Northeast - NYC Central Park Races Advice

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SriBiker
08-14-08, 07:24 AM
Hi there,

I"ve lurked and asked a few basic questions on this forum and I now have a few more...thanks for all of the advice thus far!

1) I'm considering getting into racing but I'm not sure that I'm good enough to not make an absolute fool of myself in Cat 5. Does anyone have any basic guidelines or speed/mph/minutes parameters that I could use to judge if I'm fit enough for this endeavor? It would be great to know if the Cat 5 guys can do Central Park in y minutes per loop when there are x loops in the race, or something like that.

2) Unfortunately/or fortunately, depending on which way you view it, I only have a fixed gear bike. Are you allowed to race the Central Park race on a fixed gear?

Thanks again!

Dan&JanetTandem
08-14-08, 08:07 AM
Unfortunately X MPH solo doesn't always translate into Y MPH in a race. Besides, average speed is not as critical as the ability to accelerate, ride on the rivet, recover, and then keep up with the next acceleration in a race.

The only way you can know is to go out and race. If you get blown off the back, so what? Get some more intervals in and then go out and race again.

The Central Park loop has only a couple of uphill grades which will likely be the point of attack.

A fixed gear might work on the track, but I don't think you want to mix it up in a crit on a fixed gear, IMHO.
sounddevisor
08-14-08, 10:09 AM
2) Unfortunately/or fortunately, depending on which way you view it, I only have a fixed gear bike. Are you allowed to race the Central Park race on a fixed gear?



No fixed-gear bikes allowed in mass-start road races.

For general "I want to start racing" info, read this stickied thread in the Road Racing sub-forum of the Road Cycling forum:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=380788

Good luck!