Is a 27 minute 10 a racer like time?
 

The Tour de France usually averages around 24 mph overall for the entire race, so you're getting close. In a race you're gonna need to be able to keep up at least 30 mph in a pack, so I would work toward that.

Even local races can be fast. And when first I got my racing license, I entered my first race, I was shocked that these guys were going above 35 mph for 5-10 miles at a time.

I stayed with them for as long as I could, but eventually got dropped.

People are extremely competitive even at the lowest levels of this sport.

I got the same advice, with the caveat, "You'll find out how competitive you are."

That's really the key, many people have the physical capability to do well in racing, but lack the motivation needed to endure all the suffering and make all the sacrifices needed . . . in to be declared winner of the race.

How important "wining" is to you means everything, because if it's not the #1 thing in your life, it won't happen. "Winning" it turns out, was not a big enough reward for me to justify all the pain and sacrifices. You need to be borderline mentally unstable to crave winning that much, IMO, but some people do crave it that much. Not me, apparently.

You averaged less than 20 mph on flat ground over 27 minutes going all out I assume. Anyone can enter a Cat 5 race. Would you win it? Probably not but you're a new rider and you'll get stronger. The only way to know how you stack up is to do it.

The fastest time trial in the TDF was done by Rohan Dennis in '15. Nine miles, flat technical course with lots of corners, 34.5 mph.

Races are funny. It's like they're made up of people who don't exist anywhere else. You can ride with groups, clubs, etc. and smoke everyone. Then, have your ass handed to you on race day.

I'd reiterate datlas' recommendation - do some club/group rides. Find faster rides. Go from hangin on to working at the front. Short of racing, that's going to be your best indicator.

Prepare to be utterly destroyed. :)

But hey, that's the only way anyone ever gets faster, by competing.

People who don't have other fast riders to compete with never reach the level of those that do.

FWIW....I have a 6.3 mi. TT with 250 ft of elevation that I do once month just to measure my fitness. I am up to 18.4 mph. I'm 72.

Yeah, extreme suffering and humiliation. Just kidding, sort of.

I might could match the 10 miles/22 mph on a good day, but I'm sure not any racer, either.

In addition to the advice above, prior to entering any event where you're concerned about looking stupid, just go out and watch one first. You'll get a pretty good idea of whether they're going faster than you ever will, or whether it's an "I can do that!" situation or what.

They used to have crit races on a section I rode through, and I'd watch them. I've seem 'em do laps at 30 mph on a 1 mile loop. I'm pretty sure I can't do that, although I haven't tried recently. That was a crit with "the local guys" more or less, so minimal spectators.

I was down watching the crit race in downtown Dallas a while back. Maybe a 2 mile loop there. But they have the motorcycle referees there, and if you get too far behind the pack, they'll pull you out of the race. So that tells me I'd just best avoid that one in the first place, or I wouldn't be in it long. On that local race, I might lose, but wouldn't look too stupid. The downtown Dallas one- well yeah, lots of people watching that thing.

I was out riding one time and stumbled across a Cyclocross race. I was riding my Worksman cruiser. They asked, "Hey, wanna go give it a try?" I declined, but the moral is- some events are more welcoming of newbies than others. Had I gone for it, I think I would have gotten a fair bit of support from the other participants. Triathlons are also vary competitive, but noted for being supportive of participants even if they're old, fat, and slow. There are some long-distance/endurance races (6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, etc.) that normally have a very good mix of excellent riders and regular-joes. So you may not stand much chance of winning, but you'll fit right in regardless. (Hint: Those races skew towards people my age (I'm 57) and if you're a teenager, you're likely to be the only one in your age group, which makes you an automatic age group winner. Yeah!) There are regular sanctioned time trials (40k or so) and you'll stand out much less if you're not competitive than you would on a group race.

Speaking of which- see if you can look up the results on some local time trials, and see how your speed fits in there. I did that one time, and as best I could tell, I was bound to beat SOMEBODY, but not likely to do well, either. Maybe I'm faster now, though...

Who cares if you do? If you want to race, you cannot be afraid of getting dropped, finishing last, whatever. There's someone off the back of just about every race at every level of competition (it's happened to literally every racer), and no one laughs at them or shames them. I don't get this fear people have of whether they're "good enough" to race. Just race! That's the only way you're going to know whether you can hang. If you get dropped halfway through lap one, whatever. Keep training and do it again.

Sanctioned racing has an under 23 category , so why wait 3 years?

FWIW, in the Tour de France, last place finisher on the 21st day, in Paris,
is a celebrated position..
the Lanterne Rouge .

This year, that guy was an American ..
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...lanterne-rouge





...

Crit races in socal are roughly 25-30mph ave over the race time, cat5 are 30min races and 3s are 50min. More turns, more braking and yoyo accelerations are needed. Also same as a club ride w/ faster riders. You have to be able to recover, yoyoing from 20mph to 35mph, over and over again and still have something in the tank for a group "sprint"

Keep it up, have fun and join a few different club rides. You'll find something you might like with one or few of them.

Where is "here"? Plenty of riders in my area (myself included) ride around that early each day because of work/life commitments. I'd bet your area has some people who you could meet up with.

Enter a race and find out. Stay away from this forum before you get contaminated. :50:

Thats not that far and you can drive to the start...