London's Best Crit Race | Via Criterium

[@Daaaanjj]

great watching this back, loved my cameos getting lapped. Think if I had aero socks I'd have been able to stick with your group next time 🤣

[@thewattlife]

We’ll get you some aero socks. I know a guy…

[@Choccytube]

This looks so much fun, and a great day out. I think I'll give it a go next year. Looks scary with that camera view...

[@thewattlife]

It’s honestly not scary- you can just take it in your own stride, we had a little group, we got lapped a few times, lapped a few other people. It was great

[@liam_c27]

Gotta scrunch those race numbers up before pinning them! 😂 After watching your's and Dan's videos and attending in person I would love to enter Cat 4 next year. Great vid 🏁

[@thewattlife]

YES- do it. Both Dan and I will be back next year. I’m keen to get the numbers up for a Cat 4 only race

[@foodbymark]

I was going to enter the masters and bailed primarily because I with my inexperience I would be a danger to the field... watching this (for the second time!) I regret not joining it now! Great video as always.

[@thewattlife]

Give it a crack next year. Literally took a few laps before it felt really quite settled and became a lot of fun

[@adadinthelifeofacyclist]

Excellent video!

[@thewattlife]

Thank you 🙏🏻

[@fwschnaar3179]

Very Awesome Max…. As I had said before… A Learning Curve for sure… And Yes, You are only going to get Faster, and more so, more Tactically Smart… Looking forward to Your next Race 👍🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️And had to add… What a Cool Course 👍

[@thewattlife]

Very cool course- looking forward to next year already. Hopefully sitting further up on the start line next time

[@fede1275]

Great video, really nice report. I was scared by all the crashes videos already going around the chats

[@thewattlife]

Thanks Federico, you would have been fine and you should come give it a go next year. I’m determined to get a full Cat 4 race on the line and ready to go

[@O.O85]

Well done Max, understand why I’ve not seen you online for a while now. Makes me want to actually get an ‘actual real life’ bike and give some riding a go! Well done on staying rubber side down and having some fun!!

[@thewattlife]

Ollie dude- im coming back soon i promise. Im out of practise and need to get my ass back in gear.

[@O.O85]

You’ll be too quick for me to keep up after all this riding!! Glad you’re enjoying being out on the roads. Give me a shout when you’re back online 👍

[@DarenC]

Great stuff! Crit footage from within the race always looks gnarly. Looks like they did the Brompton World Champs on there too - more my cup of tea in terms of what I might take on myself I think. 😂😂 Definitely slower on my Brompton anyway.

[@thewattlife]

I have a Brompton World Cup video out this weekend- I crashed!!!!!

[@DarenC]

@@thewattlife Haha! I look forward to it. I love my Brompton. I put SPD pedals on it because I hate being unclipped

[@crossrich]

You did awesome, and a lot better than i would've. You asked what you could've done better, all i would say is by the shadows it looks like you are on the hoods the whole time, for crit racing you should work on being in the drops basically for the whole race. Hopefully see you again at Abingdon soon. 💪

[@thewattlife]

Yeah, im not so confident on the drops and lookingn back it was one of the things that would make for an easy change. I very rarely ride on the drops but when i see footage i think im going to have to make more of an effort to get used to it and practise.

[@bitminerbob6731]

Wow, smashing course!! What a great experience.

[@thewattlife]

It was an awesome course. Will be back next year for another crack

[@ScottHillVoices]

Hey mate - Scott from lap 32! Yep got totally confused then realised we were still going so kicked again 😂 - See you on the next one!

[@ScottHillVoices]

Also great video!

[@thewattlife]

Cheers man

[@thewattlife]

Cheers Daren, Appreciate it, hopfully we'll get to ride together someday

[@joemellor3865]

Absolutely brilliant race, I’m definitely coming back next year. However I can’t agree more, the racing at the end was so confusing, I ended up sprinting for each lap after 5 laps to go 🎉

[@thewattlife]

At least you were nice enough to drop back and say hi before disappearing off into the distance

[@TBATTIECYCLING]

Big up Dan Jones for smashing the crit

[@thewattlife]

The boy did good

[@asams7255]

Last lap was an absolute clusterfuck for my group. The break finally caught us on the final back straight and struggled to get through. Very tedious finish but not really avoidable in that circumstance

[@thewattlife]

Yeah- not sure how they set about getting this right. Still no reply from the organisers. Might have been a bit different if it was just a Cat 4 but who knows. Kinda mad I didn’t get a sprint finish

[@BigMoe1290]

Awesome video as always. It is difficult, when there are two cats in one, but I think you were taken back a bit by not having enough training on crit courses. Power and handling wise you could have easily gone with the Cat 3 Front group 👌

[@thewattlife]

Cheers man, I’m learning that attitude counts for quite a lot, getting up there early and being a firm rider will have you in a better position than doing more work but staying further back… next time we’re going to try hold it further up front

[@BigMoe1290]

@@thewattlife just get back out there and keep on trying 👌 put those watts down and hold on for the ride 😂

[@pauldyerdyer2731]

Well done mate, that aero jersey looked nice but a bit baggy?

[@thewattlife]

I’m might have been able to squeeze into a size down but didn’t want to risk it

[@ju5tyuk]

Good video, was watching the race and happened to take a photo of you on a bend, but can't upload to comments...

[@thewattlife]

Would love it if you could ping it over if you wouldn’t mind- [e-mail]

[@FoobsTon]

Eeh gads... Max is rocking that aero top...but how bad would the rest of us look in it? 😂 Lucky it was a dry day btw because those cobbles in the rain would have been a nasty skating rink.

[@thewattlife]

Yeah they had some rain last year and a bunch of the races had to be cancelled. Glad it was a nice evening and it made it a great event

[@FoobsTon]

@@thewattlife Gotta say, you do mention that the Go Pro doesn't give a true impression, but those tight corners with "civilians" at the wheels does look dicey! The poor guy face planting into the barriers didn't get too much of your attention! I think I might save my Crit stuff for Zwift...I don't bounce like I used to. Anyway... Great vid. Appreciate the effort you put into making them.

[@thewattlife]

Oh for sure i think its easy to push a little too far with it and i can see how easy it might be to do that! I need to get back on Zwift racing just to get some fitness back

[@TwoWheels_OO]

What does MPH mean?

[@thewattlife]

👀

[@hoops202]

Do you need to have a race license for these events?

[@thewattlife]

Yeah for this one it was a British Cycling event so you needed a race license.

[@Onroade]

Cornering is the key

[@markdeane8385]

Just race,block out the confusion and race until the actually drag you off....😊

[@thewattlife]

Haha that will be the plan next time. And watching it back I wish I had. Takes a bit of experience to feel comfortable with these things huh

[@markdeane8385]

@@thewattlife 👍💪

[@struancochrane753]

Like you, that ambiguity in the race would really annoy me. I guess the short distance of the track meant lapping was a definite occurrence, especially when they dropped Cat 3 riders in. Difficult one. Perhaps if you get lapped, you're out. Or just everyone races to the end. Anyhow, if you intend to do more races like this would you look at your crank length? Great effort, well done.

[@thewattlife]

I’m riding 170m cranks- perhaps shorter would be better but I wasn’t pushing the limits on pedalling through corners. Perhaps why some of my laps were the slowest but happy to ride round and make it to the finish in one piece! Maybe crank length would be something to look at down the line

[@paulbrown4235]

165mm cranks & you can pedal through pretty much any corner. I used to be able to get a bit of a gap when everyone else had to freewheel around tight bends

[@boomcerdena]

😮

[@thewattlife]

Fancy coming over for it next year?

[@ZwiftDude]

Flat is Fast.

[@thewattlife]

It was flat but I wasn’t fast