Road Bike Racing - race preparation

here is my story, in short,

i have a 90 mile road race.. my first.. coming up on july 24, and ihave been training all summer for it. granted my training isnt detailed. it consists of going out everyday for an hour a half or 3 hours hard . whatever.. point is im on the bike.. i wiegh about 190 and falling.. 5'11". and have never raced before in my life. the course is a 15 mile course and we do it 6 times. i need advice on how to better train and prepare for this race.. my main concern is keeping up with these guys.. not to mention the race is the MIchigan State Championships in Grand Blanc, MI. =) so i dont expect to place... i just want to see where i stand. anyhow..what should i do.. food, training, sprints, hills? distance? time? please let me know what i can do!

chad

I see it is a qualifier race. We had one in NYC last month. All cat levels racing the same course and distance. The top 20 finishers are qualified to race in the NYS Olympic game. That's why a newbie like yourself is doing cat 1 and 2 distance race. :D That's right. 90 miles is a cat 1 and cat 2 distance. Did I say cat 1 and cat 2 distance??? :D If you haven't trained to ride 90 miles in one day, you will not even be able to finish the race, let alone placing. Given that you haven't raced before, you are most likely getting drop very early on. Why are you picking to do this race? Can you start out something more manageable?

For training, it is not much you can do NOW. Most of these guys cat 4 to cat 1, start off their training in Oct last year. They have couple of thousands miles in their legs already by the end of Feb. When the season starts, they begin to train for intensity and volume. A lot of these guys have their mid season break already and well rested for the second half of this season. They also have dozen of races under their belts by now.

First off good luck. Even if you don't finish go out there and ride hard and smart.

That being said, 90 miles for your first race is going to be tough. As said before if you haven't ridden 90+ miles in one sitting, it's going to be a real challenge. Just go out there at a pace you think you'll be able to maintain to finish the race and go for it. If you can find a pack of others that are riding at a pace that might be just a little above comfortable for you, latch on and don't let go.

You've picked what sounds to be a whopper for your first race...don't get down on yourself if you don't do as well as you like. Fitness is something that you can work on by yourself, however tactics and pack riding are arguably just as important and they take time to learn. I know it's tough to do, but go into this race seeing it as a training experience more than a potential winning experience.

Lastly, don't overtrain in the next weeks hoping it'll help you for the race. Stick to what you've been doing for now, don't cook your legs, and when it's over you can find a better regimented training program for yourself.

thanks for the quick replies guys. lol wow ive nver felt so frustrated in my descions. not only do i now feel discouraged, but i dont even knowif entering this race was such a good idea. i know that i wont place.. but ive gone out and riden 60 miles no problem. its the fact of doing it at a fast ass pace that scares me. i know im not hardcore, but i wantto be. i probly wont change much in my training, although im still lossing wieght, so hopefully ina few weeks i wil be downa few lbs and it might be easier. i will definitly look for a pack to latch on to..=) thanks again for the support and reality checks.. keep them coming...

Don't get discouraged. This is my first season racing and my first race was a 40 mile road race 5 laps on an 8 mile loop. I some how hung on for 5 miles after the neutral roll out. I finished and managed to not get lapped by the field. Go out and have fun.

My advice would be to do a lot of group rides between now and then. Get your pack riding skills well in hand, and make sure to conserve your energy by riding efficiently and drafting as long as you can hang. When/if you drop, keep the pace up and do yourself proud. :)

This is going to be a huge challenge, and you'll probably be hurting for a while afterward because you'll be pushing your body way beyond its training, but you sound young enough to bounce back. :D

I won't give you any training advice mostly because it's pretty late to really do anything that is going change your fitness level. There are two things that I will say. First really do a good warm up. Spend some quality time on the trainer, I usually do about 45-1hr warm up. I also change into fresh kit right after I warm up and eat again (btw eating well the morning of is really important). Second make a check list of everything you'll need to bring with you and load it in the car the night before. Good luck and most importantly have fun!