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The First Jump Into Racing (With Actual Real Other People) – Tips and Advice

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  • December 24, 2014 at 12:08 am #22894
    Quince

    Hello cyclists,

    I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a Race Licence and competing in Actual Bicycle Races with Real Fast People, and I’m seeking… well, any advice I can get really. The idea of jumping into a race scenario seems to be such a scary prospect, so I might just be after ‘nice, supportive comments’ as much as anything.

    Without wanting to give too long a history, I discovered our local club a few months back, and have been doing various things – most notably the ‘Sunday Bash’ – which involves setting various groups off in reverse order of speed with the aim of trying catch the group in front. Since starting, my fitness has improved enough to impress at least me (I joined the Higher group and… survived!) and I’ve really enjoyed the competitive element of it. I’d like to take that further, and racing seems to naturally be the next step. I like the sound of points and licences and stuff too. Yay points!

    But as I’ve said, it seems a bit daunting to just rock up at a race and get on with it, so I’m looking for advice and anecdotes about people’s first (and recent) experiences of racing. Are crashes common? Is is risky to take bikes/clothes that you actually like? How much do lengths vary? And anything else you’ve got to add (including ‘nice, supportive comments’, if you like). What sort of people turn up to Cat 4 races (in terms of age, experience and fitness) and on what sort of bikes?

    I know Dave’s been running a series of posts on Cat 4 racing, which has been interesting and inspired me more to go ahead with it myself. But yes, anecdotes please!

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  • December 24, 2014 at 9:46 pm #824093
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    Simon E

    Stourport should be fairly
    Stourport should be fairly close to you Quince. I’ve heard good things about the woolly mamil events.
    https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/118255/Woolly-Mamil-Winter-Series-1
    http://www.mamilcycling.co.uk/blog/the-2014-woolly-mamil-winter-series-musings-and-thinkings

    Although Shrewsbury is a bit further away Mid Shropshire Wheelers run monthly Sunday and Thursday evening events on the 1km circuit at Shrewsbury from late March until July (on the BC page click ‘View other events promoted by this organisation’ to see the whole series).

    Good luck, I hope you have some fun!

    December 24, 2014 at 8:46 pm #824091
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    KirinChris

    Really good advice there from
    Really good advice there from Jimmy Ray. All of it. Should be printed on a teatowel. 😉

    I would only disagree slightly with one thing – about not making efforts.

    The description of the matches is excellent, and one of the hard things about lower cat races is that everyone has 30 seconds of effort in them – they will chase a break but when they are in one most people find they didn’t have many matches to play with and burn out quickly.

    It’s true that the first rule of racing is to never do anything you don’t have to. And that’s fine if you just want to finish in the bunch or you think you can sprint for it.

    But if you want to move up and get points you would do well to try to get in the breaks, even if they don’t always succeed. with breaks of 5-6 riders you’re certain of some points even if you are the last in the group and you avoid the risks of a bunch sprint.

    It’s hard work and you need some fitness to do it – you might have to make several efforts before it sticks and then once you’re away you have to stay away. But Pretty quickly you will learn to read the race and the riders and work out whether there are other like-minded people looking to make a break work. If there are then stick with them and do your turns.

    It’s very bad form to wheel suck in a break. Of course if you are genuinely too exhausted to work then just hold on. But should you find a sudden burst of energy in the final 100m then be prepared for some less than hearty congratulations from your fellow escapees.

    December 24, 2014 at 5:55 pm #824089
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    glynr36

    Get to Stourport for the
    Get to Stourport for the Woolly Mamil series, 4 weekends of racing from Mid Jan.
    I did my first race on my own, not in a club or anything, everyone is really sound on the Midlands scene I find too, first race as finished dead last but got loads of encouragement and tips of the other guys.

    December 24, 2014 at 4:16 pm #824087
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    Quince

    Thank you thank you thank
    Thank you thank you thank you!

    It’s all been wonderful to read; my nerves are a quite a bit steadier about the whole thing now. I’ve really enjoyed the slightly ‘on-edge’ nature of the Sunday chaingang ‘pursuits’, so I hope I can get the same kick out of racing. It’s great fun having an excuse to put out the kind of short, sharp efforts that would just seem like a waste of energy on a solo or leisure ride.

    I’m based in the Midlands, in Warwickshire, which I hope puts me within reach of various events (although looking at the BC Website, Warwickshire itself doesn’t seem to have that many things going on).

    As for the the licence itself, I’m fairly confident I want a Silver Membership, with the Race Licence on top of it, but are there any convincing reasons to get gold? And do the people at these events generally turn out to be pretty friendly? I’ll ask around the club if there are other people doing Cat 4 races (I should think there would be), but as a solo entrant at the moment, it’d be nice if everything wasn’t completely po-faced.

    Thanks again for all the help!

    December 24, 2014 at 2:26 pm #824085
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    OnTheRopes

    As already mentioned, if you
    As already mentioned, if you can find a fast chain gang to train with.
    Start to discipline your training, first with base miles, then building up intensity until you are doing hard intervals above threshold once or twice a week and work on muscular endurance. Also power if you are thinking of doing closed circuit racing.
    You will find that road races involve a lot of jumping around with fast accelerations which really hurt, when you are feeling like you want to give up you need to tell yourself that it will ease up soon, because it will and you will get chance to recover before the next attack.
    Depending on what kind of a rider you are you may find you are better at longer road races than short circuit races or vice versa, so don’t be disillusioned if it doesn’t go well.
    Do take a bike you like, no point racing on a second rate machine if you have a choice, same goes for kit, don’t go into it expecting to crash, in years of racing I have never had a race crash.

    December 24, 2014 at 12:30 pm #824083
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    Jimmy Ray Will

    Bunch etiquette is a really
    Bunch etiquette is a really good point I completely missed. A few rules that should get you through…

    1. Remember that you alone are responsible for your front wheel. If someone in front is switching lines, braking inappropriately, whatever… for sure have a moan, but its up to you to put your wheels somewhere safe.

    2. Related to the above… always remember that there is someone else on your wheel… so act in a way that is controlled and predictable.

    3. Move up when it is safe to do so… when you’ve been racing years, you can think about ‘fashioning’ gaps to move around, but to start off with, focus on moving up when its safe.

    4. Aligned to the above… always be looking for opportunities to better your position, either moving forward, finding the biggest wheel to sit on, the most sheltered gap, the best rider’s wheel etc etc.

    5. Never panic… chances are that doing nothing is the best thing you can do when things get a bit hairy, just keep riding along.

    6. Should there be a crash beside/behind you, never, and I can’t stress this enough, never look around to see whats happened… so many 3/4cat crashes escalate unnecessarily because people are gawking rather than focusing on their line and whats happening in front of them.

    7. Communicate. tell people that you are there, what you want to do, if you are getting squeezed.

    8. Enjoy it.

    December 24, 2014 at 12:03 pm #824081
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    glynr36

    Jimmy sums it up best.
    I’d
    Jimmy sums it up best.
    I’d say find a local series, the BC site is pretty good to find local stuff, and get stuck in.
    Chances are first race you’ll be off the back, but stick at it and you’ll finish in the bunch and then the points.

    December 24, 2014 at 11:58 am #824079
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    Matt eaton

    Great advice above. In short,
    Great advice above. In short, just get stuck in, you’ll love it.

    I don’t race a road bike, but I do enjoy a bit of BMX and CX and I would assume some experiences are common to all disiplines. Don’t be too scared of the race environment. It is different to riding outside of racing and you’ll likely see a lot of differences in etiqutte in your first couple of races compared to what you are used to from riding with your club. Crashes are a bit more common when racing in my experience, either because of the actions/errors of those around you or because you are pushing hard. My BMX experience tells me that you can often stay out of trouble but this comes at the expense of position/advantage in the race. My ‘cross experience tells me that over-cooking it is usually the reason for going down. These lessons might translate to the road to a greater or lesser degree, I’m not certain though.

    In terms of kit, just bear in mind that everything is disposable. Racing has changed my attitute to shopping for bike stuff. You might, for instance, choose a lighter set of wheels and just accept that they will not be as durable as you might like and will need to be trued more often. Worth it if you are a racer but maybe not for a club rider/audaxer/sportivist.

    Again, all this comes with a pinch of salt, as I’ve never raced on the road. Have fun racing!

    December 24, 2014 at 10:58 am #824077
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    Jimmy Ray Will

    Sooooo many questions!
    First
    Sooooo many questions!

    First up, well done you for wanting to give it a go… if it suits your mentality, you’re going to love it!

    Where to start?

    Are there local chaingangs around you, if so, get on them as much as you can (however these may not start until the clocks go forward)

    As for racing itself, anyone and everyone turn up to 4th cat racing, so don’t worry about fitting in… you will.

    Start out on some closed circuit racing. These are shorter, have less to think about, and is generally a safer way to get started. Where are you based?

    Turn up to your first one in plenty of time (say 90mins before your start) so you don’t have to stress about getting ready.

    Also, pack your bag the day/night before so you are less inclined to forget stuff.

    Warm up for a good 20mins before hand. Don’t go too nuts at this, but make sure your body is ready for the shock of a fast start… there is always someone willing to smash the start of a 4th cat race.

    In the bunch: The trick to road racing is not making efforts, so if you are ever on the front, or in the wind, ask yourself why, and if there isn’t a good reason to be doing so (i.e. chasing a move that no one else would, moving up for a key point in race/circuit), find the shelter of a wheel quick.

    When I say its about not making efforts, what I actually mean, is that you are looking to accumulate the amount of times others make efforts that you haven’t… for instance, if someone makes an attack, and you stay in the wheels as someone else chases it down, you have effectively got an effort up on both the attacker and chaser…

    The best analogy for this is probably the matchbox. Everyone turns up to a race with a matchbox with varying amounts of matches in them (I describe training as filling your matchbox). Every time you make an effort, you burn a match, or several matches… the trick is to save your matches till they really count.

    For instance, if you attack at the start, everyone has at least a handful of matches, so your chances of getting away are slim… later on, when everyone is down to their final few matches, its a lot easier to make a difference.

    Anyway… I can go on forever about this, as there are things like the rule of three, using wind direction to your favour etc etc etc….

    The final two points on efforts are;

    1. You spend no time riding at threshold in a road race, you are either riding way over it, or way under it…(average power for a Tour series race is about 315watts… which is perfectly reasonable on its own, but when you think the riders are freewheeling for half the lap, its actually more like 30mins at 630watts)

    Make sure some of your training reflects the nature of racing… lots of short, hard efforts with varying recovery times.

    2. It will hurt… racing is a series of yes no questions… can you take the pain or not? Answer each question in isolation as its asked, don’t worry about handling the same intensity in ten minutes time, as you don’t know what will be happening then.

    A rule I adhere to is that the harder a race is now, the easier it will be later on… embrace the pain!

    Get out there and get on it…

    As for crashes… yes and no. Yes there are crashes, but will you end up on the deck a lot? Not likely.

    With regards to equipment in racing, my personal approach is that if you fundamentally can’t afford to replace any piece of equipment and would be mortified to lose it… then don’t take it racing.

    Have fun with it!

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