Specific Race Questions...

[BalaRoja]

Countdown to race day is own, first race day that is.

I'd wanted to ask some of the more experienced racers a few related questions.

First off, I'm going to be riding unattached. Chalk it up to relocating at a bad time - meaning, I did so exactly as teams fill their spots. I was set to join a great team before my move, now in my new location, everybody's roster is full. Major bummer but there's nothing I can do about it

However I have done a lot of regular group rides with a variety of folks (practicing pacelines, climbing, sprints, attacks, etc), so I feel good about my pack skills.

Question: The feedback I get from people (mostly men actually) I have done group rides with is that in a typical Cat IV road race, everything/everyone gets chased down, at least initially. Is that generally true, that all attacks get chased & nobody gets to take a flyer? Obviously if the attacker is that much stronger than everyone else & then they can stay away I assume....

Question: In your typical group ride, people rotate & take turns up front. In a race while everything is still together in the main bunch, does everyone rotate & take turns up front or do you have a few riders who choose to stay up front and drive the pace of the bunch? I assume if only a handful of people stay up front & do all that work, that they do so for their own reasons such as to surge & try to break/drop the others or setup teammates. It makes sense to rotate & share the work in a breakaway but maybe not so much with the main bunch. The advice I've gotten which seems sound is to not be up front unless you have good reason to be. By the way, the local races are pretty small so we are talking a pack of maybe 15ish and as before, I'm unattached.

Lets see, what else: already have a racing license, plans to get the bike tuned at least 1 week before the race, crinkle my race number so it doesn't flap around like a kite in the wind, good warm-up on the trainer before the event.....

Finally, are there any other tips or suggestions? I've tried to read as many of the race related threads on here and there's some good stuff on there, but maybe there's additional feedback? I'm sure I've missed some things

[arielmoon]

I got nothing as I have never raced but I wanted to wish you luck! Let us know how it goes!

[aicabsolut]

First, I have never heard of a place where all the teams are "full." Even so, you don't really need a team in a lower category race, because team coordination isn't really there a lot of the time anyway, for various reasons.

Question 1: Yes, most of the time, attacks in a cat 4 race will be chased down instantly. On rare occasions, people who know the attacker might say, oh, there's no way that'll stick. However, that doesn't matter unless the whole pack thinks the same thing. If anyone who is a threat thinks it's cool to chase, then you have to too (or the threat will get away and/or you'll get dropped).

Question 2: The main strategy of racing is to be at the front but not ON the front. This means, you want to be in front of any mayhem and crashes and big splits and surges, but you want to stay out of the wind. Yeah, some people like to drive the pace and to attack. They may do this to try to shell others, to break away, or to help teammates. The trick is being where the action is without wasting too much energy (in the back, you are wasting energy for other reasons).

While I am a fan of the race number crinkling, it's technically against the rules (and the officials can fine you). Instead, make sure the number has a sufficient number of pins in it and is pinned to be close against you when you're in the riding position. It still looks stiff enough but won't be that loud, flapping sail on your back.


You are reminding me that I have been slacking on cleaning my bike and putting on new tires (my first race is on Feb 13). That will have to be my snowy weekend activity.

[BalaRoja]

I got nothing as I have never raced but I wanted to wish you luck! Let us know how it goes!

That's kind of you, thanks for the encouragement. I wanted to spare people all the tedious details & all, but I'll post my results if anyone is curious

First, I have never heard of a place where all the teams are "full." Even so, you don't really need a team in a lower category race, because team coordination isn't really there a lot of the time anyway, for various reasons.

Yeah it seems a bit counter intuitive, but I've gotten that response more than once. I can actually see some reasons why, for example, newer racers usually need mentoring. A team might only have so many members willing to do that, so that might be one reason why they limit members. Like you said though, team tactics at low level cat races are probably not so good. I hear many stories of teams chasing down breaks when one of their own team members is in said break

Question 1: Yes, most of the time, attacks in a cat 4 race will be chased down instantly. On rare occasions, people who know the attacker might say, oh, there's no way that'll stick. However, that doesn't matter unless the whole pack thinks the same thing. If anyone who is a threat thinks it's cool to chase, then you have to too (or the threat will get away and/or you'll get dropped).

Gotcha, ok. That's confirmation there of what I'd been told and suspected. I imagine in higher category races people get a much better feel of who is a threat and who isn't, not to mention having far better tactics.

Question 2: The main strategy of racing is to be at the front but not ON the front. This means, you want to be in front of any mayhem and crashes and big splits and surges, but you want to stay out of the wind. Yeah, some people like to drive the pace and to attack. They may do this to try to shell others, to break away, or to help teammates. The trick is being where the action is without wasting too much energy (in the back, you are wasting energy for other reasons).

Good point! You are definitely right about wanting to be near the front but not necessarily pulling the pack along :-)

I notice that being in the back, when the folks at the front surge, there is a sort of yo-yo or accordion effect and it is always worse at the back. I'd bet that riding in the front 1/4 of the pack is probably easier in terms of physical effort/power than being at the back.

While I am a fan of the race number crinkling, it's technically against the rules (and the officials can fine you). Instead, make sure the number has a sufficient number of pins in it and is pinned to be close against you when you're in the riding position. It still looks stiff enough but won't be that loud, flapping sail on your back.

style points are always important

You are reminding me that I have been slacking on cleaning my bike and putting on new tires (my first race is on Feb 13). That will have to be my snowy weekend activity.

Glad my question was semi-useful to ya....

Much appreciate the advice

[SheFly]

While "teams" may be full (also sounds odd to me at the Cat 4 level), clubs should have room for you! If you can find a cycling club that has a presence at the races, associate yourself with them. They may also offer things like race clinics for new racers (our club does, for instance, and ANYONE can join the club and race with us).

Yes, all breaks will be chased down.

Repeat: don't be "on" the front, but being in the top 5 is a good place to be. In Cat 4 races (or higher, for that matter), once you are on the front doing the work, no one from another team is going to pull through to help you out - they want YOU to do all of the work (and yes, I unfortunately have learned this the hard way).

Enjoy and be safe. That means being predictable, and staying AWAY from the back of the pack. Will be fun to hear reports on how you are doing!

SheFly

[Eden]

While "teams" may be full (also sounds odd to me at the Cat 4 level), clubs should have room for you! If you can find a cycling club that has a presence at the races, associate yourself with them. They may also offer things like race clinics for new racers (our club does, for instance, and ANYONE can join the club and race with us).

Probably depends on your location. Up here in the PNW there are very few (like one) team that also has a purely recreational club component, at least that I know of. For the teams recruiting happens once a year in the fall and at that point the rosters close -some of it is about making sure riders are trained and safe, but a lot is also due to logistical things, like getting kits ordered. Most, well I should say all, of our teams are much smaller than yours, so having extra kits in many sizes available at any time of the year just isn't possible.

Every once in a while a rider comes along who is exceptional, one that we wouldn't want to slip away and they get invited on at in the middle of the season, but to my knowledge we've only made that exception once. At times we will recruit cross riders during the season - but that's kind of different, being much more of a solo sport, the numbers being small (generally only one or two) and it also means they will be with us for a winter training season before they represent us on the road.

[BalaRoja]

Oops, forget to mention I moved & am no longer in Nor-Cal. So yeah, far less options here in the way of teams, etc. None for example have any clinics at all which is a darn shame because a bunch of the Nor-Cal teams have them regularly.

SheFly - yes ma'am :-) I promise to be close to, but not at the front. I've learned that the amount of energy you waste/spend being in the wind is astonishing! I'll post my results and it won't be too long since race day is < 30 days now.

Eden - all great points & from what I've read of some of your posts on this subject, you have been (or are still that is...) involved in organizing events so I know you speak from plenty of experience :-)

Aicabsolut - field sizes here are very small, at least compared to big metro areas & cycling hotspots. Here, there will be a distinct cat IV with their own placings, but they aren't picked separately. So everyone, IV's & P-1-2-3 & masters all get sent out together - and even then you might only have 20 total on the better days. My guess here is that it magnifies the fitness/skill variations when you have such small fields.

Thanks for all the information here. It is very exciting to finally get involved in races and compete with a great group of women.