"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - When do you get butterflies?

How many days/hours/minutes before a race do you start to get that special feeling? I signed up for a race this Saturday (9/01), on Tuesday (8/28), and had them the second I sealed the envelope.

I've gotten them months in advance. It can happen if I really know the course and start running through race scenarios in my head.

when I have to do a drug test.

Never. Butterflies waste precious energy needed for training/racing.

every time I receive registered mail...

Whenever I get a check from unemployment..."Is this my check!"

I'm old and jaded. I don't get butterflies anymore. The best I can hope for is moths.:)

I'm old and jaded. I don't get butterflies anymore. The best I can hope for is moths.:)

Correct.

Butterflies. Please. This is bicycle racing (in my case vets racing) not Little League.

I don't get butterflies, EVER. I've never really ever been worried about anything until I have to be worried about it. Maybe if there's a pile up in front of me, I'll get that flutter in my stomach, but I haven't seen a good crash since my beginning days.
However, I have been working on my sprint so I feel like puking a little. Just a little bit.

I don't.

The only time I got them was before my first race. Other than that....no, which is odd for me. With bike racing, I seem to be extremely relaxed beforehand for the most part. Probably because I just look at it as a fast group ride with a finish line :D.

I always get them at least two hours before the race starts. I don't know why. I suck.

And I always get them when a police patrol car is tailing me, even though I didn't break any law.

Maybe we need to define butterflies. I have a resting HR of 40. If I'm running through race scenarios in a race in my future, while laying in bed, my HR will climb to over 100 bpm. I'm not talking about any stomach issues, but certainly some uncontrollable excitement.

You guys just show up to races like you do to work every morning?

You guys just show up to races like you do to work every morning?

Yup. I keep thinking I should bring a lawn chair, coffee, and newspaper for the time between reg and race. Really.

Usually a few hours before a big race.

Like WR said. My RHR is 47, but for the few hours before a race it's sitting on 70-80 bpm, just that little bit of adrenalin you get when you know what's coming.

On the drive to the race only. Once there I have to much to do to get ready I don't even think about it.

Calm like a bomb until I strap on the shoes. When I do that, the HR shoots up like a bullfrog with a rocket up it's @ss. Went from 50bpm sitting in my car before a long RR to hitting 200+bpm about 20min later, when the break went off 2 miles in and I had to bolt up a powerclimb to catch them.

When I do that, the HR shoots up like a bullfrog with a rocket up it's @ss.


intriguing...

Yeah, I pretty much embrace the adrenaline push. Makes me feel a little psycho. :o

You must be a pro. I never get butterflies. Don't you pretty much know what to expect?


I've gotten them months in advance. It can happen if I really know the course and start running through race scenarios in my head.

Upon toeing the line.

I only really get them in races that I expect to do well in. If it's a flat road race or a crit, I don't feel anything, but if it's a hill climb, I often can't sleep for 2 or 3 days before it. I've had some of my best races sleeping only about 3-4 hours total in the 2 nights before the race.

In fact, I'm already thinking a lot about Mt. Tam on September 15 and I have 4 more races before that.

You must be a pro. I never get butterflies. Don't you pretty much know what to expect?

Yeah, I'm a pro. Just not a pro cyclist.

I totally know what to expect from a race. I've been racing off and on for 16 years as a 3.

I just can envision the final corners, or the steep hill, or whatever the crux is, and will run through the possibilities in my head, and it gets my heart going. "Attack here, wait, John hops my wheel and takes me at the top... no, wait for John to go... crap, can't hold his wheel. I know, feign an attack until John counters..."

I must just have an overactive imagination. The races rarely play out to my internal simulations -- though I did win once when I implemented one of them.

Butterflies. Please. This is bicycle racing (in my case vets racing) not Little League.


Butterflies = fire
Fire = aggression
Aggression = chance to win
Win = good

So butterflies = good

[QUOTE=waterrockets;5172523]..... I have a resting HR of 40. If I'm running through race scenarios in a race in my future, while laying in bed, my HR will climb to over 100 bpm.....
QUOTE]


I can feel my HR elevate when riding in my car up one of the more severe climbs on our Sunday group ride route.

Pavlov's dog?

I seem to only get them when lining up for a flat, fast, technical crit. RR's don't really bother me now that I've come to accept that I'll get killed on the first major climb.