Bike racing for beginners

Rob's Unsettling Guide to Road, Criterium and Track Racing...Or From E
Grade to B Grade in however long it takes.

Maybe even A grade...

This page brought to you by GTVeloce.com and over 30 years of cycling pain and discomfort. All care taken but this is a personal view only and not prescriptive. It may have worked for me but may not work for you... so please be careful out there!
An Unsettling and Disturbing Guide to Road, Criterium and Track Racing in Australia, and other parts (as applicable).

Bike racing is like running, swimming, golf or any other sport. In fact it's just like anything in life. Put the time and effort in and you'll get better at it. It's a simple equation, really, limited more by your own motivation or commitment than by any theoretical potential you may or may not possess. If you are looking for easy fitness and a sport that won't take up much of your time, stop now - it doesn't exist. Multiple Australian and World Point Score medalist Gary Sutton was once reported to have replied to the question, 'What's the secret to success in bike racing?', with the statement: "Ride lots". Eddy Merckx is reported to have said the same, and it's self-evident really. Let's face it, if you want to be good at something you practise it, over and over... and over again.
OK, so it's simplistic, but not a bad thought. Ride lots. Broadly it's also called training specificity - focus on what you do in your sport and repeat it until your body adapts. That's easy enough: just make the time, ease into it, avoid injury, eat well, sleep lots, learn as you go and enjoy the ride. Then you get on a bike and ride a massive 10km in one day and ache all over the next (don't worry, we all started the same way). Your legs go to jelly and walking afterwards is agony. Your buttocks hurt from that skinny saddle. Your wrists and fingers hurt from braking. You had a near miss with a car. You wobbled a lot. And you didn't even get to go fast. Maybe it's harder than it looks. But don't put the bike away just yet, thinking that you won't do well at this, or that you don't have the time to simply "ride lots", or that it's simply too scary. This is a multi-level, multi-discipline sport with a niche for everyone. As the cliche goes, you won't know if you don't try.

So maybe some sports are easier on the body, are less risky, or consume less time. Maybe. But we've settled here on something that does involve injuries (guaranteed - if you ride heaps you will fall off one day), risk (a given, no matter what you do on a bike) and a commitment of some sort. Hey, you can choose not to train and be happy racing in a lower grade, or not at all, but don't come to me after you've died from a mid-race heart attack and then ask my advice. You get out what you put in.

Bike racing at any level is hard. It's a demanding sport that will suck hours out of your day - probably more than almost all other sports - and draw the sweat from your skin, whilst demanding top aerobic fitness, great lower body strength, quick wits and excellent hand-eye coordination. You need tactical nous, swift reflexes and a will to win. It ain't easy. And that's just C-grade.

On the starting line. This is not intended to be a coaching manual for cyclists. There are plenty of those around, if you look. However it may be thought of as a guide, a prompt, a pointer in the right direction. It may save you some time, it may send you straight to the nearest accredited coach. It may just be an interesting read. You will be the judge of that, and of what you do next%u2026

Let's get tough right from the start. You should set yourself some achievable goals, first-up. To do that you need to know enough about the sport of cycling that you can make a reasonable call on what type and level of racing interests you. Let's face a few facts: the higher the grade or level of racing, the more commitment you need to give, both in time and money. It's not a secret that bikes and bike gear cost money. The training is time-consuming, punctures happen all the time and falls hurt. More likely than not you will be 'dropped' in your first race, and many times thereafter; in fact you won't even get close to winning a race for months, if at all, and as soon as you do start winning you'll get put up to the next grade. So you can then get dropped all over again.

3-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond once said that bike racing 'never gets any easier, it hurts just as much at pro level as at any other level - you just go faster'.

Of course you can be philosophical about all of this pain and heartache and just focus on the positives: you'll get fitter, build self-esteem and meet like-minded souls. Furthermore, bike racing justifies the purchase of a really good, lightweight road bike replete with all the bells and whistles, plus maybe a track bike, lots of spare wheels and endless copies of great cycling magazines. And it's better for you than watching television. So why not, as they say, just do it. In fact, why read about it. Get out there now and start riding!

Anyone still with me? Thought so. Part of the fun of any sport is having a good read, or even an average one - and bike racing is no exception. In fact there are countless books on the great riders, the great races, coaching manuals, magazines, touring guides, novels... you name it. Well over a hundred years of 2 wheeled history is out there, waiting to be explored. There are videos and Internet Websites galore as well. And if you get two or more cyclists together at any one time then conversation - on cycling - will spontaneously occur. Guaranteed. So why yet another string of sentences on the subject? Well, I have an angle here that hasn't yet been fully explored. This is a 'Realistic' Guide to Bicycle Racing (with an Aussie focus 'cause I live here!), not a coaching manual or even a beginner's book. It doesn't glorify, nor does it diminish the experience or the effort. It's a collection of experiences, tips, anecdotes and suggestions that you may find helpful and/or interesting as you begin to race your bike. It may provide an insight that gets you up a grade, or it may help you plan and manipulate a race to suit your strengths. Maybe it will ring some bells for you, or maybe not.

Reading this will not provide any sort of guaranteed pathway to competitive success at the next Olympics or at the Tour de France. You may not morph into Lance Armstrong after reading it. It's also not suggesting that you will reach B Grade in your local club competition, or even that you will progress any further than E Grade. I can't guarantee that you will finish even one race. However I am hoping that you will enjoy the read, and I'm attempting to share some hard earned knowledge that worked in a basic sense for me. So let's get started.

On with the show.... you need a bike!

Oops, nearly forgot the bike. But remember, as Lance Armstrong once said, it's not just about the bike! Nevertheless it's self evident that you need a bicycle. The question is, which one? (The red ones are quicker, by the way.)
I'm not going to tell you that you need the lightest bike, or the fanciest. You just need to get a good, strong, reliable steed that delivers what you need. But first, some background...

There are 5 main forms of bike racing in Australia, if not the world, namely BMX, Mountain Bike, Road, Criterium and Track racing. There's a sixth that I know of: you can also play football (read soccer) on a specially designed fixed wheel bike, but getting a team together may be difficult in this country! You can also do artictic cycling, but let's not go there right here... as you can tell by the title of this essay, we are dealing with road, criterium and track racing here - for beginners.

More here.