A beginner’s guide to bike racing

Ever since I got into cycling I have aspired to be fit enough to race and after 2 years I finally bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, I was very nervous and didn’t have a clue what to expect. It turned out that I only lasted 10 minutes in my first one, but last week I managed to stay in for the full race. I feel that it is now my duty to pass on my experiences to those of you who quite fancy racing but were in the same position as me; not knowing what to expect. Here’s a little guide for you:

1. Warm up – It’s important that you get there with enough time to warm up properly after you have signed on. If you don’t warm up then you’ll really struggle. An easy pace with a few efforts to get the legs and lungs warmed up for about 20 minutes should be fine. It’s also a great time to get accustomed to the course especially if it is a circuit race as some of the corners can take you by surprise when you’re at race speed. Ask someone you know to come around with you and talk you through the course.
2. Expect to see people peeing anywhere – This took me by surprise, actually! Now I know male cyclists aren’t exactly the most introvert bunch of people but I had not expected to be riding round passing a lot of them peeing wherever they wanted. Sometimes they were all lined up together. One guy didn’t even have the decency to face away from the middle of the circuit! I wouldn’t mind but there were toilets available at the sign on area. Oh, and while I’m on the subject girls – don’t expect there to be toilets and come prepared for no toilet roll to be available!
3. Pace – Now in my first race I didn’t know that everyone would go at it all guns blazing for the first few laps and then ease off a bit in the middle, so I ended up abandoning thinking that I couldn’t hack the pace. The following week, however, I gritted my teeth and tried my best to stay with it and it did ease up (apart from the sprint laps) and I found that I could mostly keep up without feeling like my lungs were going to explode. So if you do your first race and you think you can’t stick it out, just try and get through those first few laps and you should be ok.
4. Positioning – I bet you think I’m going to tell you to try keep sheltered in the bunch or to try keep on somebody’s wheel when I talk about positioning. Well, they’re good pieces of advice but I would really like to highlight the fact that you really don’t want to get stuck behind somebody who is constantly spitting and snorting. Unfortunately for me, I was stuck behind someone just like this last week and I couldn’t for the life of me get past him. It was a constant stream of snot and saliva along with some unsavoury noises; I did well to only get hit by it once. Not pleasant.
5. Have fun – Ahhh that old cliché. It is true though, if you work it up to be something that’s terrifying and you’re convinced that you’re going to get dropped, then it won’t be an enjoyable experience. Who wants to race if it’s not enjoyable? Stay relaxed and get entered into your first race, it doesn’t matter if you get dropped! As the experience and confidence comes with each race you’ll start to find that it really is a fantastic buzz.

So, now you have no excuses. Have a look around for local races and sort yourself out a racing licence - this is the start of your racing career!

picture featured in the Daily Cycle Flickr Group – added by Jonas Tana