Saturday Kent ISD Crit Clinic and races

Disclaimer.... I am a novice, beginner.... and you read this blog at your own risk....

Several RWT have suggested the Saturday Kent ISD Criterium Clinic and Races, and this past Saturday was the first of the series that I could make. It was the 3rd of 4 and I thought it was fabulous, so I am blogging to encourage anyone who is the slightest bit interested in EVER doing a Criterium race to get out to the last clinic next Saturday.

Why GO?
1) It is free! You only have to pay the $10.00 day license that the Biking Federation of Biking People collect. (I am not sure who they are, but they collect it and I paid it....There must be a reason...)

2) It was extremely helpful, even getting set up. We all got a number and were taught how to pin it on under our arm pit and sideways....you really need to make friends to get the thing on right....which is good. Donna Borgman and Danielle Nye were there and we all helped each other. Who would have guessed that you don't use the pin holes and you use about 8 pins... but this is just one helpful tip that you learn.

3) They had a 12-15 minute shpeel on all of the nuances of the criterium race. You could ask questions and all questions were answered. The talk included easy stuff, like how to start... as well as technical stuff, like "holding your line" which is following the person closely in front of you and not swerving around causing mass pandemonium, crashes and death. (I especially found this helpful.) On this note, they did also cover crashes: if you do end up in a crash, you take the shortest route to the pit area and the pit people help you and you get a free lap. In the pit you get to sop the blood off of you and get back in where you left off, without being far behind. (I thought this was nice, but hoped to never have to be sopping off any blood.)

4) After learning the details with the kind speech, we all went to the line and they counted off a start 4,3,2,1 go. We all went. There were 3 guys who were from a blue team who rode around with us (14 of us, guys and girls who were at the clinic.) The blue guys answered questions we had while we were criteriumming away....like how to follow, how to take a curve, when to sprint, how to put your inner foot up while taking a curve etc.They were great! We did 3 laps around the course. Nothing like hands on training.... and did I mention free...

5) Lastly why you should do it... You got a water bottle and a coupon for BW3.

I know that you fellow triathletes are out there swimming, biking and running... but you should not miss this opportunity. (I ran my 8 miles before the clinic and ended up with a nice 8 miles on the bike at the clinic!) Fit it in if you can.