Bicycle racing for almost anyone

I just have a few random ideas that may help you get started... nothing scientific, nothing guaranteed, but you may like to consider these thoughts:

• Ride a bit more than usual before your first race, and push yourself a bit harder to gain some confidence
• Then have a rest day before the race, or just a short, easy ride
• Get into bunches and practice riding with a group
  
• Eat well, keep fats to a minimum and eat plenty of carbs with fruit, rice and bread in the mix
• Don't ride hard if you are sick or injured, or overweight (see your doctor for help there before starting any exercise program)
  
• Remember the rule of thumb: train in a week 3 times the distance of your race - so a 30km criterium means you should do at least 90km in a week, and you need to do that at least for a month prior to build your base
  
• Remember the other rule of thumb: you lose whatever you gained after 3 days, so don't leave it 3 days between rides
• Get to the race early and warm up gently but firmly - end the warm up with a cool down and build up to a race gear, but don't over-do it
• Don't cool off completely before the race
• Register for the race and get your number ASAP, don't leave it to the last minute
• Ride around if necessary to keep warm
• Don't miss the start
• Follow the experienced riders, listen to them and watch what they do
• Within the limits of what you can do be prepared to dig deep and grit your teeth to "hang on"
• Don't cross wheels with other riders, one swerve and you'll be down
• Don't show off in your first race, just absorb and learn
• Sit on "in the draft", conserve energy, don't fidget, don't surge, be smooth - momentum is everything
• Stay close to and follow experienced wheels carefully, certainly not in a jerky, sudden or unpredictable way
• Do a turn when your turn comes, then pull off into the wind, allowing the next rider to shelter in your draft and easily come up to replace you
• As you pull off do so gradually and slowly ease up, drifting to the back
• If you feel comfortable ease back into the first 3rd of the bunch, otherwise go to the back again
  
• Do what the others do, unless they are totally out of their minds!
  
• Be there at the end
• Have a go at the sprint but be realistic - don't get in the way.
  

Labels: beginners, first race, Tips

It's good to just amble along, ride when you feel like it and maybe race occasionally. But guess what? If you get away with it you are very lucky. Just "ambling along" will not boost your fitness, and riding when you feel like it will not build endurance or power. You have to have a dig - test yourself against your maximums - to make improvements. And you have to do it regularly enough that what you gained one day is still there to build on today. Even if all you want to do is a recreational ride, you are better off getting regular sessions in place than 'starting all over again' every time you ride.

I'm not a coach, a nutritionalist or a physiologist - but I do ride, and I'll tell you what I believe.

• You must ride 3 times a week - minimum - to maintain your condition
• If you want to safely and comfortably race 30km then you must train for 3 times that distance every week for a month (so 90km a week for 4 weeks is the bare minimum for a 30km crit)
• Whatever you do in excess of that rule of thumb will give you the endurance and power to compete more comfortably (to counter attacks, even make attacks) - it's up to you how much more you can do!
  
• Intervals on top of base miles will build speed and power
• Train your weaknesses, not just your strengths
  
• Whatever strength you gain in one session will be 90% gone within a week, so do regular sessions to maintain that power (ie the torque you can apply through those cranks)
  
• Your endurance probably declines more slowly, but after 2 weeks you'll get that "starting all over again" feeling, so avoid long gaps between rides
  
• Regular miles not only help you build endurance but also ward off injury.
  

To get more technical about it, a focused training program can - indeed will, if you stick at it and don't get sick or injured - increase your VO2max by 15 to 30% over a 3-4 month period . If you stick at it consistently for 2 years or more you'll see up to a 50% improvement. Consistency is the key. Think about it - you learned to crawl, then to walk and it took years to really get the hang of it. And once you did learn to walk yyou kept at it, day in, day out. So why would you expect to jump on a bike once in a while and just go fast? In fact you need to train your mind as well as your muscles, and to build firstly the endurance and pedalling skills before getting the most out of your cycling. You do that with a plan - a plan to do ride regularly!

Labels: bike racing, Tips, training