Advice for a massive newbie....

gk1

Hi guys, I was wondering if you could offer me some advice, it would be greatly appreciated!

I have been a massive road racing fan for a few years, captivated by the big tours but have never really got on a bike myself as i have been a runner. However an ongoing shin and calf injury has basically ruined my running career for the last 2 seasons and im fed up with constantly getting injured. So have decided to switch sports as the nature of the injury wont be a problem on a bike.

I was wondering how difficult it is to get into proper racing... after delving through the forums most amateur talk is about sportives which sounds great but i just dont think it would fuel my competitive instinct as i would want a proper race! Is it difficult for someone with no cycling experience to get into to racing!? i know a great deal of traing would be involved but i can carry a great deal of fitness over from running.

Any advice would be fab...

thanks

louthepoo

you need to get out on a bike, put some miles under you and see how you're faring. I've not entered any competitions but have seen a few and i'm a million miles away from them. Although my fitness isn't anything special. I dont know about the ins and outs of the specific fitness and muscle groups between the two sports. You need to get on a bike and give it a go.

Erudin

Ride with a local club:

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/clubfinder

http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/bikechat/

sods_law

Get a winter of good training under your belt. Start with getting used to riding and being in the saddle for a few hours, and aim to be able to do 50ish miles as base endurance. If you can do 50 miles at 16-17 avg, you will have no problems in Cat 4 racing next season.

Club advice is good, always more enjoyable riding with others, and gets you used to pack riding.

Chip \'oyler

As above. Find a cycling cluB near to you who go out on regular weekend rides. Make sure they don't leave stragglers behind! This will get you used to riding in a group, following a wheel and basic road craft. Once you've got used to riding with a group after a month or so (and getting some rides in during the week) if you're serious about racing then the best advice would be to find a good coach. There might be one in your club or you can contact one local to you via the BC website. Then expect some hard work ready for the first races next March.

Road racing means you have to join BC and obtain a racing licence. You then need to enter events in advance using an entry form (this is to guarantee a ride).

You can also time trial - which are a little easier to enter. You don't need a BC licence, but you do need to make sure that the cycling club you join is affiliated to the CTT which is the national governing body for time trials. You then enter races in advance via an entry form (you can't enter in advance) however a lot of clubs hold midweek 'club' TTs, usually 10 miles, where you can turn up and pay £2.

Advice for your intended bike - make sure it fits you! So buy from a reputable local shop who will be able to fit you correctly. Or even better is to get a bike that is made-to-measure exactly for you.

markos1963

+1 for joining a club and starting with time trialling. It's a good way to measure your fitness improvment without too many outside influences.

A lot of riders are getting into road racing via Go Race which introduces newer riders to racing. If you are in a club you can enter these events on a BC provisional license through Bronze membership which is free to affliliated club members.

Most importantly is to get out and ride and ride hard at least a few times each week as well as building endurance through steady riding. Joining a club will help as there will always be someone to go out training with.

secretsqizz

sods_law wrote:

Get a winter of good training under your belt. Start with getting used to riding and being in the saddle for a few hours, and aim to be able to do 50ish miles as base endurance. If you can do 50 miles at 16-17 avg, you will have no problems in Cat 4 racing next season.

Club advice is good, always more enjoyable riding with others, and gets you used to pack riding.

:shock: can I do your races?

Monty Dog

FWIW it's highly unlikely that you'd develop the speed and pack-riding skills riding on your own - the riding with a club is almost essential. If you start now and get a good 6 months of training you should be OK for racing come spring.

With bike racing, unlike running, there's no 'jogging along at the back' option - people coming from a running and triathlon background find it difficult to adjust initially to racing because it is just 'full on' - being dropped in a race is just part of the learning experience.

As well as BC, you can also race if over-40 with LVRC or there's the TLI in certain areas too.

sods_law

secretsqizz wrote:

sods_law wrote:

Get a winter of good training under your belt. Start with getting used to riding and being in the saddle for a few hours, and aim to be able to do 50ish miles as base endurance. If you can do 50 miles at 16-17 avg, you will have no problems in Cat 4 racing next season.

Club advice is good, always more enjoyable riding with others, and gets you used to pack riding.

:shock: can I do your races?

sorry... solo 50 miles at 16-17 avg :P

To the OP: races are generally 22-26 avg, which sounds fast, but once you learn about group riding, its really not that bad as you are protected from the wind. As said previously, joining a club will be a massive help

gk1

Thanks for the advice guys... looks like i should get down to a club really!!!

cheers

Deegs

I'd suggest

1) Plenty of off-road to improve your handing skills fast- nothing like it to teach you how to control a bike

2) Join club to learn how to ride with others in a bunch. Will also be v helpful to introduce you to racing.


You'll need these things as well as your basic strength and aerobic fitness. I read a great story by Paul Sherwen (think) saying how he'd decided to enter a Belgian criterium race (largish no. laps round a town centre road circuit) Now as you will find/have noticed some conti amateurs are quite hardcore and our hero worried that he perhaps did not have the handling skills required as every time the mass of riders went round a particular sharp corner he kept drifting sideways and causing sincere annoyance. Eventually when they went round the next time and a hand reached over to turn his bars harder for him, the better to keep his position in the bunch, he decided to quit and get more training before coming back again :shock:


PS if by "massive" you mean that you have taken over from Ullrich in eating all the pies- well, stop.