I'd like to try some racing...

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Hip Priest

Veteran
Hi Upstream.

I don't know how to say this without sound like a douche, but you recently posted a thread in which you said:

I regularly do rides of around 35 miles (with an average of around 1,100 feet of ascent) at 15.5 average speed. I'm happy with that but here lies my problem...No matter what I do, I seem to have hit a performance plateau and I can't seem to break that avg 15.5mph over 35 miles.

I'd say that was far too slow for you to be considering racing. A friend of mine races, and average speeds are normally above 25mph. Another friend recently completed a mountain TT (45 miles with 3500ft of climbing) at over 20mph, and he didn't win!

I'd advise you to join a club and work on getting quicker. I need to take my own advice and do the same.

I'm not being some sort of snob - I'd say I was too slow to race too!
 
OP
OP
Upstream

Upstream

Active Member
Hi Upstream.

I don't know how to say this without sound like a douche, but you recently posted a thread in which you said:



I'd say that was far too slow for you to be considering racing. A friend of mine races, and average speeds are normally above 25mph. Another friend recently completed a mountain TT (45 miles with 3500ft of climbing) at over 20mph, and he didn't win!

I'd advise you to join a club and work on getting quicker. I need to take my own advice and do the same.

I'm not being some sort of snob - I'd say I was too slow to race too!

Hi and thanks for the comments - I haven't taken them the wrong way. In my case I certainly don't expect to be winning any races or ever getting any points to be honest. I just like to experience different things to see how much I enjoy them. This year for example was the first that I started to ride sportives and I really enjoy that but there seems to be something really exciting about riding an actual race on a closed circuit with other riders or doing a time trial.

I think that based on the advice I've received thus far, that visiting a club for one or two rides to try it out is a good idea. Someone earlier asked where I am. I'm near Birmingham so if there were any clubs anywhere near the Oldbury side of Birmingham I could find out when they were next holding an introductory ride. I think that there may be one out near Stourbridge and one in Wolverhampton too. If anyone knows of a website with a list of registered clubs, that'd be helpful.

Thanks.
 

VamP

Banned
Location
Cambs
British Cycling has a list of all the clubs with a postcode search function.

Look a for Go Ride races, they tend to be a bit more of a gentle introduction to bunch racing. TTs or Cyclocross are definitely a lot more accommodating of all abilities, so it does make sense to try these first.
 
OP
OP
Upstream

Upstream

Active Member
I'll definately have a look out for the Go Ride races!

On my ride this morning I was able to average 27.8 miles per hour over one flat stretch lasting 1.1 miles. I figure that if I can keep that going for an additional 8.9 miles I'll probably be ok racing ;-)
 
Location
Hampshire
The easiest, cheapest, and safest way to try a bit of competition on a bike is to try a few local club (as opposed to open) time trials. Most clubs will let you sign on the line for a couple of quid.
This time of year you could do two or three a week within 20 miles of here, I'm sure it must be the same around the midlands.
 
OP
OP
Upstream

Upstream

Active Member
All of the Go Ride races I've seen so far appear to be for under 16's only and although people tend to think I'm younger than I am, I don't think I could get away with looking quite that young ;-).
 

Poacher

Gravitationally challenged member
Location
Nottingham
Be afraid.......very afraid.
But do it anyway.










Actually, ignore this post; I'm rather drunk, and this afternoon I saw Dani King impose her superiority over a fairly strong field in a stunning victory in a Nottingham city centre criterium masquerading as a Milk Race. I could probably have matched some of the back-markers on my Brompton, but wow, did she assert herself! I couldn't have got close, even for a lap! Would have stayed for the men's race to see how Ed Clancy coped with the tight course (he came in third), but instead went to Waitrose and scored 1.24 Kg of scallops for just £8.70!! Obviously couldn't hang around in the high temperatures, so went home, froze most of them and made a humungous and sumptuous paella featuring the rest, plus some tuna, prawns and mussels. Beats the carp (sic) out of racing, and at my age and weight, I know what I'd rather do. Racing's over-rated, in my discardable opinion, not helped by reading Tyler Hamilton's book!

As Boris Bajic is wont to say, hope this helps, but I fear it won't.
 

Get In The Van

Senior Member
Location
West Lothian
Upstream, like you I am keen to try racing, however whats been said on these replies is pretty much spot on. i'm lucky that I have access to a weekly chain gang, but the luck is that the chain gang operates for those at different levels. we have the scratch group for the cat1 2 and elite riders and anyone else who fancies trying to hang on, then it goes down another 3 or 4 levels until the social group. The social group is where you learn the tools to ride close, ride in a chain, learning to draft, learning how to peel off the front. This isn't at a frantic pace, maybe 15.16mph. The social however won't drop anyone until a set area close towards the end where people can stretch their legs for a bit. (if they want to ) Also if the pace is too high it'll be dropped down to suit.
The purpose is to get folk who want to progress to the next group to do so safely and be confident in group riding. A lot of social riders stay in the social group all year round.
We also get the benefit of cat 1 2 riders dropping into the social to help out, pass on tips, these guys don't take the pee, they ride at the social level, i'm sure they know that they could blow us all away so doing so would prove nothing.

Join a club asap and take it from there, you'll soon find that your racing career will come around a lot quicker than if you didn't
 

oldroadman

Veteran
Location
Ubique
I'll definately have a look out for the Go Ride races!

On my ride this morning I was able to average 27.8 miles per hour over one flat stretch lasting 1.1 miles. I figure that if I can keep that going for an additional 8.9 miles I'll probably be ok racing ;-)

Just bear in mind that road/circuit races are not steady speed, but go from easy pace (35-40kph) to flat out (55-70kph) for several minutes which will put you in the "red". Your best training for this is intervals, and contact with a club should find you a coach who can help with a programme combining time in the saddle (for endurance and the ability to sit on the bike for several hours) and intervals for speed and rapid improvement in fitness and ability to push your threshold power.
 
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