# I can ride harder in my training rides than races



## wmiyam (Apr 17, 2014)

Hi, I am a cat 5 road racer and I do a really fast training ride with the local P1/2/3 the average speed on a calm day with no wind last week was 28.4, yes 28.4 average, it said on my Garmin. The distance is about 30 miles so the ride only takes a little over an hour. The final 800 m is about 36 avg, yes I'm not exxagerating. There's a segment on strava that I use to look up all these speeds. When I'm doing a cat 5 race I always feel weak and nervous. The avg speed on my most current criticism was 25.5 but I didn't do so well. I'm a Jr so I have limited gearing race age 17. I don't know why this is. My theory is because when I do my training rides I know I'm riding with the p/1/2/3 so I have a lot of motivation. When I race in the cat 5 i know that they're only cat 5 and 99% of the 5 can't do the training ride that I do. But I don't know why I'm not doing so well in my races. I'm capable of contest ing in the final sprints and being in a break. Usually the cat 1s win the Sprint and I break with the 1/2. When I race I just feel weak.


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## ericm979 (Jun 26, 2005)

Juniors gear restrictions are to reduce injury and encourage learning to spin. 
Are you using your restricted race gears all the time? If not you should be so you're used to them. Otherwise you will be limited on your top end speed as you won't have the spin.

Average speed is a poor way to analyze (most) races. It depends too much on wind, drafting and the dynamics of the race.

It's common to get nervous in races and think negatively. You can try pretending that the race is just another one of those group training rides. Follow the same routine you do for the ride to trick your brain into thinking that's what you're doing.


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## Cableguy (Jun 6, 2010)

Sounds like you're under estimating your cat 5 races and expecting to do well with less effort than your training rides. 

Speed is a poor measurement of your peformance, especially when it's the average speed of a *group* of cyclists. With that said, on your training rides the group is probably working better together because it's not an actual race and people mainly just want a good work out. During your races, tactics are employed and riders are not all working together. 

By the way can you link your garmin ride of 28.4 mph average for 30 miles, I just find that hard to believe for a typical out-n-back style route. How many people are in the group and is anyone pulling with aero bars?


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## aussiebullet (Sep 26, 2005)

I'm also interested to know if you use your restricted gears or standard gearing in the P1/2/3 training rides and use your restricted gears only when racing?


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

36 mph in junior gears approaches 125rpm. 800 m at 36mph takes 50 seconds.


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## swuzzlebubble (Aug 4, 2008)

aussiebullet said:


> I'm also interested to know if you use your restricted gears or standard gearing in the P1/2/3 training rides and use your restricted gears only when racing?


USA restricted gears is 7.98m for all ages on the road?
Age-grade restrictions only on the track?
(Unlike AUS where the age-grade restictions are same for road & track)


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## Sumguy1 (Apr 5, 2008)

In your races there are no obvious leaders that you can cue off so your left wondering what to do. You know not to just go to the front and drill it but...? 
On your training rides there are guys who you know are the best that you look to for your cues - you jump when that guy jumps, you settle in and tempo with these guys, you go to the front and attack with that guy, etc. At 17 years old that's what your expected to do on a training ride. 

But a race is not a training ride. You're figuring that out now. One of the first things to do is stop looking at your training rides as equivalent to your races. 

Do you have a team? A Coach?


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

This is one place where I think a heart rate monitor is useful - when I started racing I'd get a case of the nerves at races as well. I could see it on my heart rate monitor - an elevated resting heart rate before the start and higher heart rates than normal at various intensities. 

Part of the problem is putting too much pressure on outcomes in the race, especially the pressure to get points to upgrade. Try doing a few races to help teammates with no expectation of your own placing to see if it makes a difference - there's a bunch of other things you can do to reduce nerves as well.


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## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

I'd love to see some metrics that actually mattered. Like power output, HR averages, etc.

Otherwise, perhaps your warmup is too hard prior to racing?


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

On faster large group rides especially on somewhat straight roads very unskilled riders can hang for miles and miles IF the pace is steady. Average speed tends to be relatively fast. Many skilled/strong riders who work very hard for the bulk of the ride may or may not even contest the sprint depending on what they are trying to work on.

However, during a race, especially with experienced fields, surging power to break, cover, chase and/or just hang on is what separates the field. At the least it makes the weaker work more compared to the group ride scenario where they basically hold constant power with no surging.

In the group ride scenario you come to the final sprint fresh. In the race scenario you come to the sprint gassed. JMO


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

robdamanii said:


> I'd love to see some metrics that actually mattered. Like power output, HR averages, etc.
> 
> Otherwise, perhaps your warmup is too hard prior to racing?


Or, you're fatigued from the hard days you're doing during the week. Another thing to consider is that the average group ride is broken up by mandatory rests (stop signs, street crossings). These go a LONG way in making one fresher during a ride. There are no breaks in a race unless the group collectively lulls.


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