Excuse me if this has been covered before, but I'm new to the forum..
I'm interested in trying a couple road races this year. I've been into road cycling for ten years, and I think I could hold my own in the cat 5s, but I'm curious about a few things..
I'm on an older Ciocc with with 7 gears and downtube shifters. Do you think this will seriously hamper me, assuming my riding abilities are on par? Are other cat 5s typically on 10s Carbon Fiber bikes?
How competitive is cat 5 racing? What kind of training program would someone typically need to have in order to be successful?
you should be alright, people are riding all kinds of bikes, from the 10 grand super bikes to older steel bikes with downtubes. At this level there is such a difference in the engines in the races that the difference a bike makes is minimal. STI"s might be a help in the final sprint, but as long as it isn't a really technical run into the finish just work on finding out what gear you need to be in to jump and make sure you are in that gear for the sprint and you'll be alright.
you should be alright, people are riding all kinds of bikes, from the 10 grand super bikes to older steel bikes with downtubes. At this level there is such a difference in the engines in the races that the difference a bike makes is minimal. STI"s might be a help in the final sprint, but as long as it isn't a really technical run into the finish just work on finding out what gear you need to be in to jump and make sure you are in that gear for the sprint and you'll be alright.
do cat 5 road races (other than crits) often end in sprints? I assumed they'd get usually broken up quite a bit.
Don't have a ton of experience with RR because there aren't that many of them where i live. From the few i've done the do break up if the course has hills on it. If it is flat the results are going to be the same as a crit, bunch sprint because cat 5 guys are afraid of letting any break go up the road because they aren't confident enough that an entire pack can bring back a group of tired cat 5 guys. But RR's are probably more of a survival of the fittest.
Don't have a ton of experience with RR because there aren't that many of them where i live. From the few i've done the do break up if the course has hills on it. If it is flat the results are going to be the same as a crit, bunch sprint because cat 5 guys are afraid of letting any break go up the road because they aren't confident enough that an entire pack can bring back a group of tired cat 5 guys. But RR's are probably more of a survival of the fittest.
yeah, there aren't too many RRs around here (san fran bay) either.. I've spotted a few on the www.ncnca.org calender that I want to try, but it's mostly criteriums, which don't really appeal to me. Maybe if I enjoy the road races and feel like I can hold my own, I'll start trying crits as well.
well i have jus purchased a snazzy new white coloured raleigh milk racing bike today, i have been thinking about road biking for quite a while but i got this bike out of the paper for £35 i fink i got a bargain it is in basically perfect condition. Does ne1 know any thing about this bike? plz reply
