hockinsk said:
UK has corners too like you guys do I guess. Most UK amateur races are around circuits either on public or private road circuits. All I’m trying to get at, is if you can comfortably hold 20mph average while out training on your own for 40-50 miles (much easier said than done by the way), then you have a good chance holding onto the back of the bunch. No science, just a bit of practical advice from my experience and perhaps some basic assumptions that you've included some sprinting and interval work within your training miles to simulate race conditions. I was just trying to give a simple answer to CU Cyclist's average speed question, which was the topic of this thread after all?
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I can roll 20mph till the end of time, but to say that a race will only fluctuate 2mph is a gross, terrible understatement. Our A races will go from 25mph to 40mph in a couple hundred meters for a prime, then settle at 30mph when someone tries to break off the front, rocket back up and slow down.
Collegiate A's will have a variety of dudes, from Pros to Cat3s. The crazy thing is, after a while, a couple weekends maybe, those 3s will stop hanging at the back and become a factor in the race. Which is why I love college racing. It's a great time, both during and after the races (parties, anyone?), as well as teaching the less experienced 3s what a higher level race is like, both in terms of positioning and physically. I'm going to be an A for the first time this year, and have learned everything I know from the guys on my college team. I'm going to get my ass kicked, and enjoy every minute of it. Average speed is not the problem, the accelerations are.
B's, which is where I was my first year (last spring), can have some pretty capable people as well. Lots of these guys are strong 4s or 3s. The main problem that I had with the B's was the amount of utterly idiotic moves some people made. Guys were too eager to be the prime lap hero and ended up making some pretty poor choices, one of which put two of us (myself and another dude) in the hospital. The guy who caused it, of course, walked away from it. In terms of pace, it's generally pretty decent, but, as others have mentioned, the accelerations are the killers at all levels.
C's and D's are Cat 4s and 5s, or completely new racers. The D's scare the sh!t out of me, to be honest. If I were to ever be in a crit with them, by some cruel twist of fate, I would go straight off the front, and if/as soon as someone caught me, I'd drop out, because I KNOW I would go down in a crash.