Originally Posted by barryflht

Go Red Rider Go!! I want to hear all about it......Wish Ya Luck!

Originally Posted by deadly downtube

expect.... pain...

was that a mr. T line? perhaps.. but anyways.. when you're in a bike race, especially if your a newbie like me, you'll be in a lot of pain, gasping for air, perhaps with legs that feel numb and won't push as hard as you tell them to... so, recreate those sensations as often as possible during training rides... and perhaps during your early races, you can sit comfortably in the middle and tell everyone you aren't stressin' the race too hard... this will make you look tough, and that could work to your advantage in the future.

but in all seriousness... just do the opposite of what you want to do.. you want to go out for a nice pleasant ride on a sunny day and check out the scenery... instead, ride really hard, until foam and drool and snot is running on your face, pull it back a notch for a minute, then resume the unpleasant ride, this will turn you into the roadie destroyer god.

Originally Posted by patentcad

You never know. The OP may be the one inflicting the hurt. You'll never know until you try.

Originally Posted by Red Rider

I'm riding my first crit tomorrow. Last year I did 3 TTs on a tandem and 1 on a half-bike, finishing strongly enough to encourage me to join a team and be the TT Queen.

My BFF also joined the team (her hubby's a CAT2) and she talked me into doing the Early Bird Crit in Fremont tomorrow. I must be crazy; my cycling goals never included crits or road races. At least the EB has a mentoring session prior to the race.

I'm 53 and beginning to question my sanity...but I'll never know if I don't try.

If this doesn't harden me up, I don't know what will.