What's your 30 mile time

[Julia9054]

So there's a group for all ranges in the club 10-12 mph 12-14 mph all the way to a 18-20 mph chaingang.

The thing is I'm unsure if there's likely to be any benefit to me of riding with the pootlers as you put it and whether I should keep building on my base then get out with the faster groups and the chaingangs

Find a group or a mate who are slightly faster and better than you. Try to keep up.
When you can, rinse and repeat.
Keep doing this until it stops being fun. Then you have found your level!

 

[paul2015]

I'm in bovey Tracey so I think mdcc is my local club I was going to go to their meet today but decided a lie in was a better option as back onto night shifts tomorow.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Clubs have a range of speeds, I'm sure there'd be a group that runs at 15mph with a no dropolicy. If you want to race, you'll have to ride in groups etc

The Coventry Road club have a range of groups from a beginners ride to a fast ride thats like a full on training ride, I'm an ex member now but when I started in the late 1980's I started with the Family Ride they were running then, equivalent to the Beginner's ride now, then moved up to the veterans ride, a medium paced ride running at 20-25mph for a top speed at an average between 16-18mph and covering 50 - 60 miles on average.

 

[paul2015]

I didn't get time to do 30 today so did 11 with an average of 16.4mph I purposely rode the flatest route I could with a poxy 364' of elevation Max climb 126' odd how the flat increases your speed

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I didn't get time to do 30 today so did 11 with an average of 16.4mph I purposely rode the flatest route I could with a poxy 364' of elevation Max climb 126' odd how the flat increases your speed

Cat 4 novice races are roughly 30-50/60 miles if I remember rightly (?). I'd guess average speeds in low 20's (?).

Re group riding. As @vickster has pointed out. You will need to be able to ride in a group before you even get near a race.

Personally, based on your flat 11 mile time of 16.4mph which is not particularly fast over a short route with only 20/mile-ish of ascent, I'd say you are a country mile away from racing.

Work up to some big miles, get used to riding in groups. There's nothing wrong with joining the 'pootlers' as you term them to learn a bit of group road-craft.

Once you have built up some real endurance (you'r e only going to get that from lots of miles) and some decent pace (lots of miles and a proper training regime) then you can start thinking of racing.

 

[paul2015]

Cat 4 novice races are roughly 30-50/60 miles if I remember rightly (?). I'd guess average speeds in low 20's (?).

Re group riding. As @vickster has pointed out. You will need to be able to ride in a group before you even get near a race.

Personally, based on your flat 11 mile time of 16.4mph which is not particularly fast over a short route with only 20/mile-ish of ascent, I'd say you are a country mile away from racing.

Work up to some big miles, get used to riding in groups. There's nothing wrong with joining the 'pootlers' as you term them to learn a bit of group road-craft.

Once you have built up some real endurance (you'r e only going to get that from lots of miles) and some decent pace (lots of miles and a proper training regime) then you can start thinking of racing.

The local crit is 15miles for cat 4. But I'm well aware I'm not ready for racing but really looking at how I should be training.

I get the whole riding in a group thing (pootlers- not my term by the way) but I wasn't sure if you would get the experience with that group.

Plus I've only been riding for 3 weeks. But it was about time I got some advice like that lol thanks

 

[outlash]

Join the club. There are bound to be at least a couple of guys who race, so you could ask them for advice and see how you measure up against them.

Even CAT4 racers are pretty quick compared to a lot of road riders, plus you need to learn how to ride in a group, it's essential.

 

[screenman]

Most cat 4 riders I know can hold 35mph for a while and do in most races, just a figure to aim for. Crits, well you certainly need good group riding technique there or you will almost be certain of being in an accident.

 

[HLaB]

Coincidentally, I'm not long back from a 30miler, it was by no way my fastest but that was after 60miles this morning, 105miles yesterday and a bit the consecutive days before; it took in total (inc stops) 1h 50m 35s. My PB is probably somewhere around 1h 8.

 

[huwsparky]

Most cat 4 riders I know can hold 35mph for a while and do in most races,

I may as well give up then!

 

[paul2015]

Most cat 4 riders I know can hold 35mph for a while and do in most races, just a figure to aim for. Crits, well you certainly need good group riding technique there or you will almost be certain of being in an accident.

Downhill right? Lol

 

[screenman]

Downhill right? Lol

No, have you ever done as cat 3 or 4 event, they go off like rockets. A 1 or 2 race is normally a smoother more disciplined event.

Most cat 4 races run about 24 mph average, now to get that you will often need bursts of 30mph+.

 

[paul2015]

So to summarise,

I'm going to join the local club

Continue to rack up miles on the bike

Get better average speeds

Hopefully be riding in the chain gang by the end of the year.

Do my first crit by the end of next season.

Anything else??

No, have you ever done as cat 3 or 4 event, they go off like rockets. A 1 or 2 race is normally a smoother more disciplined event.

Most cat 4 races run about 24 mph average, now to get that you will often need bursts of 30mph+.

No, never seen any event other than the tour of Britain which I think is just a tad above me,

There's some crits where I live coming up so I'll be watching and learning from those and following my plan above

 

[mjr]

I'm going to join the local club

You are likely to have several local clubs, each with different aims - like in my nearest town, there's a couple for tourists, a couple of sportive-targetting groups and at least one racing club. Other nearby towns have more clubs. If the one you join isn't for you, try another.

 

[mjr]

Oh and my 30 mile time is probably about 3 hours. Maybe 2 and a half if the fenland againsterly has gone missing