Tips for Training for Your First Cycling Race

[Shawn Gossman]

Training for your first cycling race can be both exciting and daunting. From building endurance and speed to learning race-day strategies, there’s a lot to consider. Proper training can make a big difference in your performance and overall experience.

What advice do you have for someone preparing for their first cycling race?

What training routines or tips helped you the most when you were starting out?

 

[Wop]

Using the KISS principle, one day intervals, next day gentle longer miles. Repeat. Do group rides to become comfortable in pace lines. For crits, you will be rubbing elbows. Stay relaxed. In the road races and crits, stay near the front the entire time if you can, because whipsawing will tire you much quicker near the back. Stay in the draft of the person in front of you to save energy. Never pull lead if you don't have to. I always found road races easier than MTB, even though I could only podium in MTB races. For MTB races, you will be on the aerobic threshold the entire time usually by yourself. Let others by if they are on your rear wheel since trails are narrow. Pace yourself because if you go too hard at any time, you will go anaerobic and will take a while to recover, which will cost you considerable time. Know where the big climbs are so you have reserved energy for them. Don't push yourself so far that you get overly fatigued and can lose control and have a bad crash. Lift weights for upper body strength because MTB races are full body workouts.

 

[Rom]

Using the KISS principle, one day intervals, next day gentle longer miles. Repeat. Do group rides to become comfortable in pace lines. For crits, you will be rubbing elbows. Stay relaxed. In the road races and crits, stay near the front the entire time if you can, because whipsawing will tire you much quicker near the back. Stay in the draft of the person in front of you to save energy. Never pull lead if you don't have to. I always found road races easier than MTB, even though I could only podium in MTB races. For MTB races, you will be on the aerobic threshold the entire time usually by yourself. Let others by if they are on your rear wheel since trails are narrow. Pace yourself because if you go too hard at any time, you will go anaerobic and will take a while to recover, which will cost you considerable time. Know where the big climbs are so you have reserved energy for them. Don't push yourself so far that you get overly fatigued and can lose control and have a bad crash. Lift weights for upper body strength because MTB races are full body workouts.

Although I agree with all of these things. Unless you have some experience under the belt these things can be daunting.

My tips for first race are:
First and foremost, bike racing is HARD! We train so hard just to suck and finish midpack (maybe). Temper expectations. For any race, it goes without saying, but the speeds will be higher than you want them to be which immediately increases danger levels.

Secondly the training/prep for your "first race" is going to change based on what type of racing it is. For MTB, maybe it's go out as frequently as you can to your local MTB trails and ride. Do your best to ride all the features and work on taking corners efficiently. For road/gravel, it's going to be far more important to get out with your local "fast" group ride and work on getting comfortable sitting on wheels around others at over 20mph. For CX it's going to be working on relatively low speed corners and being sure you are comfortable getting on and off your bike efficiently.

I am massively competitive, I was racing a bike within 6 months of buying my first bike. Getting stuck in and being happy sucking is the best you can do.

As far as training, it's all personal. Some will say one on/one off like what Wop said. Others will say 80% easy, 20% hard. Some will say 3 sweetspot days and 2 long days. The simple fact is, the more you ride the fitter you'll be. It's summer now, so you can slide a few hour ride in at the end of the day and slowly add 1 hard ride a week until you exhaust out or reach about 2-3 days of hard (VO2 level). Just get out and enjoy riding your bike, racing is more mental than physical.