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#11
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#12
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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. |
#14
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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
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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 |
#16
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TritonRider wrote:
From: Ewoud Dronkert 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 accordion effect kills me when I inevitably end up at the back. Having to sprint my ass off out of every corner to get back to speed kills me in a hurry. At least when I'm near the front this isn't anywhere near as bad. If this is a short crit with a tight course this should be even worse. Just my $.02 Bill C What he said. We're up to $.04. -- -------------------- Remove CLOTHES to reply |
#17
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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
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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
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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
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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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