+1000
Scumbag

???? There are tons of teams in Chicago.
XXX, SCW, EMC, Burnham Racing, Bicycle Heaven, Half Acre Cycling, Psimet and those are the ones that popped into my head in 10 sec. flat.
I'd suggest a google search.

Yeah just find the nearest shop and ask someone.

THIS. Any shop handling high end race bikes (don't worry about the brand) will likely have regular shop rides and sponsor a few races/classes/clinics. At the very least, the guys who work there will know where local group rides, races, clinics, etc are. Find a couple of guys who ride just a little faster than you do and hang out with them til you're dropping them, then find faster people to ride with.

FWIW, I'm inclined to think base is still important for crits. When it's 100 degrees, you're on your third crit of the day, and the course is full of hills, turns, and antsy sprinters, you'll be well served by having deep reserves of power to go to.

BB

Blah, blah, blah. Well I can tell you that [MENTION=111344]bostongarden[/MENTION] has been a decent racer in his time, so he actually has some experience to know what he's talking about. What are your credentials, exactly? Because telling a brand new rider with 2 months of experience under his belt "With tons and tons of base miles on a 5-12 hour/wk workload you're not taking on much stress at all and not going to see much gains," is just incredibly ignorant. It's entirely wrong.

"Base miles" doesn't have to mean 20-hour weeks. For a brand new cyclist who wants to start racing, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend focusing primarily on doing as much riding as possible within one's available time and not being overly stressed about doing intervals. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't ride hard whenever they want to, but consistently getting in at least 8 hours a week is going to have rapid and large benefits for a new rider that intervals are unlikely to enhance very much. What you don't seem to understand is that a reasonable level of base training is necessary to support the additional training load of hard intervals. A new rider has basically none of the adaptations that come along with just getting out and riding a lot. Trying to focus on too much intensity could easily sabotage rather than help the progress of a beginner because the fatigue will get in the way of the benefits of just getting out and riding as much as possible.

So I would suggest riding as much as possible over the next few months, and consider starting some interval work a month or two before your first race to get prepared for the surges you'll experience in a race. But there's no need to be doing hard intervals more than six months out.

Not for a bike racer, it's not. For someone with 2 months of riding under their belt, assuming no prior experience in endurance sports, it's pretty excellent, especially if that's riding along easily. A few months of steady riding should see some significant improvement. But always remember that bike races aren't won by power numbers, they're won by getting across the line first. Power helps with that, but it's only one part of the picture.

Truth. I'm just above that and not at all that strong compared to alot of guys I ride with.

Don't worry about the size of the team so much as the quality of people. Results can be trained for, you cannot teach heart and character. Pick people who are genuine, a community that respects you but also helps you grow (it's an unwritten rule that someday you will do the same). I'm going to be real here, choose wisely, heaven forbid anything happen but your life or someone else's may someday depend upon the competency of those around you. Even something as small as a flat tire, make sure someone becomes a buddy.

Ride with various groups and levels before you decide to "join" a club or team.

Ryan Trebon won and Katie Compton won the US National Cyclocross championships on 6 hours a week of training if we are to believe what's in Carmichael's book/article. But that's more a testament to periodization but it does show that you don't have to slog through tons of base miles to be able to peak.

Both of you are so bothered into defending that you're missing the point entirely... We're talking about compressed training schedules targeting criteriums, not those with plenty of time to train. How is someone who's only got 8 hours a week to train going to benefit for their criterium if they need to specifically throw in a few 3-4+ hour Z1 rides a week? Not as much as if they put their efforts elsewhere, it's as simple as that. There's little point to do a 1-2 hour Z1 base ride as a dedicated training ride as it doesn't really benefit from the endurance standpoint as it's not long enough or from a speed standpoint as it's not fast enough. Better to do some sweet spot rides with your time on a limited schedule as not only can they train more often during the week and still fully recover before the next session. Again, just so it's clear, I'm not saying base miles are a bad thing, but just doesn't give much bang for the buck for compressed time schedules. Instead of just attacking the messenger go ahead and try to discredit the studies and other coaches like Coggan who utilize sweetspot (for those who dislike Carmichael) or others that utilize these compressed schedule programs. This isn't just limited to cycling but anything where it's near max exertion for sub 45min. There's just better things to do (NEVER said base miles are going to hurt your performance) with your precious training time. Going long and slow gets you better at going long and slow, for a 30 min criterium you just aren't relying on the aerobic engine to power you through to hour 3+. Again, it's about training stress and the rider level of fatigue and how best to use the time for the event you want to do well in. But grolby seems to be wanting to change the definition of "base miles" to anything on the bike... then sure, there's no problem with that. Virtually no one goes out for fun and rides in Z1 unless riding with people whom require that. But not surprisingly he mentions fatigue... something I explicitly mentioned earlier as to when 'base miles' would be beneficial. You're unlikely to fatigue much doing 2x3.5hr Z1 and 1 hr session of above threshold a week, if you do then a modification of this type of protocol might be the best bet. The point is that if you throw in a lot of the Z1 base miles you have no time for variability. Better to get the variability in first then add on long endurance and not the other way around. But it's no surprise that those who can include both variability + base is going to do the best but that takes a greater availability of hours to train.

edit: Here's a few articles for you from 10 seconds of searching...
https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Articl...TvsCardio.html

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2012/11/fast-and-furious-intensity-is-the-key-to-health-and-fitness/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1995688/

http://www.bicycling.com/training/fitness/race-ready-six-hours-week

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/a...nched-athletes

Chicago Road Racing | The Bike Racing Community

This is the new chicago bike racing website. Under events I would try the Wednesday night Crit training series.
Try that first, see how you like it. Then join a team.
I was riding unattached for a year in the Tuesday night training crit series from the SCW team.

Or... ride around Chicago. If you spot a larger group, ride up to them, ask nicely if you can join the group and strike a conversation about teams and racing and yadda yadda.

Grolby, thank you for the kind words.

MakeItSo, how can anything you say be taken seriously when you don't have an avatar of JLPicard? And, you appear to be the only one focused on opining on compressed training schedules and crits.

My comments are meant for the OP, not you. The OP didn't mention anything about any time crunches; indeed, the OP mentioned riding 15 hours/week most recently and the opportunity to ride 20+ hours during some months; in addition, the OP noted a desire to participate in road races. Even without an interest in engaging road races, base work, which does not strictly mean z1 & z2 all the time, would be valuable.

Heh, no problem. And +1. No mention was made of compressed time schedules. I've been racing and training for a few years now and I wouldn't say that I know much of anything. But I do have some experience and knowledge to draw upon, and that's where my suggestions are coming from.

Furthermore, [MENTION=155893]makeitso5005[/MENTION], even if Katie Compton and Ryan Trebon really did train for Nats on 6-hour schedules, it sure as heck wasn't during their very first season of riding. Both of them have been building up base miles for many years, and training lots of hours during a cyclocross season is actually pretty rare due to the intensity of a schedule with two races every weekend. That is not the situation for the OP! You appear to be much more invested in Being Right than actually reading either what he has said or what I have said. For someone who is brand spanking new to the sport, the training benefits of simply getting as much unstructured time in as possible are so great that anything else is essentially extraneous. And for a newbie, yeah, those hours will be beneficial even in short races. By the time next spring's racing season start rolls around, that training curve will have leveled out and continued improvement will require increasing elements of structure and intensity. But that's still down to the rider's schedule and the events they wish to target.

Considering you didn't know the OP's time available to ride nor given any guidelines before making your blanket reaction statement that base miles are an important part of training it just shows how generic of a comment you initially made. As someone also with a soccer background, I know you can come into the sport with a strong level of fitness. You're just assuming he has no endurance as a first year even though soccer players (of course varying by level) have one of the biggest aerobic engines in any sport. The only indicator we currently have is he can ride 200w for an hour pretty easily. Base miles, if the OP were to google "base miles" on training schedules, would indicate long and very slow so it's all becomes very confusing when people give blanket statements and then grolby changing that definition to any time on the bike. It wasn't until the OP responded to my inquiry did you find out how many hours a week the OP has available and I specifically stated that base miles will be a part of anyone's training schedule with 15+ hours available to train. As far as road racing, it's not in the cards for the first year... I have no idea why you even bring this up. He needs to become comfortable riding in a friendly group ride and then maybe a few short crits, throwing him into 2+ hours of riding in a nervous and aggressive racing pack of 30+ riders just aren't skills someone gets first year! His 20+ hours of training per week will allow plenty of time to work on his aerobic engine for if he chooses to begin that level of competition at some point. In the end, your comments are purely self serving as you didn't find out how many hours he has available to train until after you already responded to my comment. Both of you Bostonians please read what I type instead of just reacting as, again for like the 5th time now, base miles are important to anyone who's got the amount of time the OP has to train to prevent over training. As you're reacting to only my first comment (and even there I stipulate if he's got more than 20+ hours a week base miles will be included!) regarding base miles and continue to try snowballing on something that doesn't exist... I've NEVER stipulated base miles are a waste universally, only that they're not quite as important as some people believe and the science and opinions of ex-pro's agrees especially on restricted schedules. Something we didn't know when I first posted...

OP: Sorry this post has become so watered down. My recommendation in your situation is just to ride and keep yourself interested and motivated by varying up your rides, you have plenty of time to ride/train per week. Ride with friends, ride to explore, ride to push yourself, just keep it varied and interesting for yourself. Find yourself a local group ride using one of the links people have provided or ask your local shop and become comfortable riding in a pack and developing the skills needed to ride skillfully in a pack. Go be a spectator for a few crits, watch how riders prep/warm up, warm down, talk to a few, see how the bunch race. One of the big issues with Cat5 races is that they tend to be crashfests as a lot of ego's come to battle in the first few laps. Once you feel like you'd be comfortable in the crit pack then go ahead and sign up for one, hopefully someone from your group ride or shop will also be racing to show you the ropes, but don't forget the mantra (just because you're 19, I'm making an assumption here) of 'don't race what you can't replace.' As we wouldn't want you to be without a bike because of something completely out of your control. In any regard, congrats on the new bike! The CAAD10 is an incredible frame, so just ride and have fun and don't be afraid to push yourself.

Intervals... 194 watts feels hardly any more difficult than lifting my leg and letting it fall. Harder sustained efforts (5+mins) for me are closer to 500. Intervals are what got me there.

Ryan is back! Crank it up to 500:lol:

Wait, what? I wouldn't think that at a w/kg FTP of just barely over 3.0 you would be mocking the power of others. Your w/kg is identical to the OP and you're making 194w seem like a joke. Grab a calculator and enjoy the irony bud.

Alias530 weight 240lbs = 108.86 kgs, FTP 330w w/kg = 330/108.86 = 3.03
OP weight = 64 kgs, power posted = 194w w/kg = 194/64 = 3.03

p.s. watch for the news that Alias530 has suddenly lost 50lbs.

Sure, for a few minutes. But 194 watts for a full hour is a decent amount of effort for a new-ish rider.

Watch your words lads, he has several Strava records under his belt.

lol the racing wisdom of the 41
There is more to racing than being fast, but being fast helps.

Note: every story of time-crunched success EVER has been about an athlete who has many seasons of base work under their belt, which means they have a deep base of fitness already. Carmichael busts out anecdotes to support his program, but they always involve athletes who have a lot of competition behind them already.

For a beginning rider or racer, that is not the case.

And if he did, I'm gonna call B.S. on being able to produce 500w for 5min.

OP:

Base is important - but I wouldn't worry about it. If you just continue riding you will see improvement over a couple years, all the while gaining "base". Just get comfortable in a pack and start racing already! You'll find that (most) racing is as much about skill and energy conservation as it is being the strongest dude out there.

Also, once you have those miles under your belt, you can be a successful road, track or cyclocross racer on 6-10hrs/week, like many of us in "the 33" who have full time jobs, families, or other commitments.

His book does say that his programs are for people with at least a few years of racing experience.

Another thing "base" will do for you as a non road racer (~1hr or shorter races) is make your body able to handle more of the high intensity work. I try to keep it above 10hrs/week over the winters, and my CTL gets high enough such that I can sustain 6-8hrs/week with a very high proportion of intensity, including multiple interval sessions per week.

It's enough to keep this average joe highly competitive at the cat 3 level on road and track. I'm working on that 2, and I know I'll get there, I just haven't put it together yet.

Nothing more than a tedious effort to save face. You were wrong and you don't know what you're talking about. Deal with it.