How to start racing

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I'll start off by saying I'm 14 and I've been biking since I was around 4 years old. I've recently (past year) started riding my bros old road bike. Now I'm wondering about racing and the weekly rides at the bike shop. How should I start and where should I ask? Also how should I train for this? At the YMCA a few blocks away they have weekly cycling class thing, are these any good? Is there anything else I should know?

Hi Seth, im a 15 year old racing cylist in england and heres my advice.
Assuming your fairly fit and have been riding for a while then you should be able to start racing. Bike racing is different to running racing or time trials because there is a lot of skill involved, at first you will probably struggle but you shouldnt worry because after a few races you will be learn how to corner and move around in a group, then you might even be able to win some races!

I dont know you but for a 14 year old cyclist i would say 4 rides a week is fine. If you were to race on the weekend and do one hard training ride in the week that would suffice to improve you. you could do two other easier rides as well at a distance that you would feel comfortable with. After a few weeks racing you will be able to increase your training, but i would reccommend that you do so by increasing the volume and intensity of your rides rather than riding more days. you might feel like you dont need them but those rest days will become more important as your season progresses and you accumulate more fatigue. heres a sample week that i would reccommend.

Tuesday, 10-20 min warm up then5x15seconds sprints, 5 minutes recovery. recover for at least 10 minutes and then do 4x3 minutes with 3 minutes recovery. then warm down for 10-20 minutes.

Thursday- steady ride at whatever distance you feel comfortable with(could be 20 miles, could be 40 miles)

Saturday- race

Sunday- same as thursday or rest if you feel tired from racing

this is a good level of training to start off with, you shouldnt burn yourself out with this and you should be nice and fresh for your races.

in england there is a gear restriction of 52x16 for youths, you should find out what it is in america and get your local bike shop to adjust your bike so it is legal. you wont be able to race if you dont do this. once you have had your bike adjusted you should do all your training within the restriction. you need to learn to ride on small gears and its a good habit to get into for when you get older.
good luck, ewan short

Ok thanks for the advice. The only thing I have now is getting my bike so I can run it without having problems like the wheels. I also need some STI shifters to replace my down tube ones.

Ok thanks for the advice. The only thing I have now is getting my bike so I can run it without having problems like the wheels. I also need some STI shifters to replace my down tube ones.
ye i would say that it is important to have sti shifters because you will have to shift quickly in race, you need to be careful with the wheels because some wheels can alter the amount of distance in each pedal stroke which could lead your gears to be illegal even if they have been adjusted to the correct specifications. i saw one kid at a race who had put some new wheels on but they wouldnt let him race because they made his gears illegal. you need to be sure your gears are legal before you start racing. i wouldnt worry about your bike other than that because it doesnt make a lot of difference and certainly in england none of the bikes in the youth races are that flashy.

So I'll defently get some STI shifters. I'll also look to see if my LBS has a used parts bin to see if they have any used shifters, rear deralur, and cassest.