Road Bike Racing - training on a race course for a few days before race

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sbskates
05-25-07, 06:03 PM
anyone ever rode a course a crit was gong to be on for few days in a row before a race to get in the zone and get really prepared ? if so how did it help if you really wanted to do good in the race.

jrennie
05-25-07, 06:12 PM
crit race not so much, one or two laps prior to the race is all you really need as the race is more dependant on the riders than the course(for most flat crits) Road races it can be a great benfit to pre-ride.
NomadVW
05-25-07, 06:25 PM
As often as possible, but not crit course. More like circuit courses. Circuit courses usually end up being rural for me so I can get a chance to really get a feel for the lines and ups/downs.

ElJamoquio
05-25-07, 06:47 PM
Not crits, but for RR it really seems to help. Crits would probably help too, but I'm not the person to be asking.
urbanknight
05-25-07, 07:58 PM
Won't matter on crits. As mentioned above, one lap is all you need. Road Races, definitely! While you're riding it, try to pick out the crests of the hills and predict where people will try to attack.
cmh
05-25-07, 10:43 PM
Pre-riding a crit course would be nice if it was closed to traffic so you could ride at race speed and get a feel for the corners, particularly in a race that had some hills or really tight corners. Usually up until race day there is traffic and parked cars so you cant use the whole road. That makes it pretty much useless to preride the course.
CrimsonKarter21
05-25-07, 10:46 PM
I rode a part of a course once about a month before I raced on it, I didn't even know where I was, but I did the main climb and wanted to die. If I knew I had to fly up that climb I would have practiced a lot more.
DrWJODonnell
05-25-07, 10:52 PM
RR and TT only. I actually like to walk a crit course and then maybe a lap or two at speed to get a feel for the corners.
ezpickens
05-26-07, 09:02 PM
You're usually not lucky enough to get the opportunity but, in my experience, if you can get on the course a lot, it can really help. The more difficult the course, the more there is to gain by riding it, testing different lines, eyeballing the pavement, thinking about your strengths as they relate to the specific course. Especially if you are not an every-weekend crit racer, the time spent doing a variety of testing on the circuit will, at a minimum, increase your confidence for the race.
Best of luck.