race newbie

I'm on the board of a local women's bike club and we had a meeting tonight. I have never raced before but started training very seriously last fall (following Friel's book) and am planning to do crits and road races starting in April.

I was talking to one of the ladies in the club who races about her training and my fear of crashing being a newb in the upcoming Cat4 races and she asked me how much I know about crits. I mentioned I've seen one in person and have taken a turning & cornering clinic, and have watched lots of road racing on tv. I also have become a BF junkie and read a lot of your posts concerning racing. She just looked at me like I was insane for trying this with little to no knowledge, do you agree? In previous posts last fall the advice I got was "just go and do it, you can't learn what you need to know until you do it". Is that about right or am I gonna be dropped like a hot potato or worse yet crash or cause one since I have limited exposure? Thanks in advance for your kind comments.

K.O.M

If you get drop like a hot potato so what..many races to race in..lance didnt win his tour the first time you know.
As for crashing and etc..shouldnt happen if everyone keeps their line and there is no better training than racing....so go out there n have fun

Smoothie104

actully, he didnt even finish the first one

race newbie

I guess the question is can I jump in with little hands on knowledge and still do okay? I have no expecations of being at the front for my first season, I'm just hoping to ride safely (no crashes!) and finish to the best of my ability. Her attitude shook my confidence a bit I guess.

waterrockets 

Yeah, have at it. She's probably just scared you'll tear her up -- or maybe crits scare her?

The women's field won't be that large, so you won't have so many elbows beside you in the corners. Stay near the front to avoid the accordian effect in the corners. Downshift going into the corners so you can more easily sprint out of them. Sprint from the drops, not the hoods. Learn to move around in the draft to cover the crosswinds on all parts of the course to save yourself some extra energy (i.e. remember which sections require you to be on which side to draft, and move to that side just before the corner).

Vinokurtov

You'll be fine, especially if you're already doing group rides. Keep your eyes up the road, be smooth. Everybody gets dropped, hopefully over time the quality of rider dropping you improves. PM Snicklefritz, she can give you more input on women's crits. Good luck!

cyclezen

course you should do it
and there'll be a lot you'll learn in doin each race.
results? the 'physical' aside, a lot will depend on what attitude you bring to it.
one of the best things you can do to prepare for ridin crits is to do fast pace group training rides with experienced racers. Learning and getting comfortable riding in close quarters is essential. If you aren't doing it regularly now, search out these 'rides'/ training sessions and join in.
Don't be afraid to ask questions, of experienced riders, of things you're wondering about. Most of all become very observant of what is going around you. See what the other riders do and 'question' (in your mind and by asking others) why they do/did it. Mostly try to not develop a riveted focus on the rider directly in front of you. Work on looking 3 or 4 riders ahead, or even further as you get comfortable. Learn to 'scan' around you, quickly and frequently, without loosing attention to whats happening in front of you.
Developing this is not only important in itself, but developing that skill will help you 'learn' quicker cause you'll notice more nuance and develop better 'feel' for what actually is happening and what to expect.
For example, if riders are starting to stack wide/wider and there's really no physical obstacles slowing the pace, then expect that riders will cause an acceleration cause the pace is slow. If this is expected then its smart to be in a gear you can easily and quickly accelerate in and then easily drop into the next higher gear. Means you can expect to work a bit to hold the wheel in front of you, but you won't be 'surprised' and possibly allow a gap to develop.
Anyway, nothing like the real thing to learn stuff quickly.
Crashing? Crit racing is not as 'dangerous' as many put it out to be. If you don;t let yourself get spooked, and you feel confident in your basic handling skills (from riding in training groups) and riding a steady wheel, you should be fine.
But do ride those 'hammerfest' training rides, no better learning mechanism. Even asking a few experienced riders to 'mentor' you wouldn't be a bad idea.
BTW - don;t equate those 'team' type tempo rides as the group rides I'm talkin about. Even at a hard pace they are not what I mean. A fast paced ride of 'considerate' riders is not where you'll learn what you really need. I'm talkin about those free-for-all mixed up hammerfest rides where the main focus is to 'bury' everyone else. You may ride home alone a few times, but the time you spend in those groups will hugely accelerate your learning, racing fitness and overall speed.
make sure you have fun doin it

botto 

only one way to really learn to race crits, and it's not from reading bf.net, or watching on tv. it's by doing them.

DrPete 

"Aiyahh... Oh no...."

botto 

DrPete 

"Aiyaah.... Oh No...."
Read: keep your eyes on your line, not the rider/obstacle you want to avoid.

botto 

Aiyaah.... Yes, Correct...

bigdraft

One other note on womens cat 4 crit races that I have seen around here. For the most part you will find a lot of negative racing in the W4s. Generally there are very few attacks, and those that do go off are usually with only one or two women and are easily chased down. I would suggest, like most of the others here, is to go do it. Get your feet wet, sit in, try and stay with the accellerations and identify and avoid the sketchy riders.

good luck

merlinextraligh

If you're comfortable riding in fast group rides, you're ready to give it a go. If you haven't already, find the local fast training ride and do that a few times before your first race.

Another really good thing to do is practice bumping. Get with some friends in a grass field (long pants and long sleeves aren't a bad idea for this ) and purposely practice elbowing and pushing each other. Once you do this a bit, you can get more aggressive, and you'll learn that getting bumped around is not a big deal. Makes it a lot easier to cope with in a race. And its actually kinda fun.

ri_us

I coach a team with lots of newbies and have found that there's a real limit to how much you can teach a newbie about crits. The best I have been able to do is teach them to corner, sprint and then let them hit it. Expect to go real fast and be scared. Also, remember that crashing often looks worse than it is. Not always, often.

San Rensho 

Good advice. Have to be comfortable in a big tight group to race.

If you are comfortable in a group, then the first thing is don't overlap your front wheel with someone elses back wheel, either ride in back of them, or get bar to bar next to them.

Second thing is don't use the brakes. It just slows you down and people in back of you will get really mad. If it slows up in front of you, just go around the people ahead of you in a nice smooth movement. You will get up a few places in the peleton and if everyone is following rule no 1 and not overlapping wheels, you will not interfere with anyone in back of you.

aicabsolut

I'm also a newb and haven't yet tackled my first crit. My team did just hold a meeting for the new racers, and this was the advice we got. ^^ The goal is to get to the line early to get a good start. Then try to hang in the top 1/3 of the field at all costs, because when you hit the turns, those in the back are getting dropped. Crits are not about your strength and speed so much as strategy and being able to anticipate the surges. I don't really see any way to learn how to do that other than going out and racing. Some say that the lower categories are kind of dangerous based on the general handling skills of the riders or because people will overreact to something (braking hard in a corner, locking handlebars and freaking out and braking--sending both riders flying, etc.). Maybe pick your first race where the course is not terribly technical so you can get used to the dynamic without 180degree turns and such to worry about. That's what I'm going to try. Good luck!!

steaktaco

they're right—I was going to say get used to being in the pack in road races first, but in every cat 4 women's crit I've seen, the pack has been small and very, very polite.

do the parkside crits this april(?) in kenosha, it's a series of 3 practice crits but counts as a uscf race. it's flat, has big, easy corners, and everybody's just coming out of their base miles.

come to think of it, there's that crit around the capitol earlier in the season, the great dane crit or something... that should be good too, smooth turns.

and then there's milwaukee area's superweek—almost 14 days straight of races, mostly crits. I did a bunch of them last year and by the end I was no longer freaked out by the cat 5 pack, just dead tired.

if you've been using the bible I think you'll have enough fitness to stay on. if you get dropped it would probably be due to inexperience, and you might just hang in there with the pack a corner away—and then you'll think they're not going THAT fast, I'm keeping the same pace on my own, why didn't I just get in front?

whitemax

How did you attain Cat 4 status? Race Cat 5 to get experience.

steaktaco

don't the honies start at 4?

aicabsolut

Yeah, there is no women's cat 5.

race newbie

Yes, the Great Dane Crit is the first race here in town that I am planning to do. I was told last year the field was 25-30 women.

steaktaco

there's that crit on willy street too, probably where it joins atwood. I don't know though, I think that makes a triangle over there—course might be sketchy.

race newbie

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I have ridden in larger groups so am not too scared about that, my only concern is being trapped if something happens in front of me. I'll try to stay to one side or the other. I consider myself confident and aggressive/competitive versus other women (comes from years of only working with men I think!), so I am hoping that translates well in racing. We have practice crits before the race season starts, I'm just not sure with my schedule if I'll be able to make them. Bombay Bicycle club has some large, fast rides. If their rides start before the first race I'll try and go on a few of them to get my mind focused on the speed and size.

I missed the bumping clinic we had last year, but the reason I'm trying racing in the first place is at the turning clinic several people commented that I seemed to have some natural skills and should go for it. Here's hoping! As a driver I'm one of the ones that looks ahead always to see what is happening and react before I get there, hopefully I will be able to maintain the same kind of focus on the bike to learn what strategies people are using. I've also had a very good racer who leads another team offer to let me listen in prior to the race start on her new riders strategy coaching session and she said its fine if I want to try and hang with that rider in the race to learn the ropes. Lots of people willing to help build womens racing. Again thanks everyone!

race newbie

Wheels on Willy- that's May 20th. Did you used to live in Madison?