Road Bike Racing - your start in racing...

well, my recreational biking is turning into a small obsession. i want to start racing. can you guys\gals tell me about how you got started? why? what kind of shape you were in? what your first race was like, etc..? did you do well, or did you get schooled?

i'd just like to hear some firsthand stories.

My first race was a citizens race in the early 80's on an old Huffy from K-Mart. Ended up with road rash everywhere and the family said I would probably not race again as I was cleaning my wounds. Three years later I was a Cat 2.

It was a citizens race. I had a Trek 400 that was a couple cm too big for me. 3 miles into the race I found myself alone in no-mans land. I was so tired that I remember thinking that there was no way I was going to finish the race. A small group eventually caught me and we rode the rest of the race at a blistering 17 mph.

It took me a year or so before I was able to hang with the first pack. I remember that was my first major goal.

My first race was back in '92. It too was a citizen's race. I was quite strong going into it and had a decent command of the race. In fact I remember being a little aggrevated at the slow pace and probably spent too much time at the front. While, the joke was on me. I carried a strong pace into the last 400 yards up a small incline and thought I had the win locked. One of those "quiet types" from the back of the pack blew past me with 100 yards to go. I hammered to catch him, but ran out of real estate. I guess I was happy with second at the time.
The next race I did as a cat 4 (somehow I got an exemption) and placed 6th among several crashes. I lost interest after watching body and bike parts fly all over the place and never raced again.

-mark

First race was back in August in a training series, I was pretty strong from having road a cyclocross bike with nobbies all summer but had no idea of what I was doing, so I played in the wind a lot more than I should have, end up getting taking 7th in a bunch sprint.

The next race I did as a cat 4 (somehow I got an exemption) and placed 6th among several crashes. I lost interest after watching body and bike parts fly all over the place and never raced again.


:) LOL I quit after 4 years for exactly that reason. Too many near misses. It was only a matter of time for I ended up with a chainring jammed into my back.

:) LOL I quit after 4 years for exactly that reason. Too many near misses. It was only a matter of time for I ended up with a chainring jammed into my back.

maybe bike races need some sort of nascar style restrictor plate to keep speed down!! :p

maybe bike races need some sort of nascar style restrictor plate to keep speed down!! :p

I suppose that could be done by creating rules regarding chain ring specs. You could make everybody race in a granny gear. :)

I did my first race this weekend. It was a TT and there is more competition with the clock than another person. It was tons of fun!

My first races were cyclocross.Why? Because I thought it would be fun and it sure is. I also had an old touring bike that was sutible for this style racing too. I was in decent shape with about 3k miles under my belt for the year. I entered the mens B class rite away and got schooled big time. This race was in Virginia. At the wistle start I was like Duh as everyone blasted off by the time I was clipped in. I managed to catch up a bit and stay awhile then I lost my chain. I ended up 4th from last. I did another B race later and came in 4th from last. I spoke to a coach who said, "what are you doing in B you should be in C" He was rite. I found it to be more on my competitive level and I found out what it was like to place and win. That really gets the fever going.

i want to start racing. can you guys\gals tell me about how you got started?

I wanted to for years, but was too timid and didn't really know enough about it. Until I hooked up with a club.

You hear it all the time, but it's really true. If you want to race, hook up with a racing oriented club, or at least a group of riders with racing experience. They'll help you get comfortable riding close at a fast pace, give you practice riding pacelines, and give you the help and advice you need so you won't be the guy that causes the crash in the cat 5 race.

You'll also get support... share rides to events, borrow equipment, information on what's going on where, what races to avoid. And lots of good training rides.

Shop around, find a group or club you like, try a race or two with a one-day license, and take it from there.

Good luck!

well, my recreational biking is turning into a small obsession. i want to start racing. can you guys\gals tell me about how you got started? why? what kind of shape you were in? what your first race was like, etc..? did you do well, or did you get schooled?

i'd just like to hear some firsthand stories.

When I was a freshman in high school, Spring of '88, my dad said he would match the amount of money I put into my first road bike BUT I had to do a race first to prove I was interested. So I did the Ft. Benning biathalon on a Murray mountain bike with gym shorts, a K2 helmet and Brooks running shoes without toe clips! That rig was 35 pounds if it was an ounce. I kept the knobbys on and everything. When we brought the bikes up for the inspection at the beginning of the race, the dude just started laughing at me. My buddy (named Buddy) did the run portion and did pretty well, finishing his 5K in the top 20 or so out of a few hundred people. I got started on my part, a rolling 30 miles with absolutely no training whatsoever. None. Nada. I had wrestled for my high school in the winter. I took off like a bat out of hell. Mile 2 rolled by and I really started slowing. A constant train of riders kept passing me. I specifically remember this one guy blowing by me with a Campagnolo disc wheel and aero bars - brand new technology then. That guy was hauling. I bonked probably a dozen separate times. I can't stand bananas but I wolfed them down at the feed point. I don't know how I did it - sheer determination not to quit, I quess - but I finished. Dead last, but I finished. I think it took me about 2 1/2 hours to finish the bike portion. Dad then matched my $200 of lawn mowing money and I bought a 1987 Nishiki Custom. I thought that bike was the best thing ever. My brother and I did a bunch of races all through high school on our nearly matching 'Shieks. I still have it and use it on my trainer!
Racing is a blast. If you stay away from the crits until you are technically solid, you'll do fine. Good Luck!

I started ridding a bike to loose weight about 1 year ago. I rode by all summer on the roads with a Giant Mtn Bike. Come August I decide that I really like biking so I get a Specialized road bike. I go off to college for freshman year and find that the school has a racing club. I had not actually thought about doing any racing until then, so I quickly get hooked up with them, team rides, training schedule yadda yadda.

Come February we head up to Canada for a spring training race series. Its my first race, about a 34 miler, on a flat circuit. I take second place in a strung out sprint finish.

The next race a rider whet down in front of me and I more or less rode over him and fell over. We were only going about 13 mph up this hill so it wasn’t a big deal, but we weren’t able to catch back up. The week after I was in the front quarter of the pack, and there was a crash at the front (yes the front) and I was the first person to reach the crash and not go down. So there was a very large pile of bodies and bikes in front of me, I had to get off run around the pile and try to chase back on which I soon realized was totally futile.

Next race was a 48 mile race on a 12 mile circuit of small rolling hills. It came down to the sprint finish and I took first by about 3 bike lengths.

Ok, sorry about the rambling. But basically go out there and enter a race, and do it because it’s FUN. In my very very short time thus far in the sport of competitive cycling, I feel that people in the sport sometimes freak out and take things way to seriously.
So head out there and enter a race, you might surprise your self and ride away from the field… you never know until you have tried.

snip ...
Come February we head up to Canada for a spring training race series.
snip ...

Oh gee ... February training in Canada. Where do I sign up?

You sound strong, keep up the good work!

-mark

I too am determined to try out racing this year. And with a lot of reading it seems that the crits have a lot of potential for pain. Road races and Time Trials are "more fun".

Then why are most of the races crits?

I too am determined to try out racing this year. And with a lot of reading it seems that the crits have a lot of potential for pain. Road races and Time Trials are "more fun".

Then why are most of the races crits?
I think in any race you are going to encounter pain.
But Crits seem to be the American race.
People say that when euro riders come over to the states they are blown away with the speeds American riders take into the corners on tight technical crit courses.

I too am determined to try out racing this year. And with a lot of reading it seems that the crits have a lot of potential for pain. Road races and Time Trials are "more fun".

Then why are most of the races crits?
ease of organizing(let road closing etc.) and spectators like em. Just a guess.

I got the raceing bug for more of a multisport theme now I'm considering pure road biking. First race I did was a 20-24 hour adventure race july '03. 7am race start 18 mile bushwack/trailrun with rappelling, then 5mile kayak, then the mystery event, 25 miles of mountain biking was the last leg and our team(four people) started riding around dusk in a drizzle(let up quickly though) dead end up on the wrong trail because we missed our turn in the dark(you get a usgs map and startline/checkpoint coordinates the night before the race) finaly reached the top of this 2500' climb at 1am in a light rain 45 degF(5500' peak) took a half hour to find the checkpoint hiddin in the brush. the rest of my team agread to quit(grrr I'm disqualified if any of them don't finish) so taking the easy direct route we were back to race HQ at 3:30 am. We wen't quite last upon quiting. came across a dude with a broken crank on the way back but a had no tow line so he had to push it some 5 miles still in good spirits too. I can't wait to do it again(then again I've been calls nuts), I've had to take '04 off though :( .

I too am determined to try out racing this year. And with a lot of reading it seems that the crits have a lot of potential for pain. Road races and Time Trials are "more fun".

Then why are most of the races crits?

Because it is much easier to close off a few streets in the center of town, or in a park than to get cooperation amongst multiple towns, law enforcement, road closures and the like to allow a road race to pass through a hundred miles of public thoroughfares....see, when I lived in Belgium there is a "point to point" race someplace almost every day in season. But the Belgians do not mind the roads closing for a short time for a race as this is the national sport...in the US, you can't get two politicians to agree on anything and it's too mich work to get the roads closed and set up...
Also..road racing requires support. And most CAT IV racers will not have any support. The race organizer may provide a SAG wagon, but Mavic will not be following a CAT IV race with a bevy of wheels, drinks, food, and extra bikes.
Last, road races are longer events, typically. Lower category racers cannot race for longer distances.

i have been road riding for about 4 years and i did my first race yesterday, it was a cat 5 crit. it was very short, but much faster than i expected. if you can handle well enough through the turns to keep a wheel, you can probably keep up, but the handling is tricky...well, it was for the course i did, very tricky turns and lots of them. i was riding with 4 or 5 other guys, and we were dropped with 4 laps to go. i expected to get dropped before the race started, but when there were only four laps to go, i thought, "wow, I'm going to actually finish!" well, i was wrong, because then the referee told us we were dropped. after i got off the course, i looked back, and there was the front of the race! i would not reccommend a crit for a first race, but it was lots of fun! cant wait to do another, but i have to train a little more and do a few road races first. good luck!

I started as a teenager on the east coast...joined a club and for two years could only ride in the club races (we had a coach) and when I could hang with them, THEN I was allowed to enter a race (so I was ready to race). Back then there were only four categories, so Cat IV was a very mixed bag of beginners, bad racers with no talent, decent racers who had maxed their talent, and people who were pretty good who would move up and out quickly. Creating Cat V was a very good idea. My having two years of racing against experienced riders kept me at the front and out of the mayhem that is lower category racing.
Made it to Cat II. Then decided that I had all the competition I needed and now work in the business, and train a couple of friends who race. And own my own company, too.

When I was a freshman in high school, Spring of '88, my dad said he would match the amount of money I put into my first road bike BUT I had to do a race first to prove I was interested. So I did the Ft. Benning biathalon on a Murray mountain bike with gym shorts, a K2 helmet and Brooks running shoes without toe clips! That rig was 35 pounds if it was an ounce. I kept the knobbys on and everything. When we brought the bikes up for the inspection at the beginning of the race, the dude just started laughing at me. My buddy (named Buddy) did the run portion and did pretty well, finishing his 5K in the top 20 or so out of a few hundred people. I got started on my part, a rolling 30 miles with absolutely no training whatsoever. None. Nada. I had wrestled for my high school in the winter. I took off like a bat out of hell. Mile 2 rolled by and I really started slowing. A constant train of riders kept passing me. I specifically remember this one guy blowing by me with a Campagnolo disc wheel and aero bars - brand new technology then. That guy was hauling. I bonked probably a dozen separate times. I can't stand bananas but I wolfed them down at the feed point. I don't know how I did it - sheer determination not to quit, I quess - but I finished. Dead last, but I finished. I think it took me about 2 1/2 hours to finish the bike portion. Dad then matched my $200 of lawn mowing money and I bought a 1987 Nishiki Custom. I thought that bike was the best thing ever. My brother and I did a bunch of races all through high school on our nearly matching 'Shieks. I still have it and use it on my trainer!
Racing is a blast. If you stay away from the crits until you are technically solid, you'll do fine. Good Luck!


Haha, that's a really cute story.

Schooled.

My first race was in spring...too early in spring for SE Wisconsin!
34 degrees with a howling wind. Flurries on the way to the course.

I had no clue.
Hilly course....blowing wind....three layers on....I got spit out the back of my own doing...(My plan was to start slow and safe and conserve. Bad plan) So I end up in no man's land by myself for 20 miles in that icy wind.

Finished 78 out of 88 in the road race.
My thinking?
I didn't finish last!

My first race was a late season citizen road race that had a mass start of over 700 riders. A friend talked me into doing it. After losing track of how many crashes occurred, my goal was simply to survive. It was my last citizen's race.

My next race was the State Championship crit- and I did quite well, finishing with the pack.

The next year, I joined a club and never missed a crit. It wasn't until maybe 20 races later that I first blew up and was pulled.

I rode for a year with a informal club ride before I decided to get a good bike and start racing. My first race was a 20 mile criterium in Harrisburg this past June. It was a combined Cat4/5 field, with 98 riders. It was also the Pennsylvania Cat 4 Championship, so those guys came out in force. The speed was crazy. I got dropped after two miles, and I kept trying to get back on for another 6 miles, thinking the main group couldn't maintain their pace. Well, they did, and I pulled myself out after 10 miles. Turns out only like 30 guys finished, and only 3 or 4 Cat 5's.

I've done two races since, and they were a lot more reasonable, and I was able to keep up and finish with the leaders. The best advice I can give is to get used to riding in groups, and to go to a parking lot and practice taking hard, fast turns. Scrape your pedal a couple times so you know how far you can lean and still pedal through a turn.

ah, i see this thread got dug up from a while ago. since i started it, i might as well tell about my racing since then. i got off to a slow start - barely finishing with the pack on some races and getting dropped badly on others. now after 9 races, i've been finishing more or less with the lead pack on a regular basis. my accident this weekend will probably keep me from the bike for the next couple of weeks, so this may be the end of my season.... i was getting a little burnt out anyway and feel i need to rest from training.

next season will be good. i'll do another couple races early as cat 5 and then upgrade. it's too fun to stop now.

Hey Tim sorry to hear about the accident. Hope everythings ok. I didn't do much better in my first "real" road race, the Capital Region Road Race up in Albany. Just an experiance I don't think I had really prepared myself for mentally. Very different animal those road races vs our usual crits at FBF and circuits in CP and PP. But that was the end of my season as well. I'm tired (been racing since March) and the missus and I are headed up to Cape Cod for vacation next week and then my fall grad school classes start. Next season should be fun though. Gonna start with Bear Mtn and just hope to finish that race! Then I'll probably focus on the PP series , close it out with the Capital Region race again. Since I NDF'd this time I have to go back next year and finish top 20. Just have to. Have a good off-season and remember to take some time to rest in Sept/Oct. There's plenty of winter to put down base miles.

-Dan

First Race = Pwnt lapped by the peloton

Last race before my crash (crbc tuesday RR) = 8th place

how was the course daneil? I was going to do it in the 4/5 division

The course was fine, but the style of racing was very different. I've come to the conclusion that I placed myself poorly during staging. Definately learned some valuable lessons. However, I learned later that evening that the race organizers are going to be moving the race to a new course. Too many complaints from the neighborhood I guess.

Hey Tim sorry to hear about the accident. Hope everythings ok.

-Dan

thanks, man. got hit by a cab on union st. and 8th ave in brooklyn. other than hobbling around on crutches for a while and getting the bike fixed (damage mostly to rear wheel) everything should be fine.