AzT, thanks! I thought I was interpreting your numbers the right way. I was! I wish I sucked as bad as you.

teachme, you can be humiliated "all by yourself", too. TT's or triathlons are good places to do that! To me, agreeing with AzT, group riding skills are probably the number one thing you have to learn. Comfort in a group, comfort in a group, and then comfort in a group! Then, go fast...

Thanks AZ! Saved the site to my favorites. Now, on to improving my cycling abilities.

Thanks Sarals! I really appreciate it!

The most important performance metric in racing bicycles is body weight. Some will argue that power trumps weight but I have not found that to be the case except in rare circumstances. This is also true in doing flat TTs. Less body weight means less rolling resistance, lower drag, probably better body position and higher VO2 Max. Being in great physical shape is similar to the anti in the poker game.

Not withstanding that, having good threshold power is the most important power metric. Threshold power floats all boats meaning that if your raise your threshold power, you enable making higher power more achievable. It is similar to making the foundation of a building wider. It enables the architect to also make it taller. This rule applies to most racers except for pure track sprinters where they are only interested in short efforts. However, if you consider yourself a sprinter, you still have to get to the last 200 meters of the race with the lead pack to execute your specialty.

My advice is to start with time trials riding your road bike as configured in the drops and see how you like racing and the culture. If you want to do mass start races, my advice is to enroll is a bike skills clinic that is offered by a qualified instructor. The best place to get that is from your USA cycling district website. Our district offers skills clinics throughout the year. It really makes and difference and IMO a MUST DO. Granted that is a conservative way to enter racing but this is where I play the age card. We are wiser than to enter a sport without the required skill set.

Do a self assessment. Do you consider yourself an excellent bike handler? Do you have great eye hand motor skills? If you consider yourself a great bike handler already, then the skills clinic will really sharpen those skills.

Be very careful about jumping into group rides. We see a lot of racers being crashed out in Fred group rides. I am very selective with whom I ride which does not ensure anything other than the other riders are selected by me. When you enter a mass start race, you assume the risk of the race and still have to watch for bad bike handling.

Racing is mass start races such as crits requires a very high level of skill to corner safely and effectively. The performance metric in most mass start races that new racers struggle with is accelerations. This is hundreds of watts of power for 10 to 15 seconds at a time repeated over and over again. Most noobs can take a few and then they are gassed. This just takes time and practice to develop.

Join a racing club that has other racers of similar age to you. This will be invaluable for learning how to race and what races to do as well as tactics.

Just to add a very current example, I had two separate instances yesterday where my bike handling skills were tested. The first was when the field was starting to crank it up approaching a right hand turn to the first real climb that would split the lead pack. Two blocks before the turn, someone went down in the middle of the pack. It was far enough ahead of me that I could easily avoid it by moving way to the right, almost in the gutter. Then two people decided to stop, right there in the gutter, to check their bikes, probably after having skidded or bumped. I had to create smoke myself to avoid them.

The second time was on a climb, as people were slowing and being passed. I told the guy ahead of me "on your left" as I moved just enough left to pass him. He chose that moment to accelerate and try to pass the person in front of him, moving to his left into me. Either he didn't hear or ignored me. That forced me left, and my front wheel touched the rear wheel of the rider in front and to the left of me. I stayed up, but bounced back right alittle, and my rear wheel brushed the front wheel of the rider behind me. I heard and felt that, and that rider stayed up as well. So one little lack of communication or inattentiveness almost brought down several people.

It's one of the reasons people avoid big 'event' rides.

Reading you Americans discussing a winter training camp in California made me pretty envious, so I have come up with a way of keeping up with the Joneses. (Do you have that expression?)

My new coach is taking a bunch of teenagers to Southern Spain for a week-long training camp towards the end of this month. These kids range from 13 to 16 years old, and a few of them are very promising. Anyway, I have signed up to go with them and give the coach some support in marshalling the training rides and so on. Should be a lot of fun, and will get my own winter training off to a great start.

I have to say, however, that my coach's invitation to me wasn't especially flattering. "We need someone to shepherd the slower riders". LOL

I took the short way into racing. After about 4 or 5 years of riding with groups and cycling clubs I decided to take up racing. Over the winter I did a lot of work on the trainer and in a indoor cycling class. Come spring I was close to being ready for Cat 5 races. The first couple races were eye opening but then I started to be able to hang with most if not all the field. My second year as a Cat 4 saw even more improvement where I became competitive in Cat 4 races and even podiumed in a few races.

As Hermes and AzTR said pack skills are valuable and needed in order to race. Ways to gain pack skills are basically riding in packs at speed while training and in races. I have a group of riding buddies that includes some racers that will get together at a local cemetery and ride cirt intervals. We work on turning corners with others on your side, sprinting out of the corners and taking turns pulling and rotating within the group. Building the strength and endurance is another matter that will take an investment of time. For me it's about 12 - 16 hrs a week most of the year.

Thanks to all for the valuable input. For the time being, I am enjoying just riding and challenging myself to get better. Racing is intriguing to me and may be something I will try to get into.

I have been averaging 8 to 10 hours a week for most of this year and I know for sure that it is not enough. AJ you are a big inspiration. I very much enjoyed your analysis of what it takes, Hermes, and am anxious to hear about your races.

Hi teachme,

That's a common question and there really isn't an answer. AzTR and Hermes and AJ all provided parts of the large realm of how one could answer your question. There are certainly the physical aspects (such as power and endurance) but equally important are skills and your mental approach.

I mentioned two books in a recent post (The Rider and Roadie). I'll mention one more based on lprice1023's comment on hours of training per week: The Time-Crunched Cyclist.

In particular, I will add that racing a bike isn't just about how fast you can ride. Regardless of the discipline (road races, criteriums, track events, cyclocross, or time trials) there is the "zen" aspect of racing that is very important. You have to "feel" the bike and your surroundings in a very holistic way that is very different from recreational riding. Pack skills aren't just learning to ride with others around you. For instance, you have to be able to have that sixth sense about how the pack is moving. I think the narrative in The Rider does a good job of communicating what kind of mental conversations you have during a race.

Another thing that new racers don't hear about enough is the old term 'souplesse.' It is a french word that literally means suppleness. As used in cycling, it refers to how well you've been able to integrate your body with your bike.

I'll stop now before you and everyone else thinks I've gone off the deep end. :D

Hope this helps.

My off-season officially starts today: 4-6 weeks where I only ride for fun, and try not to have too much fun.

One other note on skills. We don't have a track in Arizona, but from what people say, track riding really hones the skills: riding close, smooth stroke, high cadence, and good position...

My coach called me yesterday and implored that I begin my off-season 1 month early beginning this week. Due to the infection in the knee (the antibiotics are working nicely, no pain, heat or any swelling) we are backing off the training. The result is I'm able to do fun rides, long rides and any cyclo cross race or mtb race I'd like and to have fun. Time to make some Xtranormal movie invites for night rides with my buddies.

Plus, my coach suggested that I get a fixie for special Sunday rides beginning in November and continuing throughout the winter when conditions allow. I guess I'm gonna be a tackie in training.;) My LBS is getting a bike setup for me to tryout.

I'm psychic. I foretell an interesting coversation with your wife, that will have to be memorialized Xtranormally...

Thanks for addressing the mental and metaphysical aspects of racing. Many racers don't acknowledge these aspects and while sheer strength and speed can rocket you into good placings, without the Zen of racing you won't last long.

I feel as though this year I finally got my mind right, and that has paid off for me.

To quote another BF member, normal people have no idea how hard one works to be a mediocre bike racer.

Great idea! This one has the potential to play out on several levels.

I didn't mention the mental aspects probably since I'm already wired that way from competing in sports most of my life. I guess my Zen happens when I'm in a race and the emotions of competition become the mission and most everything else is masked out. In some crit races my body is screaming and telling me to "let it go" yet my mind knows "the race is right now!" then, with a lap or 2 to go, there is no pain even though the pace picks up and the plotting for the finish is paramount. My goal was to get back into that place where I was among peers and it's business as usual. Back in the day at the NCAA National Championship Track and Field Meet I missed my first two pole vault attempts in the decathlon at the opening height. On the 2nd attempt I broke a pole-vault pole and needed to shake it all off and make the opening height on my final attempt or else get 0 points in that event and basically loose any chance of placing in the meet. I still can remember standing 88.5 feet away from the pit and concentrating on making the perfect attempt, raising my pole, checking the wind, rocking back, pushing off with my left foot, and.... :thumb:

Thanks for sharing your philosophy on bike racing Cleave. I'm going to be looking for the books. I am a big believer in "the zen". :thumb:

I just ordered the book; "The Time-Crunched Cyclist" Thanks again Cleave!

Another enjoyable, easy-read book is "Dog in a Hat", about the author's experience racing in Belgium. Candid about drugs, riders paying off others in the break for the win, the real grind of constantly racing. His perpsective on racing in the US after he came back is also interesting. The title is a phrase used in Belgium for something familiar that "isn't quite right". Like an American racing in Europe, or something happening in the pack that means someone is about to do something.

Hey AzTallRider come out to San Diego some weekend and I'll help get you a ride on our velodrome. Our racing season just ended, April - end of Sept (every Tuesday night). www,sdvelodrome.com, but the training still goes on............
One of our junior club racers (Jenn Valente) is the 2011 Jr Women's World Track Scratch race Champion and finished 3rd in the Keirin. She just finished 5th in the Elite Natz Match Sprint......bunch of us went up Sat and saw her race!

I'd love to do that, sometime when you have a "rookies on road bikes" session.

Every Sat & Wed morning from 8-12 is "Public Hours", meaning every bike is welcomed, just sign the waiver with the track steward get some instructions and off you go. I might be able to get you on a real track bike (for a Sat session), but the biggest ones used in the adults class is a 61cm Bianchi Pista.

tony2v, Hermes and any one else,

A few questions if you don't mind. I'm in the market to buy a fixe/SS and am looking at bikes like the Raleigh Rush Hour and others in the $600-700 price range. I intend to ride the bike with others during the off season to gain the benefits of fix gear riding. We don't have any velodomes in our area so track racing will not be a factor. Some of the bikes have steel forks and others have CF forks. Would a steel fork be suitable, or should I lean toward a CF fork? I'm also leaning toward the flip/flop hub. Is my budget reasonable for a decent bike?

I know I'm the total novice "racer" here. I never did any athletics, ever, until I started seriously riding about five years ago now. As for competitions, I've only done triathlons, which are a mix of "mass group rides" and "individual time trials". In essence, it's the rider against the clock, because most USAT events are "no draft" (except for pro and elite athlete events). However, in an amateur triathlon, things are not so cut and dried! With a huge group of disparate riders, with wildly varying skill levels, combined with lots of adrenaline, the first few miles of the bike portion of a triathlon can be "exciting", even borderline dangerous. Faster, skilled riders really have to be on their toes - it's like a Fred Ride on steroids. That said, doing triathlons has shown me where I lack, and group rides with SKILLED club riders has, too. Through these two different experiences, I have found that my biggest weakness, second to my strength, is my mental attitude. RR and Cleave are completely on the mark there.

The next thing I need is experience. That comes from participating in an actual event. Training with skilled, experienced riders is wonderful, but it's training. There is nothing like the "real thing" for the needed experience.

Hermes, AzT and AJ speak to the other aspects of racing. Experience, skill, physical strength, endurance, dedication and strategy. These things they understand very well, as they do the mental aspects of the game.

As with anything that one desires at which to excel, bike racing is much more than just getting on a bike and going fast. I was naive and foolish enough only a year ago to think that was all there was to it.

I said before I'm on this thread because the wonderful people I mentioned here are not only experienced, gifted athletes and racers, but they are willing to share their experience and knowledge. I'd say that what they have written here is easily as valuable a resource as any book you could read on the subject. I M H O !!

AJ, whether the fork is steel or carbon doesn't matter except for total weight. I rode a steel Masi Sprint Speciale for two years before getting my current Van Dessel Drag Strip Courage with CF fork and really the only time I could tell the difference was when I had my lighter race wheels on. But being out on the road maybe the compliance of the CF fork will soft the road buzz.
That Raleigh Rush Hour looks like a great fixie and yes get a flip/flop hub. I use a flip/flop hub on my clincher track wheels. It's got a 15/16, 16 for the warm-up burnout, then 15 for business.
Also check out the Felt TK3, lots of beginning trackies this season rode them here.
Good luck in your search. Let me know if need anymore info.