Best tips for results as a beginner?

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I was wondering if there's a FAQ somewhere with tips of what beginning racers can do to get their best chance for good results. (I googled and searched here, nada.)

Beginners probably mostly do crits and most Cat 5 type crits end in field sprints---so skills there are essential. Comfort inside a pack, moving up inside a pack, last lap tactics, last half-lap tactics, last corner tactics---all seem key. But do many beginners have these skills?

What's the best "bang for the buck" in race education?

Here's my own take on it, based on my modest experience (in the 1980's) and from helping a few others.

Please let me know if you know of some more effective tips! Thanks. Here goes...

1. Ride with a club that has a coach.
2. Ride with successful racers (and ask for help and pay attention).
3. Ride the track and do all the events---just a few sessions will do wonders.
4. Motorpace---a few sessions set up with classic progression will really help.
5. Do structured multi-event training race club sessions, especially on a short-loop course (some training race series do quite a few skill-test events in an evening of racing, even including track-type events---and on short-loops if you have trouble you can rest up then get back in).
6. Quality training---to me this seems quite commonly done these days at all levels, but maybe not: easy/med/hard weeks and easy/med/hard days in cyclic pattern. To me sufficient fitness seems very common. Results are much tougher! Getting results as a beginner is the big challenge! Perhaps a big key for Cat 5's is being rested/ready in the right way before a race. "Lots of hard riding" can make for fitness...and flat performance.
7. Stretch, massage (drain legs, etc.), post ride/race refueling/recovery---minor perhaps but still impt!
8. Lose weight! Be skinny. Go as skinny as you can until you feel power loss.
9. Develop your own race-day race-face drill/method/psyche---if it works, do it. (If you need long warmup---do it. If you dislike fretful pals talking worried before a race---avoid em. Don't get distracted!)

---Jeff Potter
outyourbackdoor.com
for indy adventure and culture

hey
nice toppic, good tips !
sorry for my bad english, i will just comment next to your tips and maybe give some more

i started cycling 4 years ago when i was 20 and i am now riding with the pro's and finished 25 in halle ingooigem with tom boonen , .... 200 km race
so for all the guys who want to become a pro ... you can do it !

1. Ride with a club that has a coach. find a coach that you have a good connection with and as beginner at least 1 condition test a year
so you can train with a heart beat monitor
2. Ride with successful racers (and ask for help and pay attention). do not always ride with them, train a lot alone or with a good trainings buddy from the same level so you wont overwork yourself
3. Ride the track and do all the events---just a few sessions will do wonders.
4. Motorpace---a few sessions set up with classic progression will really help.
i raced in florida and guys from there raced in belgium and its A LOT off differance ... you guys need more speed here you need more power & resistance trainings

5. Do structured multi-event training race club sessions, especially on a short-loop course (some training race series do quite a few skill-test events in an evening of racing, even including track-type events---and on short-loops if you have trouble you can rest up then get back in).
6. Quality training---to me this seems quite commonly done these days at all levels, but maybe not: easy/med/hard weeks and easy/med/hard days in cyclic pattern. To me sufficient fitness seems very common. Results are much tougher! Getting results as a beginner is the big challenge! Perhaps a big key for Cat 5's is being rested/ready in the right way before a race. "Lots of hard riding" can make for fitness...and flat performance.
my docter is my trainer and coach , he makes me scheduals (600-800 km a week)
but its to long to start on this topic :)
best tip: every person is different ... you are a climer, sprinter, time trialer , tour rider , moutainbiker,.... SPECIALIZE !!!!
if you want to become a climer lose weight , do climing trainings, work on your decent ,....
a sprinter needs muscle weight , power , speed , explosive trainings behind the car or on the track

7. Stretch, massage (drain legs, etc.), post ride/race refueling/recovery---minor perhaps but still impt!
eat in 30 min afhter a race , than you recover 2x faster !!!
8. Lose weight! Be skinny. Go as skinny as you can until you feel power loss.
9. Develop your own race-day race-face drill/method/psyche---if it works, do it. (If you need long warmup---do it. If you dislike fretful pals talking worried before a race---avoid em. Don't get distracted!)

10) if you want to become a pro you have to train every day
i take 2 weeks off a year
11) you have to change your life , food , bed time , drinking , ....
12) don't do all these tips at ones beceaus its mentaly to mutch
every year i do a littel bit more so i know i can keep it up !


have fun and cycling is all about carracter and courage

racing tips:

1 ) keep high cadance
2) stay out of the wind
3) ride in the front of the pack
4) don't start at the back of the pack
5) glide with the riders that attack never attack yourself
only if you know its for the win
6) fake that you are tierd , don't do to mutch yourself
7) if there are hills go in front and let your self slowly drop back
8) eat and drink also infront of a long race
9) take a good gear in front of a corner, push on the outside pedal , go from the outside and cut the corner stairght in and do not wreck
10) only go in attacks with good riders , know your apponants

[QUOTE=Roel Vanmuysen]hey
nice toppic, good tips !
sorry for my bad english, i will just comment next to your tips and maybe give some more

i started cycling 4 years ago when i was 20 and i am now riding with the pro's and finished 25 in halle ingooigem with tom boonen

CONGRATS!

I don't know how to type inside a reply on this forum, but I'll try...

[ ]
2. Ride with successful racers (and ask for help and pay attention). do not always ride with them, train a lot alone or with a good trainings buddy from the same level so you wont overwork yourself

GOOD POINT. I FORGOT TO MENTION IT. MAYBE RIDE WITH BETTER RIDERS ON THEIR RECOVERY DAY PLUS ONE OTHER. You'll be lucky to find elite riders who allow even that much! : ) (Flip side is impt: avoid riding with midpack hacks who don't have a plan, who just tire themselves out, who aren't building skills.)

[ ]
4. Motorpace---a few sessions set up with classic progression will really help.
i raced in florida and guys from there raced in belgium and its A LOT off differance ... you guys need more speed here you need more power & resistance trainings

YEAH, CONDITIONS ARE DIFFERENT. I WANT TO FOCUS HERE ON CAT 5 CRITS...and getting results there.

[ ]
best tip: every person is different ... you are a climer, sprinter, time trialer , tour rider , moutainbiker,.... SPECIALIZE !!!!

SO: FIELD SPRINT FOR CAT 5? As you improve, add skills/range. Working on both strengths and weaknesses can fit with the early specializing idea.

[ ]
10) if you want to become a pro you have to train every day
i take 2 weeks off a year
11) you have to change your life , food , bed time , drinking , ....
12) don't do all these tips at ones beceaus its mentaly to mutch
every year i do a littel bit more so i know i can keep it up !

BUT FOR CAT 5 RESULTS? Avoid what weakens/tires you---should be enough. Don't stay up late or drink: lots of free energy for many folks. For Cat 5: find your max training level over a month or so then back off to set your baseline---it takes years to thrive on a heavy training load. Even 2 hrs a day takes a couple years to tolerate. Too much training too soon brings bad things including flatness---bad for field sprints.

Make any sense?

[QUOTE=Roel Vanmuysen]racing tips:

GOOD ONES!

What about: if you're in thick pack, brake later than the others in corners and let yourself slide up into the group, moving forward within the group in corners due to braking less---makes for easier acceleration out of corners also. It's also a test of relaxation and skills---track sessions makes it easy to find room in thick packs and corners. Crit riders leave twice as much room around themselves as track riders---so the room is there for moving up INSIDE a pack. If you're only comfy moving up on the outside of fields then you need some track sessions. ...Good or bad idea? Maybe this is a slightly shaky idea for Cat 5 fields...

[QUOTE=Roel Vanmuysen]racing tips:

GOOD ONES!

What about: if you're in thick pack, brake later than the others in corners and let yourself slide up into the group, moving forward within the group in corners due to braking less---makes for easier acceleration out of corners also. It's also a test of relaxation and skills---track sessions makes it easy to find room in thick packs and corners. Crit riders leave twice as much room around themselves as track riders---so the room is there for moving up INSIDE a pack. If you're only comfy moving up on the outside of fields then you need some track sessions. ...Good or bad idea? Maybe this is a slightly shaky idea for Cat 5 fields...
I find there is nothing more annoying than weaker riders surging up from the rear into the main field as soon as the pace eases off.....it's pretty dangerous, although I can understand that they want to get up nearer the front before the speed goes up and strings everyone out again.

personally I prefer to move up on the outside of the bunch in the straits....takes a lot of speed to do that, but you can drift in and out of the draft and make up 20-30 places with a short burst of speed. it's much safer too, unless some muppet swings out in front of you.

I gather that cutting the inside of corners is also more or less accepted in the States, but here in Europe it's considered really rude, and if you're seen doing it a lot you're gonna get shouted at or even have someone block you off or edge you into the gutter.

generally though, the higher the category the faster the race and the more attacks - I ride in Cat 1 and criteriums are 95% riding in single file near to maximum, with only a few moments of bunching together, usually due to team tactics, or people waiting to see who'll chase / attack.

BullGod: I find there is nothing more annoying than weaker riders surging up from the rear into the main field as soon as the pace eases off.....it's pretty dangerous, although I can understand that they want to get up nearer the front before the speed goes up and strings everyone out again.

**REMEMBER: We're trying to think up tips for Cat 5. The bunch is thick but the pace is steady, except for the accordianing at the back. But, yeah, you don't want to ever be near the back. Yet there will be a field sprint so there's no point in doing anything except resting in 5-10th position and sliding up in a relaxed way if you notice some slippage..

[ ] personally I prefer to move up on the outside of the bunch in the straits....takes a lot of speed to do that, but you can drift in and out of the draft and make up 20-30 places with a short burst of speed. it's much safer too, unless some muppet swings out in front of you.

**YEAH, that works for a big move forward. But ideally a Cat 5 never wants to need to make a big move---stay away from the back. So for steady, relaxed effort in a steady pace event sliding forward a few places via braking less might be smarter. Who knows. It all depends.

[ ] I gather that cutting the inside of corners is also more or less accepted in the States, but here in Europe it's considered really rude, and if you're seen doing it a lot you're gonna get shouted at or even have someone block you off or edge you into the gutter.

**MAYBE it's also regional in the US. Or depends on pace. A moderate pace Cat 5 event might have several riders abreast in corners. The pace isn't strung out hardly ever. It's more like everyone is uniformly balked at going fast or at putting in big moves that get somewhere.

[ ] generally though, the higher the category the faster the race and the more attacks - I ride in Cat 1 and criteriums are 95% riding in single file near to maximum, with only a few moments of bunching together, usually due to team tactics, or people waiting to see who'll chase / attack.

**RIGHT---different tactics needed as compared to Cat 5. Cat 2+ events seem calmer, more orderly, organized---and much faster, especially during selections and then just fast the rest of the time. Frustrating in a different way to new Cat 2/3 riders than Cat 5's are to newbies.

accurately and instinctively identify the wobbly nervous guys, the way-too-aggressive-risk -taking guys, the guys that will go too fast into a corner and crash out, the guys that will go too slow into a corner and open up a gap, the guys who will let a gap open up on a fast strait and then jump out the line rather than ride it shut, the guys who are apparently happy to see a gap open up as long as they don't have to do any chasing, the guys who will never respond to any attack and instead will spread out across the road shrugging their shoulders and looking around blocking anybody behind them from bridging to the break.....(these guys are easy to spot as they usually wear Pro Tour team jerseys)

Avoid these guys.

Avoid them by staying in front of them.

Also learn to understand race parcours in terms of wind, road surface, corners etc. Think of them from a safety viewpoint - where the crashes are likely to happen - and also where attacks are gonna come, and where you can attack. Most beginners aren't going to have much of an idea of this. Be smarter than them and you can beat them even if they're stronger.

Great place to attack - the end of a strait into a headwind / sidewind, when you know that after the corner you'll have a tailwind. If you can get a gap, on a pack struggling into the wind, your gap will seem even bigger when the wind gets behind you after the corner and the guys on the front of the peloton might lose motivation to chase, thinking your gap is too big.

try and also time your attacks when a couple of guys you know won't chase are on the front. if you're attacking a breakaway wait til the strongest guy has just done a big turn.

BullGod:

Avoid them by staying in front of them.

***YEAH, it takes work to ride protected.

Also learn to understand race parcours in terms of wind, road surface, corners etc. Think of them from a safety viewpoint - where the crashes are likely to happen - and also where attacks are gonna come, and where you can attack.

***GOOD IDEAS here, but they're too advanced mostly. Remember, 90% of Cat 5 crits will end in field sprint. Attacks won't work, so don't bother. Dial in your field sprint skills until you get enough results to upgrade. I remember that Cat 3 was when tactics for the overall race started to matter. In Cat 2/3 the tactics mattered all the time. Probably certain huge Cat 2 events still turn into mobs where a field sprint is guaranteed.

Anyway, my advice for Cat 5 *results* (not skill-building) is to work only enough to stay near the front. Don't attack in a serious way. A way to fake out others to make them think that you are working is to use the method you mention: find a technical part of the course where you can pull without effort but with only using skills---lead the field each time thru a serious of tricky turns and potholes then pull off. No one will begrudge you yet it was no work and even easier than following someone.

The idea is to work enough so that you're rested at the end : ) ---by staying near the front but not on the front---and that you have the skills to slide up (via braking less) thru the last couple corners on the interior of whatever bunch is ahead of you, then get a nice, unbalked windup for a sprint. Of course you need the speed to win the sprint but the worst thing is to end up balked, boxed or feeling trapped---if a Cat 5 can go into final field sprint nicely that's the best skill they can learn. In crits.

My hunch anyway---am I way off? Missing any huge tricks?

---JP

crits , races, track ...

i started by pasing people on the side on a straight line in to the wind ...

maybe its stupid but you get stronger and its easy

don't make it to hard on your self and don't look for dangour

if you fall and you are out for a month there is no sprint to win ;)

try to avoid a feeld sprint some times ...

attack when from behind with more speed and than make a gap .... maybe nobody wants to come and get you ;)


ps:.... yes we hate in europe people doing cowboy stuff on the road ;)

I gather that cutting the inside of corners is also more or less accepted in the States, but here in Europe it's considered really rude, and if you're seen doing it a lot you're gonna get shouted at or even have someone block you off or edge you into the gutter.

Heck NO! chopping corners is just as stupid and rude here as it is in Europe (sorry Jeff - but its a totally NEWBIE move). Its likely to be found and does cause accidents in the lower cat fields because you get people who don't know any better... At very least most of us women know better and even in the Cat 4's we yell at people for doing it.... (yup - had a teammate taken out by someone doing this just last week - the other person ended up on the ground too and now understands why you do not try to move up in the corners) Now I'm not talking about cornering more than one abreast, but flying into the corner from behind and trying to move up - yeah its tempting isn't it, theres that big space..... that the whole bunch is going to move into as they take the corner properly, by cutting the apex.

Heck NO! chopping corners is just as stupid and rude here as it is in Europe (sorry Jeff - but its a totally NEWBIE move). Its likely to be found and does cause accidents in the lower cat fields because you get people who don't know any better... At very least most of us women know better and even in the Cat 4's we yell at people for doing it.... (yup - had a teammate taken out by someone doing this just last week - the other person ended up on the ground too and now understands why you do not try to move up in the corners) Now I'm not talking about cornering more than one abreast, but flying into the corner from behind and trying to move up - yeah its tempting isn't it, theres that big space..... that the whole bunch is going to move into as they take the corner properly, by cutting the apex.

first i answerd that its rude in belgium but i did not realy understand it in english :)

what she is telling me here in this text is wat we do all the time ....
you have to play it smart but you need te skills to do it !
smart but safe
if you want to go to the front in a pack from 200 riders here, you have to do it some times

so many corners afhter eatch other that the straight lines are to short to move up ...

you come from the back ... take the inside ... push the outside rider a littel away and than give full sprint to get ass far ass you can and put your self back in the pack ....

( sorry for the bad english )

first i answerd that its rude in belgium but i did not realy understand it in english :)

what she is telling me here in this text is wat we do all the time ....
you have to play it smart but you need te skills to do it !
smart but safe
if you want to go to the front in a pack from 200 riders here, you have to do it some times

so many corners afhter eatch other that the straight lines are to short to move up ...

you come from the back ... take the inside ... push the outside rider a littel away and than give full sprint to get ass far ass you can and put your self back in the pack ....

( sorry for the bad english )

It's hard to tell - but you mean move up on the inside before you hit the corner, correct? Yeah you can do that if 1. you are fast and the corner is far enough away and 2. you can find a space to move into in the pack before you hit the corner - otherwise you're likely to clip someone who is taking a proper line.... but hey a picture is international and worth a thousand words right so this is what I'm talking about. The guy on the inside (x) has to back off or hit someone if he tries to continue into the corner while the pack (double lines) goes through.

It's hard to tell - but you mean move up on the inside before you hit the corner, correct? Yeah you can do that if 1. you are fast and the corner is far enough away and 2. you can find a space to move into in the pack before you hit the corner - otherwise you're likely to clip someone who is taking a proper line.... but hey a picture is international and worth a thousand words right so this is what I'm talking about. The guy on the inside (x) has to back off or hit someone if he tries to continue into the corner while the pack (double lines) goes through.
well you are right in the case if you don't life in europa maybe :)

you see that littel gap between the house and the inside rider

we go for it ... brake hard squeeeeze in between them ... push hem outside and than accelerate realy hard

that way you can move 30 places or so ....


i am sorry for the bad habbit but i am for sure not the only one that does it :)
look at the pro's in the final miles .....