Newbies and 4th Cat racers: Where art thou?

[Stu Merckx Man]

re policing the B training group- you wont really need a 'leader' or 'captain' of the group, from my experience eveything is done on consensus. the regular training group only started getting a captain about a month ago in the form of george, as ordered by monty, but i think this must only be a formality (george is the one that needs controlling- a task often undertaken by paul h )

[Andrew G]

Good call Stu, cheers. I wasn't thinking of it being policed, I only mentioned attacks etc in case those who've never either done a race or been in the training group were expecting some kind of policing or calls. Bit daft to shout attack and then go . As you say you stick together, that's sort of what I was trying to get at rather than scattering people all over the place with constant attacking. Equally without any you just have a quick (20s) group so defeats the point.

With the training group you have a large group of regular racers who can give the odd tip to a newcomer on the hoof, whereas the B group is more likely to be the exact opposite to start with.

[Stu Merckx Man]

[quote]With the training group you have a large group of regular racers who can give the odd tip to a newcomer on the hoof, whereas the B group is more likely to be the exact opposite to start with.

[Toks]

Personally I don't think this thing has to be very complicated. Split up the large unwieldy 18/19's groups into smaller numbers 10-12 riders. In the safer parts of the club run do thru and off or regular turns on the front with weaker riders being allowed to just sit on the back. There shouldn't be any attacking unless its on the hills (regroup after) or at the end of the dual carriage way. The only requirements for racing bar forms, license, kits and money are group riding skill which most regular club run members should have.

[Dombo]

I'd like to try a faster group, if only to push my envelope and step out of my 18mph comfort zone and see how many other meaningless management consultant cliches I can use to delineate my rider profile outside the box. Somehow I don't believe that picturing myself storming up Hautacam in an Armstrongesque blur of whirring pedals will cut it on Etape day. Some physical training will be required.

However I'll defer to any more experienced members who've ridden with me in the 18s and don't think I'm ready for the jump to a higher group.

[Antloony]

Why is eveyone so afraid of moving up to a faster group. Stop sitting in the comfort of a lower group and shift your butts and make the effort. If I can do it Im damn sure the majority of you guys can. ok a little more effort is needed to go from 18's to the 19's but not as much as you'd think (though my escapade into the 20's last week opened my eyes a bit ) so less chatter and more peddling. When you've done it you'll feel so glad you did but if your dropped whats the worst that can happen, you get your breath back and latch onto the group coming up behind.

Dont be afraid to push yourself that little bit more, after all if you dont you'll forever be stuck at the same level. Just do it (thanks to nike for that cliche)

[Toks]

If you can hold conversations with people you're riding with then you're definitley ready to move up to the next group

[Dombo]

[quote="Toks"]If you can hold conversations with people you're riding with then you're definitley ready to move up to the next group

[kieran]

where art thou? er well last week i went out on a lovely Sunday morning and did reps of box hill, it was a killer, I was dead by the time i got home even though less time on the bike than a normal club run. I am finally starting to think about training - must get a new hrm too. I don't know whether to do the same next week or not. But in no hurry to race or gather points, as Andrew has said elsewhere the race at CP is 4th/3rd cat anyway.

I must admit that sometimes I find the club run not ideal for training, it can be a bit hit and miss (some days you turn up and get a good group/ other times you don't) and given the limited time available I will probably do more solo training rides at the weekends as it leaves me in control of my training. I find i can push myself pretty well into the red anyway, I have a great imagination and half of the time I am either trying to bridge to an imaginary cyclist ahead or trying to keep away from a rapidly closing cyclist behind.

One of my approaches to racing is that I keep it strictly as a hobby not an obsession so I try to limit the amount of time and money spent on it, so no power meters, coaches and racing only once a week (twice as a maximum), and no trips to distant races either. Spare money and time can be spent with the family (skiing (just back from our holiday to Les Gets, me like it), camping or traveling around).

So in answer to the question: I'll be either doing the club run, training/reps at box hill, racing at Crystal Palace, training/reps college road/fountain drive circuit (col de la fountaine - Ajay (fellow forest hiller, will I see you around there?) or turboing in my garage