First race in two weeks

[rilz]

Ok so I just joined the cycling team at my school on a whim, I have never raced before, and my first race is in two weeks. I am not that accustomed to group rides. I can keep up with the team in terms of speed inside a pack, but besides physical ability I am mostly nervous about actually racing.

Any suggestions to not crash? I know it can be unavoidable, but if there are any tendencies to reduce the risk of crashing I would like to know. A broken bone would make going to school pretty dang hard.

[kramnnim]

Breakaway? :hello:

[Louis]

Is it a crit or a road race?

If it's a crit check out the "tailgunning" thread we had a while back.

[AnthonyC]

Two main things: First, get comfortable riding in a pack at speed. Second, stay near the front.

The best way to get comfortable riding in a pack at speed is to practice riding in a pack at speed. It's best to do this in a non-race situation prior to racing. See if you can do this with your team. As you're in LA, you might also check out one of the large group rides in the area. As you get more comfortable with this, you'll learn how to take a pull and rotate through; how not to overreact to changes in pace or position; how to deal with contact; and how to avoid common causes of crashing e.g. overlapping wheels. It's best to learn all of this before you start racing, for your own sake and for that of your fellow racers.

Staying near the front minimizes your chances of getting caught up in a crash. Easier said than done, of course!

Beyond that: although you can minimize your chances of it happening often, crashing is pretty much inevitable in bike racing. Don't race if you're not comfortable with that possibility.

[shovelhd]

Stay off the front. There's no need to be up there unless your team tells you to be up there. Hold your line. It may not be the best line but make it work. Don't make sudden or abrupt moves for any reason other than to avoid disaster. Don't weave around manhole covers or other road obstacles. Every move you make has a possible reactive move by others. That's how crashes start. So don't be that guy. Don't overlap wheels until you are skilled enough to handle it. It's part of racing, but it's not for novices. If another rider contacts you, don't freak out. It's part of racing. If you feel yourself losing stability, lean towards the contact until you are stable enough to break the contact. Finally, race speeds are often much higher than even fast training rides. Practice riding and staying in the draft. Don't worry about placing. Learn, learn, learn. Good luck and have fun.

[thwart]

It's short notice, but if you have a chance, learn to ride rollers. They'll make you much more comfortable holding a line.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Stay off the front. There's no need to be up there unless your team tells you to be up there. Hold your line. It may not be the best line but make it work. Don't make sudden or abrupt moves for any reason other than to avoid disaster. Don't weave around manhole covers or other road obstacles. Every move you make has a possible reactive move by others. That's how crashes start. So don't be that guy. Don't overlap wheels until you are skilled enough to handle it. It's part of racing, but it's not for novices. If another rider contacts you, don't freak out. It's part of racing. If you feel yourself losing stability, lean towards the contact until you are stable enough to break the contact. Finally, race speeds are often much higher than even fast training rides. Practice riding and staying in the draft. Don't worry about placing. Learn, learn, learn. Good luck and have fun.


This. When I made the switch from Tri (riding fast) to road racing (riding faster and in a pack) I quickly discovered that the front was NOT the place to be. Use the first few races to learn, not podium, so set your goals accordingly. Once you are a confident and safe pack rider, THEN go to the front. Until then work on the skills described above, which is easier to do if you aren't spending the whole time defending your place in the top 15.


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[BSUdude]

Don't look for a result in your first race, use it as a learning experience. Get comfortable riding in a pack. Be aware of sketchy riders. Don't freak out. Get used to how things naturally bunch up and stretch out based on course conditions. Make sure your bike is tuned up so you don't drop chains have some other preventable mechanical issue.

Fitness wise its not hard to survive a collegiate Ds race. 50-75% of the field is in exactly the same position as you are, and this is their first race. Try to stay in the front third, or at least away from dangling off the back, as there will be a lot of sketchy stuff going on and a lot of accordion affect going on. If there are any climbs that take more than 30-45 seconds people will be getting shelled and gaps opening a lot in that level of race. Be aware that this will happen and plan accordingly.

Most importantly, if things don't go your way the first time, learn from it and get after it the next race!

[Tandem Rider]

Listen to Shovel,

Try to stay in the pack, anywhere in the pack except the front, no matter how fast they go. Don't let them beat you mentally. There will be points in the race where you will think "there is no way I can go this hard for the rest of the race", don't worry, the other racers can't either and it will slow down, so stick it out. Finishing in the pack your first race is a great goal.

In order to finish first, first you have to finish.

[Tommasini53]

Two main things: First, get comfortable riding in a pack at speed. Second, stay near the front.

The best way to get comfortable riding in a pack at speed is to practice riding in a pack at speed. It's best to do this in a non-race situation prior to racing. See if you can do this with your team. As you're in LA, you might also check out one of the large group rides in the area. As you get more comfortable with this, you'll how to take a pull and rotate through; how not to overreact to changes in pace or position; how to deal with contact; and how to avoid common causes of crashing e.g. overlapping wheels. It's best to learn all of this before you start racing, for your own sake and for that of your fellow racers.

Staying near the front minimizes your chances of getting caught up in a crash. Easier said than done, of course!

Beyond that: although you can minimize your chances of it happening often, crashing is pretty much inevitable in bike racing. Don't race if you're not comfortable with that possibility.

++1 on AnthonyC's advice!
get out on those group rides as much as you can...particularly with your experienced teammates.

Don't hesitate to discuss this issue with the experienced racers in your area team mate or not. the "good guys" like to see the sport grow and they help the new ones along. you'll discover a few of them in your area, learn from them and pass it along in the future.

in racing, experience matters and there is no better experience than local races. race every local race you can.

oh yeah, and don't use the term "tail-gunning". enjoy the new experiences.

[atrexler]

Until you feel more comfortable riding inside the pack, try to stay on the outside of the group and keep open space on one side of you. You'll still get some draft, but you always have some escape options (because there's empty space to one side of you), so that can be really helpful. Get comfortable riding there, and then you can slowly start riding more and more inside the larger group, with riders on both sides.

In general you'll want to try to stay in the front third of the pack to avoid the accordion effect in the back everytime there's a turn or slight incline. That accordion effect is responsible for alot of crashes in Ds because people aren't expecting to have to slow down so much when they see the front of the pack railing the corner, so if you can stay out of that mess you've already avoided alot of potential wrecks.

Aside from that stuff, just remember to ride within your limits. The biggest cause of crashing yourself is probably hitting corners with too much speed (especially in a crit).

As other folks here have said, take these first races as learning experiences and don't worry too much about railing those corners or being super duper fast. If you're riding a crit, ABSOLUTELY pre-ride the course, and start by doing it slowly and seeing how the corners feel. Then you can dial up the speed and get a feel for whats comfortable to you.

Collegiate cycling is a blast. Have fun!

[Black Dog]

I am going to say it. If you are not comfortable riding in a group you should not be in a race. You are a risk to yourself and those around you. Take some more time and build the skills and confidence that will keep you safe. If you crash out of your first race you will not want to race again, and that would be too bad. Racing is a lot of fun and very exciting, but also can be very dangerous. People who are stable below race intensity often become unpredictable when they redline. Those that are not in possession of pack and handling skills become outright dangerous at or near redline. Racing will involve being at your redline. I am not trying to sound harsh or discouraging at all, that is not my intent. I am speaking from a position of nearly 30 years of racing and riding.

If you are going to press ahead then take shovels good advice and be safe.

[carpediemracing]

For a few years I insisted that Cat 5s (new racers) take a clinic. I was an instructor as was shovel (and three other very experienced racers, and in 2014 a local coach and his staff did the instruction).

The clinic info is here; it's about as brief as I could make it and still mean something:
http://bethelspringseries.com/clinic/2013-clinic-info

Ultimately what made the biggest difference, I think, is the bumping drills. You can do a LOT of bumping drill practice in two weeks. I first did clinics in school and we met 2-3x a week, did bumping and wheel touching drills for about 15-30 minutes (more initially, less later), and within a couple weeks everyone was pretty comfortable riding close to one another.

You can do bumping drills on pavement (commuter lot at school?), 10-15 mph, contact points would include anything above the elbow (no hand, wrist, forearm, nor bars/levers), so shoulder, tricep, etc. Get so you can lean into the other person.

When I first "taught" clinics I had maybe a total of 20 min of bumping drills over the prior 5 years. I learned more in the first day of drills than the prior 5 years of riding in a group.

If you're in a warmer area then you can do wheel touching drills. These are more advanced and you're assured to fall over. Find a grass area that you can fall on (no glass, dog poop, or angry property owners, so a park, a grassy area at school, etc).

First touch your front wheel to another rider's rear wheel (while going in the same direction). You'll fall over pretty much immediately. What you want to do is to hold your bars pretty firmly and ride through the wheel in front of you. Typically in a group you get into such situations when someone cuts you off, in a corner or even on a straight. If you're not prepared for this impact you'll hit the deck. If you are then you have a very good chance of staying upright.

After you practice doing this (at 5-10 mph, lowest/easiest gear) you can do a "full contact crit". If you have just one training partner then that's fine, you should lean into each other, practice touching wheels, etc. If you have more than one then that's better. Ideally you want to have riders pushing you from both sides as well as front wheel contact. If you have 6-8 riders then one or two can be in the middle and you can sort of rotate out of the squash spot in the middle/back of the mass. You want to maintain full contact with at least one rider at all times.

For a "full contact crit" route just toss a bunch of bottles down in a big circle, maybe 30 feet wide?, and slalom through the bottles. This forces right and left side contact. Do this at just above walking pace as initially riders will be falling or at least hopping off the bike.

Although it may be more comforting starting with sneakers you'll find clipless pedals/shoes to be super useful when you get better, especially with the front wheel touching drills.

I think in two weeks, if you do drills daily, you'll be better prepared than most other new racers.

Since these drills take no real energy you would do your training as normal. For the next two weeks get at least one teammate to ride with you and practice drafting one another. Try to get as close as possible. To get closer initially you can "offset draft" which is what I call it when you're off to one side. Sit maybe 6-12" to the side of the rider in front. This should let you get 1-2 feet closer fore-aft. Then dip back toward the rider so now you're closer and behind. Then move back to the offset path to mentally ease a bit. Keep doing this (while the front rider focuses on holding a straight line, which is a good drill in itself).

Seriously in two weeks, with one dedicated teammate (maybe another new racer like yourself, although ideally it would be a more experienced one), you'll be more than ready for the group aspect of things. Ask a more experienced racer - you never know, and a truly good racer won't pass up the chance to do some drills. I know I wouldn't.

The racing part, that's different, but the first thing to do is to be a capable field rider.

If you have any questions ask. Although I may be the most verbose here (haha) there are some extremely experienced racers here, much stronger than me, much more experience in road races and other types of events (I've done only crits since about 1997), and I think all of us are willing to share pertinent thoughts.

[shovelhd]

One more thing. Scared riders use their brakes a lot. This also causes crashes. It's better to coast up alongside another rider in the field than constantly see sawing back and forth by over using your brakes. If you must use them, go easy. Feather them. You may get closer to the rider in front of you than your comfort zone allows, but that's how you shrink it over time.

Oh yeah, watch as many of CDR's videos as you can. If there is a new rider clinic or a coach on your team, take full advantage of these resources.

Good luck. Stay upright. Have fun. It's an incredibly addicting sport.

[carpediemracing]

One more thing. Scared riders use their brakes a lot. This also causes crashes. It's better to coast up alongside another rider in the field than constantly see sawing back and forth by over using your brakes. If you must use them, go easy. Feather them. You may get closer to the rider in front of you than your comfort zone allows, but that's how you shrink it over time.

Oh yeah, watch as many of CDR's videos as you can. If there is a new rider clinic or a coach on your team, take full advantage of these resources.

Good luck. Stay upright. Have fun. It's an incredibly addicting sport.

My vids here (https://www.youtube.com/user/SprinterDellaCasa). Focus on those March 2010 and later. Feb 2010 and earlier are non-HD and done with Windows Movie Maker which made it really hard for me to put in comments etc.

March 2010 and on were done on a Mac using iMovie and have more comments etc. Also I was less concerned with keeping hidden agendas hidden, I was more open. In some of the early clips I raced for friends on other teams and preferred not to say so.

[rilz]

I am hearing mixed opinions on where to stay in the pack. I am aware of the accordion effect which would mean the front is the best, but others are saying that I should stay off the front. Anyone want to weigh in with a counterargument to either position?

I am not uncomfortable riding in groups but I haven't done anything bigger than 12 or so. I am going to check out the pier ride in LA this tuesday I think.

I have the opportunity to ride both road races and crits, but I was thinking with starting with road races and then trying crits later. Any opinion on this?

I have some experienced teammates, but most of the team members are freshman. That being said, we have a very experienced coach that has led us through a lot of the race tactics and strategy.

[carpediemracing]

There isn't a best place necessarily, especially in a Cat 5 race. It's true that if you're near the front you have a numerically lower chance of being involved or held up by a crash. If you're sitting 5th wheel in a 50 rider field then 45 riders can't affect you. However it's also possible that the 4 riders in front of you are there because they're petrified of being in the field.

If you look at it from the societal point of view, if you're sitting 5th wheel then you might affect 45 riders if you make a mistake. If you're sitting at the back then you can't harm anyone.

Only in the most technical crits would I recommend everyone to try and stay up front. I'm talking a turn every 200 meters or so, like a 7 turn in a mile course including a one lane descent into an acute left turn to the finish or, the most technical crit I ever did, 6 turns in half a mile on roads about two lanes wide. In the latter race I wrecked once although I managed not to fall; the overall race leader of the 8 race series fell a number of times, including directly under my front wheel, and ended up 3rd overall; it was pouring rain the whole time, and I never really dropped out of the top 20 out of 125 racers.

Most crits have a lazy sort of course and you have plenty of time to move up, plenty of room to move around if someone falls, etc.

I will say that my new-to-racing teammates, without any real guidance except "stay at the front to stay away from crashes", did pretty poorly in the local Tues Night races. I didn't make a clip of a bad race but it was bad. The races are timed, 40 or 45 minutes + 5 laps. When the lap cards came out my teammates disappeared from the front - they were exhausted from trying to stay near the front.

After a couple weeks like this a few of my teammates asked me for some advice. I took their questions, a couple things I wanted to point out, and wrote a series of blog posts for them.

The first post where I list the questions etc (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2014/05/racing-approaching-training-race.html).

Not getting lapped 4 times. (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2014/05/tactics-get-lapped-less-than-4-times.html)

How to read the wind. (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2014/05/tactics-out-of-position-regarding-wind.html)

Cornering. (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2014/05/tactics-cornering.html)
(Note: I think I was a bit conservative here - everyone started cornering sort of hugging the outside curb. The first 5 or so riders should corner close to the ideal line, adjusting for an early or late apex, and everyone else should adjust to whatever line the first 5 do.)

Peak speeds, i.e. the fast stuff. (http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.com/2014/05/tactics-struggling-with-peak-speeds.html)

So what happened after those posts? A few of my teammates, the ones pretty focused on racing ended up doing pretty well.

Heavy D's race (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9n4DvYG7Pg). Heavy D was a 4, he upgraded after this race.

Aaron's race (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaXskjgLy8o). Aaron is still a 4, he's only raced I think 3 real races as a 4, maybe 3. He won a Cat 4-5 series in the spring as a Cat 5. I mistakenly thought he upgraded to a 3.

Heavy D returns the favor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGrceE6nZn8). In this race it started to rain a touch and since rain cancels the race I stayed near the front. If it rains too much they just ring the bell and the race ends the next lap, and I once won the A race here simply by being at the front when they rang the bell.

Note: I look down to look back, and I do this pretty often. If I move over after my head doesn't move it doesn't mean I didn't check - it usually means I checked by glancing down to make sure I was clear to move over. The helmet cam is much better at catching where a rider is looking but it still doesn't capture eye movement.

Are the guys always at the front? No. Always at the back? No. Are the field sizes typical of a Cat 5 race? Probably, at 40-ish riders. These races were Cat 3-4-5 races, with the later races finishing with mainly Cat 3s and 4s, with some of the more active racers former Cat 2s (technically I was a 2 for a year but the reality is that I ought to be a Cat 3).

In the last race (Heavy D returns the favor) there's a guy with a Bike Depot kit on. It was his first crit ever, and he did well all considering. He'd done a road race or three but I don't know his history, but a teammate and fellow forum member elsewhere commented on his teammate's first race.

[carpediemracing]

One more thing. If you make it to the last lap of the race then you do want to be closer to the front than not. You can realistically go from 200-250 meters out, or 20 revolutions in a reasonable sprinting gear. You can ride backwards on the course in said gear before the race, count about 20 revs, pick a landmark, and wait for said landmark before you go. It is a bit early but it's better to be early than to be way too late, especially if you don't know if you can jump or not.

Not many racers can jump well so if you go early and the riders around you are about equal then you'll finish in a similar order.

I was told to go for the following when starting racing:
1. Try to finish.
2. If I can finish then go for a prime. Not applicable to Cat 5s since they're not allowed to win anything.
3. Once you can win a prime them try to be the first rider through the last turn, i.e. lead out the sprint.
4. Once you can lead out the sprint then try to be not-quite-the-first-rider through the turn and try to win the stupid thing.

If you can do 25-27 mph by yourself for 15-20-25 minutes then you can try breaking away and doing just that.

[earlfoss]

This is all nuts. Just race and have fun. If you enjoy it, do another one. Keep doing it and learn as you go.

[shovelhd]

The guy has a coach who is spending time discussing tactics, and it's his first race. We are trying to fill in the gaps.

[false_Aest]

You're doing the Milikan crit as a first race? Cat 5 is at 2:35pm IIRC. If you can, spend a bit watching the 40+ 1-3 guys navigate the course.

This is a lot of people's first crit . . . ever.

Hold your line, try to avoid over lapping wheels and ride your bike yo.

I puked before my first race.

[Rusty Luggs]

It's short notice, but if you have a chance, learn to ride rollers. They'll make you much more comfortable holding a line.

I think this is good advice for anyone before venturing into mass start racing. Riding smoothly and in a straight line is THE basic essential skill. And lots of bad stuff happens from overreacting and overcorrecting in racing….. and on rollers.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

I am hearing mixed opinions on where to stay in the pack. I am aware of the accordion effect which would mean the front is the best, but others are saying that I should stay off the front. Anyone want to weigh in with a counterargument to either position?

I am not uncomfortable riding in groups but I haven't done anything bigger than 12 or so. I am going to check out the pier ride in LA this tuesday I think.

I have the opportunity to ride both road races and crits, but I was thinking with starting with road races and then trying crits later. Any opinion on this?

I have some experienced teammates, but most of the team members are freshman. That being said, we have a very experienced coach that has led us through a lot of the race tactics and strategy.

Well if you have a coach, s/he may have some specific instructions where you should be in order to support your teammates.

Training rides in a group of 12 are totally different than a race. Not just because of the numbers, but also because you don't normally fight for position on a training ride, where you are generally riding a 2-up paceline. The training ride skills are transferable, but you'll be applying them in novel situations.

[AnthonyC]

Rilz, what school are you riding with?

[IJWS]

My vids here (https://www.youtube.com/user/SprinterDellaCasa). Focus on those March 2010 and later. Feb 2010 and earlier are non-HD and done with Windows Movie Maker which made it really hard for me to put in comments etc.

March 2010 and on were done on a Mac using iMovie and have more comments etc. Also I was less concerned with keeping hidden agendas hidden, I was more open. In some of the early clips I raced for friends on other teams and preferred not to say so.

Very into these video's. If you can't learn anything from them, you can at least get super-stoked for racing.

[carpediemracing]

Very into these video's. If you can't learn anything from them, you can at least get super-stoked for racing.

Thanks. One of the reasons I make them. I watch them myself when I'm on the trainer. I can't watch them too much else I burn out on them. Right now I'm in the "listen to music while playing a bike race clip in the background" mode.

Last night I watched a long 2012 LBL clip on almost-mute while listening to various music.

Normally when I get closer to the races, like a 2-4 weeks to go, I start watching my own clips again.

[FastforaSlowGuy]

CDR's clips are awesome. I treat them like training, phasing them in as the season approaches. Watching in January in New England is just depressing, especially when 3ft of snow are bearing down.


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[rilz]

first race went great, i can't say i did too well, but i had fun and i learned a lot. fwiw i ride with UCLA.

[gasman]

first race went great, i can't say i did too well, but i had fun and i learned a lot. fwiw i ride with UCLA.

Congrats-That's what it's all about finishing, having fun abe learning.

[carpediemracing]

first race went great, i can't say i did too well, but i had fun and i learned a lot. fwiw i ride with UCLA.

Congrats and welcome to the sport!

[T.J.]

first race went great, i can't say i did too well, but i had fun and i learned a lot.

Had fun , that is the most important thing. Enjoy your time in the lower categories racing. Soak it up and learn. I had way more pure "fun" as a 5 than as a 2