kensuf

True that. That's why I roll them for training, but switch to pro2's for racing.

waterrockets 

FWIW, I've been racing on training tires for years <shrug>

Hocam

Is it worth the risk of a 4/5 crit in the rain? Especially when there were 4 crashes on the same course when it was dry.

Or do the sketchy riders tend to not come out?

grolby

Yes, it will slow down, hopefully people will be more cautious.

Also, I need a ride.

92degrees

Guys crashed while soft-pedaling on the cool-down lap last week. How much slower does it have to get for sketchy people to be unsketchy?

audioslavery

I just registered for my first race, I said that I needed a One Day pass to race but didn't pay for it, do I buy it at the registration table?

Any insight on this?

djbowen1

You will pay for it when get to the registration table, usually 10$ or so....

audioslavery

Appreciate it, calm my nerves to some degree here hehe.

otismedina

When I'm racing/drafting, where do I look? At the tire of the person in front of me? At his front wheel? Ahead, somewhere in the pack? Thanks for your help.

umd

sketchyness is inversely proportional with speed. Slowing down makes it worse.

esammuli

Always keep your head up. You should be looking at what the person in front of you is doing and what's going on a few riders ahead of you so you can anticipate any deceleration/ accelerations and change speeds smoothly. You can tell a lot about what the person in front of you is going to do by watching their back and shoulders. You shouldn't be looking at the wheel of the person in front of you, except maybe an occasional glance.

umd

^^^ yes, look where you are going, not where you are. The wheel in front of you is where you are. You should always be cognizant of where you are relative to the person in front of you but you do not have to stare at their wheel to do so.

otismedina

Thanks guys.

bdcheung

I would add that you should never focus on any one thing during a race. The best tip I got from one of our winningest riders was to keep looking around. Head on a swivel means you know what is happening in the race, and where you are on the course.

botto 

i started out riding on the streets of manhattan, which was the perfect preparation for racing in a pack.

botto 

was just reading this post, which leads to the following advice.

After your race 101 (the bike racer/french/cowboy shower).

Once your race is over, and you have finished your cool down, it's time to get out of your cycling clothes.

If you've traveled to your race, and plan on sticking around, and have no access to showers, make sure to bring:

1. a small towel.

2. a bottle of water.

3. a bottle of eau de cologne.

pour some water on the towel, and wash your face/neck.

pour some water, and a little of the eau de cologne on the towel, and wipe your armpits, legs, and lastly, but most importantly: your crotch. make sure to have a fresh dose of the eau de cologne for that.

put on clean clothes.

the end.

urbanknight

Thinking back to my teen racing years, I had no sense of hygeine when it came to cycling. I would wear my bibs/skinsuit after the race and the whole drive home. I actually thought I looked cool with my skinsuit top hanging around my jeans as I lounged around MacDonalds/Taco Bell/etc. after the race. I thought it was ok to wear shorts and jerseys 2 or 3 times before washing them, and never washed gloves. Some of my shorts were hand-me-downs from strangers (yeah I washed them first, but wow, what was I thinking?).

carpediemracing 

As mentioned above, you look in front. You can do this two ways:
1. Look through their legs, sort of above the rear brake. This is if you're shorter than the rider in front (my case most of the time). I look past the rear brake, so the rear brake is not in focus.
2. For those tall folks, you can look over the rider's shoulders. I've rarely been able to do this.
Finally, as an alternative, you can ride slightly to the side and just look in front of you and the rider you're slightly behind. Choose the protected non-wind side if you do this.

Practice this technique while driving. Look ahead around corners etc. If it were legal I'd say put a 6" high strip of limo tint on the bottom of the windshield so you can't look down too easily. Get used to seeing obstacles or conditions, mentally filing them, and avoiding or driving through them appropriately without having to look at them.

Folks stop paying attention when cooling down. But it can be a delta in speed that makes a difference too. If everyone is going 25 mph, it's safe. Ditto 15 mph. But if some folks are going 10 mph, and there's one or two folks that are still going 25, not safe. I'm not saying that's what happened, but I've seen some really bad crashes on the cool down laps (one rider goes straight at a turn, everyone else is turning, and lots of folks crash; rider makes a u-turn on the course; someone is still maintaining some decent speed but was off the back, and someone else slows/turns/etc in front of them).

Grumpy McTrumpy

If I get behind a big guy I can see way in front of him by looking through his legs. When I am in the drops and he is on the hoods this is especially the case. I spend a lot of time in the drops.

I use a lot of hand signals and looking behind me on the cooldown laps.

wanders

For no particular reason, I found myself looking at this thread. Some good advice and things to consider also.

Racing in the rain

Kai Winters

Here's my "apres race" activities.
Stuff: one gallon jug of water,shampoo, large beach towel, face cloth,2 bath towels, flip flops.
Back at the car I would get this stuff out and ready. Standing on one of the bath towels folded in half to make a sort of mat, take off jersey and socks, wrap beach towel around waist, pull off bibs, pour half the gallon of water over me, use wet face cloth and shampoo to scrub everywhere as needed, pour remaining water over me to rinse, use bath towel to dry off, pull on underwear...if you wearz em...and shorts, pull off beach towel, finish drying off, finish dressing. Easy peasy way to get clean and dry no matter where you are. Often we...guys and gals...are doing this in a parking lot or some sort or on the side of the road...nothing shows and you are clean and comfortable for what is usually a fairly long drive home.

Racing/training tires/wheels: Why racing and training wheels.
When I started racing back in the early 80's clinchers were really not used at all for either racing or training. There really weren't any decent tires or wheels for clinchers to be used for racing/training. We used sewups. Racing sewups were and still are costly...back then paying around $50 and up for a good quality racing sewup was normal...still so today. There was no way you were going to risk getting a puncture on a costly racing tire during training. Wheels were and still are costly but back then wheels were no where near as strong as they are today. Most if not all racers had at least 2 sets of wheels...race day wheels and your daily training wheels. Your training wheels were as bomb proof as you could get...36 spokes usually of single gauge spokes, usually 3 cross spoke pattern, sometimes the "crossings" were wire tied and soldered...I never went this far as I was small...still am lol...and very light, around 130lbs...not so much today LOL. We also used old sewups that had punctured and had patched...yep some of us, me included, would cut away the seem to patch the puncture then resew the tire. Or we used more bomb proof sewups that were also heavy, had a poor road feel and rode kind of heavy too...I seem to remember Gommitalia Swallows for around $10 per.

Today it is not much different. Good racing wheels/tires can be and are very costly. Why risk damaging them on a training ride, especially if you are subjected to crappy roads. It is cheaper in the long run to have a pair of racing and training wheels...and the training wheels go into the pit or follow vehicle if needed.
I raced on Vittoria Corsa and/or Conti Sprinters sewups. I preferred the feel of the Vittorias and still do today. My rims were light weight Mavic's in either 32 or 28f/32r with a 2 cross pattern using DT Swiss spokes that were double butted. This made for a very light wheel that rode very well.

While I do miss the ride and road feel of a new pair of Vittoria sewups no way do I miss the work of owning them. My current wheels are Mavic Ksyrium Elites 28 spokes. They are probably 8 years old, have never needed truing nor bearing rebuilding. I ride Vittoria Corsa clinchers and love their feel and ride...they last much longer than a sewup would lol. I remember drooling over a pair of silk, rather than cotton, Vittoria sewups back then but they were over $75 each...no way I would pay that for a tire.
I also remember how the first true racing/training clinchers and tires road, felt, lasted, etc. and am very grateful for the r+d that has gone on in the following years to give us what we have today.

ridethecliche

Or you can keep some wet wipes and a towel and just use those.

2005trek1200

OK i have read alot, alot and still believe that some plain answers are needed...

1.) Will my bike hold me back in races due to the gearing, weight, etc.

I have a 2005 Trek 1200; great components, but specifically i am wondering about the gearing. it is stock with a triple (30/42/52) and a 9-speed (12 - 26 cogs).

2.) is my current winter training acceptable?

I just started riding a little over 4.5 months ago. I am rather fit. Endurance wise i can ride 70-100 miles at Tempo (17.5-18mph) any day of the week. i entered 1 cat 5 TT and 1 cat 5circuit race at the end of last year. didnt come in last in the TT, but close to it(stock bike, not even aero bars though). and in the circuit race i got dropped after a failed sprint to the front of the pack on a very windy day mid way through the race. (Many guys told me that it was really a cat 4 race given that 95% of the riders had already gained more than 15 races and were just waiting till the end of the season to upgrage.)

so i started interval training two weeks ago. I do 10 miles of sprint intervals (as outlined in Lance;s performance progm book) and ride an 8 mile TT 4-5 days a week and ride at least a 50 miler once a week to keep endurnace up. i am also looking to add different intervals (ascending, and vo2 training) throughout the winter. since starting my average speed on rides is sloping higher 18.5-19.75mph. fastest ever average only 21.5.

is this adequate to build up my fitness into next season adn race COMPETITIVELY within the cat4 (after my intial 10-15 early season cat 5 races)? or should i be training different? or harder?

***quick note, 120 lbs, 23 yrs old, 8% body fat

umd

If you've read a lot, then it should be clear. The small differences between the bikes only matter when the differences between the riders are small. At the beginning level, the differences between the riders are much greater. You can do the math.

2005trek1200

ie ride harder than the rest of the cat x's and it doesnt matter if youre tires are squared shaped. figured that.

for what its worth my next ride will most likely have a 52/39/30 with a 10-speed 12-27, feel that will prolly be the best compromise between races and hillclimbing