gomango

Just remember to have fun and don't push too hard the first time out.

At least that's what we tell kids at our Velodrome on beginner's night.

daf1009

Nope, never have...most likely never will...for me, it is more about the ride than the time or speed...I am a DEVOUT member of the 13-15 mph club!

repechage

Biggest memory of my first ride on the track (all on road bikes as there were no loaners back then) was that my stomach hurt, the centripetal force in the turns was new. After that I Needed a track bike. I bought one on credit. Why they extended credit to a 14 year old I was not arguing with. I paid it off by working for the shop at $1.75 per hour. Ended up working there six years.
The next year I bought my second track bike, knowing the shortcomings of the first. That one I still have.

Pico Triano

Never raced. I've always been brutally slow on a bike. Even when I was in my prime. Just have terrific endurance at low speeds and can carry quite a lot of weight.

big chainring 

Racing was my obsession in my teens, in the mid 70's. Great times. At the age of 20 I thought that was it, I wasn't going to get any better at racing and it was time for school, work, etc. My glory days.

Couple experiences. I was 16 and racing Milwaukee Super Week for the first time. Before the first week of the series my buddy comes over to me all excited, "Greg LeMond is here".
I replied, "Who's Greg LeMond"?
At the ripe old age of 14, still an Intermediate, LeMond won the Junior race.

The following year at Super Week, we encountered this guy, Monty of Italy. Still don't really know who this guy was. But he had this very shy, meek 13 or 14 year old kid with him who we called Alex. Never really thought of this kid again until Alexi Grewal won the Olympic race in '84. I was like, "Hey, that's Alex".

SvenMN 

Snowmobiles and motorcycles back in the late 60s and 70s.

Been having good fun competing on my bicycles the last few years, and have raced 4 of my 5 C&V steel bikes at least once.

Most memorable pure cycling event last summer was the Firehouse 50 TT.

iab

Small world. I do the Firehouse 50 road race. Picture of me in post #5 is from that race.

thinktubes 

The DD is a race? I always thought it just an organized ride.

jimmuller 

It's fun reading the race/wanna-race/don't-wanna-race exploits of all of you!

I used race the clock every run home form work, 'cuz if I missed the train the next one wasn't for 2 1/2 hours. I always won because I always jumped the starter's gub by a substantial margin.

I'd like to race once or twice because I like testing myself every so often. I have no delusions about doing well. Well, maybe a delusion or two but they aren't grounded in reality. I know what bike I'd ride, the blue Motobecane. It would be fun to not embarrass myself while riding a seriously vintage 2x5-geared old-timer that few other riders recognize.

But the preceding paragraph contains several things that ain't gonna' happen. I ain't gonna' not embarrass myself, and I'll probably never race anyway because I don't have the time and I don't like riding in crowds. The thought of close-packed riders gives me the willies. But then, after the first half-mile I wouldn't be in a close peleton, would I?

iab

You get a timing chip. I forget to wear mine.

clubman 

No but learned the rules with a small group of 4 or 5 guys who'd take me on 50 k rides to teach me race etiquette. Graduated to pack fill in the weekly Toronto Doughnut training ride which included a wide range of riders. The A level guys would take off after about 30 kms for a metric century or more while the rest of us turned around to complete about 75. A lot of fun riding a pack. Only lapped one guys wheel and neither went down. The nice thing is it wasn't about winning, I was already a tad too competitive in other aspects of life. Riding was an exciting and calming influence. Glory days.

well biked

This is where many long-time riders, first-time racers will often surprise themselves. I'm more familiar with the mountain bike race structure (it used to be Beginner class, Sport class, Expert class....now it's Cat 3, Cat 2, Cat 1 respectively). Anyway, if you're fortunate enough to have a well attended race series in your area, you'll be categorized based on experience (you'll start as a Cat 3 in mountain bike racing , Cat 5 in road racing), and you'll be put in with your age group in that category.

If you're in decent shape and are an experienced rider, there's not a huge learning curve to finish well in a Cat 3 mountain bike race, for example, if mountain biking's your thing. If you do okay in some races, maybe a season or two, gain confidence, etc, you will, most likely, eventually "cat up" to the next category where you will compete against faster riders in your age group, and at least in XC mountain bike racing, you will also be racing over a longer distance.

The point is, you're not just thrown into the fire right off the bat. You start out racing against others who are similar in skill, race experience, and age, as much as possible. That's what makes it fun, you CAN compete, and if you're not doing as well as you like, you train harder and improve, if you're motivated to do that. You make friends within your group, and you progress together, often racing against the same people, and eventually some within the same group will likely move up in category together. The best thing about it is the camaraderie IMO.

gaucho777 

I started young. My first race was when I was 12 years old in the winter of '85. I was not affiliated with any clubs or anything. In fact, I didn't even know anyone who'd raced before at that point. As I recall, I saw a flyer in a bike shop, and made my dad drive me a couple hours out into the San Gabriel mountains on a rainy morning for an uphill individual time trial. I had to buy a day race license. My dad was pretty miserable, but he did drive me out there and even stuck around until I finished, though we did not wait around for the final results. By the Spring of '86, I was training and racing in earnest. I was racing Cat 3. by age 16. I raced mostly on the road (crits, road races, time trials, team time trials) and also dabbled in MTB and track racing. Qualified for Nationals each year from age 14-18 in a challenging SoCal district, but not a real contender for any of the Nationals. Then in 1991, I went away to college and stopped riding almost completely. Didn't have sufficient time to race/time during college (also worked part-time to pay tuition) but I must have been really burnt out, too.

kroozer 

Ex-racer here. I entered one 10-mile race when I was 16, on my Motobecane Grand Jubile with 27x1-1/4 wheels. I had no idea what to do. I started my final sprint about half a mile out and thought I was doing pretty well when of course everyone came around me just before the line. I was really tired. I realized I didn't care about going faster than somebody else on a bike, and thereafter dedicated myself to loaded touring, commuting, and fun riding. I might consider a brevet-type ride sometime but that's about as close to competition as I'd want to go. I do like watching bike racing though.

OldsCOOL

Deliberate momentary forgetfulness?


To the OP topic, I have never raced but now at a good degree of conditioning for my 57yrs I may yet get in on one. However, if it ceases to be fun I would finish strong and continue my own riding habits. In the future I would like a race with a relay twist to it where I am part of a team in a 'round the clock ride to make it even more challenging.

OldsCOOL

Love the pic, man!

I also raced snowmobiles and drag raced a little bit (built my own engines).

Giacomo 1 

Just got in.

Good advice for kids and adult newbies alike!

Well, that was one really cool day! It was a meet-up of the New York City Vintage Wheelmen group and man, these guys had some very, very cool track bikes, all the way from the 30's on up. And they were all so willing to let you ride them! I was a little nervous to be honest, because I have almost no time on track bikes. Definitely different in feel, super lightweight, simple and yeah, they don't coast! Must remember not to coast!

But no disasters thankfully and I'm grateful for that, considering the fine vintage iron I was able to ride. I got used to it pretty quickly. Braking with your legs is tougher than I thought (or remember!) and clipping in and out is a bit of a challenge to because... you can't coast!

Anyway, no racing, but a great day with a bunch of real cycling enthusiasts! Thanks for the invite noglider!

Vonruden

Raced Bmx as a kid in the 80's, a few MTB wins years ago. With 3 young ones nothing now. Would like to do a couple cross races or mtb's next year, time permitting.

Savagewolf

I've done my fair share of racing - road, crit, and time trials. I was never that spectacular, but I never quit in any of my races either. When I first started, it was kind of funny to see the looks I would get as I lined up with my plain Trek 1000 against $5000 + carbon beasts. I later got a nice carbon Madone to race with that made a significant difference in my performance.

I would of kept racing and improved my weak skills, but job/family/school takes too much time to stay active enough to compete. Giving my money away to lose badly wasn't fun.

bassogap

I raced in 1975-1977...I was in college at the time. I ended up being a category II. They were really great times, but when I graduated, I felt like I wanted to join the working world, and never looked back.

CroMo Mike 

When I was in my 30's I raced some weekly 20-mile local club races and rode the bicycling leg of a few team triathalons. I really enjoyed those races against my local riding buddies. I'd be bragging to say how I did, so I won't. I tried a few criteriums with larger fields of riders, but was put off by their dirty tricks tatics. All that was a long time ago.

american psycho 

Triathlons till I decided I sucked at swimming.

Biathlons till I learned I'd never be an Ethiopian runner.

Roadie till Cat 2 snd deciding MTB was more fun.

Downhill until thry lost my winning time at the Iron Horse.

Trials up to pro license cause you could win after a bong hit.

Now I race against time...

dddd

As a racer who was non-affiliated with any team, it was hard not to feel like the riders around me were conspiring to take advantage of my efforts. I could hear the chatter, but couldn't tell what was really going on behind me as I sometimes pulled a massive, lazy/crafty field back up to a breakaway, and in doing so, somewhat left my legs back on the course heading into the final lap.

So, instead of rounding the final corner and looking for an early draft, I would jump going into the final corner, which tends to mess up the plans and throw a wrench into the team's tactics, or so I believed. I sometimes did better this way since the chaos thus generated was usually all behind me, and the early jump meant I didn't have to exert my legs in such a sudden burst, which would have been beyond my anaerobic threshold at that point in most cases.

DIMcyclist

I never have, but both now, as a roadie, and back in my mountain biking days, I've had several friends who do; so, my choices on a ride are either keep up or get dropped (i.e.: pay for the beer after the ride).

obrentharris 

Some great advice for anyone considering racing in the post above from well biked. I've raced on and off for about 40 years now, never as anything more than a middle-of-the-pack rider. But I find it another fine way to enjoy time on the bike.




The camaraderie is a big element for me also. Here are some of the guys that I race against week after week during the season.




Team camaraderie is also great if you find the right team. Here one of my team mates is simultaneously cheering on a racer and pinning race numbers on another team mate.




Here's The Boss changing a wheel midrace for a team mate.




Laughing and clowning after the races are over




Good times on the podium



Brent