Warmup before race
 

In several days I will participate in my second race this year. Not many road races here, so I am pretty excited.

The race will be 37km long, but it is located 50km away from the place where I live. So, is it a good idea to ride there at low speed for warmup?

What does your race warmup consist of?

One, post in the road racing foru. you'll get more help there.

Two, 50k is a bit long for a warm up, at least for me. If your focus is doiong well in the race I wouldn't ride the 50k. If you're just out for the workout and you tyypically put in long miles, it's probably ok.

For a Road race, I usually warm up about 30 minutes, 15 minutes easy, a couple 2-3 minute efforts at about 8/10ths, and one or two 30 second efforts all out.

For crits and time time trials i usually do a bit more.

If you regularly ride 40-50 km, I would drive. If you regularly ride 100-120 km or more, riding the 50 km won't hurt the legs, or at least I don't think they will. But it certainly won't help that much. Look at the negatives:

1. You'll need to carry a lot of your gear. If you don't, and conditions change, you'll be stuck without whatever - extra base layer, maybe warmer/cooler clothing, etc. I regularly bring a second helmet, extra clothes, etc etc. Even warm days get cool quickly sometimes, and I've started thinking I need a SS jersey and shorts and ended up with a LS jersey and windvest over my SS jersey.
2. What if you flat? If you drive you can bring a floor pump, spare wheels if any, etc. Same with any other mechanicals.
3. What if something happens on the way to the race? It's something like 50x more dangerous to ride a bike than drive a car (saw that somewhere the other day). I know chances are slim, but it's just one more thing to worry about.
4. What if something happens at the race? You crash, bend a wheel or break a dropout. Now what? (I know that you could crash bad enough that you can't drive a car - it just happened to me - but then the last thing you'll worry about is leaving your car in some random parking spot).

I'd drive and get a good warm up. Heck, do 50 km if you feel like it.

FWIW I typically warm up for 5-10 minutes before a crit. Sometimes it backfires, sometimes not. When it's colder, I tend to warm up less (but I stay warm before I change). My warm up in cold weather (at my own races) is usually 50-100 meters - riding to the start line from the van. Part of the reason for my short warm up is that my crits are usually 40-50 km, and my typical training ride doesn't go much further than that.

cdr

I dont like to ride my bike to races because riding home often sucks, and I cant carry spare wheels/bottles/food/etc. on my person as easy as I can in my car.

37km is a short road race. race will last <1 hr. most likely. warm up well. for that length, which is typically a criterium, I like to warm up on a trainer. 0.75 hrs. to 1 hr. and do about 20 to 25 mins. of spinning, 4 or 5 efforts of spinning fast for 1 minute with 2 minutes off, 5 to 10 mins. easy, 5 mins. at threshold, then spin out the legs, and get to the line.

good luck, and yeah, this is a racing ?, post stuff like this in the racing forum.