When to race???

masonpaul

OK, I'm sure this question has been beaten to death, but when is someone ready to try a cat5 race? I would like to race this summer and I would like to begin my preparation now. I know speed's change during a race, but what kind of flat speeds should I be able to ride at solo? How many miles should I be comfortable riding per week? Can I be successful if I only ride by myself and learn how to pack ride at the race?

I know these are very open ended questions, but I feel like I need something to shot for. Basically, for those of you who race, how did you know you were ready?

Thanks.

Eden

You may get strong enough to race if you only ride by yourself, but everyone will avoid you like the plague. I advise people to get their group skills down before they worry about how fast they are. Of course if you are getting dropped by the pack no one will have to worry about how poor a bike handler you are, but there's nothing worse than a big, strong, stupid rider............

As far as when are you ready - hard to say. I had no idea if I was ready or not when I started. The first thing I did was a TT, so no pack skills needed. I did well enough there that I figured I could at least be competitive, so I joined a team. I rode with them for a full winter before I ever did a mass start race.

daveryanwyoming

+1 on this, it's very good advice masonpaul.

Get fit, but develop bike handling and pack riding skills. You'll need both to race.

Frigo's Luggage

Eden is right.

My thoughts are that very few people are ever ready for their first race. It is so far removed from normal riding experiences that it can't be replicated on a training ride or on most group rides. Don't let this scare you. If you are reasonably fit and train very hard this winter, you will probably be fit enough to race next year. Maybe not in your first race, but at some point in time your body and mind will learn to compensate for the new stresses imposed by racing. Likewise, doing group rides will not give you all of the skills you need to race. But it is a very good place to start. In fact, I would not recommend anybody to do a race unless they are comfortable in a group.

Average speed solo? Tough question because of the variance in the speeds during a race. However, I will give you an example from my own experience. As a Cat5, I finished each of my races except the two or three Cat 4/5 races where I struggled. In the Cat 5 races, I finished in the top half of the field in each race except for a hilly race where I finished 38th out of 50th. My best finish was 4th in a crit. I didn't set the world on fire but I was somewhat competant at that level. Mostly, I was a mid-pack kind of guy. I did one TT as a Cat 5 on a flat but windy 8.5 mile out and back course. My average speed was 22.5 mph. Certainly that time is not blazing. Yet it was good enough for me to finish...in the middle of the pack.

So, if you could ride for 25 minutes alone at about 22-23 miles per hour, you should be able to survive Cat 5 racing. You will be fine if you are capable of doing that now. Don't worry if you are slightly slower than that because you should get faster if you train hard over the winter.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

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masonpaul

Thanks for the responses. Last summer I was riding about 18-20 mph solo on flats for about 10-12 miles. I'm definetly going to have to hook up with some group rides before I race. I thought about charity rides to see if I could hook on to a group. I'm a pretty competitive person so racing is in my future, but don't worry I'll never endanger other riders by racing when I'm not ready. Thanks again and if anyone else has any suggestions or pointers please let me know.

carpediemracing

Find a local shop that sponsors a team or has group rides. Also, contact USA Cycling and see if there is a Local Association (New England has one for example). The LA might have bike handling clinics or something like that to offer new racers. On a different forum someone was talking about setting up a Cat 5 clinic to help them learn enough to get to Cat 4.

No matter what you do, upgrading from Cat 5 to 4 is NOT about fitness. It is about your ability to ride safely in a field. A lot of very fit (probably as fit as a Cat 2) racers don't understand this and it's very difficult to explain to them that just because you're fast doesn't mean you can race. In fact, upgrading from Cat 4 to Cat 3 is also not about fitness. A hint - if you can upgrade based on experience, then the upgrade is concerned with bike handling, not with fitness. The first fitness related upgrade is when you go from Cat 3 to Cat 2 - then only race places count, not experience. Cat 2s are limited to those who are both good bike handlers *and* fast. Cat 3s and below are essentially for various levesl of bike handlers who may or may not be fit.

For example, if you jumped into a leading F1 car right now (Ferrari or McLaren, say) and you started an F1 race, from a car point of view (i.e. "fitness"), you'd be as fast or faster than anyone out there on the track (way faster than the back of the field cars). From an experience point of view...well, you may not make it through the first turn of the race.

You will absolutely have to ride in a group before you race, and ideally you should be doing bike handling drills (bumping, touching wheels, one hand, turn around without veering, wiping tires) if at all possible. Bike handling drills are typically done with other riders since you can't bump or touch wheels without a rider to bump or touch wheels.

Using a race to learn how to ride in a group is not a good idea, either for you or for those around you.

cdr

Frigo's Luggage

Carpe is correct. The first thing you should do is hook up with a club. Check here for a club in your area: http://www.usacycling.org/clubs/

To get an idea about racing, you should also watch one of CarpeDiem's videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlgGkR6itdc&feature=user

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Sikhandar

Dem american friend, I'd suggest to do some more group exercises as well. To win a race in a sprint, or in a breakaway... would require you the ability 1) to sprint effectively in a very concitate bunch situation and 2) to keep (uhm...converting...) 27-28 mph by giving double-line changes with the other escapees. Try to do some of this exercises with your friends, you *must* learn to sprint (i.e. use the gears in a right way at the right distances from the finish line, do not close your opponents' way...) and to do double-line.

And it's not very important how much speed you can keep on solo; the right question is: how many minutes could you resist at (uhm...converting) 32 mph on the wheels of others? 2 minutes? I suppose 2 minutes would be enough to finish a race. That's the most important thing, to resist when the speed is *really* fast, and to recover in time for the next movement (you must be well trained to shorten recovery times ). After some time in a group, you could also begin to attack! (but you must learn how to conduct a breakaway!)