waterrockets 

33

jsutkeepspining

na his original post screams 41

Dan333SP

Quite right. The guy on my team with an FTP of around 310W is a very strong Collegiate A/Cat 2. So if the OP were to actually be capable of that, then no, he wouldn't get dropped in his first cat 5 race

jsutkeepspining

it doesnmt matter too much what your ftp is. As long as you can last till the end and go fast when you need to (for example i know 3's with a higher ftp, but they don't know how to race a bike, but i also know guys who are at the same level as your friend who race very well). I like having a slightly larger than average ftp, it lets me make a few mistakes without being tired. the real thing i like is m high w/kg at ftp. It lets me recover/chill on most climbs

caloso

I hate guys like you.

jsutkeepspining

what do you mean?

rebel1916

How are your guads? Are they massive, and capable of dialing it up to 400w. If so, drope the hamer, and go race!

caloso

All of us fat guys hate skinny guys who use the climbs to recover.

2manybikes

The good old days!

jsutkeepspining

don;t worry you have the descent. I have to spin 150 rpms down those things, so i don't get any recovery. At the moment im fat, and my e-wang is like rkwaki level small

jsutkeepspining

also just to point it out, good racing is all about recovery all the time. I rarely do much work/exert myself. If there's no reason to do it (i.e. im not in the break, working for a teammate, or at a training race) im sitting in chit chating with people (m favorite past time)

Dan333SP

+10000

jsutkeepspining

don't hate just embrace us for what we are. also im not really skinny, just not fat.

caloso

That really is the best. My last race I had the job of looking after our young kid and getting him to the front on the last lap, but for the first half of the race I had another teammate in the break so it was just a social ride for that part. Just hanging out, chatting, enjoying the spring breezes, and riding my bike.

jsutkeepspining

that's the fun part of racing, especially becuase i rarely see most of the racing community outside of racing. I take most races as a "hey how are you" type of thing, as well as a general jra situation. I do ride hard when i need to, but i like going easy a lot more. Plus being able to go all out at the end fo a race is a heck of a lot more important than showing off ten minutes into a race.

pdedes

My guess, op is creamed or crashes

idc

I did a Cat5 crit last year. Average speed was about 22mph. I stayed on until the second last lap when there was a crash. Someone hit my rear wheel (I stayed upright but lost my nerve and the pack).

The guy who won went off the front on the first lap and averaged a hair over 24mph. He upgraded to Cat 4 quickly, and from having ridden around him occasionally should be at least Cat 3 I reckon.

Toughest things were for me, as expected, accelerations out of turns, and if you're not near the front, the fact you'll end up having to slow down downhill and accelerate uphill.

Homebrew01

This is true for many other things in life too.

hhnngg1

If you can ACTUALLY do 24mph solo for 1 hour, you'll kick ass in most Cat5 crits. I've only done a few of them myself but I train regularly with racers of all levels (cycling is big time in Norcal) and if you can solo 24mph for an hour even on a flat course you should be amongst the very front.

Of course, I and most on this forum seriously doubt you can do 24mph solo for an hour. Feel free to show us all up with a Garmin file, and we'll bow to your FTP. But odds are, I'm guessing, that you won't be able to put up those kinds of numbers - likely not even close. I'd actually already be impressed if you could put up a Garmin file showing a 22mph solo average over an hour, all stops included as a non-racer.

revchuck 

Kid, the way you type, you need to be searching for more keys, too.

BoSoxYacht

Exactly.

I'm calling BS on your 1 hour 40k TT time.

Beaker

Add me to the "average speed is nothing, handling surges is everything" column

sstang13

OP, just go race, you'll never be able to be sure what can/will happen. I've been seeing in the 33 a lot lately to just race, and use them as training rides, so don't worry so much about it. My first and only race in september last year, I failed the roll out after a that TT, than after holding the whole race up 10 minutes, I failed to clip in at the start and got dropped before the line! Talk about embarrasment. Then like 2 out of 6 laps in I was dropped from the group with a teammate, so we decided obviously to try and catch up, after ~2.5-3 laps later, my calfs were pulled, (so were his), and I was dead... and knowing that I most likely had a wayy lower FTP than anyone in the field and a great deal less race experience, we ended up catching up to the field. A few crashes later I ended up finishing 8/16! So even if the worst happens you'll never know what's going to happen. If you can do 24mph like that, all you need to work on is making sure that you know how to ride in a pack, corner, and those little surges off of the corners...especially crucial in crits. Good luck!

Ps. Watch CDR's videos on youtube, they're packed with great stuff!

Wow. +(sideways 8) I hate descents for that reason..

jsutkeepspining

fool relax. i types the wayz i wantz to. Est-ce que tu as un problem avec mon style d'ecriture? (sorry to any native french speaks on the missing accent. I don't own a french keyboard).

sstang: yeah i made the mistake once of following an attack down a slight downhill. Got about 10 seconds of separation from the field, then i realized i was spinning too high of a cadence to produce any real power, and just was sapping my anaerobic reserves.

z3px

I did my first racea few weeks ago. I do a regular weekly group ride and have done several large charity events so I've spent time in a large pack. The result from first time racing? I got dropped not too far into it. Fitness, tactics, and nerves all contributed. Fitness you can work on by yourself. Tactics need to be practiced in a group. Calming the nerves will come from experience, regardless of outcome. I felt the same way at the start of the race as the start of my first group ride - especially since I knew no one. I know that the anxiety will go down with experience. You will never know until you try, and until you try, you'll never know what you need to work to.