oib111

Like the title says, I'm 16 years old and I've been getting pretty interested in road racing. I've only been biking for a while, and I don't think I'm physically ready for racing right now, but now that I'm interested in it what's the best way to go about it?

rkwaki

Put in lots of miles, try to hook on with a club or team that may have some older guys that are there to mentor you and teach you the ways of the sport.

mollusk

At 16 years old you will need a parental signature to race. Make sure that whatever you do you don't sour them on the idea.

But you won't need one to train.

Read the "New to Racing" sticky and find the "fast" ride in your area. Asking at a bike shop might give you the 411 on that. Or find the local bike club and start doing their rides. The fast guys will know about the local hammerfest.

Added in edit:

The first post in the "New to Racing" sticky thread has the most important advice:

1. Find some group rides, fast group rides. Sit in the back.
2. Don't get discouraged if/when you get dropped from those group rides.
3. Go back the following week and do the fast group ride again.
4. If you're dropped a 2nd time, repeat steps 2 & 3
5. Once you're comfortable with the group and pace (and vice versa), take some pulls.
6. Once you're comfortable taking pulls, try some attacks (if it's that kind of group ride).
7. Once you're comfortable with steps 5 & 6, it's time to enter a race.
8. At your first race, repeat steps 1-6, but substitute 'race' for 'group ride'.

Do not go out and do solo rides and report back with "I can ride X miles at Y mph average. How will I do in 'fill in the name' race?" That is only useful if you want to ride time trials and we will need lots of other information.

jsutkeepspining

Fellow 16 year old here . my one piece of advise is never get discouraged. when i first started racing i was slow as ****, but if you keep working on it you'll get stronger and eventually be the fast person.

Rodimus_Prime

I will say this because I want you to succeed where I failed. For my age I started doing long rides 80+ when I was 12 and wanted to race competitively, I didn't have the right bike. I did not train properly, sometimes I even avoided it, I did not have a real passion for it even though I had raw natural strength and power. My only passion was to see how many people I could pass constantly and other idoitic things. Keep in mind this was in the mid to late 90s before we had no internet, you had to know people to really get involved in racing. For young kids your age this is probably the brightest time in the history of cycling if your based in the USA. You can get really great equipment these days, solid coaching, and support through things like USA cycling.

This is a sport that rewards hard work above all. Have a passion for your training, enjoy it, live for it. Getting with a team is a great thing and usually alot of the older guys enjoy a challenge from a youngster so most are open to showing you the ways of the sport. Theres races all over the place that you can find on bikereg.com, theres always local charity rides to do. Be on the bike as much as you can and talk to anyone else in the sport that will listen. These days its as much about exposure as it is about talent.

If its something your serious about, stick with it, leaving it for 10 years and then trying to comeback is the hardest hill you will ever climb. My worst mistake was ever leaving and not pursuing knowledge from the older local racers. It's a horrible feeling waking up everyday wondering how good you could have been if you gave it 100%, and its something I hope you never have to experience.

With the proper training you would be surprised how fast you can become in as little as a few months

mollusk

You can get over it.

Way back when (1960's to early 1970's) baseball players didn't make that much money. I was a teenager with a 90+ mph fastball and I just quit playing competitively. My poor parents got phone calls all the time from coaches asking why I wasn't playing. Instead I pursued academics; in particular STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) stuff which was not very popular back then.

Sometimes I regret it. I'll never know what I could have done in baseball. But there are hundreds of kids with "stuff" that never make it to "The Show" and I'm on the faculty at a major research university. Academically I made "The Show", so I have no regrets.

oib111

I know of some group rides in my area. Should I just go to those and talk to the club members about racing?

mollusk

Ding!

oib111

Cool. Besides going the group rides, what can I do in terms of training? I really want to do that aspect right.

mollusk

Read the first post in the sticky.

rkwaki

Great post. There is a day that goes by that I don't raise the same question. Welcome back...

oib111

Do you mean the:

"1. Find some group rides, fast group rides. Sit in the back.
2. Don't get discouraged if/when you get dropped from those group rides.
3. Go back the following week and do the fast group ride again.
4. If you're dropped a 2nd time, repeat steps 2 & 3
5. Once you're comfortable with the group and pace (and vice versa), take some pulls.
6. Once you're comfortable taking pulls, try some attacks (if it's that kind of group ride).
7. Once you're comfortable with steps 5 & 6, it's time to enter a race.
8. At your first race, repeat steps 1-6, but substitute 'race' for 'group ride'."

thing? I was referring to my training besides that

Tavish

I would look at any of joe friel's books on cycling

oib111

I have "The Cyclist's Training Bible." Has he written anything else for cyclists?

mkadam68

Are we to expect that you're the type of person who will ask for lots of answers yet implement none? Start w/Freil's book and the Steps to Racing from the sticky (above). Once you have mastered them, you'll be ready for more advanced stuff. Until then, it's a waste of time and potentially injurious to give you more specifics

jwible

Try a fast group ride. Report the results back in the Training Status thread. The result of the ride will dictate further training advice.

As a general rule. Do intervals until you feel like puking. Then do some more.

rkwaki

Then ask rkwaki for a training plan to ensure that you do puke

jwible

Eating a box of Krispy Kremes between intervals helps ensure success.

rkwaki

And washing it down with a beer, oops he's a junior, with a root beer...