"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Pre-race jitters

Well, I have my first race of the season coming up this next weekend that I'm already registered for and as much as I've been looking forward to start racing again I've gotta say that I'm almost tempted to not go...perhaps I'm a wuss but I guess I'm afraid to find out that all the work I've put into training up to this point will not pay off, that I'm not ready for a race yet this year. This is my third year racing. Anyone else have race season jitters?

I've gotta say that I'm almost tempted to not go...
you do that and you for sure will let yourself down.
A bad race is better then not showing up.
good luck and let us know how it went!

Use it as motivation. If you do well, you have fun, and if you have fun, you know you want to continue to do well and have more fun. If you do poorly, its back to the gallows for you, but train twice as smart for the next race. Win-win.

Well, I have my first race of the season coming up this next weekend that I'm already registered for and as much as I've been looking forward to start racing again I've gotta say that I'm almost tempted to not go...perhaps I'm a wuss but I guess I'm afraid to find out that all the work I've put into training up to this point will not pay off, that I'm not ready for a race yet this year. This is my third year racing. Anyone else have race season jitters?

Always, most are just the night before anticipation butterflies. I find that once I start pedaling I'm fine, I will say that this weekends upcoming race has me getting those butterflies early though!

I did a TT on march 10th that I didn't feel ready for. My legs didn't feel like they had much zip and my TT bike had arrived too late for me to get more than a few weeks practice on it. I almost didn't go! At the very least I thought ok this will be a good experiment and I can collect some data. Well I went, enjoyed myself and felt good about my effort and then 2 days later I got sick.

turns out from analyzing my data that my coach was thinking that I was probably already getting something during or before the TT but just didn't know it yet. My wattages now on tests are not even in the same ballpark as what I put out on the TT. so we now have some idea how my body responds when it is fighting something. That is good data to have so now I have a better idea when to watch it and be careful.

That's part of the sport. I went into my first road race in five years completely blind. I had no clue where my fitness was, and I didn't know any of the player in the race. I still had a great time. No results, but I didn't get shelled. Just go race.

I have a tendency to get overly amped for races. My heart rate just waiting at the line before the starting gun fires is often well above my normal recovery HR. The problem with this is that it potentially limits how much heart rate range I have to work with during the race if that makes sense.

I think once I've done this more I'll be more relaxed about it.

--Steve

I definitely do. More for RRs than crits, which is probably counter-productive. Having some nervous energy in a crit can make you start like a rocket, if I do that in an RR, it'll be a short day.

This weekend is the 1st 2 day racing weekend for me, RR on sat & industrial park crit on sunday. I'm already a little jittery. But I also cant wait to line it up!

i think it's best to look at the entire season as a work in progress. because no matter how well you do, there will always be something you feel you might have done better. you'll never know what to improve on if you don't go and find out.

i think it's best to look at the entire season as a work in progress. because no matter how well you do, there will always be something you feel you might have done better. you'll never know what to improve on if you don't go and find out.

+1 and to add to that you can have a bad day that isn't a refection on your overall fitness. Also cycling is one sport that luck really does play a part in. A good friend of mine who is a very strong masters racer just competed in a two day, three stage race. During the TT he flatted, his pace up until that point would have put him firmly in the top 5, as it was he fell out of the top 20. Not much you can do about that. He was still able to take positives away from that weekend, even the TT as his SRM numbers were very good.

Dog Hair is completely correct that you can never know what your weakness or strength is until you test yourself in a race. Training is one thing but racing is a whole different beast.

If you feel self-conscious about your pre-race jitters, look around. You'll see the other riders going through their own little nervous ticks - stretching, shaking, legs bouncing, etc. And let's not even talk about the porta-potties...

Go. You will regret not going. But I doubt you would regret going.

My story was that everyone in my group expected me to win. "If you don't place, something's wrong." "You should do really good." "Blah blah blah." I got 27th.

Well now that it's out of the way I'm racing for fun. Don't let yourself or others place wild expectations on you. Go have fun. You won't regret it.

My story was that everyone in my group expected me to win. "If you don't place, something's wrong." "You should do really good." "Blah blah blah." I got 27th.

The vibe is so different from the running I used to do. To clarify, I was never a serious runner but I did a couple of marathons. Back then it was all about how my finish time compared to the goals I had set for myself. How I did compared to other people (except maybe family members in friendly competition) never even entered my mind. My results were essentially irrespective of anyone else's.

Bike racing is significantly different. I would obviously like to always finish in the top 10 but in order for me to place in the top 10 it means that 41 out of 49 other guys in the race cannot do so. My success hurts others. It's a zero sum game.

--Steve

Well, I have my first race of the season coming up this next weekend that I'm already registered for and as much as I've been looking forward to start racing again I've gotta say that I'm almost tempted to not go...perhaps I'm a wuss but I guess I'm afraid to find out that all the work I've put into training up to this point will not pay off, that I'm not ready for a race yet this year. This is my third year racing. Anyone else have race season jitters?

Don't worry, they go away after race #100 (or crash #5) and they never return.

A coupla things:

1. The more you do, the less nervous you will be. Once you realise that nothing is really at stake of any import, you will be fine.

2. Think of each race as training or preparation for the next race. It helps to have an "A" race to fully appreciate this sort of mindset. Everything else is just preparation for those one or two important races. Otherwise I find I get into a mindset of having to do well in every race: the most important race is the next one. That attitude will burn you out. A lot of "burnout" that I see is more psychological than physical.