deadprez012

I got an invite from the cycling club during a tri today (did the 12 miles alongside a pure cyclist riding for a team, he told some people). I know they ride crits weekly in addition to fast group rides.

Will crits also make me a better triathlete? Turning, bike handling, hard acceleration, traffic--and good skills to be able to negotiate but not very relevant to time trialing: are there other benefits I am missing?

I'm interested, but time each week is limited, and I wonder if I'd be better off passing on these and just riding with other local fast groups, since my aspirations are multi-sport.

lovestoride

if i were you and time was limited i woudl not race crits to become a stronger triathlete. yes they will help, but if time is limited you can find more helpful training methods

datlas 

I agree with the above.

Also, ask yourself....how much do you value your unbroken collarbone???

Blackdays

This.

Tri cycling and crit racing are almost two different disciplines of cycling.

pdedes

if you're doing olympic style triathlon i.e. with drafting, you'll probably develop some decent bike handling skills which the majority of those folks don't have. it could be an advantage.

Yaniel

when you say traffic, i'm assuming you mean other bikes right?

yongkun

Triathlon is more about the run leg than the bike leg. I think the bicycle leg is too over rated in triathlon. Too much emphasis on bike will make you a slower runner, due to different muscle group. If you are able to keep with the pack, thats all you need. Focus more on your run and swim, they are the one that make the most difference..

Quel

I did a tri today. The person with the highest swim split lost by 15 minutes to the overall winner. Fastest bike split lost by 15 minutes as well. Fastest run split won the race (though he obviously had very good bike and swim splits too). No person with a top25 run split was more than 12 minutes off the winner. But running fast at the end of the tri while still in a good time means you had good bike fitness as well and paced yourself.

Anyways. Riding with better riders will make you a better rider. Period. And that will help you put down a faster bike split while still having energy left to run.

deadprez012

Yes.

I put in bike splits within the top 20 riders, but had a damn slow swim, so never saw many of those guys. It's not that I don't think I can hang, nor that I'm concerned about my bike leg--or that I'm concerned about my run for that matter either. I asked about crits helping me as a rider, not if I should give my cycling attention.

Many thanks to responders. So, if I have a change of heart (not unreasonable; I'm new to cycling as a "sport", though I've been riding for a while) what do I want as a crit rider or other form of racer? I climb well and sprint terribly--focus on sprint intervals? What's critical in crit racing? I wouldn't necessarily mind joining a few if the time ever opens up.

wens

I disagree. There is much much more room for time improvements in a tri if you start off equally able at all three disciplines and improve your bike. This is because you spend about 20 minutes swimming, an hour cycling, and 30 minutes running, or something similar to these proportions. In this case if you improve your time in each 10% the bike leg will be shortened by the most time.

lovestoride

sprinting sprinting and more sprinting

Hammonjj

It always seems to me that triathlons are won or lost in the run, but can be lost on the bike.

yongkun

Like previous post, Crits and triathlons bike legs are total different, because of the run leg. Mashing out big gears means fatigue for your muscles, make sure you use a higher cadence at the last part for the run leg.

Crits are totally different. As there will be many attacks and you must try to chase or attack. Therefore its more about the explosive power you have, which is different from triathlon.

agarose2000

Anything that makes you ride to your max limits will help. Crits will also help because you'll develop power & speed that you don't typical acquire with long slow tri training.

Note that you might improve more by doing something else, such as working on your weakness if it's swimming or running, or possibly even improving more on the bike by just doing more long rides in lieu of crits if endurance is your minus, but odds are pretty good that as a triathlete, you haven't really worked on the kind of speed and accels you'll see in crits, and thus it will make you significantly faster on the bike.

The only way it'd make you slower is if you were swapping out a lot of other hi-quality training for crit riding. For example, if I were training for Ironman bike legs (112 miles race day) by doing 6-7 hour weekend bike rides, but stopped doing those because I was crit training/racing, I'd bet I'd do worse on race day.

For shorter distance races (Oly/sprints), crit riding would be ideal for getting really fast on that <40k bike leg.

merlinextraligh

I'd agree that anything that pushes you is good. But if the goal ist be as fast as you can be in a 40k tt, there are alot more efficient ways than doining crits. Raisning your FTP is going to be the best way to improve your 40k time (other than improving your position.)

Crit racing is not the most efficient way to increase your FTP, and the TSS from it ( and or lost training time) may decrease your ability/ opportunity to do things that will have abigger impact on your bike split.

So do the crit for fun and a change of pace, but realise it is not the efficient way to become a faster time ttrialer.

pdedes

in the olympic/sprint discipline, most of the good runners are sucking wheel in the bike leg. lot's don't even bother with full aero bars or they use shorties. i'd argue that having better pack skills would help conserve energy during the bike leg.

deadprez012

Now, as I get it, only pros are draft legal according to USAT so this doesn't seem valid for me and my amateur status.

Psimet2001 

Crit racing will not help you as a try-athlete.

The one thing it will do though is beneficial. It will make you realize that crits are much more fun, cost less, happen every weekend, and are generally much more enjoyable that triathlons.

Barese Rider

They have a series of Tris around here that are now held almost on a weekend basis during the summer. They are filled with gorgeous young babes from NYC. If I was single and 30 years younger I know where I would be on weekends.

a_thomasmr23

I agree that the run is way more important than bike especially at shorter distances. If you are a mid pack rider I wouldn't even think about bike till you where a top 20% runner. Thats what I had to do to start breaking in to age group.

Crack Monkey

Crits will do a few things for you:
- explosive power on the bike. This could help on tight courses.
- bike handling skills, especially in a pack. This could help on tight courses, or busy courses.

Like the first response, I'd say do them if time permits and you don't have to sacrifice tri-specific training. Unless you're already a top AGer, the gain in explosive power will probably outweigh any possible negatives.

And like later posts, def. don't sacrifice any run training.

carpediemracing 

Crits help all round cycling skills. You become more fluent on the bike, regardless of your ultimate goals. You learn to use gearing, different positions, etc. Although you may not think different positions are important on a tt bike, it helps you develop more rounded strength.

You also learn speed, but with a caveat - you have to play the crit game. This means not doing what a lot of tri guys do - sit at the back (well, maybe 10 feet off the back), get frustrated with slow pace, pull really hard for a lap or two, repeat. It means you need to respond instantly to attacks, to try and bridge to breaks, launch them, etc.

You'll expand your cycling repertoire. Used properly, you can turn this to your advantage in tris. Out of saddle efforts, hard bursts to demoralize an opponent, cornering like a madman, not crashing or freaking out when something minor happens to you or your bike (slide, skid, flat, etc).

Also, depending on the area, some tris may be more like road races, with hills and curves and such. Around here a lot of riders get by with regular road bikes because of the repeated short steep hills, lots of turns, etc.

cdr

ridethecliche

OP.

If you want to bike race and try doing a crit, go for it. If you're doing a crit as training for a Tri, I don't think it's the best idea. Tri's are much more steady state than crits, and you're better of doing Time Trials than you are doing crits.

Damn. I wish I could swim!

merlinextraligh

I've only done two triathlons, but I've done a fair number of time trials.

A time trial, and the bike leg of a TT really isn't about explosive power, its about steady, maintained power. Doing a bunch of crits is going to raise your 5 second and 30 second power. It's not going to do nearly as much to raise your FTP,, as other more focused training for time trials. And 30 second power is not going to do you a whole heap of good in a TT, particularly if your FTP is sub par.

As for bike handling, for a non draft legal tri, bike handling is not going to be a huge issue, and not an area that's going to save a lot of time (assuming you're good enough not to wreck riding alone, mostly in a straight line.) And to the extent bike handling is important, time spent on the tri bike in the aerobars is going to help riding the tri bike in the aero bars.

So, do the crit because its fun ( but realize you may decide to quit doing tris) and breaks up your training, something else to keep you motivated. Don't do it for the purpose of improving your triathlon times.

merlinextraligh

Another point that hasn't been raised is the risk of crashing. It's somewhat overstated that everybody crashes doing crits, but you have to realize there is a reasonable chance, especially first starting that you'll crash.

Time spent healing from a crash in a crit will not help your tri fitness.

I wouldn't over emphasis the relatively modest risk of crashing,a nd wouldn't say you shouldn't do a crit because of it. But it's an additional reason why it doesn't seem to be the best tri training program, if your goal is specifically focused on tri performance.