Mountain Biking to Road Racing

First off welcome to the road! 🙂

to move from cat 5 to cat 4 you must complete 10 mass start races(road or crit) TT do not count for this

pack riding can be tricky..make sure to practice holding your line..it gets more comfortable the more times your in a pack..group rides are good for training this.

your "balls to the wall" technique could work..I have seen it happen in races..but your conditioning would have to be far greater than anyone else in the race, which,no offense, is doubtful. It is much easier to keep a high pace with multiple riders together..rotating between pulling and drafting between the riders..it conserves energy and is faster.

IMH, the best place to be is the front half of the pack...look for someone who seems strong and grab there wheel.

the earliest I'd attack would be 5 laps to go(crit) or 4-5 k(road)..later would be better if possible..the point being you want to be as strong as possible the last few hundred yards

hope this helps ya a little

-Peg

Pegleg said:

First off welcome to the road! 🙂

to move from cat 5 to cat 4 you must complete 10 mass start races(road or crit) TT do not count for this

pack riding can be tricky..make sure to practice holding your line..it gets more comfortable the more times your in a pack..group rides are good for training this.

your "balls to the wall" technique could work..I have seen it happen in races..but your conditioning would have to be far greater than anyone else in the race, which,no offense, is doubtful. It is much easier to keep a high pace with multiple riders together..rotating between pulling and drafting between the riders..it conserves energy and is faster.

IMH, the best place to be is the front half of the pack...look for someone who seems strong and grab there wheel.

the earliest I'd attack would be 5 laps to go(crit) or 4-5 k(road)..later would be better if possible..the point being you want to be as strong as possible the last few hundred yards

hope this helps ya a little

-Peg

Thanks for responding to both my posts , Peg!

The info helped a lot, thanks. My problem is this: I can only afford one new bike. I very much enjoy mountain bike racing, as the enviroment is very friendly, and I love being out in the woods and tackling tricky terrain.Also, you don't need a license and you can move yourself up to a higher level voluntarily without having to qualify. (for local races, anyway) However, I think I would also enjoy being a roadie, too, for the speed and strategy involved. So I basically must choose between road racing and mountain bike racing. To be honest, road racing seems fairly intimidating. The people seem far more serious than mounntain bike racers. In any event, I think it mostly comes down to race availability. There are mountain bike races every weekend in my state, which is awesome. However, is road racing the same?Are there a lot of racing options in every state? Thanks!

you are most welcome 🙂

No reason to be intimidated my friend..no matter what the circumstance we are all just goof balls rolling around on two wheels 😉

As to race availibity there are tons all the time..here at least(CA) sure most states are similar.

you are correct that most catagory based races are serious..maybe too much so at times, but that doesnt mean you have to be..I tend to go around BSing and such as primarily I go to have fun.

If these are too hairy for you at first there are a bunch of fun rides,group rides,club rides etc that are either competitive or semi competitive..might be a good way to cut your teeth so to say, as they are less tense in nature.

let me know if you need any more info mate
-Peg