# 26mph Crit - How to keep up?



## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

I've been going to bi-weekly crit (Tu/Thu) in my area (the Rosebowl) and I can keep up with them for all of 2 laps (the warm up lap and the 2nd lap) then I go completely anaerobic and I get dropped.

Clearly I have to work at this intensity/pace because I feel like I'm sprinting the whole time. Short of attending this thing every week is there anything I can do to improve my general endurance/speed? I was told I should do a 30x30 internal which I will try, any other info you can recommend?

As an FYI: I ride about 200 miles a month with about 18K of climbing.


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## Guod (Jun 9, 2011)

I'm not a coach or any sort of authority on training, but from what I know 200 miles a month is a bit on the low side to keep up with a 26mph avg crit. The last cat5 crit I was in averaged 23mph or so. I ended up finishing 3rd in that and I ride 150-200mi a week. The guys I know that are cat 1-2 range average around that 26mph or higher for a crit and they ride alot more than me. I'd say up the volume a bit to start.


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## seppo17 (Dec 7, 2008)

Ride more. Learn how to draft better?


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## locustfist (Feb 21, 2009)

Sounds like you may not have much of a base at 200 miles a month.

If you could get in 6 - 9 hours of riding a week for 6 weeks you could have yourself a solid enough base for Cat5. Then put in 2 weeks of speed, interval, strength work. In 8 weeks you'd be right there.

I'm a Cat5 and I can hold 25MPH for an hour by myself, then again I'm a big diesel and not a sprinter or climber.


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## Poncharelli (May 7, 2006)

I've been riding crits regularly for about 7 years now. 

My opinion it's a combination of threshold power, bike handling, and high-medium sprint power (~700-900W at 165lbs). Combined with the ability to recover from those sprints. 

Threshold power can be increased mostly by just riding more. It will give you more head room for surviving the overall onslaught. 

But then you need to be able to accelerate hard to not let gaps open after each corner. That's where the short high-wattage power comes in. 

Bike handling: I got a couple of friends who are strong as all hell and get dropped in every crit because they let gaps open too much in the corners (they are both tall is one thing I noticed). One said he got nervous in the corners (and the other guy has the worst leg speed I've ever seen). I'm not saying that's your problem, but it could be.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

Pedal harder and breath more 

Seriously though...Unless you want to put in 3x's the mileage (or more) per month, you won't stay on a 26 mph (avg.) crit for long. 

To try and stay on a little longer (maybe another lap or so), stay near the front to avoid the slinky effect that takes place at the back of a crit (assuming it's a large field). This will keep the hard accelerations to a minimum and save a little energy in the long run.

In the end though...you are not in shape for that type of effort. Either ride more or find a slower catagory to race in.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

Thanks for the feedback - it's clear I need more saddle time.

Along those lines the questions that comes to mind are what type of saddle time? Flats with a focus on intervals? More climbing? (I have a lot of that at my disposal) A mixture of the two? Also, if 200 miles per month is to little what is a good base I should strive for, 400? 800?

Sounds like I may just skip this crit all together until I get more miles under me.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

arai_speed said:


> Thanks for the feedback - it's clear I need more saddle time.
> 
> Along those lines the questions that comes to mind are what type of saddle time? Flats with a focus on intervals? More climbing? (I have a lot of that at my disposal) A mixture of the two? Also, if 200 miles per month is to little what is a good base I should strive for, 400? 800?
> 
> Sounds like I may just skip this crit all together until I get more miles under me.


It's hard to say as different amounts of time will work differently for different riders.

Myself...anything under 200 miles a "Week" is considered a rest week for me. For others that would be a hard week.

As for the type of riding...if all you want to race is crits, you need to develope good 20 minute power and good sprinting ablity to handle all the accelerations. Hills are great for 20 minute power as you can do 2x20's...rollers are great for developing sprinting or VO2 Max power.

Generally a good combination of the two if you are racing is what you are looking for. Train on your own during the week, participate in a hard group ride or race on the weekend and you should see gains overall.


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

arai_speed said:


> Thanks for the feedback - it's clear I need more saddle time.
> 
> Along those lines the questions that comes to mind are what type of saddle time? Flats with a focus on intervals? More climbing? (I have a lot of that at my disposal) A mixture of the two? Also, if 200 miles per month is to little what is a good base I should strive for, 400? 800?
> 
> Sounds like I may just skip this crit all together until I get more miles under me.


You can race yourself up into shape. I would keep going to the crit. Maybe once a week or every other week to avoid getting burned out.

Warm up before you start the race. Ride easy, then ramp up the effort till you are redlining, and then ease it back down. That should help you from getting popped in the race.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

I agree with a lot of what others have said. Ride more. Race yourself into shape. Keep at it. 

I do a the local Saturday morning A-ride sufferfest (when I'm not racing that Saturday). There is a 5 mile warmup, then a pee break in the parking lot, then the real fun begins. I make sure to go anaerobic during that warmup at least once. I cruise with the group for 4.5 miles and then go as hard as possible up a gentle 500m incline. A guy or two may race me to the stop sign. When the real ride starts I hit it hard. Half the riders get shelled out the back in the first section because they're not ready for the intensity. It sounds like that's what's happening to you. 

So I definitely agree with what the guy above me said, make sure you're getting a good, hard warmup. Don't wait until the warm up lap to warm up. Warm up on your own prior to the start of the ride if you have to. You don't want to get out of breath for the first time during the crit.


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## woodys737 (Dec 31, 2005)

There is no way to race yourself into shape to stay with a 26mph avg if you ride 200 miles per month. I'd seriously look into trying to find a training plan that focuses on raising your threshold (power). In that plan you will likely find a fair amount of longer intervals early in the week followed my shorter intervals mid week followed by endurance riding late in the week. The plan will probably build each week based on what you did the previous week. It will be hard physically and mentally. Pushing yourself for hours on end solo is just a different animal than a group ride. Period.

Putting a distance or time limit on it is impossible as this figure will change with a change in fitness. If you're only riding 200 miles/month I'd just WAG it will take 4X that depending on age/current fitness but 200 miles/week riding around aimlessly won't work. It takes time, discipline and a bit of knowledge to ride at the speeds you are trying to ride at. It just isn't as simple as riding more, or doing some intensity or racing into shape. Anyone telling you this is either a freak of nature or used to be a pro way back when.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

Ride more and ride hard. I ride 250-300 a week and I don't do very well at crits yet, but racing and training will help you improve. Whatever you do, keep riding with that group. You will only get better. I'm not that good but I'm a lot better now than I was at the beginning of the season.... which is funny because I my average is around 23 mph now. It was 21 mph. This is really a big deal since I will be turning 40 (I'm back after almost 17 years). I can't bounce back the way I used to but I'm assuming you are younger than me. Stay focused and keep riding,...and riding a lot more. Also, to the racer who said the average in the crits he does are 23 mph.... seriously? In most of the CAT 5 crits I've been in this year, they were averaging 25-26 mph. I wanna race in the crits that you've been racing in.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

OMG I thought I read "200 miles per week" and I was thinking that was a bit too low for 26mph. Then I found, from reading others' comments that your 200 miles was *"per month"*. Sorry Arai but you'd have to be a total natural to compete with those few miles.

In my "heyday" (cough) I could just about do 25-26mph crits on 200 miles per week. I did 24-25mph, 25 mile time trials though. Now at age 64 I do twice your distance per month (100mpw) and wouldn't even bother racing, even in my age-group. I'd get my arse handed to me soooo fast.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

terbennett said:


> Ride more and ride hard. I ride* 250-300 a week *and I don't do very well at crits yet, but racing and training will help you improve. Whatever you do, keep riding with that group. You will only get better. I'm not that good but I'm a lot better now than I was at the beginning of the season.... which is funny because I my average is around 23 mph now. It was 21 mph. This is really a big deal since I will be turning 40 (I'm back after almost 17 years). I can't bounce back the way I used to but I'm assuming you are younger than me. Stay focused and keep riding,...and riding a lot more. Also, to the racer who said the average in the crits he does are 23 mph.... seriously? In most of the CAT 5 crits I've been in this year, they were averaging 25-26 mph. I wanna race in the crits that you've been racing in.


holy crap...i've never done more than 10-12 hours a week (miles isn't a very good way of keeping track of training) and i've never had a problem keeping up w/ masters 35 1-2-3 crits in nor-cal. it's about quality, not always quantity.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

cxwrench said:


> nor-cal


Hellyer?


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

arai_speed said:


> I've been going to bi-weekly crit (Tu/Thu)
> ...
> 200 miles a month with about 18K of climbing.


I can't see how this is correct. That's 4500 ft of climbing in 50 miles per week, which I assume includes the crit (which I assume is flat). Even if you get dropped super early and only ride 15 mile for each crit night (15 X 2 =30), that's 4500 ft of climbing in the remaining 20 miles. If half that is up and the other half is down, that's 4500 ft of climbing in 10 miles. And I don't know if that exists. 

I also think 26mph is high for the crit average. 

Not that it matters. I'm not here to call you out. I just think you need to take another look at your numbers and mileage. 

Also, the advice people gave here still stands. I only disagree with one part of the page, and that was with the advice saying to quit these high intensity rides. I think you should definitely stick with them. 

So keep up with the Tues/Thurs races. Do the hard warmup like some of us have suggested. Ride as hard as you can. If you get dropped, sit out a lap and then jump back in on the back of the pack on the next lap. Keep doing that. And after the race spin your legs at an easy pace for a while. 

Are you also racing or are these rides your only "race" rides? 

If these are your only races and your schedule permits, do these hard Tues/Thurs rides, ride 60 minute easy pace recovery rides on Mon/Wed/Fri. And do a 3+ hour ride on Sat, with a rest on Sunday. Do that for three months and you'll start beating the guys in the crit.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

Local Hero said:


> Hellyer?


yep...
and i agree w/ your next post in reply to the OP...sounds like good advice to me. there are lots of racers out there that got dropped like a rock in their first crit, managed to hang for half of the next one, then finished w/ the pack in the next. soon enough they were the ones at the front of the race...it's as much about getting used to the racing itself as it is putting int he time training for it.


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## Bridgey (Mar 26, 2003)

You can keep up with 200miles a month. Just make most of them intervals. 3 x a week.intervals. Slow riding on the other days. Interval days can be 45mins long. 

Mix intervals between 15secs (sprinting), 30secs, 1 to 2min, 5min and 10min intervals (not all on the same day). Try and recover in between each interval. For starters though, see how long you can keep 30mph for for starters. And then rest and repeat. If you want to keep up to 26mph you need to train faster than that. 

Give up climbing unless you are using the climb as an interval. For crits it will slow you down.


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## looigi (Nov 24, 2010)

Traditional training regimens include lots of saddle time, which is good, but sometimes not realistic for non-pros with many other obligations. A very good book for training within these constraints is Chris Carmichael's "The Time Crunched Cyclist". The bottom line is stressing your body with interval training, as Bridgey suggests in his post.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

If you take the advice of riding more like 200 per week not per month, just a word of caution: Don't just start doing that next week. You should ramp up gradually. Rule of thumb is increase 10% per week. Personally I think that's over cautious and most people would be fine ramping up quicker. 
Going from 200 a month to 200 a week overnight (assuming basically the same intensity) would be quite a shock to your system an might be counter productive though.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

the pack at the rosebowl is large enough you can hide in it and be dragged around. There's only one turn so there's not much acceleration necessary after that. 
and for the love of all things holy. it's a training ride, on open roads. It's not a race and it should not be treated as it. 

"Please note that we are still just one quick reading of an ordinance away from "no organized peloton riding in the Rose Bowl."


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Bridgey said:


> You can keep up with 200miles a month.


You can't. 

26 mph for one hour, twice a week = 52 miles per week. That's over 200 miles per month.


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## Andrew L (Apr 20, 2011)

I've been using the training program in the book The Time Crunched Cyclist. It is a low volume high intensity training program that is designed for people that can only ride 6 hours per week. It's philosophy is that since a time crunched cyclist can't have the aerobic base of a Pro or cat 1 and 2, which are typically high volume, medium intensity, you have to use the time you do have efficiently. 

Check it out, it certainly can't hurt and I have a buddy that did the whole program and he is killing it now in races. Last season he was like you and got dropped off the back a majority of the time.


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## Chris-X (Aug 4, 2011)

cxwrench said:


> holy crap...i've never done more than 10-12 hours a week (miles isn't a very good way of keeping track of training) and i've never had a problem keeping up w/ masters 35 1-2-3 crits in nor-cal. it's about quality, not always quantity.





cxwrench said:


> yep...
> and i agree w/ your next post in reply to the OP...sounds like good advice to me. there are lots of racers out there that got dropped like a rock in their first crit, managed to hang for half of the next one, then finished w/ the pack in the next. soon enough they were the ones at the front of the race...it's as much about getting used to the racing itself as it is putting int he time training for it.


Good advice.

Quality is MUCH more important than quantity for crits. You're only racing for at most an hour in crits. 10-12 hours a week is more than sufficient volume to prepare for a crit. Hard repeats are much more critical than soft pedaling at 20 mph for a couple of hours. 

I'd be worried about the sketchiness of a new guy who's only riding 50 miles a week. They get a little fatigued and they're all over the place.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*7 hours per week*



arai_speed said:


> I've been going to bi-weekly crit (Tu/Thu) in my area (the Rosebowl) and I can keep up with them for all of 2 laps (the warm up lap and the 2nd lap) then I go completely anaerobic and I get dropped.
> 
> Clearly I have to work at this intensity/pace because I feel like I'm sprinting the whole time. Short of attending this thing every week is there anything I can do to improve my general endurance/speed? I was told I should do a 30x30 internal which I will try, any other info you can recommend?
> 
> As an FYI: I ride about 200 miles a month with about 18K of climbing.


As everyone else says, you would need an EXCEPTIONAL set of genes to be able to ride this crit on 3 hous per week. Try this:

From Basic Training for Roadies (Basic Training for Roadies | Road Bike Rider) by Fred Matheny: here's a 7 hours a week, weekly schedule that works for many riders:

Monday: Rest day with 15 minutes of resistance training.
Tuesday: Ride 1 hour with 3-8 sprints or other short, hard efforts.
Wednesday: Ride 1 hour at a steady, moderate pace.
Thursday: Ride 1 hour including about 20 minutes of any type of hard effort.
Friday: Rest day with 15 minutes of resistance training.
Saturday: Ride 1 hour at an easy pace.
Sunday: Ride 3 hours at a varied pace. Group rides or hilly courses are good choices.

Remember, intensity is one key to this program. If you could ride 200 to 400 miles per week, sheer volume would guarantee a high level of fitness. But you can't.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

Wow...lots of info and different opinions on this, not really sure where to start. Local Hero, the data is accurate (at least according to my Garmin Edge 500). Here are the last 3 months. I don't ride this local crit/training ride every week as work/family obligations often prevent it so I try and get as much riding when I can. My local area is all hills, 1/2 a block from my house in either direction is a 6% grade residential street. 

March:
197.14 miles
Elevation Gain: 22,671 ft

April:
227.33 miles
Elevation Gain: 18,6121 ft

May:
200.63 miles
Elevation Gain: 18,691

My best lap from this past Thursday riding around the Rosebowl was:

Elapsed Time: 00:07:09
Max Speed: 32.9mi/h
Avg Speed: 26.0mi/h
Cadence: 93

Each lap is 3.1 miles long and has an elelvation gain of 99 ft.

Bridgey/Kerry Irons - thank you for the detailed feedback. I will need to give that a try.

Looigi/Andrew L - thanks for the book info, it has been ordered.

den bakker - I've always heard it being referred to as a crit ride, I understand it's not a sanctioned/race event and have never treated it as such. Not sure about all the politics or details around this event. I simply show up and ride it.

Thank you all for the feedback and opinions.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Grade*



arai_speed said:


> My local area is all hills, 1/2 a block from my house in either direction is a 6% grade residential street.
> 
> March:
> 197.14 miles
> ...


Something is not adding up. In order for you to gain 20,000 ft in 200 miles, the average grade would need to be 4% if 1/2 of your distance was climbing. Yet your Rose Bowl lap is 0.6% grade.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

I am posting the data as recorded by my garmin edge 500. If that is inaccurate...well I am not sure what else I can say.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Kerry: Don't even worry about the garmin data. The problem is that the guy hasn't finished the crit -- only a small fraction of his riding is flat. 

All the hill climbing and relatively low mileage explain why he's getting dropped when the ride calls for laying down the power on the flats. He's just not used to it. 

aria: The training advice we're giving you stands regardless of what your garmin says. 

You need to keep riding the crit(s). If you get dropped, turn around and slowly pedal in the opposite direction until you see the pack. Then jump back in on the very back and hang on. If you get dropped again, do it again. (It's bad form to get dropped and then jump back in on the break, or on the front of the chase -- restart at the back.)

If you skip one of those crits and want to do some intensity, those 3 X 20 minute interval sessions are bread and butter for training. Another good workout is tabata training. Go for Broke with Tabata Intervals | Active.com (That article talks about doing it five times a week. Replacing an intensity day once a week is probably enough to get some benefits.) 

Do three or four 60 minute easy recovery rides during the week. Do a 3+ hour ride on the weekend. That's what I do. Either two races a week, recovery rides and a long ride, or three races a week and the rest is recovery rides. 

Of course the plan Kerry suggested is good to go.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

Cool thanks for the info and the link. I posted my ride data so anybody reading this would have a better understanding of my riding and would be able to recommend/provide suggestions, which they have.


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## DMH2979 (May 24, 2011)

I'm with cxwrench and I do NOT think 12 hrs/week is only good for hour long crits. That is about what I train and my endurance is just fine. I race both 35+ and p12 races, depending on how I feel and where I am in my training. I've never had a problem with being abnormally fatigued at the end of a race, even when it's a 3+ hr race. I do ALL structure and back in the day, before graduate school and a real job, I was training 18-25 hours a week (was racing almost exclusively national p1 races). I did that for 5+ years so I have that to rely on and can draw on it now. 

I also agree. Please scrap the idea of miles/week. Miles are totally meaningless to your body. Training should be viewed through time/hr/power and that's it. Period.


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## BostonG (Apr 13, 2010)

Just coming at this from a completely different angle that you may or may not be interested in - consider road races instead of crits. 

I’m not a brute power guy so crits are not the best for me. I always knew that but the local crit is 7.5 miles away from my house, which is oh so convenient. Still, I’m kind of done with it. For a person who is more of a climber, you may be better suited to a road race with some climbing. 

Regarding crits though, in addition to the advice others gave for increasing the amt of training and riding time, also think about strategy. I’d bet there are ways you can draft more efficiently. That’s much of what I looked to do in the handful of crits I did, hide my arse and conserve energy for the hard efforts. In my road races there is usually some climbing so the field is broken and a few smaller groups tend to form. In those cases, I’ll do my share of pulling so my group can have the best result. I’ve found that road races really have a very different feel than crits that are much more enjoyable to me – not any easier though. 

My problem has always been time. I’m a family and career man so am lucky if I can get more than 8 hrs per week. Even with that amt of time, I do OK – not good but acceptable. Those hrs are pretty much all training time, which can really be a drag after a while.


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## namaSSte (Jul 28, 2004)

BostonG said:


> I’ve found that road races really have a very different feel than crits that are much more enjoyable to me – not any easier though.


couldn't agree more but my local crits at literally 2 miles from my house so I can't say no. I've found that crit racing has made me faster on the road than road racing has made me better in crits. Not sure that makes any sense to anyone but me but hopefully it does.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

Thanks BostonG - it's funny you mentioned that because this all started after reading the "I did it" thread posted by TimV. It sounded like so much fun that I started looking at the racing schedule for my area (SCNCA - Home) and found that there are way more crits in the calendar then there are road races.

So naturally I went back to this training ride to see how I would do - clearly not very good 

I"ll work on the intensity thing for now and keep going back to this ride until it's over then maybe next year I'll be ready to try out a sanctioned race events.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Here's how I see it as compared to track & field

short track racing = 100m sprint
crit racing = 400m sprint
1-day road racing = mile sprint
staged road racing = ironman

What are you? Unlikely that you can be good at everything, or even 2 things.

But IMO, short track and crit racing are easy to train, and does not take a lot of rocket science. It comes down to intensity, and it has mentioned in like every other post of advice. This is true in track & field sprinting, and true in crit. It's not rocket science.

Now road racing, if you want to win, will require a bit more understanding of the science of physiology and nutrition.

The other factor is genetic. When I was sprinting (not running) track in high school and college, I can honestly say that there were some athlete who do not workout with weight much (or at all) and yet it was quite amazing to see how they could have the kind of quads and calves they have. Many of these athletes were (and still are) blacks. It's genetic. Sometimes I wonder if more blacks would have the economic mean to get into cycling early, I wonder if we'd see blacks in crit dishing out pain.


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## Local Hero (Jul 8, 2010)

Thatsracist.jpg

On another note, I was in a fast crit recently. Check out the speeds:
SJBC Memorial Day Criterium P123 2012 - YouTube 
(I didn't film it but I'm in there a few times)

Average speed for that crit was almost 30.


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## JackDaniels (Oct 4, 2011)

This was a particularly painful crit from last week but it was on a pretty flat fast course.









For the OP, as noted, you need the fitness level to at least ride in the pack. This means more training. Also for criteriums, especially ones with tight corners, try to stay in the front 25% of the pack. Once you drift to the back of the pack, you end up doing more work after each corner, and if your fitness level isn't there you will get dropped.


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## mtrider05 (Aug 8, 2009)

arai_speed said:


> Thanks BostonG - it's funny you mentioned that because this all started after reading the "I did it" thread posted by TimV. It sounded like so much fun that I started looking at the racing schedule for my area (SCNCA - Home) and found that there are way more crits in the calendar then there are road races.
> 
> So naturally I went back to this training ride to see how I would do - clearly not very good
> 
> I"ll work on the intensity thing for now and keep going back to this ride until it's over then maybe next year I'll be ready to try out a sanctioned race events.


All the road races are early in the year due to heat, in fact you've missed the majority of the race calendar. There are two circuit races this month then it's all crits for the rest of the year.


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## Joe Dirte (Apr 5, 2009)

As you know the Rose Bowl is a 26-28 mph average over 3.1 miles. That means at times its 25-30 on the 1.5 mile uphill and 35-39 on the short descent. Learn to recover either on the up or the down. I tend to recover on the uphill side and make my way to the front on the DH side. Get in behind someone (there is 100 people to choose from)on the downhill side and catch your breath. Watch for gaps being created as these will cause you to fall off the back. If your not very strong stay out of the wind. Also stay mid pack as there is less yo-yoing going on. If you get dropped dont head for Lot K to chum it up with all your buddy's that have gotten dropped,soft pedal till the group comes around again and jump back in. Rinse and repeat till you can hang for all 10 laps.The only way to get stronger in a pack is to ride in the pack.


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## Andy Pancroft (Jul 15, 2011)

Wookiebiker said:


> It's hard to say as different amounts of time will work differently for different riders.
> 
> Myself...anything under 200 miles a "Week" is considered a rest week for me. For others that would be a hard week.
> 
> ...


+1!!! First, 26 mph isn't terribly fast, particularly when you are in the midst of a group that is pulling you along. I just looked at my Garmin from crit I raced this past weekend. We rode for 90 minutes, first 15 minutes was at a clip of 30 - 32 mph - weed out all the weak riders. Throughout the remainder of the race, there were occ. jumps to bridge, etc. Last two laps shot up to little over 35 mph. 

Many get on their bike and "Train" and mash out 25 mph for 20, 30, 40 miles or whatever - anyone can grind out a big gear!!! And, fact is, the big gear isn't doing much for your cardiovascular training. Interval training and pushing yourself with other, more experienced riders is going to get you stronger!!! I would start with having a BodPod done first just to see where you are.

Some find running helps. One thing I have done for the past several years...I take my Australian Shepard to the local high school football field. I put him in a sit on the goal line, I go out to the 50 yard line and sprint (Running) for the other goal line. I promise you, do this 10 times the first day, you will wake realizing that you just use muscles you forgot you had!!! After a few weeks, I can usually get back to his 40 yard line and tie him for the race to the goal line. BUT!!!! He is also usually running along side me looking at me like, "Is that ll you got???!!!!"


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## nightfend (Mar 15, 2009)

I'd add one longer group ride during the weekend to your training schedule. Do this group ride with other amateur bike racers. You'll probably average about 21 to 22mph in a long 3 hour group ride, but don't worry about the average speed. The training you will get from the ride will be exactly what you need. Then as a few others have stated, ride 1 hour days throughout the rest of the week, making sure to take a few rest days (easy riding in small chainring with little effort) to recover. You don't need to do 200 miles a week to succeed, but you certainly do need to do more high speed training rides, and probably less climbing than you are doing now.


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

Slowly but surely I'm improving at this - I'm pretty sure if the pace kicks up a few mph I would get dropped. I know this is not fast by some standards but for me it feels great and it's faster then I've ever gone before so I'm happy with the results. I just wanted to share this and thank everyone for their feedback.


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## charlox5 (Jan 31, 2011)

nice work francisco!


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## arai_speed (Aug 19, 2003)

charlox5 said:


> nice work francisco!


Thanks Charles! It was alot of fun. We need to ride the SART again soon...I saw that you are going to do a nice long ride tomorrow. Have fun!


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