Racing advice

[itisaboutthebike]

I take it you won so much you retired with your Far East bride to a caravan park in Goole?

How dare you !......................me and my lady boy friend live a life of luxury on my winnings 'somewhere' near Grimsby I'll have you know !

 

[I am Spartacus]

How dare you !......................me and my lady boy friend live a life of luxury on my winnings 'somewhere' near Grimsby I'll have you know !

I reservedly apologise for the slip there...

but seriously .. I have but a few hours to go before my first competitive race since about 1977, and trying to keep the red mist from descending and blow out after a few miles...it is about having opportunity to take part and thats the bit I'm grateful for !

 

[Dave5N]

Ok....

My two-pennyworth...

Don't enter a 3/4 until you've been out a bit with a club and learned to ride in a group.

Don't expect to win on day one.

Young 'Un isn't wrong, but even 3/4s can be fast and pushy. Do a few first before you try an' be Eddy Merkcx

Many of us have strong reservations about the safety of TLI events

Enjoy!

 

[I am Spartacus]

=Dave5N

Many of us have strong reservations about the safety of TLI events

Enjoy!

I query that.... when you're out there.. I'm sorry but who gives a toss about safety... ok joshn' there but last night started in feckin thunderain..lasted 5 mins but note no lightning or crap like that to actually pull the race.... it was very orderly and very behaved... but well too fast for me I admit ... after 10 miles .. pulled up like a lame horse.. please dont shoot.. but that 10mile was done in just over 28 mins... but I enjoyed and thats the point... some people can take it too seriously.. judging by some of the money being flashed on some of the bikes... lucky lucky sods

It does get annoying tho when yu analyse where it goes tits up sometimes... I was close to the front.. didnt realise that the group wasnt that big and then I was at the back... some sod jumped at the front.. I lost 5 metres.. then 10 ..I will remember for next time.................hmmmmmmmmm

 

[itisaboutthebike]

I'm in the same boat Spartacus (or are you Antoninus ? Or even Varinia ? Will we ever know ?)....................

I thought I was going well after doing the (NotSo) Great Knots Beek Ride in 3h 54m for 80 miles (relatively flat and not the 75miles as advertised)..........but got dropped after 5 miles with the local chaingang (mind you there were a lot of fast 1's and 2's hammering away at the front).

Problem is I can do what I did when I was 21 (which wasn't much back then I'll admit), even tho I'm nearly knockin at the big 5-0..........

 

[itisaboutthebike]

I concoled myself of a nice(small) glass of Shiraz and told myself;

a) I'm getting old(er)
I still haven't recovered from Sundays ride (and hadn't eaten very well since)
c) I was riding my clapped out training bike when everyone else was on carbon bling

But regardless of all the above I know I'm not a natural bike rider.........I have to train like a madman just to try and keep up.

But it does make me feel good when I feel fit

 

[I am Spartacus]

I now have formal permission of my cycling chum who has a fair few years of pro racing under his belt to suck on his wheel next time out....

 

[mr-marty-martin]

im the sprinter so allways stay at the back in tli adult races, then keep an eye on attacks, if any go down then chase them, all of them ( unless you've got team mates in the break then try and let them go...)

on the final lap allways try and move up the bunch ( allthough you'll find everyone will have the same idea )

 

[aka0019]

Thanks everyone for all of your replies, lots of advice for me to consider.

A friend's husband from work competes in a TLI racing so she has said for me to go along and see what goes on.

I'm also going out with the club i'm in on Saturday so will see if I can go with the faster group as they usually split about half way through the ride. From reading what people have said about what miles I can do in what length of time i'm worried i'm not very fit now as they seem fast! I commute to work 12 miles most days but that usually takes about 45 mins so not fast at all! Saying that though I have to cross a river through a tunnel using lifts and they are main roads that I use so it slows me down quite a lot.

Thanks again everyone, i'll let you know how I get on.

Andrew

 

[aka0019]

Update...

i've been training every wednesday doing 20 min warm up then 40 mins chaingang. At first it was hell but i'm coping really well with it now and have noticed a great boost in my fitness. I've also been out with the racing lot on the Sunday run and they have said they think from what they have seen I will do fine in 3/4th cat races. It's just the feedback I wanted and am even more excited to race now! I think I will still do TLI to give me some experience but also want to do BCF races so will get my license sorted out.

Also...at the moment i'm doing approx 200-250 miles per week. That consists of my 12 mile each way commute to work, 50 miles on a Wed to training and home then 90ish on a Sunday club run. When should I be looking at doing more? I have read quite a bit and understand I might overtrain so want to avoid doing that. I'm getting rollers for xmas so how could I fit them in? I've also been tol that I should start interval training mid Feb, is that right would you say?

Sorry for all the questions! I feel like that's all I ever do, the ppl at the club must get sick!

 

[Bill Gates]

Update...

i've been training every wednesday doing 20 min warm up then 40 mins chaingang. At first it was hell but i'm coping really well with it now and have noticed a great boost in my fitness. I've also been out with the racing lot on the Sunday run and they have said they think from what they have seen I will do fine in 3/4th cat races. It's just the feedback I wanted and am even more excited to race now! I think I will still do TLI to give me some experience but also want to do BCF races so will get my license sorted out.

Also...at the moment i'm doing approx 200-250 miles per week. That consists of my 12 mile each way commute to work, 50 miles on a Wed to training and home then 90ish on a Sunday club run. When should I be looking at doing more? I have read quite a bit and understand I might overtrain so want to avoid doing that. I'm getting rollers for xmas so how could I fit them in? I've also been tol that I should start interval training mid Feb, is that right would you say?

Sorry for all the questions! I feel like that's all I ever do, the ppl at the club must get sick!

You're on a learning curve and you will eventually find out what works best to suit yourself. Some riders don't get affected by the cold as much as others do. I never really got going properly myself until April/May but then I felt that I lasted the whole season better whereas the early season suucess story riders were feeling jaded by July/August and giving up racing.

As racing will be a new experience for you then it's better to be cautiously optimistic over your ability to do well. It will be much harder than you think so be prepared to not do that great. It's the same for all new riders starting off. Your speed and endurance will get honed from racing as much as doing the training miles. More experienced riders will have those racing miles under their belts so to speak.

Some riders will not do much in the way of interval training at all Feb/Mar/Apr; prefering to use the racing to gain speed and it works. When they want to peak for May/June/July they will then taper off the long miles and do their VO2max intervals; and because they have paced themselves over time to peak fitness they will reach their full potential at the right time.

What I'm saying is if you try to fit too much into the training week you will end up lacking the energy to race. 200 miles a week is plenty enough to get fit for racing; but definitely do LT training at least 1 x weekly, which will be the litmus test for maintaining sufficient speed. Leave the VO2max intervals until later on and then you will get the most benefit.