finkstercc

I just got my bike last Monday and after looking at the race schedule I've decided that I wanna do my first race this upcoming Sunday, a hilly 20 miler that looks to suit my needs as a novice racer (don't think i could handle a crit with my skills as of right now). I'm already in good shape since I run 40mpw and the hills will suit my body type (5'8, 125). I've already got 150 miles under my legs and my body seems to be handling the bike just fine so far. To see if I was really ready to handle the race this week I did a 10 mile "time trial" today to see what I could do. I chose a course with a a couple decent hills and a handful of rollers that would make the ride a little challenging. My goal was just to finish over 19mph. It's also 90 degrees out so I wasn't sure what I could do. I took the first 5 at what I thought was a conservative pace, ended up avg. 20.2 at the turnaround. From there I just tried to maintain and push the final hills a little harder then I did on the way out, finished in 29:05 with an avg. of 20.6. I feel pretty satisfied, I set a realistic goal and broke it by a decent margin. My question: Should I be able to stick witht the pack in the Cat. 5 race where the winner finished with an avg. of 24 mph last year? And what other advice would you give to a newbie whose entering his first road race (etiquette, what to expect, etc.) Any advice and/or comments are appreciated, thanks.

zhmontana

Very hard to determine whether you will be able to 'hang' or not, but most likely you will. My advice, stay in front 3rd of the pack if possible, don't try to do any pulling though, watch the pack carefully, stay away from the squirrely guys, most cat5 groups are overly cautious in corners causing huge slowdowns and hard accelerations so be prepared for that. Hold on for everything you are worth and don't get dropped, and if you do then it is a good learning experience. Good luck!

DannoXYZ 

You're on the right track for now. Important part about your first 5's races isn't so much about speed, but not getting caught up in crashes. It doesn't matter how fast you are, if you get into a wreck, your race is over. Well, they do give you a free lap, but you can suffer injuries like broken fingers, arms, collarbones that'll set you back by quite a bit. I've seen a guy with a finger bone poking out through the skin try to get back into the race, the adrenaline must've dulled the pain and he didn't even realise it.

So focus on watching the other riders, picking out the ones who are unsafe and staying behind the ones who are strong and safe. Look for the guys are are consistently at the front 25% of the pack and stick with them. See who wins the first couple of primes and hang with them. Learn to stay clear of wrecks by looking for the openings where you can get around them, DO NOT look at the wreck, you'll end up in it.

Then when you're back to training, add a sprint-day and short interval day. Your average-speed will be up to 24-25mph within a month or two. Only one day week should be endurance.

The Octopus 

Sounds like you're going to Zoar. See you there. It'll be my second mass-start race ever (the first being the Waldo crit). You have the base-level fitness in place. The real shocker about racing (from my limited experience doing it) is the pace can go from 15mph to 30+mph in a few seconds. If you don't respond, you're day is done. I can ride all day at a nice average (18.6mph in the National 24-hour challenge), but the vibe of racing is totally different; "average speed" is pretty much irrelevant. The ticket is being able to stay with the ebb and flow of the guys pushing the pace. Being in the right place at the rigth time helps, too. Don't know a better way to get a handle on this other than to get out there and learn while doing.

I'd say for us new guys the most important thing in the first dozen races is to ride safely, watch (and learn) what happens in the pack, and try to hang on. And if we expect to be shot out the back then we won't be disappointed when it happens....

Too late for this week, but there's an excellent ride out of Avery Park in Dublin every Weds. night at 6pm (sharp!) that's a bunch of Cat 1-3 guys. Go (try to) hang with them a few times and you'll get the feel for very fast group riding. The COP "A" ride out of New Albany is also good for this experience.

Good luck and have fun!

Cromulent

Hmm... here's my advice, take it for what it's worth.

Hydrate. Not the day of the race, but at least two days before. Don't overdo it.
Eat carbs - lots of 'em. But you're a runner too so you should know all about that.
Don't eat for about three hours before the race. Bring gu or gel with you for some energy while you're racing... a cliff bar or something like that too if you can manage it. I got some gel down, but didn't have time to eat. Fill one water bottle with water, one with a sports drink.

Stay focused but relaxed. Stay towards the front of the group if you can. Stay out of the wind as much as possible. Hold your line. Don't panic. Panicking leads to accidents, or at least burns a lot of energy.

In the race that I did, the group took off and rode hard trying to shake off weaker riders. I was a weaker rider. Now this was a 2.2 mile course with a hill, so it was almost like a really long criterium. The group slowed down quite a bit after about three laps. If you can hang on to the point where they slow down, you may have a shot.

Will you finish with the pack? You might. But don't worry if you don't. Learn and observe everything that you can. And have fun.

finkstercc

Octopus, yeah, I will be at Zoar on Sunday. Thanks everyone for their advice, I will try to keep it in mind when I'm in the pack. I'm pretty excited to see what I can do this weekend and I'll let you all know how it went.

Gienek

ill be at Zoar on Sunday too. This is going to be my 4th race of the season, hopefully ill do well and so will you too. Good luck

shimanopower

Don't let yourself drift too far to the back of the pack. Try to stay in the 1/3rd like stated previously.

allgoo19

My advice to you to have a good pit crew, preferably a few of them.

Hand them a nice digital camera or have them use their own, have them spread all over the race course, take as many shots of you as possible.

Then post the photos here and brag about it. It won't matter if you win or the last place. We'll just have fun.

finkstercc

good idea allgoo19. As I always say: "It's not how good you do but how good you look while doing it."

snoboard2

my first race will be zoar this weekend. jr division (i'm 17). hopefully it'll go well.

finkstercc

Good luck snoboard. I'll be pretty easy to spot during the Cat. 5 race wearing my bright green Nike Jersey

MWW

Stick on my wheel and you should do fine. I'm assuming you're talking about Zoar? You can draft all you want. You will still need to have some skills for racing in a peleton. I anticipated some squirrel action in the group as many riders will not be experienced bike handlers. Get lots of rest and no hard efforts on Saturday because you don't want to be burned out.

Don't worry about sticking with the pack because I anticipate a few packs will develop after the first set of climbs. Do your best and remember that you have two laps to get through. Get there early and ride a practice lap so that you know the course and aren't surprised by anything.

My name is Matt, I'll be on a red CAAD 8 with Ksyriums SL's (black) and sporting a Summit Freewheeler's jersey (new to the club this week).

Good luck!

finkstercc

Just got back from work and I must say I had a great time racing today and I was pretty pleased with my result. I stayed with the front pack until the last 100 meters on the 2nd climb of the first lap. Once I got my legs back on the downhill I grabbed the wheel of a group of riders who were also dropped on the climb... I think there was a racer from every team in this pack. We lost a few riders on the next hill in the 2nd lap and then me and a racer from I think bikestop (yellow and red jersey) pulled ahead on the final climb and helped each other all the way to the finish. My finishing time was somewhere in the mid 55's and I think I was in the top 30. I felt like I could have kept going and I'm definately hooked on racing, it was such a rush. I also learned a lot about racing and how I should prepare for race tactics in my training. Thanks for all of your advice it came in handy!

The Octopus 

Congrats on a great race! I had a great time, too, and learned a lot. I learned it was stupid to lead up the second hill on the first lap -- I ended up pacing a few people up it, but didn't ride it hard enough to really get a break. The result was, after the descent, that it split the group into about 20 riders. Not very effective. And then I spent most of the second lap trying to recover from that effort. On the second climb, second lap, I was able to ride from the back through most of the pack but could not bridge up to the leaders after topping out. Ended up stuck in no-man's land between the main finishing group of about 10 guys and the other 10 who had been shed on that second hill. Not bad for my second race!

I'll definitely do Zoar again next year!