First Race Coming Up. Any Advice?

[WindingRoad]

I have my first road race this weekend, Sunday and I am a little nervous. It's a 4 mile loop and we are supposed to do 4 laps. I've heard people say try to stay in the middle of the pack is that good to do? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Tokie]

My fast friend always tries to stay up near the front to avoid sketchy riders. See if you can find a friend to go out on a grassy field to practice bumping (shoulders mostly) (gently) into each other so you know what it feels like and not freak out. It is also good to (again, gently) practice touching wheels riding on grass. You'll probably fall down doing these practices, but you'll be going slow, and on grass, not pavement. Bodies and wheels do touch sometimes during races, so it is good to know what it feels like, and to realize that you're going to be ok. Get in a good warm up on your trainer. Protect your handlebars when you race - keep your elbows slightly wider than your bars when things get crowded up so no one can accidentally get their bars hooked up with yours and take you both down. Try to get on a good wheel and stay there. Watch what's going on all around you, but also try to take in the whole group to watch for opportunities to move up. Be sure to find out if the race course is closed to traffic or not. And most important of all, have fun! Let us know how it goes! Tokie

[Eden]

Tokie gives some good advice.

One other thing about handlebars - if the pack is close and the speed is fast, keep your hands on your drops (and always in the drops around corners and downhill). This also prevents being hooked by other riders and makes you more stable. In a race with a lot of corners and/or a fast pace, like a crit, its best to just stay in your drops for the entire thing.

For your first race, just concentrate on getting comfortable riding in a pack. Even if you've practiced pacelining and group riding, there's still nothing quite like riding in a pack race for the first time. Don't worry it gets less scary. I wouldn't ever say stay in the middle. If you are looking to save energy, staying perhaps in the first 1/3rd is good, but closer to the front is better than dead middle and like Tokie says, closer to the front is usually safer. That said a pack is a very fluid thing and you'll find yourself at the back sometimes without even knowing how you got there, so just try to relax and get more used to moving up and moving back

So now some don'ts
Don't make sudden moves, and look before you move. You do not have to announce your intentions, it is a race after all, but do be sure to always look to your side and behind before you move left or right and try to be fluid about it rather than jerky.

Don't half wheel. Yes this can be a difficult thing to do in a pack, but really do try to keep the half wheeling to a minimum... try to ride shoulder to shoulder or should to hip.

[WindingRoad]

Thanks a bunch. I appreciate the advice. Keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow.

[SheFly]

Great advice here already. So to add, I will say Have Fun!

And I always tell my team before a race, "Remember that we all have to go to work tomorrow."

Can't wait to hear all about it. Good luck, ride safe, and have a great time!

SheFly

[Tokie]

Oh PS (this may be too late, but it's just an etiquette thing!) don't say anything in the heat of the moment that will annoy your fellow racers. My coach told us "you only get one chance to make a good first impression". You may hear "feed back" during the race regarding your riding skills/strategies, take it in stride ( it may help you be a safer racer) but it's not important to get in a discussion about it. Looking forward to hearing how it went! Tokie