Fitness for racing

SLG said:

Hi ive only just started cycling,
i really want to race, but i dont if im fit enough
i can ride long rides (100-150Km) at about avg.25-30 Km/h

so, would i be suitable for lowest cat racing?

can't really say... Racing is a different beast than just steady riding and i consider TTing a different sport than mass start Road Racing... you can be a wicked TTer and get completely blown away on lap 1 of a criterium for a variety of reason... the pace of mass start racing is very variable... road racing can be made up of long periods low intensity (less than your training rides) with short to extended period of extremely high intensity accompanied with excruciating pain where you get dropped never to see the group again.

best advice is join a local club and do some group rides and get comfortable with group riding. and if you have them in your city, do some local club races before you make the jump... one of the biggest barriers to mass start racing is bike handling and just being comfortable riding comfortably within inches of other riders for extended periods of time... if you do group rides you will learn how to draft properly (extremely important), get comfortable with riding close to others, etiquette (some of which won't apply to racing but...) and tips and trick etc...

Yeah I'm in the same boat as you. The biggest thing I'm worried about is developing the bike handling skills. If you think you can race safely, then you might as well go ahead and start racing, even if your fitness isn't high enough. I mean it will probably still be fun, you will be able to meet new people, and it will help provide motivation.

doctorSpoc said:

.... best advice is join a local club and do some group rides and get comfortable with group riding...

That's really good advice. Speed alone won't tell you if you're ready to race (unless of course you're already breaking the hour record 🙂 ) but bike handling and pack skills are necessary to stay upright and to have fun. Riding well in the field is important for your safety and for those around you, erratic riding, random braking and bad pack ettiquette will make you the target of harassment and can really take the fun out of the learning curve. Ask around at high end bike shops about clubs and group rides in your area.

Good luck,
Dave

+1 on the join a club comments.
i'm in a similar boat on the road racing idea, but have been doing mtb racing for over 6months now [weekly dirt crits and enduro events]. started out at the back end of the field and was happy to do so while fitness and the like increased. am now mixing it up in the lower grades.
hoping to do the same for road crits as well as other riding events, but am uncomfortable in bunches on the road. have been joining some bunches when on beach rd to start getting the hang of it. nearly all are happy for you to join them.

doctorSpoc said:

can't really say... Racing is a different beast than just steady riding and i consider TTing a different sport than mass start Road Racing... you can be a wicked TTer and get completely blown away on lap 1 of a criterium for a variety of reason... the pace of mass start racing is very variable... road racing can be made up of long periods low intensity (less than your training rides) with short to extended period of extremely high intensity accompanied with excruciating pain where you get dropped never to see the group again.

best advice is join a local club and do some group rides and get comfortable with group riding. and if you have them in your city, do some local club races before you make the jump... one of the biggest barriers to mass start racing is bike handling and just being comfortable riding comfortably within inches of other riders for extended periods of time... if you do group rides you will learn how to draft properly (extremely important), get comfortable with riding close to others, etiquette (some of which won't apply to racing but...) and tips and trick etc...

Or do some charity rides?

SLG said:

Hi ive only just started cycling,
i really want to race, but i dont if im fit enough
i can ride long rides (100-150Km) at about avg.25-30 Km/h

so, would i be suitable for lowest cat racing?

I think you are well on the way to being able to race... if you can't ride the length of a road race by yourself at a decent speed then it's guaranteed you will get blown away in a road race. 3 years ago I had never ridden farther than 50 km in one go at 30 kph average and now 130 km at 35+ kph is not a problem. This is on somewhat rolling course but no major climbs. A major key to rode racing is riding closely behind other riders when you're not at the front, and reacting immediately to surges so you don't drop behind.

-bikeguy

I think a mistake a lot of newcomers make is to ride LSD (long steady distance) - For example a race may average 33kph for 80km, but there will be times when the bunch is flying at 48kph, and other times when they're sitting up and chatting at 28.....it's all very wekk if you can ride at 33kph for 80km, but if you can't ride a short distance at 48 - you're gonna get dropped.

you need to make sure you can handle bursts of pure speed for different durations before you can be sure you can take racing. For that - do some intervals, and micro intervals. try 5 x (5 min hard / easy), 10 x (1 min hard/easy) and 10 x (30s hard / easy) for example.

I think between the lower and upper categories the difference is not always the speed, but the duration at which the riders can sustain the intensity and the frequency they can repeat it.

BullGod said:

I think a mistake a lot of newcomers make is to ride LSD (long steady distance) - For example a race may average 33kph for 80km, but there will be times when the bunch is flying at 48kph, and other times when they're sitting up and chatting at 28.....it's all very wekk if you can ride at 33kph for 80km, but if you can't ride a short distance at 48 - you're gonna get dropped.

you need to make sure you can handle bursts of pure speed for different durations before you can be sure you can take racing. For that - do some intervals, and micro intervals. try 5 x (5 min hard / easy), 10 x (1 min hard/easy) and 10 x (30s hard / easy) for example.

I think between the lower and upper categories the difference is not always the speed, but the duration at which the riders can sustain the intensity and the frequency they can repeat it.

I agree, but if you don't have the endurance to ride for 2+ hrs at a decent intensity you'll just fall off the back, tired. I second that you have to be able to ride hard at 50+ km/hr for at least a km to be able to handle surges. Oh yeah, and EAT and DRINK during the ride, or you WILL get tired and fall of the back.

-bikeguy

Hi, thanks for the tips guys. I'll do interval training after the base training and then maybe enter some races. Thanks again