My first race!

Ian560

Yesterday, I competed in my first race with CRCA, I'm on the junior development team. I almost immediately got dropped. I don't it has to do with fitness as I can maintain 18mph average through hilly terrain. Do any experienced racers have suggestions to hang on. I found my self keeping up for a while though I was nervous and therefore not aggressive in holding my postion. Is that the problem I had? Also it was rainy wet and 630 in the morning.

Thanks for the help!!

I can't wait to get back out and race again

dawebbo

Hard to be specific based on your limited description, but it sounds like you're hanging on the back rather than positioning yourself well in the bunch. This means that you'll get the big accelerations as the bunch concertinas, which is likely why you were dropped. Some people are immediately good at getting / staying near the front, for others it takes more time and practice, as you get fitter it gets a bit easier too.

Pross

dawebbo wrote:

Hard to be specific based on your limited description, but it sounds like you're hanging on the back rather than positioning yourself well in the bunch. This means that you'll get the big accelerations as the bunch concertinas, which is likely why you were dropped. Some people are immediately good at getting / staying near the front, for others it takes more time and practice, as you get fitter it gets a bit easier too.

+1. You need to fight to hold a position near (but not very often on) the front. Even if you think you are holding a wheel you will find yourself moving backwards as others move up on either side. Once you're in the back half you are working much harder every time you come out of a corner until you lose a wheel and can't get back. It can take a while to get the confidence to hold your place at the front and most of the other riders also want to be there.

Monty Dog

Riding at a steady pace in training doesn't help you cope with the accelerations of bunch racing - vary the intensity of your training rides, accelerating hard out of corners, riding at threshold for a couple of minutes and generally get yourself used to handling big changes in pace. Staying near the front can take a lot of effort and consume a lot of energy - depending on the circuit, but often the winners have spent most of the race 'hiding' in the bunch and only come to the fore on the last lap or so.