Road Cycling - first crit saturday......

A) any riding tips? its a juniors race, 20K, i've been doin some group riding and feel pretty confident with it, but any tips are great?

B) Right now my stem is flipped upwards, should i flip it downwards to get more of an areodynamic position? what else should i adjust assuming i did this?

thanks to everyone!

I'm not a racer, but I'd suggest not changing anything about your bike so close to the event. I'd also probably go into it with a "here to learn" attitude - just participate in the event for the experience of it. And above all, have fun.
Good luck!

i would have to agree with -CM-

G'day,

don't change anything this close to a race...consider the changes in the future. In a crit the biggest things to remember are, suck wheel, don't leave gaps, don't overlap wheels & watch your pedals through the turn. Be aware of 'where' you are during the race, (ie: how many laps, or time to go), enjoy!. You'll learn more from getting out there & doing 'it' than you ever will from these forums

cheers,

Hitchy

Make sure you are comfortable taking 90degree turns at high speeds. It would be useful to practice this so you know how far to lean the bike and what line to take through the turn. Swing wide, cut across the inside of the turn, then keep going into the opposite side of the road. The hardest thing for me was trusting my tires. I always felt that they were going to slip out from under me. You just have to get used to leaning over more than what seems logical. Don't use your breaks through the turn either. This will cause your will to straighten out and make turning harder. Any breaking should be done before the turn. Like everyone else has said, just go into this with open eyes. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them next time.

exactly as you guys said, i'm goin into this to learn.hopefully i'll race more seriously next season, but i just wanna get my feet wet as to junior competition and crit style racing. luckily, it's a pretty long lap circuit, and it's almost three lanes wide the whole way. Thanks for all your help guys!

Make sure you are comfortable taking 90degree turns at high speeds. It would be useful to practice this so you know how far to lean the bike and what line to take through the turn. Swing wide, cut across the inside of the turn, then keep going into the opposite side of the road. The hardest thing for me was trusting my tires. I always felt that they were going to slip out from under me. You just have to get used to leaning over more than what seems logical. Don't use your breaks through the turn either. This will cause your will to straighten out and make turning harder. Any breaking should be done before the turn. Like everyone else has said, just go into this with open eyes. Learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat them next time.

as for turning... cutting into the turn is a good way to cause a crash. in a pack, hold your line, follow the path that the guy in front of you is following. you dont want to cut in to the inside of the turn unless you are in a breakaway and you are the only person on the course.

What is a crit? I have noticed that ultegra 10 will be made in junior's flavors also.....cassettes like 14-23, 15-24, etc.

no wonder the cassettes are 1 tooth jumps from 15 to 24.