Road Bike Racing - Just finished my first road race.

Wow,

What a humbling experience. I think the worst part had to be the insane start speed. Is it normal for the start to be ridiculously fast?

As the race went on I got stronger and stronger, eventually taking our group (which was just behind the head group), from about 10 riders to 3 riders, and then winning the hill top finish.

Here are the 2 situations I have questions about.

1. They say you can't cross the yellow line, but on the start everyone was right on the yellow line, and many people were over it. This made it almost impossible for me to get any draft effect (cross wind), unless I pushed my way through the other riders. What is the proper technique to use here?

2. When you're with a group and a few of the riders are very vocal about keeping the pace down, possibly to benifit from more draft time and less pull time, when do you make the call and how to you make the call to pick up the pace, and potentially drop the slower riders? The main reason I ask, is because our group was hindered (in my opinion) by trying to keep the group together. As soon as we eventually dropped some of the key slow riders our pace picked up significantly and we ended up just a few mins behind the lead pack, by the end.

BTW: It was a limited gear race, which meant you couldn't use a bigger gear than 39x15 (this hurts at 30mph!)


Cheers! Happy Racing!

Originally posted by v18000
Is it normal for the start to be ridiculously fast?

As the race went on I got stronger and stronger, eventually taking our group (which was just behind the head group), from about 10 riders to 3 riders, and then winning the hill top finish.

Here are the 2 situations I have questions about.

1. They say you can't cross the yellow line, but on the start everyone was right on the yellow line, and many people were over it. This made it almost impossible for me to get any draft effect (cross wind), unless I pushed my way through the other riders. What is the proper technique to use here?

2. When you're with a group and a few of the riders are very vocal about keeping the pace down, possibly to benifit from more draft time and less pull time, when do you make the call and how to you make the call to pick up the pace, and potentially drop the slower riders? The main reason I ask, is because our group was hindered (in my opinion) by trying to keep the group together. As soon as we eventually dropped some of the key slow riders our pace picked up significantly and we ended up just a few mins behind the lead pack, by the end.


Usually the races will start pretty fast. People are anxious & nervous, so they need time to settle into the pack. This is a very important part of the race to get to the front and get comfortable.

1. The yellow line rule is an interesting one. Some people have SERIOUS problems with others going over the line. Most people will go over only for draft (as in a crosswind) and to pass.

I personally think this is the way to do it. Make sure the coast is clear, and only cross the line when you have to. But, you don't have to be 100% serious about it as long as you keep yourself & others safe.

2.If you can go faster and you know it, do it. If you think you might not be able to stay away from the people you just dropped, don't do it. Sometimes you just have to take a minute to think & talk the situation over.

Have fun racing! A week from today is my first race of the season!:D