Road Bike Racing - How fast should I be before trying cat5?

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Barnacle
07-20-04, 11:24 PM
I was looking at jumping into a local crit either this year or next. How fast should I be in order to be competitive? I have a 30 mile loop I do for time, it's got two short 700'(vertical) climbs. I can do it solo averaging about 20-21 mph when going hard. I use a trek 2200.

I don't have much experience riding in groups, something I should probably work on. Any ideas on where to find others to ride with? All I can find are some recreational groups that tend to go pretty slow. I live in San Jose, CA.

Any advice or pointers are welcome, thanks in advance everyone!

-Barnacle

BigFloppyLlama
07-20-04, 11:36 PM
Sounds like you'll do fine. If you're a good climber, you can go with the breaks and place high. In the flats, pull a little and draft a lot. Where are you in San Jose? I'll be down there for school in a month.
Barnacle
07-21-04, 07:28 AM
I'm in South San Jose off of Almaden Expressway. What school do you go to?

BigFloppyLlama
07-21-04, 10:16 AM
I'll be at San Jose State. I really don't know the area that well, but that's what riding is for:)
Barnacle
07-21-04, 10:37 AM
SJSU is about 10 miles from my house, not bad at all. Actually I will be transfering to SJSU in one more year. Let me know when you get into town, I can show you a couple of good rides at least. :)
duracann
07-21-04, 10:56 AM
Don't ride a crit for your first race. Do a road race. You need to get group experience before racing everything but a time trial. Trust me, crits can be scary if you have little group experience.
Barnacle
07-21-04, 02:08 PM
What exactly is the diference between a road race and a criterium? From what I understand crits go in a loop while road races just have some specified course. Are they both rated cat5 through cat1?
SteveE
07-21-04, 03:01 PM
The Northern California/Nevada Cycling Association (http://www.ncnca.org/) website has a list of member clubs and their address. You could contact with one of these clubs and try riding with them.
sparknote_s
07-22-04, 02:18 PM
In a crit you're going to be going around corners at freakish speeds, possibly surrounded by riders from all angles. I watched a local crit last week, there was at least one crash in each race category, and I watched four different races.
Barnacle
07-22-04, 04:56 PM
Yeah, that doesn't sound very fun to me. I think I'll do some looking into raod races instead. Thanks everyone for your input and help.