How fast is competitive?

RoseZella

I have recently bought myself a new road bike to replace my VERY worn out mountain bike. It is my aim to build up my fitness and skill on my new machine, with the intention to enter into some competative races.

What I am interested in finding out is when do I know I'm good enough? What sort of average speed do I need to achieve to be competative?

Right now I average about 28km/h on a relativly flat course of about 35km in length. This is the distance each way of my commute which I aim to do 3 times per week to make up the basis of my training to become faster/better/stronger...

I would like to ride in longer distance races (I'm not sure how long they get). I'm currently 22 and would describe my fitness level at best, middle of the raod.

Any feed back from those with some experience would be greatly appreciated

nmcgann

The guys that road race in my club can all do that distance at close to or over 40km/h.

Neil

hambones

Just some clarification with your reply there NMcGann, is that their speed in a race where they are drafting or what they would expect on a typical solo training ride??

Lucky Luke

RoseZella wrote:

I have recently bought myself a new road bike to replace my VERY worn out mountain bike. It is my aim to build up my fitness and skill on my new machine, with the intention to enter into some competative races.

What I am interested in finding out is when do I know I'm good enough? What sort of average speed do I need to achieve to be competative?

Right now I average about 28km/h on a relativly flat course of about 35km in length. This is the distance each way of my commute which I aim to do 3 times per week to make up the basis of my training to become faster/better/stronger...

I would like to ride in longer distance races (I'm not sure how long they get). I'm currently 22 and would describe my fitness level at best, middle of the raod.

Any feed back from those with some experience would be greatly appreciated

Are you a member of a club ? If not then I would join one . It's the best way to guage your fitness level compared to others . You'll get plenty of encouragement and and a whole wealth of tips from the more experienced members if you intend racing .

oldwelshman

Hi.
First of all do not jump in and join any club just yet.
next thing, your speed currently around 17mph is no where near fast enough to race but it a a good start so do not panic You do not aactually say if your balls out so you would be surprised how fast you can get within a few weeks.
Typical racing speeds are from 23 to 28 mph ave depending on the riders n the races and the terrrain they are held on and conditions.
During races you would also be in a bunch which makes things easier in theory due to drafting behind others but in races you will be almost flat out for entire race with snot hanging out of your nose for most of it All great fun.
As I said abbove there is no need to join a club yet, but it is important you get to ride in with a group of riders on a club run and when fitter training runs.
Most guys would be happy for you to join a club run then you can judge yourself against them, and get tips and ideas for training etc.
You could try a couple of different clubs to see which is more suited before you join.
I jpined a club too quick and they do not support racing at all, just TT's.
I ride with a group on weekends and sometimes midweek, most of whom are ex racers, some currently racing, some of them are in a club but most are not.
You will find it difficult to get fast enough without riding with such gropus which will teach you how to ride in a group and will also push you harder than you will go alone.
If your close to hemel hempstead or dunstable you can come for a ride
If you apply yourself and go with right group you should see a big improvement within 8 weeks and now is the ideal time to do it as most racing guys will be ending racing soon and starting base miles for next year

nmcgann

hambones wrote:

Just some clarification with your reply there NMcGann, is that their speed in a race where they are drafting or what they would expect on a typical solo training ride??

I've got no idea what they do in individual training, but the ones that ride our club evening 10s (and that are not serious about TTs) are doing 24mph+ over a flat-ish course.

The chaingang runs 22mph avg plus over a rolling 50km-ish - I know they were complaining one week when it ran 25mph+ avg when all the elite/cat1s were out.

Neil

SteveR_100Milers

You can take part in time trials whatever your speed is. You simply need to join a club (and 99% are) affiliated to the CTT. Road racing is an other thing altogether, you'll need to be pretty fit and fast unless you want to get blown out the back of the group within metres of the start line. A couple of years training and TTing at 10 and 25 and 50 miles is a good base to prep for RRing at the age of 22. If you're luckily naturally athletic you might be able to get fit enough in 12 months. Good luck, whatever racing you do its all great fun, and addictive.

nferrar

Yeah I'd look at time trials to as it's much easier to gauge your fitness and more forgiving whilst you're still improving. In a road race once you get dropped from the bunch you've pretty much had it whereas a TT is just you against the clock. The initial goal most aim for is 25mph for 10, 25 and 50 mile TTs. By the time you hit that you should either have gotten the TT bug and become obsessed with shaving seconds off or want a new challenge and should have a good base fitness for road racing. Just remember you need to train differently for road races and include stuff like interval training as everyone goes like crazy up hills in road races and rely on conditioning to recover after before the next hill, if you onlytrain at a steady pace for TTing you likely won't recover quickly enough and will go off the back on the next hill.

Lots of clubs do casual evening 10 mile TT's, check if your local one will let you join in (without joining the club - most should understand you want to see if you like both TTing and the club first before committing). Clubs should also then have details of competitive TTs in your area and how to get entry forms etc.

BigG67

nferrar wrote:

. The initial goal most aim for is 25mph for 10, 25 and 50 mile TTs..

That seems pretty fast for me....from the results I've seen in C' Weekly they'd certainly get you in the top 10 at most clubs.

andrewc3142

Average 25mph over 50 miles is pretty fast.

I'd set an initial goal at an average of 20mph on a flat or rolling course, first over 10 miles, then over 20 miles.

If you don't commute to work already it's an excellent way to get the miles in without much additional time commitment. Anything up to 30 miles each way is realistic, even if it doesn't seem like it before you start.

Your current average of 17.5mph will increase with time and regular effort, probably quicker than you expect given you're only 22. But don't be discouraged if some days/weeks don't work out or you hit a plateau. It happens, depending on a lot of factors - what's happening at home or at work, headwinds, rain, whether you're eating properly, etc. And, of course, whether you keep the tyres pumped up and the bike in good, clean condition.

I don't belong to a club since I don't have time (work, young kids ...) but if I had time I would for sure.

SteveR_100Milers

wow! 25mph average for all three distances. I'd be happy to manage 25 mph for a 10 at the moment. If you can manage to break the hour for a 25, you'll be more than ok in a 4th cat RR.

formerlyknownasbonj

i'd take these claims of 25mph average over long distances with a pinch of salt.

joeyjoejoe0

formerlyknownasbonj wrote:

i'd take these claims of 25mph average over long distances with a pinch of salt.

I'd second that

oldwelshman

SteveR_100Milers wrote:

wow! 25mph average for all three distances. I'd be happy to manage 25 mph for a 10 at the moment. If you can manage to break the hour for a 25, you'll be more than ok in a 4th cat RR.

Not necessarily My mate did 55 for a 25 and got dropped in a 3rd 4th recently
In general your correct though
There is a big difference between road racing and TT ing though as you know.
The difference is knowing how to ride at speed in a bunch, cornerring at speed, taking right lines, accelerating out of corners, placing in bunch during climbs and of course drafting correctly and sprinting.
TT is pretty good to train you for closing gaps or making break after initial surge, but thats about it.
If you stay doing TT and nothing else you can end up doing the same old thing same traiing with small improvements, then may go back a bit.
It is good to mix both a bit.
At 22 it should be easy enough to get fast enough to race 4th cat within 10 weeks, if it takes 2 years you will probably only ever be a 4th cat

epicurus

I think there may be some confusion here.

Average speeds in a group (club runs, road racing) are much higher than average speeds on your own (commuting, training, time trials), due to lower wind resistance. Also, if your commute involves red lights, stops, slowing down for traffic, etc, then this will affect your average speed quite a bit.

So all in all it is pointless comparing commute speeds to road racing speeds.

eh

The original question was about racing, albeit with commuting as training. To be honest road racing speeds aren't particularly indicative of how hard the race was, or how fit you'd need to be, to be competitive. In terms of big numbers I once did a road race that was over 83 miles and we averaged around 27mph, but because it was flat it wasn't the hardest race I've ever done.

Time trials give a bit of a better indication in some respects but again experience is the only real option. However, as a rough guide, I'd expect a beginner to be looking to go under 30 minutes for a 10 mile TT race, club rider under 25 minutes and if you wanted to be placing under 21 mins.

It is worth saying that unless things go very odd you'll always be quicker in a race than on a commute.

nferrar

25mph for a 50 is going some but for a 25 it's just really a good club standard (and a sensible goal for someone getting into TT's to aim for). I haven't TT'd for over a decade now but my best 25 time was a 57:56 and that was only good enough for like 30th place (out of around 90).

RoseZella

Thanks guys for all your helpful replies, espescially oldwelshman. I think I'll take up the advice that a lot of you have suggested and try out a few clubs and join the best one once the Australian summer decides to start...

Garybee

On gently rolling terrain if i go for a fast 1hr ride i tend to average 35 to 36kph (about 22 mph) on my training bike (and that's riding pretty hard). My best time for a 10 is 22:47 (43kph/26.5mph) and i finish very well in road races (top 10 every time out of about 80-90 riders).

I know people who are a lot stronger than i am when they ride individually but who are no use in a road race, you may well find that they suit you.

oldwelshman

Garybee wrote:

On gently rolling terrain if i go for a fast 1hr ride i tend to average 35 to 36kph (about 22 mph) on my training bike (and that's riding pretty hard). My best time for a 10 is 22:47 (43kph/26.5mph) and i finish very well in road races (top 10 every time out of about 80-90 riders).

I know people who are a lot stronger than i am when they ride individually but who are no use in a road race, you may well find that they suit you.

You must be a first cat by now then?