cmd111183

Hey All,

New to the forum. I've been racing triathlon for the last 4 years and have always had strong bike splits. I decided that I want to give bike racing a crack this year but am super anxious about my size compared to the guys I normally see at our local crits and road races. Am I just going to get smoked because I'm around 250#? Or do I have a shot in cat 5 races to hang on to the field? Of course the hope is to get stronger and lose weight, but in the interim, I'm just wondering if any other large guys or girls are racing and holding their own.

Thanks
Chris

brawlo

I'm 6'5" and 285lb, started racing when I was 310 and worked my way down to 245 when I was my most competitive n the road, and I can hold my own. I'm carrying a lot more upper body muscle coming into this season (due to other sports interests aside from cycling), and I know that is going to hurt my performance this year. I can hold my own in my respective grade, and I've worked my way up to race a season in our club B grade, but being a clyde does come at a penalty.

If you race on varying courses there should be courses that suit you more. I treat my less suited courses as more of an intense training session rather than not ride at all. We don't really have a crit series, but incorporate crit racing into our summer calendar which is shorter 20-25km road races and ~30min crits. We run on courses from flats to hills. Obviously the flatter courses suit better, but if there's not much attacking going on in the hilly races then I can hold my own in the grade I race in. Our longer ~45km winter series is less suited to me and the way I ride, but the grading system we use means I'm still racing against similar ability riders. Crits can be good or bad. Lots of attacking and accelerating out of corners can be especially hard for us hefty riders. Learn how to carry speed through corners and negotiate your way through bunches. Typically I'll work my way to near the front of a bunch coming up to a climb in the hope that I'll be still clinging onto the back by the top. We don't have any especially long climbs on roads in our area that we race on. In crits, I can be struggling, but I can corner well (a carry on from my motorcycling days) and often find myself moving half way up a bunch when going through a slower corner.

Then something else to throw in the mix, I love track racing. It's flat, it's short and it's fast! I have only one road trophy from my first ever season on the road, but I have a number of track racing medals and trophies. I lean towards the sprint stuff and I proudly earned a bronze at our state champs against riders that medaled at nationals and hold a national record.

Work out what suits you. Race and have fun!

jsigone

Cat 5 races are straight up intervals, get used to the yoyo for the first 15 mins and than it will level off which is also when it gets dangerous and riders let the guard down and overlap wheels. Last few laps of the race are always as fast as the first few. But it's only 25-30min long so survive, protect you wheel and move up when you can. Don't be on the front of the pack for hero points unless you're working with your team. Let the others do the work, save your energy for the yoyo, the intervals/sprint needed after a crash happens and the last sprint.