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First Race in 2 Weeks. Seeking Advice.



 
 
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  #11  
Old September 9th 04, 08:16 PM
Papai Digital
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(Keith Alexander) wrote .com...
I'm doing my first race on 10/3. It's a short cat 5 crit.
I'm unattached. No teammates. Riding an entry lever Trek
road bike.

I've been training and feel strong. I've read a little
about strategy and tactics. I've been eating well
and pretty much doing everything I "know" is correct.


- Your first race you should learn how to follow good wheels, corner
efficiently, and hang with the pack
- what kind of bike you race hardly matters as long as it is
road-race-worthy (safe), is clean, and free of tourist accoutrements
- practice your starts; can you clip in your free foot quickly when
the official blows the whistle?

Can anyone share advice on how to approach the race
from start to finish? Any advice on nutrition the
night before and the morning of?


Nutrition:
- don't be hungover, limit or eliminate wine & beer the night before
- 30 minutes before your race drink some strong coffee and a tasty
powerbar.
- have a nice little warm-up sweat going before the race start
- get to the race at least an hour early

#1 - have fun
#2 - don't do anything stupid
#3 - HANG with the pack!!


Ken
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  #12  
Old September 9th 04, 08:54 PM
Benjamin Weiner
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(Keith Alexander) wrote:

I'm doing my first race on 10/3. It's a short cat 5 crit.
I'm unattached. No teammates. Riding an entry lever Trek
road bike.

I've been training and feel strong. I've read a little
about strategy and tactics. I've been eating well
and pretty much doing everything I "know" is correct.

Can anyone share advice on how to approach the race
from start to finish? Any advice on nutrition the
night before and the morning of?


Read this primer:

http://bikerace.ahc.umn.edu/firstrace.html

Don't worry much about your bike, or food since it's a short crit
(beyond common sense, i.e. don't show up hungry or dehydrated).
Focus on riding smart, pay attention to the people around you,
don't do anything sudden or sketchy, try to stay on the wheels.
Pack riding experience helps. And have fun.
  #13  
Old September 9th 04, 09:14 PM
TritonRider
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From: (Benjamin Weiner)

Read this primer:

http://bikerace.ahc.umn.edu/firstrace.html

Don't worry much about your bike, or food since it's a short crit
(beyond common sense, i.e. don't show up hungry or dehydrated).
Focus on riding smart, pay attention to the people around you,
don't do anything sudden or sketchy, try to stay on the wheels.
Pack riding experience helps. And have fun.



Ben thanks for the link.
This is an ongoing discussion here in the NE officiating arena.
The number of Cat5s that show up with absolutely no clue isn't huge, but it's
still scary when you have to pick up and shovel what's left of them and the
people they take with them into ambulances.
One of the ideas that has been kicked around a little bit was try to get USCF
or Ne-bra to put a guide to bike racing basics on their websites along with, in
the case of Ne-bra, postings of beginner clinics that clubs run here.
Maybe for next spring.
Bill C

  #14  
Old September 9th 04, 10:20 PM
Kyle Legate
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Papai Digital wrote:

Nutrition:
- don't be hungover, limit or eliminate wine & beer the night before

No way! My best races were the mornings after benders. The pain of a bike
race takes some of the edge off a hangover, and can usually cure it.

- 30 minutes before your race drink some strong coffee and a tasty
powerbar.

Actually, some strong coffee EVERY 30 minutes from waking up until your race
should be sufficient (see above). Caffeine is no longer on the banned list.

- have a nice little warm-up sweat going before the race start

Again, hangover takes care of that. Just getting changed is enough.

- get to the race at least an hour early

Unless the race is at 8 am and it's a 3 hour drive to get there.


  #15  
Old September 9th 04, 10:34 PM
crit pro
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(TritonRider) wrote in message ...
From:
(Keith Alexander)

Can anyone share advice on how to approach the race
from start to finish? Any advice on nutrition the
night before and the morning of?

Thanks.

KA

Make sure your hydrated, warm up really well, line up early and near the
front, stay in the front half of the pack if you can.
Bill C


Keith

Just treat it like a weekend group ride. Ride to it if you can. Bring
a backpack, or have a girlfriend drive there.
If you do drive, try to ride for an hour ride before the race. You
only need 20-30 minutes to warm-up, but if you are like most, probably
feel better after even more riding. Think of how you feel at the one
hour mark of a three hour Saturday training ride. That's what you
want.

Many weekend warriors ride hard Sat and Sun. Many racers compete both
days. Some riders feel better on the second day. If that is you, take
it easy two days before your race, and go hard the day before. Easy
means 75-90 mins at HR120 and cadence90. The ideal would be Friday
easy, Saturday good group ride, go hard, maybe two or three jumps up
to 30 seconds, just to open up the legs. Race well on Sunday. If the
race is Saturday, try to bump it up to Thursday easy, Friday some
jumps. Jumps can be 3-5 15 second efforts during a two hour ride.

Bottomline, if you've been training, just try to remember when you
felt good on the bike, and try to do the same things leading up to the
race that you did when you felt good.

Check you wheel skewers, too. Good luck.


crit pro
  #17  
Old September 10th 04, 01:49 AM
Keith Alexander®
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snip a whole lotta good advice

*** Sincere thanks to all who responded.

I'm printing it all out and going over it.

And over it.

And over it.

---
k e i t h a l e x a n d e r
http://www.nootrope.net
http://www.modernamerican.com
aim: nootrope9 tailwind

- - e n d t r a n s m i s s i o n - -
  #18  
Old September 10th 04, 04:13 AM
Tom Paterson
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From: Keith Alexander®

snip a whole lotta good advice

*** Sincere thanks to all who responded.

I'm printing it all out and going over it.

And over it.

And over it.


Relax, there will be more races.

This is easier to demonstrate than describe. But-- if you find yourself with
your front wheel making contact with a rear (this is why you don't overlap your
front wheel on someone else's rear wheel, or stuff up between riders),
steer/lean/push *into* that wheel. His wheel is to your right, you steer right,
hold on hard, get your balance back under you, and then get off him, "steering"
as little as possible. It can take powerful steering input to stay up if
someone is coming hard across your front wheel.

The usual reflex is to steer away from the intruding wheel, whereupon you can
(usually do) quickly jackknife and go over the top (highside). Many beginners
don't understand the importance of riding in a straight line; this is why wheel
crossing is pretty common in early categories.

"Protect yourself at all times". --TP
  #19  
Old September 10th 04, 05:03 AM
Chris
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"Ewoud Dronkert" wrote in message
...
On 09 Sep 2004 14:48:10 GMT, TritonRider wrote:
warm up really well


I hate warming up. I perform better when not warming up. If I warm up
"really well", I get tired before the race.

stay in the front half of the pack if you can.


Or take the "overview from behind" approach. Most fields inevitably stay
together until the end, with some futile escapes. Start your race in the
penultimate lap.


The pendulum effect is what kills most newbie DNFers. Stay as close to the
front as possible knowing that each place lost means your effort to close
the gaps after turns (or any other slowdown) will go up that much more.
IIRC, there was a coach that had power profiles for 2 riders in the same
race. One raced at the front and the other was near the back. The effort
required (expressed in watts) spiked very dramatically for the guy in the
back. So the paradox is that you need power to stay near the front but you
need power even more to keep from getting dropped off the back. Go in
knowing this and do everything you can to conserve your energy at least
until you know you have the juice to maintain your position. Considering
this, you might also go in knowing that the effort required will be highest
near the start and the finish of the race. However, it might not be long
enough for any noticeable slowdown to occur in between. Come to think of it,
I have never heard of a Cat 5 race that lasted more than an hour so save
that tip for the future and don't be discouraged no matter how it goes.


  #20  
Old September 10th 04, 05:09 AM
Chris
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"B. Lafferty" wrote in message
link.net...

"Keith Alexander" wrote in message
om...
I'm doing my first race on 10/3. It's a short cat 5 crit.
I'm unattached. No teammates. Riding an entry lever Trek
road bike.

I've been training and feel strong. I've read a little
about strategy and tactics. I've been eating well
and pretty much doing everything I "know" is correct.

Can anyone share advice on how to approach the race
from start to finish? Any advice on nutrition the
night before and the morning of?

Thanks.


Get your drugs sorted out well beforehand. They won't be testing so don't
stress yourself about that. You might want to do speed. You'll feel

super
and ride with rockets.

As Bill said, try to stay in the front 1/2 of the field. If there are

hills
and you think you may not climb well, get to the front at the start of the
hill and let yourself drift down the pack on the climb. With luck you

won't
be off the back by the end of the climb.

Do try not to cross wheels with anyone ahead of you. Don't be afraid to

put
a hand out and gently touch a riders side to let him know you are near and
overlapping in the peloton. Make no sudden moves. Try to take everything
with calm, deliberate actions.

Try to have fun. And if you're dropped, finish the race anyway. You'll

make
Bob Roll proud of you.


KA


Funny. Hey Bri, would you be able to enjoy the sport a bit more if you knew
the most PEDs are not even close to as effective as the fans seem to think?
I guess "speed" or similar drugs would help with "drive" or desire but that
won't make you any faster. If anything, it might slow you down if you do not
get an optimum dose. I find it amusing the only a very small percentage of
drugs on the banned drug list have any chance at enhancing performance.


 




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