Originally Posted by
Abe_Froman
Nearest mountain is 3 states away
Realistically I'm thinking I'm probably more or less in the same boat. Maybe fast enough to hang with the pack. I don't do any structured riding...but I do ~100 miles a week solo 18-19mph when I'm going reasonably hard. I have some speed in reserve.....but 20+ for miles on end tends to give me knee issues...but I'll manage for 1 race day.
I'm also thinking I may want to wait until I get a bike that weighs some measurable amount less than 30lbs, clipless pedals, etc lol
It's the accelerations that you'll likely have difficulty with. You essentially are going to be going absolute full gas for about 30 seconds to a minute out of each turn. So 4 turns a lap 20 laps, that 80 intervals. riding around solo, even at a decent effort just doesn't prepare you for that.
And the worse bike handler you are, or the further you are back the worse the accordion effect and the longer harder you have to sprint each turn.
To get ready for that series of short intervals helps. You can do 30 seconds on 30 seconds off x 10. Try 4 sets of those, and you'll start to have some idea of what you're looking at.