wanting to race, so how?



amberella

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Feb 6, 2011
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i'm new to this. i'm lost and completely overwhelmed. i want to do some tt's but i don't even know where to start. how many races do you have to do to be ranked? what category am i in? i have a tri bike, can i use it? any direction would be good. i don't even know what questions to ask, so any help would be good
smile.gif
thanks so much! i hope someone out there can send me in the right direction. i've been searching forum after forum for the right stuff, but can't quite find what i'm looking for. i'll keep looking in the meantime but really hope someone can help.
 
i guess what i'm wanting is for someone to say, "hey, do this race, you're in this category, it's this distance, and this is the time you should be aiming for." so if there are any bossy people out there, go ahead, and boss away because i sure could use it. i feel like i've wasted so much time trying to figure this out on my own and i've made it way more complicated than it should be. i don't even know why it's complicated to me. i jumped into triathlons by myself and that is one complicated sport but yet i can't figure this out. now i'm wanting to cycle more competitively since that's where i'm stronger. i feel like i could be really good at it but i just don't know what to do. i think i might be intimidated by cyclists.
 
Originally Posted by amberella .

i guess what i'm wanting is for someone to say, "hey, do this race, you're in this category, it's this distance, and this is the time you should be aiming for." so if there are any bossy people out there, go ahead, and boss away because i sure could use it. i feel like i've wasted so much time trying to figure this out on my own and i've made it way more complicated than it should be. i don't even know why it's complicated to me. i jumped into triathlons by myself and that is one complicated sport but yet i can't figure this out. now i'm wanting to cycle more competitively since that's where i'm stronger. i feel like i could be really good at it but i just don't know what to do. i think i might be intimidated by cyclists.
You are not alone. This is a common thing that "we" hear all the time. Breaking into bike racing is hard for a lot of people. I want to give you the advice you are looking for, but it would help a lot to know where you are from. Obviously, if you are in the area, I can tell you what races are good for beginners. I am guessing from your name that you are a woman. If you are in the united states, you will probably want a USA cycling liscence, and you would be categery (cat) 4.

Around here, you can find individual TTs anywhere from 10K-40K. How fast you want/need to go is dependent on your fitness, the conditions (wind, hills, etc), and the distance. Short TTs are "all out efforts" and longer TTs require more pacing so you don't blow up early. The good thing about TTs for someone "intimidated by cyclists" is that you ride alone! So you don't have to worry about what other people are doing, and can focus on your effort.

However, once you have a USAcycling license, you might find that you want to do more than TTs, like crits and road races where you will, in fact, be racing in close proximity to your competition!! These races are tons of fun, but can be a little scary and do require good bike handling skills and some overall confidence.
 
Please search for my posts. Last year, I had felt the same frustrations you were. So I took the advice people gave me, did some racing, and then wrote about my races from the beginner's perspective. I hope they transferred over when the site changed it's layout and stuff. Most were somehow titled, Crit Racing, the beginners perspective. I wrote about 7 such posts and each had great reviews and helpful information. I also go into detail of what I learned along the way. And if that isn;t available, bug me again. I'll put up another detailed post on the beginners perspective to help explain. Also look for the post I wrote, "1st crit race of the season".
 
Originally Posted by amberella .

i'm new to this. i'm lost and completely overwhelmed. i want to do some tt's but i don't even know where to start. how many races do you have to do to be ranked? what category am i in? i have a tri bike, can i use it? any direction would be good. i don't even know what questions to ask, so any help would be good
smile.gif
thanks so much! i hope someone out there can send
Are there any racing development clubs in your area? That would be my first step, find some people to train with, race with, and learn from. And that's the way we got started back in the day.
 
i live out at fort irwin, ca. it's about 30 miles outside of the closest town which is barstow,ca. and if you're familiar with the area you'll know that barstow is a meth town. so, no, there's nothing close to me. the closest town is victorville and that's almost an hour and a half away. we have a small cycling community on post but most of them are recreational or tour riders. i ride with them but that's usually for socializing more than training. i wish i lived close to a club so i could find out more about racing but that's not an option right now. i've been wanting to go do some saturday morning rides in v-ville, but with kids and a husband in the military, it's difficult to get off post. i have to know exactly what i'm doing before i go because i don't have time to waste when i do get off post. oh, circumstances. i just need all the information before i sign up for something so i can be as prepared as possible for when i do get around my first time trial.
 
Originally Posted by amberella .

i live out at fort irwin, ca. it's about 30 miles outside of the closest town which is barstow,ca. and if you're familiar with the area you'll know that barstow is a meth town. so, no, there's nothing close to me. the closest town is victorville and that's almost an hour and a half away. we have a small cycling community on post but most of them are recreational or tour riders. i ride with them but that's usually for socializing more than training. i wish i lived close to a club so i could find out more about racing but that's not an option right now. i've been wanting to go do some saturday morning rides in v-ville, but with kids and a husband in the military, it's difficult to get off post. i have to know exactly what i'm doing before i go because i don't have time to waste when i do get off post. oh, circumstances. i just need all the information before i sign up for something so i can be as prepared as possible for when i do get around my first time trial.

Here's a link full of interesting stuff:

http://www.socalcycling.com/

Links to event calendars, clubs etc etc...

If you want to do road racing or crits, you'll need a road bike (no tri/aero bars), helmet, some money and you'll be racing in Cat5 events. If you're over 35 then you can run in the appropriate Masters classes too.

You can do time trials on your tri bike. Again - you'll be Cat5.

If you want to move up to Cat4 you will need to compete in 10 mass start events of ~10 miles or more. So 10 road races or crits and you're moving up. Time trials are not mass start events so you can ride those all day, every day and you'll remain Cat5.
 
Try Hesperia. I think they are relatively closer. It is a developing town, so you might get lucky with finding groups. when I drove to Vegas, I took my bike and found a great group to ride with on Saturday. We went 50 miles that morning. I got in front with the faster riders. We were drafting effectively and efficiently, hitting zone 5 levels and pulling at 29 mph. It was Fantastic. But they have all levels of riders including newbies.

you want to get in a group where you can learn basics of riding in groups.. hand signals, how to communicate, riding in close proximity to other riders.. holding your line, cornering.. etc.you need your husband to get a transfer to something a little closer to life. I've been out to that desert more times than I care to admit over my 20 years in the Army.... And it really is out in the middle of nowhere.
 
Originally Posted by swampy1970 .



Quote: Originally Posted by amberella .

i live out at fort irwin, ca. it's about 30 miles outside of the closest town which is barstow,ca. and if you're familiar with the area you'll know that barstow is a meth town. so, no, there's nothing close to me. the closest town is victorville and that's almost an hour and a half away. we have a small cycling community on post but most of them are recreational or tour riders. i ride with them but that's usually for socializing more than training. i wish i lived close to a club so i could find out more about racing but that's not an option right now. i've been wanting to go do some saturday morning rides in v-ville, but with kids and a husband in the military, it's difficult to get off post. i have to know exactly what i'm doing before i go because i don't have time to waste when i do get off post. oh, circumstances. i just need all the information before i sign up for something so i can be as prepared as possible for when i do get around my first time trial.

Here's a link full of interesting stuff:

http://www.socalcycling.com/

Links to event calendars, clubs etc etc...

If you want to do road racing or crits, you'll need a road bike (no tri/aero bars), helmet, some money and you'll be racing in Cat5 events. If you're over 35 then you can run in the appropriate Masters classes too.

You can do time trials on your tri bike. Again - you'll be Cat5.

If you want to move up to Cat4 you will need to compete in 10 mass start events of ~10 miles or more. So 10 road races or crits and you're moving up. Time trials are not mass start events so you can ride those all day, every day and you'll remain Cat5.


actually, there is no cat5 for women, so she will start as a cat4 and if she wants to cat up she'll need results . . .
 
Originally Posted by CalicoCat .




actually, there is no cat5 for women, so she will start as a cat4 and if she wants to cat up she'll need results . . .
I didn't pick up on the fact that Ambrella was a lady - just got used to all the effeminate types in and around SF and didn't solve that little part of that particular equation. ;)
 
seems like my other post was deleted or something. I dont know why. I was in the same position as you a while back. I did alot of research when I started of, asked alot of questions and eventually was more confused than when I started. I know how overlwelming it can. So eventually someone reffered me to [SIZE= 11pt][COLOR= #0000ff]RIDE SMARTER[/COLOR]http://b5e5fj37r8voew9i8-506zao8d.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=cycleforum[/SIZE] way of cycling way of cycling. I tried it out and it worked great for me. It had all the answers I needed. If it worked for me it will work for you as well. If that seems a bot hard core you could always just search for training and start off programs, there is a wide variety to suite everyones needs.

Like I said before, you have got the itch!
 
The group is separating which makes it insanely more difficult to draft. coming thought the final turn, I stood up and laid in the acceleration, sprinting. One guy next to me was doing the same, and he was just a hair faster than I, but he couldn't hold it for the duration and I edged out in front. I passed two other riders who had were not sprinting. It doesn't really mean anything since I am no where near the top 20 among this 105 riders present. Yeah, there was quite the turnout for the first race of the season. End result, I am happy with my performance today. And as I said earlier, I still have all my skin.
 
thanks for all the advice! i tend to confuse myself with too much information so this direction is greatly appreciated.
 
Here's what I did in this my first season of actual racing: Go to www.USACycling.org. Register,get your card and number. Look up local races on your local racing association's site and go. When you get to the race, make friends. Ask questions. You'll find lots of great folks willing to point you in the right direction. Also, if you're near a bike shop, ask them!
 

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