training for crits

Hi guys,<br /><br />Had my second race in two years today, ended up going out the back with about 3 to go &gt; Not being about to ride at a high speed isnt my problem, i could ride all day in a bunch at 40-45kph no problem at all. <br /><br />I'm finding my problem is being able to re-act to attack after attack......i'm sure its from lack of racing and me just doing 'junk miles' and hill work. <br /><br />So....whats the best way to get some speed back into my legs? I can only race once a week ATM due to work I'm getting in between 14-18 hours per week, mostly junk miles (i'm still abit fat ) with some 12-13km climbs thrown in for good measure <br /><br />thanks in advance

 

Isn't 40-45kph already speed work? Or is this a REALLY flat race?<br /><br />Spinning? good for leg speed and great for recovery from flat out effort, also, by the same reasoning, intervals.<br /><br />Only thing with spinning is to find a class led by someone who knows you want to improve road cycling, and make sure the class is an interval or cadence class, the power classes tend to be pretty useless for road cycling

 

[quote author=Rhodent link=board=19;threadid=2634;start=0#22573 date=1037183885]<br />Isn't 40-45kph already speed work? Or is this a REALLY flat race?<br /><br />Spinning? good for leg speed and great for recovery from flat out effort, also, by the same reasoning, intervals.<br /><br />Only thing with spinning is to find a class led by someone who knows you want to improve road cycling, and make sure the class is an interval or cadence class, the power classes tend to be pretty useless for road cycling<br />[/quote]<br /><br />Nah when i'm saying speed.....i'm talking about guys jumping up the road in the 12 cog over and over again riding at 40-45 is easy if you can follow a wheel

 

Have you tried doing some fartlek sessions? Alternativly you could plan an interval session that replicates what you do in a race.

 

there is three possible ways of improving your crit riding ability; skill aspect, lactate tolerance, and increased fitness (increased LT and Vo2max)<br /><br />as regards skill it might be that you aren't positioning yourself very well in the bunch, often people percieve that riding farther back in the group will be easier, but, due to the accordion effect, you can get an easier and smoother ride up front<br /><br />as 2Lap suggests, if you try to replicate the stochastic nature of crit riding in normal training this will help build your tolerance. These should be fairly short intervals repeated many times, with little recovery. It sh(c)ould be possible to do the skill aspect with these too (e.g., accelerating out of corners etc., but make sure the road is safe for this sort of 'fun')<br /><br />on the other hand, if you aim to build fitness (Vo2max, and LT) with long intervals (e.g., 180+secs, and ~15+minutes) then when you race you will produce less lactate, as the race will be relatively easier.<br /><br />ric