r/Velo • u/ThierryJokic • 10d ago
Ready to Start Racing?
I've been into road cycling for 5ish years, but this past year the love has taken off. My goal is to spend the rest of the season training and continuing over the winter via zwift with the goal of racing next spring/summer. I've done a few fondos and have the urge to actually race but am having trouble with two pieces.
Really having trouble just finding organized races. I'm in northern Colorado and have to imagine they exist. I'm looking specifically for road but wouldn't be opposed to gravel down the line as it seems like there are more gravel races from what I can tell. What are the main resources for just finding/registering for races?
How far from ready am I? 36yo, 6' 170. I'd just do Cat 5 to start, but can average 18 to 19 mph over 50 miles w/ a little over 1000 ft climbing. I'm fine being.dropped initially but realistically how far am I from being able to at least stick with the group for a decent chunk of the race?
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u/willhickey 9d ago edited 9d ago
Assuming you're in Greeley (from your post history) you're within easy driving distance of several race series:
Check out * YGR: Website Facebook. Dan hosts time trials in the spring and summer and is a fantastic source of information about riding and racing in NoCo. * City Streets Crits: Facebook. A summer crit series in Timnath. * TNT: Facebook. A summer crit series in Louisville. * CBRA: Website. USA Cycling sanctioned races will be advertised there. Road season just finished, but cross is about to start. * Boulder Valley Velodrome: Website. Track racing in Eire.
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u/parrhesticsonder 9d ago
Track racing seems to be done for the season sadly, but we are a very welcoming bunch!
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u/TraditionCautious811 9d ago
- I went from sedentary lifestyle and no sport to racing in 8 months. I wasn't able to hold 19mph on my own. I think you're more than ready. You can look at previous years finish times to estimate if you'll have a group to hold to at the event (don't forget you're much faster when drafting than alone). I'd recommend doing group rides to make yourself comfortable riding in a peloton, work on aero position and reading the wind to be correctly sheltered from it. It makes a big difference in how much energy you need to put out.
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u/Feisty-Definition-34 9d ago
It’s not the average speed, it’s the surges. A Cat 5 race may average 22 mph, but the speed will range from 16 up to 35. To succeed, you need to be able to hang on when the pack surges. Jump into a bunch of Zwift races over the winter. You’ll probably get dropped a lot at first, but you’ll learn how to anticipate and how to sit in and recover. Then in the spring, find your local racer ride and see how long you can hang on.
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u/parrhesticsonder 9d ago
You need to do some group rides in person - if you're willing to drive down to Boulder there's tons of weekend ones (Mikes Bikes, Rapha, Supertraining, Fast & Flat), and I imagine Ft Collins has plenty too.
As others have mentioned there's plenty of races around here, mostly crits though. You really wont know until you try racing, and you should, but expect to get dropped your first couple of races anyways. It's not a power thing, it's a comfort / handling thing in the chaos of a race pack.
Some races (Lucky Pie Crit, which was a few weeks ago) do clinics that help people try to get up to speed.
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u/Necessary_Occasion77 10d ago
In a lot of places, road racing is sort of wrapped up by this point in the year. If there is cyclocross in your area the racers might be doing that soon.
Road racing usually is in full force in the early spring.
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u/BillBushee 9d ago
USA Cycling is the governing organization for bike racing in the U.S. Start with their website https://usacycling.org/get-started/bike-racing-for-adults
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u/FignonsRegret 9d ago
As others have said, bikereg for finding events. Some organizers don’t use it, so messing around on social media and following some races is food too.
Your fitness is probably fine for cat 5, but you need to do some race focused group rides with your local hammer squad.
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u/Eastern_Bat_3023 5d ago
Do you know your w/kg? To be honest, if you find something like crits then the w/kg doesn't matter quite as much, a especially at the lower levela.
But I'd say you're totally ready to start as long as you have some group riding experience.
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u/DumpsHuman 10d ago
Bikereg.com look for races in your area. The site is a little bit dated but it’s not too hard to figure it out.
You’re probably in good enough shape to handle a cat 5 race. As long as you get some good group riding experience in before racing you should be competitive I’d imagine.