want to get in anyone’s way and cause a crash or come off myself I am not in the business of breaking bones during my Iron Man training block and there’s a lot of tight techy corners on the core and I’m not necessarily so used to group riding in general let alone at high intensity so there just a couple of things on my mind that was starting to uh worry about basically let’s say that after we had collected our chips and put them on the bikes and that we were stood just waiting to get onto the course with the other Riders I got chatted to a couple of them there were a few other people who were doing their first crit would be their first experience doing this sort of thing as well which was good and also talking to some of the more experienced Riders it just helped calm some nerves as well cuz it was pretty sound people obviously everyone’s got to start somewhere at some point they were probably themselves on the start line some of the Riders who were like cat 3es and that have been doing it for donkeys years you know what I mean like they grow up racing and stuff like that so they are very comfortable in this environment had a quick glance around at the rest of the field who we were going to be racing against not a leg air in sight mate I was the only person on that start line with leg hair and that’s when I started to think I am so far out of my depth and that was confirmed immediately as I was dropped in the first 50 m of the race once it started [Music] so we did have a sight and lap to kick things off but that was nowhere near enough for me to get comfortable with the corners and that sort of thing on the course so my Approach from the get-go is start at the back take a few tentative laps catch back onto the group and then start drilling it a bit more once I’m more comfortable with the corners and the lines and that sort of stuff I didn’t quite pan out like that because everyone just started drilling it right off the start line so I found myself immediately dropped and that set the tone for the rest of the race pretty much watch [Music] [Music] the first few laps were just bedum I couldn’t get over how intense it was I thought it would sort of into it but it was just 100 million per straight off the bat and I was in dead last trying to close the gap between me and the second to last guy putting out really decent Power by my standards and just nothing was given I just couldn’t close the gap for the first few laps so I was just riding in the back on my own let’s have it real I knew full well going into it I was going to be toward the back if not very last I didn’t expect to have to go that hard in the first 5 minutes and still not be able to close the gap between me and the second to last guy it was ridiculous come on yeah let’s go that’s when I realized this is going to be a seriously long grueling day because the way the course is it’s basically a Sprint free wheel around the corner a Sprint Freewheel around the corner a Sprint it’s just like an intense long interval session where I was putting out like 5 600 WS every time I was coming out of a corner obviously the more experienced Riders are taking better lines than me they’re not losing as much momentum in the corners as I was I was just basically out there riding by myself killing myself and still in last place it was very demoralizing to begin with I got to say but after a couple of laps I did start to get a little bit more comfortable with things I started throwing the bike around the corners a bit more just learning more about my limits and how far over I can lean spent the last few weeks riding that van Rell RTR which is the base model which is a serious bit of Kit as well by the way it felt incredible and eventually after about eight laps or so I had finally caught the wheel of the second to last guy I think he’d gone out a bit hard and started blowing I mean I was blowing too at that point but I think he was blowing a little bit [Music] harder the smart thing for me to do would have been to sit on his wheel for a bit and just recover get a bit of of Rest by it where I could but instead my ego took over and I just resed past him and then I was about to riding on my own again cuz the group had separated from me and him as well rcky move but yeah after about 15 laps you have to say I was loving it it was absolutely sensational [Music] ring it full gas around this little circuit the crowd was mad the actual course itself I really enjoyed and i’ found a bit of comfort on all the corners now I knew what I was doing basically and what my limits were how quick to go into the corners and I was gradually getting a bit more confident going through them and stuff like that as well had witnessed a couple of people crash out and dnf but I was feeling all right myself the nerves had stopped a little bit although my heart rate was just in Space the entire time my average heart rate for the event was 184 beats per minute now if you you’ve rid the bike you know 184 beats on a bike is a pretty high heart rate to have in general let alone over 42 minutes this was recorded on my Garmin chest drop as well now this ain’t no wristatch HR monitor this was legit and it spoke to the levels of effort I was having to put in throughout the whole thing if any runners watching I would say it was was pretty comparable to a 5 km race in terms of there is just no rest by it was just from the gun absolutely ball to the wall basically I was in the red from the get-go is what I was trying to say and on my head unit I didn’t have the duration or the time that we’ve been actually racing so all I had was like the speed my average power and that sort of stuff no time at this point I was out there dead in the saddle basically my legs were on fire just screaming at me the lactic acid was building beyond belief it was absolutely killing me and the race was meant to be 45 minutes and then there’s five lap after that to determine who the winner is so I was thinking can’t be that long left now must have been going for about 40 minutes maybe a couple more minutes left then one of the lads from the Via coffee shop who was racing he lapped me so I asked him how long have we been going thinking say like 40 minutes just a few minutes left sort of thing and I simply could not quite believe what he said in response out how long have we been going 26 off no we’ve not we were only just over halfway I literally could not believe it I thought he was pranking me but he wasn’t we’ done 26 minutes still had at least 20 minutes to go I I couldn’t get over it it was killing me that did that that really hurt morale so I got my head down and just kept drilling it as long as I could basically that’s one of the things I was most pleased with I didn’t let up once throughout the whole thing other than when we had to slow down for the crashes they basically weighed the red flag when when there’s been a crash so you slow down and obviously the aim is not to go into the back of the other person so that was the only time I had some rest bite my heart rate dipped down to I think about 175 beats for a couple of seconds so I’m about 35 maybe 40 minutes in here getting lapped Again by the leaders of the cat 3 who are basically Racing for the win at this point I think it was laed by them about four five maybe even six times at this point it’s ridiculous they were just absolute demons and this was the main thing that made me as a newbie crit racer uncomfortable so this isn’t against anyone else by the way this is how it’s meant to be I just felt uncomfortable with it so when the leaders are coming in hot behind you they’ll give you a shout like on your right on your left Etc so right thing to do and the safe thing to do is for me to slow down and let them be demons just passed by so that’s what I did every single time I got a shout from someone on your right on your left I sort of slowed down just to touch left left left yeah and let them pass cuz they’re racing competitively I am not so on the straight sections of the course that’s absolutely sound they’ll just pass me I don’t even have to slow down where I found it quite awkward or I just didn’t have enough experience to know really what to do was when we were both approaching a corner so I am riding on the left hand side of the road the lead group of whatever it is five six seven eight people are riding on the right uh are coming into the same corner at the same time so you know I’m getting spanked but bear in mind I’m still hitting 35 40ks an hour as we approach this corner so I can’t just completely stop yeah I just felt a little bit like I was getting in their way because obviously the ideal for them is to go out wide and swing in to the left but I’m on the left hand side approaching the corner too quick to stop so I have to take a hideous line and F yeah felt like I was getting in the way I don’t really know what he meant to do in situations like that because like I said I can’t just come to a complete stop but yeah after 42 minutes of intense burning in my legs my lungs were done I was done at that point absolutely done I was approaching the corner and a big train of the lead group were coming to my right again gave me a shout I either had the option to Sprint and come into the corner about 100 mph probably crash into the barrier or get in one of their way or just stop and let them all pass so I I decided to slam the brakes on smartest thing to do and the safest thing to do again and I just came to a complete stop and then that’s when I decided I’m done I can’t be asked starting again done 42 minutes covered about 22 km at an average pace of nearly 32ks an hour I think which is decent going considering your freewheeling into the corners and then sprinting again and then slowing down for the corners Etc so yeah I just walked off the course at that point the marshals let me out and that was my first crit race experience this is me after my first crit race that was an experience let me tell you that my glutes have never felt pain like it it was horrific pain but it was really good fun as well so hey there’s Max he did his first one as well how’d you go that was hard work but I did find that all you had to worry about was like the bike in front you know a lot of the a lot of your like anxiety disappears cuz you just like oh well there’s a bike in front of me I just got to try and stay behind him but that takes a lot of what he lapped me uh two times as well so don’t talk to him anymore now so overall I was pretty pleased with how it went I’m a big Advocate these days for doing things that make you uncomfortable and this was definitely one of them and I left that race feeling a little bit more confident on the bike as well which is good we have got quite a bit of uh work to do to be able to even compete with the cat course so uh we’ll see how we go with that one cuz I’d definitely like to do another one in the future just need to uh spend a bit more time on the bike and then after my race we got to witness some of the absolute freaks of nature who were racing in the elite races [Music] those are men’s and women’s Elite race there was some really big hitters in these events as well and watching these guys absolutely slam it around the course that i’ just ridden at Paces that I couldn’t even fathom was pretty eye openening as well like there are just levels to this sport as there is with many sports like running as well the people at the top of the game are just like aliens compared to the normal people like myself who are doing it just look at the speed some of these people are going out it is outrageous [Music] the event was just sick overall I just really enjoyed my couple of days there and on the final day uh to top it all off the icing on the cake I got to collect my brand new van Rell RCR [Music] Pro quick overview on the specs so like I said this is the R Pro version so the frame is the same as the world tour spec basically it’s going to be the same frame as the ag2r team are riding in the toor of France next week and as such the bike weighs absolutely Niche I think it’s about 7.2 kg in a size medium this is a size large so it probably be a bit more than that comes with algra c36 carbon wheels Michelin power cup 28 mil tires it can take up to 33 mil though and they are tubeless ready the group set is Shimano algra di2 it’ll be my first time running Shimano ever everything I’ve had in the past is saram so I’m quite excited to see how Shimano Compares as you would expect everything is Carbon on this thing and it comes with a power sensor included in the crank now it retails at 5 half Grand which is obviously still a massive chunk of cash but for the spec compared to the rest of the market is actually very good value but I can’t give you a proper review on it yet I have only been out on two rides on it so far however I will make a video after I’ve done a bit more mileage on it to uh review some thoughts on it and just let you know what I think of the bike because I am so so excited be riding this thing for the year and not that it counts for much but the Aesthetics on this thing this carbon black colorway is just legit that is all I’ve got for you today now thank you if you have watched this far and stay tuned for the bike review and potentially again at some point in the near future some more crit racing content nice one