Road racing

total fußball fan:

Race 1- I was the sucker closing things down
Race 2- Crashed, misjudged a descent when on the front
Race 3- Got in the early break which got reeled in, made a move on the final climb and took 3rd to move up to 3rd cat

Took me another 5/6 races to get my 2nd

(willy waved)

The point I was going to make is that before this I spent a year commuting 60km everyday, and doing a chaingang twice a week. Racing will bring your game up, but you need to have a pretty good game beforehand.

I'm not sure i'd encourage anyone to get involved with 4th Cat only races unless you are fairly confident you can move up quickly. Crashes are inevitable at any level, but just seem extremely prevalent at 4th.

This place is famous for legendary crashes well before as well as after we joined, including my modest contributions descending Ranmore. So amey keep us updated.

i'll be joining my local to get a bit more experience in the bunch

If you can finish a Herne Hill inters session you'll probably be fine with pace in a Cat 3/4 @ Hillingdon.

A bunch of us from CS Grupetto did some of the Spring series at Hillingdon in 2012 off the back of only riding Herne Hill and were comfortable.

Another good tip is to bring lots of pumps that you can stick into others' wheels so you reduce the competition. (It worked for Team Cinzano.)

Or just find a HGV to draft

When I said stay at the front, I meant 5-8th wheel. If you're not trying to move up, you're going backwards.

I don't like being in the middle. Being at the front feels alot safer (or near the front). Riding alot helps. I started racing last year but gave up as I simpley was not riding enough. The first few this year did not go well because I again was only doing 100miles-150 a week or so mostly in groups. After getting dropped in the CCS road race I decided not to group rides any more and train solo. Within a couple of weeks there was a huge improvement which I noticed in MTB races and in the last road race of this year I finished properly. Training solo not at other peoples pace is key.

I am upping my mileage to around 300miles a week for next year races. I think that will help me get the points I want.

Or you'll be too fatigued to perform well. Seriously, who trains by mileage in 2014?

Training solo not at other peoples pace is key.

In my limited experience this works up until a point, then you're going to have to ride at the pace a group demands (as in your races). Riding in a rapid chaingang that seriously pushes you isn't bad training for short races.

There's not a universal recipe for success of course.

who trains by mileage in 2014?

Americans ;-)

Seriously though... distance is an ok indicator for base isn't it? Less useful perhaps than any other metric but good enough. You could measure base in no. of punctures if you really want but TSS is a gift.

Miro-o makes a strong point.

I hung off the backs of fast groups last season. Stressed to feck. Neckin all my water, gels, and generaly being in a panic.

Looking back at power data showed me that while I was putting out watts than I'd expect to manage for the distance. The difference was pretty bloody small. What stressed me out was the lack of control over the situation.

My riding partner advised adding 50 watts to my FTP. Which coming from a self employed guy with no kids, and thus endless training time, was pretty predictable.

TLDR: Get group ride experiance, as well as strength.

I wouldn't mind putting 50! Watts on my FTP. If only if we're that easy.

So training wise (i have no idea what I am doing...)

At this time of year, working up to March/April time what should I be doing every week?

I need a training schedule people...

First club chaingang tonight .. much excited :)

I'm currently commuting daily, so 2 hours a day generally at Zone 2. Then a longer weekend ride of 4/5 hours again at Zone 2. Rest on Sunday.

I'm going to start upping the ride tempo on my ride home and do 2 x 10 minute sweet zone sessions on Monday, Weds and Friday.

May start intoducing some turbo work as i need to improve my sprinting.

Gonna have to build fairly early as my first goal is the Chorley GP on 4th April. 18 weeks away.

I'm a complete noob

I don't actually know what zone's are...

Get a coach. Or buy a training plan. Also: read.

This.

Is it me or does 300 miles a week training sound bonkers if you want to be able to race and be a normal human being with a job and friends/family etc?

I was cycling that over the summer. It was part of my work tho, so i'd cycle 50 miles a day just to get to and from work and some extra miles at the weekend. My body got used to it after a little while.

You can do it, but probably doesn't make you faster

I was thinking training mileage - not commuting. Commuting is good for keeping weight off and legs ticking over, but it's not training.

Yes, exactly.

So what's best then? a mixture of miles, intervals and club runs?

@Golfwang - this article was linked by +miro_o in the Trainerroad thread:
flammerouge.je/factsheets/hea­rtbeats.ht­m

Z1-2 riding is pretty boring*, but I'm predominantly doing 3-4hr rides (and runs) in these zones over the winter in an attempt to improve perfomance in Tri (sorry) & the occasional TT next Spring. I'll chuck in a 5-10 minute effort every hour to keep myself motivated.

*You get to appreciate your surroundings a bit more though I suppose.