Originally Posted by
chrisvu05
Nonsense...yes it would be better to have ridden in a group a couple of times but it isn't required and from my experience most of my buds in the 5s did 100% of their riding solo before hoping in a crit. It's fun, it's fast, it's 20-30 minutes of adrenaline in the 5s....THIS IS WHAT A TRAINING CRIT IS FOR IN CAT 5! Very rarely atleast around here do you find a group ride with 40+ people going at crit speeds and cornerning at crit speeds. You might find a group of 5-10 that are going out for a 3 -4 hour ride but they won't be going as fast and they won't be cornering as often.
i highly doubt someone with no group ride experience is ready for drafting and pacelines and such..
traveling and paying money just to get dropped on the first lap is no fun.
find a group ride first (preferably a race-pace one).
or perhaps norcal is a lot faster in the 5's than everywhere else and my experience is different from anywhere else in the country.