PedalTraveler

My interest in cycling started with personal fitness and expanded to the fun of repairing old bikes, and that's been it - I've never raced. Lately I've considered training for one next year. I'm too old to be a serious contender, but it would be fun to hone my skills and see where I stand.

This got me wondering how many fellow C&Vers used to race or still do? If you do or did, how seriously?

repechage

Yes, raced. Pretty seriously I would guess, and reasonably successful. Couple of State Championships, not on the podium at the Nationals though, that was a disappointment.
No racing today, maybe if/when they bring drug testing to the Masters class local races.

Chrome Molly

Lots of crits. Some mtb races back when. I was not a player of any sort.

Don't miss it, though it's still fun in the right pace lines. Still ride at a "spirited" pace most of the time. I think I've improved my riding despite racing instead of because of it.

Bledfor Days

I entered one CX race last year and didn't finish. Might try again this year 20 lbs.lighter and having better fitness.

iab

Yes. I am the poster child of mid-pack fodder.

I do a road race and consider it like an organized ride without any rest stops until the end. Its quite fun to sit in the pack and do 50 miles in 2:05-2:15.

I don't know why I am smiling, but I took a flyer off of the front where my wife was taking photos. I got totally gassed. Barely caught the wheel of the last guy.

04FH50 by iabisdb, on Flickr

pastorbobnlnh 

Entered my first race this September. Part of the New England BUMP Series, Bike Up Mountains for Points. I decided to "participate" and had no illusions of competing. I did have a victory of sorts. I was last to the midpoint at the beginning of the final very steep last 3.5 miles. On the climb I passed and dropped 3 riders to finish 83 of 86. I was very happy for a 56 year old Clydesdale.

Salubrious

I just started racing; did the Dairyland Dare for the first time and it was a gas. My only intention was to finish; came up 3rd in my age group. Just doing the race made me a better rider. I plan to do it again.

-holiday76

No, not really. Most of my rides were around endurance.

I did 1 cross race in 2009. Nittany Cross at the Allentown Velodrome grounds. Placed low 74 out of the 80 that finished. I was happy to just finish

there i am under the backwards stop sign.



did it on a Miyata 210 700 conversion with bar end shifters. I think this is it

The Golden Boy 

Nope- I'm not too much of the competitive type these days.

No pain, no pain.

well biked

Mountain bike racer here. It's fun, and will push you in ways you simply would not push yourself if it weren't for the competition. The camaraderie is cool, you will develop friendships that have the common bond of being in the same difficult situations and coping with them. On the other side of the coin, for me anyway, it's best to take a step back from racing from time to time, and get back to the basic enjoyment of riding.

I think if you can balance all that, racing is a very good thing for most riders, adding an element to your riding life that will make you a stronger rider and maybe even a stronger person. Personally, I do think it's a shame when racing is pretty much all there is to a person's cycling experience, and I'm acquainted with quite a few riders that fall into that category. I think they're missing out on some very nice things cycling can do for you, but they never realize it because they're so wrapped up in cycling as a competitive sport.

Essthreetee

Nope. Never have. Don't see myself ever doing it...but who knows what the future holds. Right now, I am happy riding...trying to go farther...trying to enjoy more.

sloar 

I was a pretty serious triathlete for a while. Ended up with a running injury. Dabbled in mtb racing, mainly 12 and 24 hour endurance races. Now I like to just sit back and enjoy the ride. I think sometimes race training takes a lot of the enjoyment out of it.

RISKDR1

I raced till I was around 47. Raced crits and on the velodrome. I also raced inline skating on the road. Did very well at that and it was great cross training.

I quit because I had a very bad accident that cost me the use of my right arm for 7 months. I had small children then and decided I should not be taking those kinds of risks. Never missed it. I was done with it anyway. The intensity of training got to be too much.

Henry III

Did a couple of crits and didn't finish last. Haha! Then a couple alley cat races and did really Used to the WORS xc mountain bike race series in wisconsin a few years ago. Then I've done a 90 mile ride/race called Race the Lake up until we moved to oregon. Since moving here I haven't done a single race or organized ride.

Insidious C. 

I did some collegiate and USCF road racing 25 years ago. I would love to give it a shot again, but I don't see how I can get in the requisite training given my other responsibilities.

rando_couche

I raced track, crit, tt & road for more years than I care to admit. Hung it up 20+ years ago after driving to masters' nationals on my son's birthday. Glad I did it, but have no desire to return. I'm having too much fun riding my bike.

SP
OC, OR

r0ckh0und 

Started doing some MTB races in my late 30s and a few 24 hr team races. Beginner class stuff then tried a Clyde Sport class.........I was running 3rd and comin' in hot on the 3rd lap when I got a flat........finished last. Finished 3rd in the team old guy class at a 24 hr race in Wausau. We drank beer.....we shot water cannons in the camping area...........my kids shot racers with high powered water guns.......we had fun.

bbattle

I race all the time. On the last group ride, I was drafting behind two horses nearing the finish. We hit this little descent and I had to move around the second place guy as they slowed down. I didn't want to do that, it was too far from the finish but I did so I just sucked it up and hammered for all I was worth. I was grunting and groaning and my heartrate was maxed; I was sure somebody was going to come around me at the finish line.

But I hung on and won!! Weeeee!!

I came in third on the time trial down the breakdown lane when we hit the highway and was a distant sixth on the climb up Grant Mt.

Luckily for me, the really fast riders left the last rest stop early and went their own way home; otherwise I'd not even be close to the podium at the end.

bikemig 

Nothing serious but used to do local races. I liked doing the training rides as they were a way of staying in shape.

dddd

I did one RR in my teens when a race was held in my town. That was it for the next 15 years, while I had intermittent involvement in motorcycle racing, but I always continued to ride on and off-road bicycles for the usual reasons.

I moved to Southern CA in '91 after graduating engineering school, and ditched the motorcycles for mountainbikes. I took up fast road riding with local roadies and did a bunch of XC races, then in 1996 started racing the steel replica 1893 Pedersen that I've raced in crits, hillclimbs and especially cyclocross ever since. My last CX race was 2-1/2 months ago as I'm nearing full recovery from some skeletal issues.

Racing is just for fun since I've long known that I wasn't up to keeping up with top talent in the racing world, so I've stuck with racing only on vintage steel.

photogravity

"No pain, no pain": A creed by which I live.

northbend 

^ that is so cool, dddd!

I raced once, a few years ago. Well, I had to get a one day license so I could participate in the High Cascades 100 but I was in no stretch of the imagination a 'racer'. I was a 55 year old roadie on an old MTB just wanting to see if I could finish a 100 mile trail ride and I did. It was extremely fun and very hard.

gomango

Bikes

Late 1970's to mid 1980s.

Crits mainly. My friends raced at that time, so I followed them right off the cliff.

Motorcycles

Raced Elsinores, Bultacos and Montessas at the same time as bicycles. Did much better with a throttle.

Usually 175s and 250s and primarily trials before I hung it up.

lotekmod

I started out racing road bikes around 1990. I was terrible at it! Around here almost all of the beginner (then Cat 4) races were criteriums- about 15-20 miles on flat courses. I was a skinny climber type who really shined after about an hour of riding. Absolutely the wrong type of rider for short, flat criteriums. Then I discovered mountain bike racing and finally found my niche. I'm not a naturally gifted athlete, and I was at least as interested in girls and beer in my 20's so I never trained that hard , but I did well enough to qualify to move up to Expert class. Alas, I decided to go back to grad school and that ended my racing career.

Giacomo 1 

Well, in about an hour from now, I'll be out on the Kissena Velodrome for the first time doing laps with a few guys, including noglider.

This will either be the start of a great racing career, or an unmitigated disaster! We'll see! I'm slightly nervous and my right eye is...