TheKillerPenguin

I have my second race coming up this sunday (Owasco Flyer, non USCF), and I'm wondering if I should keep my cyclocomputer hooked up to my bike when I race. Before I get to that though, are there any rules against keeping your computer on your bike while you race?

If there aren't, how do you guys find you race with and without a cyclocomputer hooked up? Does it distract you? Do you like seeing how fast you're going? The main thing I'm concerned about is that I might look down and see I'm going some insane speed and then all of a sudden my mind will make my legs give out on me. Do any of you find this happens, or is it a useful tool to help pace yourself with?

Thanks in advance.

skydive69

I think it is important to have as much information available to you as possible. Example: You are aware of a thread in which I mentioned that I broke a state time trial record last month. When I came off the line pumping my brains out, standing up, and then finally settled down into the saddle and on to the aero bars, I looked at my speed, and I was doing over 30. The excitement of the event and my adrenaline was making me go at a pace that would have burned me out. I immediately slowed to my planned pace, and went on to break the record. When I train for a time trial, I know what my planned pace will be for the race, and I do my intervals about 10% over that pace. On race day, I want a reference to my pace, because again, the excitement will deceive you in regards to perceived exertion. If you find someone racing without a cyclocomputer, I will be very surprised - I have never seen it.

In a road race, I find the cyclocomputer to almost be comforting. The reason is that I train with a bunch of hammerheads, and typically our training rides are faster than typical road races. It is comforting to look down, and see a pace on my computer than is slower than the speed at which I typically train. Bottom line - I want to know what I am doing.

canili

[QUOTE=PenguinDeD]I have my second race coming up this sunday (Owasco Flyer, non USCF)

Get outta town! I'm doing this race too. First race in 15 yrs, last one I did was this race in 1990. The old course used to finish in front of my folks' house. I was going to post a similar question. It says on the application that TT bikes/aero bars are allowed, I was wondering if I should leave my clipons on, or will I be shunned by the hammerheads? Good luck penguin, maybe I'll meet ya. I'll have a red LOOK jersey on a silver Bianchi, and I'll likely be towards the back of the pack.

my58vw

The consensious here is to take the computer off for racing... I have learned that a computer is just a distraction for you yet I keep my computer on...

I do not care about the speed aspect, I can feel how fast we are going. I like to use average speed after the race as an indication on how hard the race was compared to other times riding the course. But the real reason I keep the computer on is the ride time. I like to know how much time I have left before cards come out to be able to judge how I should spend my energy, when to go for primes, etc.

DO not let the comuter distract you from the race. Races require 100 percent concentration. Glance but do not look at the computer. Who knows when the guy infront of you is going down and taking you with him...

TheKillerPenguin

[QUOTE=canili]Awesome, maybe I will see you there! I'll be in a Windham Mountain Outfitters team jersey, black with orange flames on the bottom. And my bike is a Silver/Gray/White Cannondale. Good luck! I ride with the defending champion down in college, and he's super fast!

pinky

If I think there's a chance of going solo or if there's important unmarked points on the course (bonus sprints, kom's, the finish) I like to have a computer, otherwise there's better things to pay attention to than your speed or distance.

ps looks like they're skipping the bigger hills they included in the Owasco stage race road race. Have fun, I just hope they do a better job organizing.

TheKillerPenguin

doh! Hills are what I'm good at

Hey canili, are you going to be doing "The Great Race" in august? If so, see you there too!

DXchulo

I like to keep it on. I'm so used to riding with HRMs and computers all the time that not having them on would take me out of my comfort zone. Being out of the comfort zone is a bad thing (especially if you're superstitious like me- one race I had a different flavor of Gatorade in my bottle and I was sure it was bad luck).

Besides, they can help save you like skydive was saying, or they can give you a training goal if you're unfortunate enough to get dropped. Instead of just knowing "I have to go faster" you'd be able to set a specific goal like "I need to go ___ mph for ___ minutes." Every race is different and the goals won't be perfect, but they are a nice place to start and a good confidence booster once completed.

Smoothie104

I have it on, but don't really look at it during a race. I have speed in the small digits, and the big digits are used for the elapsed time, since most of our crits are 45 min plus 3 laps or 30min plus 5 laps etc.

Every computer has a stopwatch function I think, but you still hear guys asking "how much time?" when its getting close to the last few laps. If you know the elapsed time exactly, you can start worrying about your position before everyone else starts to.

I use the HR if I am in the break, to make sure I don't stay above my max sustainable for too long, especially if it looked likes we are going to stay away. I don't want to be clearing lactate when I should be thinking about the sprint.

That being said, I went all winter, and spring without any computer or HR what so ever this year, until a week ago or so, when I was testing some carbon rims. I didnt really miss it, as I know the mileage on all our training routes, and avg speed means nothing to me really. I know when I've worked my ass off or not.

Mostly I use the clock, so can I call the wife and tell her what time ill be home.

canili

Absolutely, although our runner bailed, so we may have my buddy's 10 yr old son running for us. We're a beer team all the way in that race. Lots of fun. Last year our "runner" had a bad day. He was second to last in the 5K, and about a dozen 10K guys beat him in! As I'm waiting for him they keep pushing us up towards the finish line, and I look over and it's me and about a 12 yr old kid on a BMX bike. Many laughs were had a his expense for months after.

robintosh

Hi,

When racing it's important to know in what kilometer of the race you are, and so know how many kilometers for the finish/climb/sprint/turn/bad road, etc.... Then you can plan an attack, or to position yourself at the front of the peloton just before the action starts. This is especially useful when you don't have a good (or no) DS that can be saying this information by radio.

With the stopwatch you can make sure you eat and drink what you must, sometimes with the action and everything it's easy to forget about this.

Speed is like cool: "hey we were going 72km/h on that flat!"

Anyway, if you got a great support team most of this info will come by other sources and then it's easy to spare the computer.

Hope this helps for your races, good luck,

Robinson

zakk

the one Crit I've done, i flipped it upside down so I didn't look at it but had the info. I'll do the same with my S720, and get even more info.

OC Roadie

I like to have for the same reasons as others have posted, especially in timed crits so I know how much longer I have to suffer The more info available the better, just don't get obsessed and let it distract you. I find that I barely look at it when racing compared to training, I'm too busy watching the pack and where I'm going.

TheKillerPenguin

Thanks guys, I'm going to leave it on. It's a Road Race, so I can't just count laps and figure out how close to the end I am. Good points about using it to plan attacks, I'll try it out and see what happens.

TheKillerPenguin

Looks like I'm not going. The rest of the team bailed out because of work and sickness, and I have neither a license nor a ride to get there. Bah, I was completely psyched up about it for the past week too.

canili

What a bummer. I wonder a lot about people on this forum, it woulda been neat to actually meet one. Catch ya at the Great Race...

TheKillerPenguin

I tried to drop the hint to my girlfriend that I could use a ride, but she didn't take the bait so there's definatly no way I can go. Any chance you'll be at the Union Vale Road Race on the 17th?