Masters Catagory, when do I know I am ready?
Rfmullig
Posts: 4
I am 51 years old and am interested in competing in the Masters catagory.
I am somewhat new to cycling, and due to my natural competitive nature I am very interested in racing.
Today I did a short 20 mile ride with moderate-hilly terrain and my average speed was 17mph. I want to be competitive. On longer rides with moderate terrain the computer has my good averages at about that speed as well. Should I consider competing?
R
I am somewhat new to cycling, and due to my natural competitive nature I am very interested in racing.
Today I did a short 20 mile ride with moderate-hilly terrain and my average speed was 17mph. I want to be competitive. On longer rides with moderate terrain the computer has my good averages at about that speed as well. Should I consider competing?
R
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Posts
GT Avalanche Expert 2006
Specialized Hardrock 1989
I'd advise going premium too, you can then filter the leaderboards to see how you're comparing to others in your age range. Google "60 day Strava trial" and you can upgrade to premium for 60 days to test it out for free. The standard trial is 30 days but there is some promo on at the moment.
Strava is a great motivational tool (for me at least), competing against others/your own PB is fun and keeps you interested/obsessed (in my case anyway).
Have you considered trying out a time trial?
If you're small and bouncy you might be OK. If you're larger and steady then not. Can you ride very close to other riders at 30mph? I suggest finding a group or club and starting there to get experience of bunch riding before diving in too deeply. At our age hitting the ground hurts more.
Paul
Agree, if you are new to cycling learn to ride in a group before entering a race. Spend the winter going out on club-runs then possibly in the spring try a chain gang. This will provide some of the skills necessary to race and give you an idea if you have the ability to do so. Bunch cycle racing is not like say running a 10k where you go your own pace. In a bike race you can either ride at the pace of the bunch (or off the front in a break) or your are not racing.
You do need to be able to ride a wheel and ride in a bunch.
Join a club and hone your skills. You're definitely not ready yet.
http://www.lvrc.org.uk/
As long as your own expectations are in check (i.e. you're not going to win) give it a go.
Fixed TT 2015-2016
Masters racing will include ex-pros, international roadmen and 1st cats. It won't be a walk in the park.
Racing isn't only about fitness and speed – you need to work on your bike handling skills, like riding on a wheel, cornering in a large group etc
The best way to do all this is to join a club
Look at the finishing times for the UCI Amateur Worlds (www.denmark2015.dk). The guy who came 50th in your age category finished a 165km hilly race in 4h33m. That's a 22.8mph average. The winner in category averaged 24mph. That's what you're up against. Join a club, get some miles in, see how you feel. But don't kid yourself. I was in that Denmark race (in the age category below yours) and was roundly annihilated. I'm reasonably strong by club standards (in my club, at any rate), and have a couple of KOMs and all, but this was racing and I was nowhere.
Completely different kettles of fish there - your local races are probably going to be 50 miles or so and not over the Alps or the Pyrenees.
If you check out Youtube there are plenty of local crit footage on there. Sometimes they overlay their garmin data on top so you can see the speed. 50 year olds aren't much slower than they were in their 30s. Scary but true.
But don't focus on improving your average speed on a short loop. I think you're better off going really fast for a bit then resting, then repeating. Even if the average speeds don't change much to begin with.
Paul