Tips on 4th cat road racing

Raleigh wrote:Quote:
If you

Raleigh wrote:

If you get at all nervous, just sit up, slide backwards through the bunch and call it a day (or wait for the bunch to lap you then sit in for a bit).

Ok well don’t do that. You’ll probably get fined, or at least shouted at by the comms.

Crashes are rare, went my whole first season of road racing without a crash or even seeing a crash. Yes they do happen in racing, but they are not that common in smaller, shorter amateur races.

I’d say that this is either a fabrication, or a very lucky anomaly. There’s been a crash in almost every race I’ve done this year. I’ve only been brought down in one, but I did still manage to chase back on.

I’ve also never witnessed a crash although I’ve probably only done 15 races or so (most 4th Cat at Hillingdon). I’ve seen plenty of bad/dangerous riding, riders not holding their lines, near misses, cutting up, pointless sprinting (e.g. when in 20th place on the final straight) and so on but luckily none have resulted in any crashes.

Has anyone raced at Crystal
Has anyone raced at Crystal Palace before? That’s my local and I’m thinking about having a go. Seeing as I always do my best to beast the road climb at the end of my rides there, I figure I should be used to the gradient for the park circuit!

Further to my earlier
Further to my earlier comments, due to illness I’ve been massively down on where I should be, and have been judging performance based on how many laps I was down (I’m not happy about that but my chest infection knocked me for six) Just get out and enjoy it like I said before

Quote:This is an interesting

This is an interesting and useful thread, as I am in the same position as the OP: curious, interested and reasonably fit, but somewhat scared of the idea of racing, don’t want to disgrace myself, risk crashing or being taken out by fellow amateurs

EVERYONE disgraces themself at some point in a crit! I’d be very surprised if anyone on here could genuinely put their hand up and say they’ve never once been dropped, never once been out of position or ballsed up that dead cert sprint win.

Main thing is not to worry. You hear all sorts of rumours and “banter” spoken about 4th cats being a crashfest or the nickname of “the carbon graveyard” for venues but realistically, it’s OK if you’re sensible. Ride like a twat and you’ll be treated like one.

If you get at all nervous, just sit up, slide backwards through the bunch and call it a day (or wait for the bunch to lap you then sit in for a bit). Don’t be ashamed. No-one is judging you. All the “rules” bollocks that gets bantered about (about slammed stems and shaved legs and all) is just that – banter. I’ve raced at Hillingdon on a singlespeed. I’ve seen people race on £300 steel bikes and on £5000 carbon wonder bikes. Everything from Sora to Di2. Don’t sweat it. Relax, learn, enjoy.

It’ll make you a better rider in the long term, whether or not you ever win anything.

This is an interesting and
This is an interesting and useful thread, as I am in the same position as the OP: curious, interested and reasonably fit, but somewhat scared of the idea of racing, don’t want to disgrace myself, risk crashing or being taken out by fellow amateurs

This thread does provide some reassurance, id be very interested to know how the OP gets on..

Raleigh, your strava posting of 28mph average over 30 miles of very impressive. Is this typical for the higher category racing you do?

I cannot ever imagine averaging those speeds, even in a fast group

I start racing with very
I start racing with very limited experience bunch riding. Survived, got better, won a few races, raced in bigger bunches just to get the experience, also do regular group rides to improve my skills and confidence.

Still prefer to be on the front or back of a racing group, call it the David Moncoutie factor (my balance is poor)

So do not let lack of bunch riding experience stop you from racing.

I started racing on a 25 year old steel frame with 5600 105 group set, it was just accepted, no comment.

A few weeks back a young guy raced his 1st race with an old steel bike with down tube shifters that was too bigfor him and dressed in baggy clothes and a skate helmet. He finished dead last. He was cheered over the line more loudly than anybody else in any of the races. Everybody just cheered and clapped as he finished, no comments about his bike or attire.

Don’t worry about what bike
Don’t worry about what bike you ride – I watched someone race with mudguards and a rack in the Kermesse at the IG Nocturne

I’ve raced the 4th Cat races
I’ve raced the 4th Cat races at Hillingdon a few times, I would agree with the points about holding your line through corners and trying to be efficient when the accelerations and decelerations come along.

In the 4th Cat, getting a good start isn’t as important, people don’t tend to race off in the first lap, if they do, they usually get reeled in (and dropped) but it is important not to be near the back of the bunch, if people in front of you get dropped, you either have to go round them and catch up or you get dropped too.

And I ride my Ribble Winter/Audax bike, no one laughs, people are on all sorts, steel racers to £5k carbon machines, if anyone does smirk, make sure your legs do the talking on the track!

One last thing, there’s usually a intermediate sprint half way through, the race should last an hour or more so don’t get fooled into sprinting early.

Good luck