Beginner to road biking/want to start racing!

[justduckie06]

it's awesome your school has a team. mine is kind of small and doens't have one, so i try and ride with a local club. this will be my first real season riding with them, as two seasons ago I was just learning and got dropped before anyone knew I was there, and last year i was touring. I don't know how much time i'll have for training as I'm about to start my spring semester with 17 credits while working full time. April will probably be the earliest i get back on my bike.

good luck with your season on the college team! It should be awesome. and yes, when you don't have the right gear, riding in the cold is soooo bitter! before my tour i got all geared out! sounds like you'll hav e aton of fun though! good luck!

[Pedal Wench]

How do you go about training specifically for a short ride, like the TT that you are doing? Do you just practice riding as fast as you can for 9 miles? Or, are intervals better?

[RoadRaven]

If you are training for TT...

Hmmm, I am no expert, but I find the way I am improving is having some short spinning sessions (about 10-15km on the road) - I don't allow myself out of the small chain ring... it sacrifices speed, but trains my legs to spin...

Because TT is what I want to race, I do not spend alot of time doing long rides, but tend to focus on 20-30km rides which are the distance I will TT over...

I do do occasional longer rides (40-50km) but these are more about increasing endurance than anything else.

Intervals are def useful for with TTs or crits... I suggest you search on this site for other discussion.

Good luck