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start road racing
I have been commuting for about 2 years now. I commute 18 miles a day. I am 25 and in good shape. I realize that to beging racing I would have to make significant hardware investments. I would like to know how to go about joining a bike team or starting one. Which is easier? Who would I go talk to? Realize that I have no friends interested in bicycle racing. They are all driving SUVs and Pickup trucks till they go broke.
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Starting an official USCF team is very very difficult. I do believe that they require that you put on a race, etc and you have to deal with sponsers, etc. Find out where a local race is being held than talk to people before or after, or better yet search around on the 'net and find info.
You may want to go and try a few races before joining a team though to see if you like it... |
To race does not require you to join a team or be part of a team. You can ride as an unattached rider. I did that for 2 seasons. Good or bad is all the same. I didn't really begin to train seriously and join my local race club until this season. Funny you think to race you need hardware investment. :D You need good training to race. You need to invest more time to train well. Equipments mean little if you get spitted out of the pack because you can't hang with the surge. You just need a working bike with working brakes and working drivetrain. You are all set. Go to www.racelisting.com or www.bikereg.com to check out your local races. To race you need a racing liscence. Most of the races you can apply for a one day liscence.
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Originally Posted by my58vw
Starting an official USCF team is very very difficult. I do believe that they require that you put on a race, etc and you have to deal with sponsers, etc. Find out where a local race is being held than talk to people before or after, or better yet search around on the 'net and find info.
You may want to go and try a few races before joining a team though to see if you like it... "... cycling tradition says you ride for a club - either a sponsored or an unsponsored club. Many riders refer to their sponsored club as a team (or segments of their club as riding on a team). However, at this time, the USCF recognizes your club only, which is why you may receive an "unattached" status on your license, especially if you listed your team designation instead of your club on your license application. Your club administrator(s) may register a sponsor designation for your club (only one such designation can be attached to a club), which would then appear on your license. If they don't choose to provide this information, or because your club has several different teams, each with their own sponsors, you may see "sponsored club" on your license, which indicates your club's registered status. It's up to you to provide your sponsor with appropriate recognition by duly noting your sponsors on your event entry forms. By the way, only riders who belong to clubs can be sponsored; all others are considered unattached riders and are supposed to compete in clothing that doesn't bear any sponsorship identification. If your club isn't sponsored, then you are supposed to use clothing in USCF permitted events that bears only your club name (or unmarked clothing)." All the information you need is at www.usacycling.org; it's straight forward and easy to start a club. -- |
Thanks for all the good info. Are there any local racing clubs in wisconsin anyone?
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I can think of two off the top of my head here in Milwaukee - The Hampshire Cycle Club, and Endeavor. There are others, I'm sure. Try www.wicycling.org. That's a great resource for clubs and races. Or it'll at least give you links to other websites.
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I started "racing" this season. I would imagine that you need to start riding a lot more/longer distances before you try racing. I was riding 100 miles a week for a couple of months, was comfortable in large groups of people going fast (WATCH YOUR LINE!), and was comfortable doing fast 60 mile days, before I felt I was ready. To me, this was represents a bare minimum for how much one should be riding before entering a race. Does anyone want to put in their cents on what a good amount of riding/training is before entering a race?
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It really depends on the type of race, distance is not always the limiting factor. Here in socal where crits dominate the racing scene being able to ride 100 mile days or 300 mile weeks have very little bearing on your performance in a crit. Since I have been training for crits I can ride 45 minutes to an hour hard and that is more important than riding 4 - 5 hour training rides.
Of course that is why we have periodization, the beginning of the season is for good base miles (the 60+ mile rides) and the build and race periods are for fast and hard workouts that may only be 20 miles long... Only an individual rider can tell though if they are ready to race, no amount of training can tell you what to expect out on the race course... now if your race is 35 miles (typical cat 5 road or circuit race) and you can only ride 25 miles straight then you are not going to be ready. Right now I can ride easily 40 miles straight without getting off the bike, but I would get distroyed in the hills... see what I mean? |
My ride to work is about 45 min. So I could be ready to race if I could ride the whole trip hard without resting, right? I think that is what you are trying to tell me, no? When riding long distance does hand, butt, foot fatigue become a factor if you have not tried distance riding before? What is periodization you speak of?
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