Originally Posted by
valygrl
RWT - I am kind of in the same boat. It's easier to upgrade as a woman, b/c our fields are just so much smaller, but i'm also genetically mediocre, want to be a road racer but am built more for crits, and scared of the crashes.
Have to make your own call, obviously, whether the risk is worth it. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Denying the risk exists is not a very good long term strategy, but it does seem to work until something like this weekend's race slaps you upside the head with it.
My first season ended with an injury crash in a crit. It was August, so there was only one race left after that anyway, so I had all winter to wonder if I would want to line up again the following year. It turned out I did want to continue, but I still have moments of asking myself what the hell I'm doing - and this weekend was one of those. I considered not racing during my warmup. Maybe with more experience we will learn when that little voice should be listened to. I don't know.
I can't really add much to your decision making, just know you are not alone.
Couple things, though -
Results: make sure you are working with your coach on non-fitness related race elements. Tactics, handling skills, having a race plan.
Collegiality: get on a team. Having team mates makes a difference before, during and after a race. Also, it takes a while to get to know people, just in the middle of last year (season 2) did I start feeling like there was cameraderie among the racers, as we all got to know each other better.
Thanks for sharing VG. Good points.
I've left my last team; it turned into a club of non-racing bike enthusiasts, and I was the last remaining male racer (though the women's team is still very strong). I certainly will be on a more race-oriented team in the future.
Tactics/skills/race plan: I've got some of that - I get some pre- and post-race analysis; more would be better. I think what would be super-cool would be to have somebody who knows their stuff follow you around in a race or two and critique decisions. Imagine some of the experts on this board, riding behind you, with tips like: "get on that guy's wheel", "get out of the wind", "why did you do that?", "don't go hard there, go hard here"...that's where tremendous learning could occur. I've never had anything close to that.