Criterium Motivation - Help

[BullGod]

Yesterday I "rode" a cat 1 crit in Holland. Typically for this country the circuit was less than a kilometre, with numerous 90 degree bends, some cobblestones, speed bumps and some signposts jutting out into the road.

Upon arriving I saw the finish of the Cat 2 race and some guy crashed on a bend and flew into someone's front garden. Straight away I had this "don't want to be here feeling" and this did not improve when I warmed up on the circuit and realised it was the worst kind of circuit for a non sprinting - not very good bike handler like myself.

I lined up at the back of the grid, I was really nervous and immediately took up the last wheel, declining opportunities to move up the field. On the cobblestone section I had to sprint to stay in contact and my back wheel was bouncing everywhere, I braked too much into the bends and allowed gaps to open up every time which made me feel nauseous to close, and I had no motivation so I quit after 10 minutes. Now my girflriend thinks I am a quitter. I'm disgusted with myself because I know I can do so much better. It's a mental "block" about criteriums.

Things is - I hate criteriums....I find them boring, dangerous, and I know that with my physical attributes and the way I ride I will never do well in them, but I haven't yet finished one and I really need to to have any respect for myself as a cyclist. Also, here in Holland there are ONLY criteriums....

I know what I need to do - start at the front, get to the front, stay at the front, I know about the accordion effect and how you shouldn't be in a position where you have to brake in the corners, I know about saving energy...and I know I can ride fast enough, I know I train enough and I know I have the ability because on the familiar circuit at my club I'm one of the strongest riders. However - I also know I lack experience, lack cornering ability and don't pack much of a sprint. So when the big race starts I get nervous and allow myself to drift to the back as a deliberate "strategy", then I find ways to justify quitting.

Does anybody have any advice on how to break this habit? So far I've come up with 1) enter more criteriums 2) don't ever ride near the back 3) don't ever quit...

are there any motivational strategies and / or criterium specific tips anyone thinks might help?

 

[Sillyoldtwit]

Yesterday I "rode" a cat 1 crit in Holland. Typically for this country the circuit was less than a kilometre, with numerous 90 degree bends, some cobblestones, speed bumps and some signposts jutting out into the road.

Upon arriving I saw the finish of the Cat 2 race and some guy crashed on a bend and flew into someone's front garden. Straight away I had this "don't want to be here feeling" and this did not improve when I warmed up on the circuit and realised it was the worst kind of circuit for a non sprinting - not very good bike handler like myself.

I lined up at the back of the grid, I was really nervous and immediately took up the last wheel, declining opportunities to move up the field. On the cobblestone section I had to sprint to stay in contact and my back wheel was bouncing everywhere, I braked too much into the bends and allowed gaps to open up every time which made me feel nauseous to close, and I had no motivation so I quit after 10 minutes. Now my girflriend thinks I am a quitter. I'm disgusted with myself because I know I can do so much better. It's a mental "block" about criteriums.

Things is - I hate criteriums....I find them boring, dangerous, and I know that with my physical attributes and the way I ride I will never do well in them, but I haven't yet finished one and I really need to to have any respect for myself as a cyclist. Also, here in Holland there are ONLY criteriums....

I know what I need to do - start at the front, get to the front, stay at the front, I know about the accordion effect and how you shouldn't be in a position where you have to brake in the corners, I know about saving energy...and I know I can ride fast enough, I know I train enough and I know I have the ability because on the familiar circuit at my club I'm one of the strongest riders. However - I also know I lack experience, lack cornering ability and don't pack much of a sprint. So when the big race starts I get nervous and allow myself to drift to the back as a deliberate "strategy", then I find ways to justify quitting.

Does anybody have any advice on how to break this habit? So far I've come up with 1) enter more criteriums 2) don't ever ride near the back 3) don't ever quit...

are there any motivational strategies and / or criterium specific tips anyone thinks might help?

There's your answer in bold - don't do them. Why do something you hate, makes no sense?

 

[Jono L]

You may learn to love them If you win! Sounds like you need GOALS! Attack from the first lap see what you can do. Attacking and smashing yourself ten minutes then quitting should still be more satisfying than sitting on the back then quitting after ten minutes. Seriously you gotta have some goals going into something you don't enjoy much. As corny as it sounds failing to plan is planning to fail.

Jono

 

[mikesbytes]

How far is it to drive to the border? Germany, Belgium, France ?

 

[AussieRob]

Why don't you ride down a couple of categories?

You should be able to stay on the front if not off the front. Then once you are more confident move up again. If you do ride down, be fair and don't take points and wins away from the guys in the lower grades. No one likes a sandbagger.

Just out of interest where did you ride that you could get to cat 1 without riding a bunch of crits?

 

[frenchyge]

If you don't sprint, then you're only opportunity is to go off the front. The pack will be more inclined to let you go early in the race, so I agree with your comments about starting up front and attacking right out of the gate so you can ride the race by yourself.

Unfortunately, there's just no way to ride crits without being comfortable cornering at high-speeds while shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of other maniacs. Maybe your teammates could help with that.

 

[RapDaddyo]

I can relate. Like you, I don't enjoy crits at all. I think my main problem is that I find them dangerous and the rewards aren't offset by the risks. Worst of all, I don't find them to be very good training rides because all the high-intensity efforts are too short. At least when I go out to do L6 intervals, I can do 30s-3m durations, whereas in a crit all the high-intensity efforts seem to be less than 20s. I really only ride them now when they are part of a stage race. When I do ride them, my only goal is to avoid a crash. So, I ride them very defensively, purposely creating gaps and having to close them because I am not comfortable with the other riders. I try to come away from them feeling as though they weren't a waste of time, but I almost never can. And I don't think a wall full of crit trophies would change my mind. I'd walk across hot coals for a long, hard, hilly RR but I wouldn't walk across the street for a crit.

 

[netscriber]

Whenever you have discomfort or nervousness about doing something, take it one step at a time. If possible ride with a smaller group on a local ride where you can practive cornering. Rig up some "cornering sprints" in the group. Next find a RR that has some cornering. Practice a circuit with corners, bumps in a controlled line(like the figure 8 around cones), alone as well. Once you get comfortable with the mobility and the speed with it you can add the stress of crits.

 

[DannoXYZ]

Things is - I hate criteriums....I find them boring, dangerous, and I know that with my physical attributes and the way I ride I will never do well in them, but I haven't yet finished one and I really need to to have any respect for myself as a cyclist. Also, here in Holland there are ONLY criteriums....

What are the field-sizes like in Holland? You have enough racers for separate cat-1 and cat-2 races? I raced for 10-years here in U.S. and the last 7 of those years in the cat-1/2/pro races. I did feel like you in my first two years of racing because I focused exclusively on fitness. Coming from a track&field running background, that's all I knew. You train hard, run fast, push yourself as fast as you can in the race and see how things turn out.

But bike-racing is completely different, the mental-aspects and tactics and strategies plays a much larger role in the outcome than pure-fitness sports. There's debate on how much of bike-racing's mental, but I"d say that crits have a much, much higher percentage of reliance on mental-accuity and strategy than road-races, maybe 60-80% of the crit's outcome is mental.

Can you imagine what it's like to win a race? Feeling the adrenaline pumping through your body on those last 5-10 laps. You're sprinting for the finish, neck&neck with the other front-runners, guys slamming into you on both sides as you fly around the last two corners scraping your pedals, but you don't budge or give an inch to them. You can see the finish and latch onto a lead-out in the last 400m. You grit your teeth and hang on against the searing pain in your legs and arms... your HRM indicates max, but somehow you feel your heartrate increasing... the lead guy peels off and it's just last-years champion leading the way... 150m... 100mm.. just 50m to go and you back off 5m and spin up in his draft. Just as you're about to rear-end him, you pull around... 30m to go.. your front-wheel moves up next this crank... 15m to go... your front wheel moves up to his handlebars... 10m you're perfectly even... 5m... you scream in a last-ditch effort as your vision starts to fade... one final lunge of the bike forward... your seat hits your stomach so hard you get the wind knocked out of you... can't breathe... but VICTORY !!!! Nipped him at the line by just 10cm!!!

 

[flipper]

...

Can you imagine what it's like to win a race? Feeling the adrenaline pumping through your body on those last 5-10 laps. You're sprinting for the finish, neck&neck with the other front-runners, guys slamming into you on both sides as you fly around the last two corners scraping your pedals, but you don't budge or give an inch to them. You can see the finish and latch onto a lead-out in the last 400m. You grit your teeth and hang on against the searing pain in your legs and arms... your HRM indicates max, but somehow you feel your heartrate increasing... the lead guy peels off and it's just last-years champion leading the way... 150m... 100mm.. just 50m to go and you back off 5m and spin up in his draft. Just as you're about to rear-end him, you pull around... 30m to go.. your front-wheel moves up next this crank... 15m to go... your front wheel moves up to his handlebars... 10m you're perfectly even... 5m... you scream in a last-ditch effort as your vision starts to fade... one final lunge of the bike forward... your seat hits your stomach so hard you get the wind knocked out of you... can't breathe... but VICTORY !!!! Nipped him at the line by just 10cm!!!

Cheers Danno! That was almost as much fun as the real thing
I might re-read that later with my HRM on

 

[frenchyge]

Whenever you have discomfort or nervousness about doing something, take it one step at a time. If possible ride with a smaller group on a local ride where you can practive cornering.

Can you imagine what it's like to win a race?

LOL! Nothing wrong with the advice guys, but I can't help but laugh with the thought that a Cat 1 might actually need that kind of help.

I guess, like AussieRob, I'm curious how someone advances to Cat 1 without ever becoming comfortable racing crits. Other than being more monotonous, they don't seem that terribly different then cornering on a twisty road race on city streets, like they have in Europe.

 

[BullGod]

The way you get a license in Holland seems to work as follows. 1) you go to a club and ride in their club race and they tell you how good they are and what license you should get. 2) You have a full on medical exam and the doctor says whether you can hack it at that level.

The ranking works diferently though - here it is Elite, Amateur "A", Amateur "B" and Amateur "C". C is like a Cat 5, I guess B would be 3 and 4, and "A" is 2 and 1. Elite is elite wherever you are. There doesn't seem to be a points requirement to move up the categories as in the UK for example. The issue I have about moving down to "B" level is that I race with those guys at my club race each week and I find it really easy to ride off the front constantly when those guys are really puffing.

The field size varies between 100 and 25 at this level, and occasionally they are Elite and Cat 1 mixed. Those are ridiculously hard. I did one and some guys from Rabobank, Lowik, Apac and some other top Dutch teams showed up. After 2 laps me and about 10 others are off the back.

I did read some stuff on the net about cornering, and I can confirm that my previous technique is, as we say in UK, bollocks. I grip really tightly on the bars, fingers ready on the brakes, and tense up my whole body. I went training last night, and totally relaxed my grip on the bars, and all the muscles in my upper body. I seemed to float round the corners without having to brake or even slow down much. I think this is gonna help.

Next time I race a crit - in July - I am going to line up at the front of the grid, sprint off like my life depends on it, get in a good podition in the front and not even think about braking in a corner. There will be no more starting at the back thinking only about how dangerous this is and how much I don't want to be there. That's the difference.

 

[DannoXYZ]

Next time I race a crit - in July - I am going to line up at the front of the grid, sprint off like my life depends on it, get in a good podition in the front and not even think about braking in a corner. There will be no more starting at the back thinking only about how dangerous this is and how much I don't want to be there. That's the difference.

Yeah, that'll help tremendously! Sounds like you're strong as an ox, all you need is technique and strategy ! I'd recommend starting at the front row on either side against the kerb. What happens when they start is the pack migrates towards the centre like a flock of geese in an arrowhead pattern. This opens up the sides and gives you more room. While the poor saps in the middle are getting swarmed and stuck, you can fly up the outside and right into the best position. Staying in the top 10% of the pack really makes it easy to move around, safer to because they typically go around the corners single-file and you don't get boxed in.

Another thing to consider is attitude and how you look at things. We tend to get what we focus on and we only have so much time and attention to devote to things. The races I've won were where I was single-mindedly focused with tunnel-vision only on winning; nothing else mattered. The thing going through my mind constantly was "What's it gonna take to WIN! What do I have to do to WIN! Who do I have to follow to WIN!". Everything I did was derived from that.

On the other hand, if you focus on "don't get hurt, don't crash, I'm scared", then you'll be in terror the whole time. Tight, tense, nervous... it's a self-fulflling prophecy, you'll crash for sure! Or at best you'll get the result you want, you won't crash, and maybe you'll finish the race... barely and not even in contention...

There's a difference between playing "not to lose" versus "playing to win".

 

[frenchyge]

The way you get a license in Holland seems to work as follows. 1) you go to a club and ride in their club race and they tell you how good they are and what license you should get. 2) You have a full on medical exam and the doctor says whether you can hack it at that level.

That's interesting. In that case, I would suggest riding a few races in the B field even though you're much stronger. Since you shouldn't have any problem hanging on, the idea would be to get used to cornering at a slightly lower speed and get some practice moving around in the pack. Instead of riding off the front, just sit in and get a feel for what it's like at various places in the group, or practice working from the back to the front. If any of the local clubs run training crits, then I'd suggest joining in those as well, to get experience if nothing else.

 

[BullGod]

I ride a training crit every tuesday evening at my club on a 1400m circuit. We ride an average of about 42km/h, but it's not that competitive, as it's a mix of riders from elite to youth. The step up to the national Cat 1 races is about 20% I reckon.

Still, it's all good practice I suppose.

My problem is mainly a psychological aversion to criteriums. Man I long for a long RR or a TT. A straight section of road longer than 200m would be heaven ;-)

I reckon I can make the necessary improvement though. Just some more experience and some practice should do the trick, plus a totally different mental approach. I know that I just have to get through the first 15 minutes and then my fitness should get me out of trouble.

 

[netscriber]

LOL! Nothing wrong with the advice guys, but I can't help but laugh with the thought that a Cat 1 might actually need that kind of help.

I guess, like AussieRob, I'm curious how someone advances to Cat 1 without ever becoming comfortable racing crits. Other than being more monotonous, they don't seem that terribly different then cornering on a twisty road race on city streets, like they have in Europe.

I had the same thought Frenchyge. But it reminded me of a DVD I had seen a while back. "The hard road" was about the Netzero team had a couple of aussies(now no offense to aussies) that mentioned that many of the Euros and even the Aussies were amazed at the crit speeds here in the US. I think its a slightly different ball game. People can get upto cat1 in some places without doing crits.