starting racing?
luigi_t8
Posts: 71
I am 19 years old and have been cycling since I was 4 but never raced at all. Over the last year I have boosted my fitness levels and lost 15kg in weight so am now 6'1" 75kg. I am keen to start racing as I love cycling and want to take it a step further. What I am really trying to determine is how best to approach it and which racing discipline would suit me best. I have always thought of myself as better at endurance and not a particular sprinter. One question is, in cycling; is being a sprinter about genetics or is it possible to become a sprinter through training fast-twitch muscles? I've always had powerful legs and so I think I could be a decent powerful sprinter. Any advice or tips relating to this would be much appreciated, especially any advice on how to start training for racing and the best way to get into it. Oh and I should mention that I am going to uni in September where they have a good cycling team and so I think if I train well over the summer it should be a good opportunity to get me into racing.
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A few tips:
1) Club - join one if you're not already a member - you'll get the benefit of chaingangs for training, and advice from members who race.
2) British Cycling - become a member and you get some insurance, and cheaper day licenses (you have to have a license to race, a standard license is something like £36 i think, but you can pay £5-10 for a day license if you want to try it out first)
3) Just turn up and have a go. You need to make a reasonable and realistic self-appraisal because there isn't much point turning up and paying entry only to get dropped after the first lap... but just turn up and give it a go.
4) Circuit racing is a good place to start since its traffic free and they are usually run weekly at various locations around the country - search for events on the British cycling website. Depending on your rider type you might like to focus on road races if you think you can't mix it up in a sprint.
Here are my experiences as a beginner 4th Cat:
http://twohundredandsomethingwatts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/race-report-phil-corley-cycles-day-at.html
http://twohundredandsomethingwatts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/race-report-ncra-rockingham-handicap.html
http://twohundredandsomethingwatts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/race-report-ncra-summer-handicap-road.html
They're in order.. 1st one was my 1st ever race.0 -
Ride with a local club until you get to Uni and then join the Uni team (join both with the home club second claim for the holidays and race for the Uni team).
As for what you're good at etc. At the sort of levels of fitness most of us achieve you don't really get to know what you're limitations are (genetics probably won't hold you back until you're an elite rider anyway, until then it may make it harder to make improvements in one area than another but it won't stop you) so I wouldn't pigionhole yourself as it will only hold you back.
Ride lots, do a lot of what you enjoy and get stuck in to racing with the Uni club then worry about improving your sprint / climbing once you're a 3rd Cat or better.0 -
Which uni are you heading to? They vary wildly as to how much they push the racing side of the sport...luigi_t8 wrote:I am 19 years old and have been cycling since I was 4 but never raced at all. Over the last year I have boosted my fitness levels and lost 15kg in weight so am now 6'1" 75kg. I am keen to start racing as I love cycling and want to take it a step further. What I am really trying to determine is how best to approach it and which racing discipline would suit me best. I have always thought of myself as better at endurance and not a particular sprinter. One question is, in cycling; is being a sprinter about genetics or is it possible to become a sprinter through training fast-twitch muscles? I've always had powerful legs and so I think I could be a decent powerful sprinter. Any advice or tips relating to this would be much appreciated, especially any advice on how to start training for racing and the best way to get into it. Oh and I should mention that I am going to uni in September where they have a good cycling team and so I think if I train well over the summer it should be a good opportunity to get me into racing.0 -
To answer your first question, sprinting is ultimately about genetics, but for anyone (inc me) it can be improved by sprint training. Anyway a lot of RR sprint success is down to positioning, and confidence - so get stuck in! And race as much variety as you can; TT (dual-carriageway and SPOCO), crits, road-races and track (velodrome) if possible as it all helps build experience and also motivation.
I know you are young, but this race packing list might help; http://bit.ly/10QR1hm
As for getting stuck in, http://bit.ly/LastisFirst0 -
And sheer fitness! In order to sprint at the finish for the win, you need to be in the front bunch... it's all fine and well being a sprinter but if you're out the back on the first hill it doesn't matter much!0
