I still remember the very first bike race I entered... it was 1980 something at Fort Carson, CO back when there was still a citizen's category. It was intimidating as HECK. Now fast forward to 2008 at the Sportsplex down near the beach. Yeap still as intimidating as heck if not more so, cause they put the women in the same field as the men's CAT 5 and the juniors. You don't have to be around cycling too much to know the nickname for the CAT 5's is crash 5's. As I'm standing in the inevitable line, you know which one I'm talking about, no not the one to registration table, the other one. My toes are freezing and I'm wondering does everyone just assume I know how to race my bike. They are actually going to let me get out there with all these other riders and not check to see if I've been in the bike more than once in my life time. Well as most folks have experienced I didn't have to worry about the field too long, I was off the back in nothing flat, trying with everything I have to stay at least on the tail end of the field.
Now fast forward almost another year and I have a full season of racing under my pedals and I still have a lot to learn but here's a couple of pointers I wished someone had shared with me before that very first race.
1) You must get a good warm-up to race a crit, because they start very fast and then tend to settle down, but then they go very fast again and again and again...
2) Like golf, the thing you practice the least is the most important. In golf the saying is drive for show, putt for dough. I'd say the same is true in cycling, legs for show, cornering skills for dough. Practice your cornering skills before your first race. Find an empty parking lot and just have a go at it.
3) Pin your number with at least 6 pins, like you're sewing, number, jersey, number and right on your rib cage like when you're on your drops.. If you don't and the officials cannot read your number, sucks to be you.
4) Read the rule book, it is not very long and explains a lot. Like if you get lapped in a crit. you finish on the same lap as the leaders.....
There are plenty more and more still to learn. Now that the days are shorter it is hard to put in a full day at the office and still have time to ride outside. So build, build, build cause what you do this winter will show come 2010.
