I have my first ever bike race on the first weekend in August so like two weeks away. It is going to be a category 5 criterium basically. Corners flat course etc. Here is the race map:
https://d36gb93zszu20a.cloudfront.ne...%20Details.pdf
So my first question. How should I prepare the few days in advance for it. Anything special? My FTP is 250 watts (4.5w/kg) I am a smaller rider so my bigger races are going to be climbing ones so I don’t have high expectations (I signed up because I really just wanted to race), but I still want to attack and finish top 1/2 and have fun. I am pretty sure I am strong enough and I will have a teammate racing with me.
Next week I want to not do a lot of endurance riding I just want to practice corners and sprinting as that is relatively low stress on the body.
The BIGGEST Question… My bike is an allez sprint with DI2 Ultegra and carbon 50mil wheels. tbh I am actually concerned about is my shifters and derailers getting damaged/broken in a crash. I plan on letting small gaps open up by a few feet in corners and I want to try and take the outside for cornering. Aka If it means I have to put in a small effort out of corners it is fine because I will still be upright. I say this because I know I am not the most confident when cornering even though GP5000’s have given me more confidence recently.
I am also curious for a cat 5 race in the standard right hand turns (like stop sign turns) how fast should I be taking them (assuming dry fair condition road). Right now I can take them at 22mph so is that fast enough or are my going to cause a crash because I am going slower then everyone else.
Thank you!