10 things
 

Assuming an individual is just starting to knock down his 10 cat 5 races, what are the 10 most important things, goal, or objectives he should try and accomplish at some point during those 10 races.

Here are my 10:
1. finish in the pack*
2. get in a breakaway
3. win a prime lap
4. deal with a flat or mechanical
5. hold your line through the corners
6. start in the front of the pack*
7. start in the back of the pack
8. crash (preferably a solo crash with no damage to you or your bike)*
9. give a leadout to a friend or stranger
10. Suffer

* are the ones I've already managed to do two races into my cat5 career.

I like having a goal for each race and would like to here what people think are goals that will help me out in the long run.

You forgot an important one...have fun. Probably the most important goal.

I've got 9 races left as a 5. Dipped my toe in once this year. Here are my goals for each of the next 9 races...

1. Finsh with the pack
2. Finsh with the pack
3. Finsh with the pack
4. Finsh with the pack
5. Finsh with the pack
6. Finsh with the pack
7. Finsh with the pack
8. Finsh with the pack
9. Finsh with the pack

I started with such terrible fitness that these would be considered victories for me.

Crashing should not be a goal or objective that you should have any desire to attain.

+1

Getting in break-away is easy. Making them stick? There's the hard part.

Not a goal of mine. Maybe to do it well...?

Depending on the course, this could be a death-knell. Don't make it a goal.

DNS<DNF<DFL<Not DFL.

The rest is icing on the cake.

Ya, how about we change that to 'Avoid a crash right in front of me.' or something. Hell, you don't have to race to crash, you can do that in your driveway and you don't even have to pay an entry fee.

you did miss another important one....
crush souls.

Crashing is not a goal anyone should have.

Holding your line is something you should be able to do before you start racing.

Yeah, skip the crashing.

Well, he did mention to hold your line while going through a corner. This is particularly difficult for me. No matter how much training I do, when the race starts I am almost always a bit off in the corners. Many factors due to that: faster pace, riders inches from you, yo-yoing due to braking ahead, etc.

Oh, and I plan to never practice crashing. I also hope that my wrenching on my bike will help keep me from ever having a mechanical. Probably dreaming there, but I imagine that could happen - given proper maintenance and due replacement of parts. Dealing with flats is different though and I'm pretty darn good at that.

Instead of crash, I'd say, "bump." If you can deal with a little bit of body or bike contact without freaking out, that's a good start.

Instead of "get in a breakaway," I'd phrase it as, "attack." Learn how to jump free and then push yourself. Another one could be "bridge to a breakaway."

First race last year. Dropped.

Came back and won it this year.

Have faith. Train lots.

Learn to and become a good sprinter. Assuming you can stay with the pack, your placings will be largely dependant on if you can sprint from 500m or less. Even in a break you'll need to sprint.

You only need 5 things:
1. Click-in
2. Pedal
3. Shift
4. Turn
5. Repeat at next race

Don't crash.

Learn to hold your line and be predictable.

If you can do those things you can count your time in the 5s as success.

If you can also learn something about reading a race, and experiment with different tactics, that'd be a bonus. Notice that "finish with the pack" is not in my list. I think that it's more useful to try different things and learn than it is to cruise around a crit course in the middle of the pack. Try something and see what happens. If you get dropped (and pulled in a crit), no big deal. You got your start.

If you post ^THAT^ in one more thread, I'm gonna start some drama.

No. It's BikeForums.net poetic justice. I'm going to post that at least once a month for the next year. Just be glad I don't talk about the 3 other ones.

Move through the field from back to front.
Fill holes.
Be in the top 10 riders with 2 laps to go...stay there until the sprint.
When to go around riders.
Be at the start line early to get a good position...accelerate quickly enough to stay towards the front but not on the front...stay at the front, top 15, for the entire race.