Hoping for a bike racer to chime in here--

I have been interested in bike racing but have yet to take the leap (I also sold my road bike so I am tri-bike only). I plan on building up a road bike this winter to widen the types of events I can do. I am not afraid of falling but instead worried about injuring myself. I have yet to actually put a bike down yet after 5 years of riding now and thats either by myself or with friends. I attribute that mainly to just being careful, having skills from other activities that translated, and mostly plain luck.

So my question is this--is it similar to falling while skiing? I used to race (and still go up frequently) and falling isn't a big deal but the potential for injury was there. I don't worry about it while I'm out there but I do know that if I'm going for it and I have a moment I could be in trouble and thats the risk I am comfortable with. I also can avoid most potential for injury with sheer skill and if I do go down I can do so in a manner that won't hurt me. However, I've seen the worst (major head trauma, blown knees, etc) and while falling isn't inherently dangerous things happen. I might go down a handful of times a season and might tweak something or it might lead to something worse (which has yet to happen to me luckily).

If its like skiing with regards to injuries then it looks like a helluva time. It just seems like broken collarbones, ribs, and road rash are a very common thing. I already have a lot of risky hobbies and I'm not sure if I need another.

I raced for several (like 12) years, and in that time only crashed a handful of times. Out of all that, only once did I have an injury that kept me off the bike for any significant time (a bad collar bone break that took 3 months for me to be back on the road, and over a year before I could do backstroke pain-free, and 3 years before my head would let me get buried in the peleton again). Crashes happen, but you can mitigate them by:

* Keeping your head up and your bubble of awareness large. Watch what's happening well in front of you, not just the one rider ahead.
* Always giving yourself an escape route. I found riding on the sides of the pack not only let me go wide when needed to avoid carnage, but also gave me a place to go for attacks and counters.
* When it's going to happen, looking for a body to land on. Softer landings mean fewer broken bones and less lost skin.

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If you race / ride long enough, you are gonna go down. No if's, and's and but's about it. Just the nature of the beast.

That said, it is FAR less common than many here make it out to be and almost always far less serious. Yes, you will get road rash (which sucks), but serious injuries rarely happen. Does that mean a broken collarbone or worse won't happen? of course not.....but every weekend, thousands of amateur cyclists toe the line and race unscathed.

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I made the switch to bike racing this past year and haven't looked back. Main reason was because trying to fit in 3 sports just became to much of a stress and focusing solely on cycling has been a breeze. I can walk out my front door and hop on the bike and if the weather is bad I just go to the basement with the trainer. No need to get to the pool and double up in order to get the miles in. In my experience, the thing I like most about cycling is that it is more social and fellow cyclists are willing to reach out and help out the beginners. In triathlon, I've found that there was little social aspect and most of that is probably from it being an individual sport. In cycling racing for a team has made it very enjoyable to go to races together. I've progressed pretty fast from starting the year to a Cat 4 and only being a handful of points shy from being able to upgrade to a Cat 2, but even though most of my teammates are still Cat 4 and a couple 3's we still support each other by staying for races to watch.

As far as crashing, it is part of the sport and the best thing to do is try not to think about it. If you do that you will crash! Like others have said if you do crash 9 out of 10 times it is going to be road rash, which sucks, but it heals fast. I've crashed 3 times this year (unlucky year). First time my front wheel slid out at 30 mph around a turn, it was a freak occurence and I ended up with some narly road rash but that was it. 2nd time there was a crash in front and I had no where to go, was able to lock up the breaks and basically just fell over. 3rd time was because a guy two wheels in front of me blew a clincher around a turn, once again I had no where to go except lock up the brakes. A guy that crashed in front of me softened my fall.

It's taken me a little bit to get my head back in sometimes, but you eventually come around. Practice your bike handling skills, like bumping with a friend in a grass field, and you will be much more confident.

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The road is a lot harder to hit than snow. And it will chew up your clothes and skin. But unlike skiing, serious leg injuries are pretty rare. I've crashed racing both road and cross and the cross was a lot worse in that I endo-ed into a dirt rhythm section that didn't have any rhythm. Broken helmet, but nothing that kept me off the bike. Crit crash happened in a corner at 27-ish a guy ran into my rear wheel. I slid out and had some severe road rash on my shin and hip (that is now a 3" x 8" scar on the shin), but I rode home afterwards. Worst crash was in training. On a bike path with my head down doing some interval training. Looked up to see a tree felled across the path 100' ahead. Hit the brakes, endo-ed and broke another helmet, as well is the iliac cap in my hip. Stable fracture, so pulled my bike out of the tree and finished my trip to work, then rode home that evening another 30 miles. Crashes happen, you're probably not going to be hurt too bad, and you'l have a hell of a good time out there. Just remember to keep your hands on the bars when you do go down.

I'm on the opposite end, swimming for me sucks cause of burnout on the pool. I do road races, time trials and crits only when absolutely necessary. Always have fun.

Also gotten into mountain biking, and that's a kick in the ass!

John

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"So my question is this--is it similar to falling while skiing?"

Crashing on a road bike would be similar to skiing if you were skiing in a pair of lycra shorts/jersey and skiing on boilerplate. That said, you can definitely pick and choose the races you do w/respect to the chances of being involved in a crash. A flat crit with a lot of tight corners, yeah, there are going to be a lot of people hitting the deck. A hilly road race...your chances of going down are pretty small.

Or, you could just do cyclocross and you'll most definitely crash and will look silly doing it but most likely won't get hurt but will be heckled mercilessly.

I fixed the title for you:

"For those of you who have downgraded from Triathlon to Bike Racing..."

If it was easy everyone would do it. I specifically got into triathlon racing because it's hard. I would never want it any other way. The day I no longer feel like I am about to die when I cross the finish line is the day I find a new sport. But that's okay, tris are not for everyone. Some people cant handle that much misery, and that's okay. So if it's too much for you to handle, I hear golf is fun.

Aside from the general condescending tone, which I'll just ignore, clearly you've never raced a bike. If you want to talk about suffering...

Hated swimming and training for 3 sports was taking too much time. Missed the enjoyment of team sporrs I got from my xc backgroubd
background

Regrets- not many really. Its harder to do well in- I could easily be in the top 10 % of my field back when I did tri so long as I had the fitness. Bike racing is unmerciful.

But heck yeah its alot more fun. But also alot more painful than tri.

It was hard to balance all 3 for me as well. Single sport is easier but you realize pretty quick that a lot of guys are riding >12hrs a week anyway. If you are a crit monkey you can get away with a lot less. I thought I was a decent TT guy but realized I was better at 20 second sprints which helpful. Agree that is a lot harder to do well in, but the tactical and strategic nature if it makes it fun. Strongest guy definitely doesn't win all the time. Most AGers in Tri are sort of just doing there own time trials at the same time as a bunch of other people so never felt like I as racing people...flying around in a pack on the bike is a lot more fun in that regard. You also realize that most of your former triathlete riding buddies have no idea how to ride a bike and then you need to train with all different people unless you are doing a recovery ride.

You would really love bike racing then, it is a lot harder!

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Bwahahahaha! Dude, you have never raced bikes have you? I've done all distance of tri's and can tell you that bike racing is much more painful. I'm not even going to go into detail on this one. Go sign up for a bike race and see for yourself...then come back here correct your previous statement since it was clearly an ignorant one.

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So my question is this--is it similar to falling while skiing?

Ha, ha... ha. Not for me. I'd typically crash at high speeds while skiing over a dozen times a day... on average. Never got hurt except for tweaking my knee once... loved it. Then I took up cycling...

You are wearing lycra and landing on a very hard and rough surface... from a greater height than you are when skiing. The most trivial cycling crashes still have some hefty bruising and road rash. It hurts like hell. And extensive road rash is very annoying to deal with as it heals. And more severe injuries are common of course as well.

Wish there was some statistical info on injuries in bike races and how dangerous it is. I've done maybe 500 races and crashed ~20 times in them? Concussion, separated both shoulders, severed a hamstring tendon. When riding in a pack you usually don't have much choice in the matter... if someone goes down right in front of you, then you are going down too.

Looks like you're getting properly chastised for your ignorance, I just wanted to say that I've never had my legs ripped off in such a degree as when I went on a few rides with some racing buddies, and this was a TRAINING ride

And yet the OP is considering biking because he complains tris involve too much misery.



There is always CrossFit. At least the girls are better looking than tri girls:

 

i made the switch due to ankle problems preventing me from running.

bike racing is a lot harder and a lot more stressful. the training is harder and involves much more misery and self loathing.

but you win nice money, vs the dumb crap you get at tris. and full time bike training leads to some interesting experiences. it is sort of unavoidable when you are on your bike 15-25 hours a week.

as a very strong tt'er with a poor sprint, there are some real life lessons you gotta learn road racing. triathletes have an amusing and wrong way of using the word 'fair' in this context.

And the last time you raced a bike was..?

1) What prompted the change? Tired of being ok in three sports and just tired of triathletes in general. I knew i had a propensity to sprinting and wanted to develop that ability and see what happens. I also wanted to do more weight training and tri really gets in the way of gym time. I also think i was tired of all the money for tri, its insaine now looking back at how much i spent just to keep up with all the gear. You can buy results in tri, not so much in road racing.
2) Do you have any regrets? None, my only regret is not getting into this sooner.
3) Whatever your expectations were (it would be more fun etc), did it live up to those expectations?It was much harder than i thought at first. Even the cat 5's were really strong. I remember my first cat 5 road race going for 50 miles at 240 ave watts (150lb) and the final sprint we did over 400w for two minutes leading into the sprint.....that was an eye opener to say the least. It took about a year and a half to understand how to take corners, pack bike handling, and general/basic tactics. Now that i have a better understanding of the flow of racing i am able to really race races. It's now much more fun than the first few suffer fests where i was constantly off the back/ loosing wheels.

I did this and have written about it on here many, many years ago. You can search for it if you want.

1. I was bored of not racing for 2 years, I had an ITB injury couldn't run and the business I was coaching for at the time started a bike racing team

2. Maybe the crash in what would have been my last race as a 4 before upgrading where I had a :30 lead with 1.2 laps to go in a crit where laps were taking :55. Front wheel washed out from under me. No upgrade points and no $150 for winning and no huge pie for winning the crit series which I was leading.

3. It was the most fun I had in endurance sports since college XC. Riding was never a chore, getting out the door never a bore. 4-5 hour rides in a tight paceline with your team = fun.

When I moved back into triathlons I noticed that I had a much higher skill set on the bike then most of the triathletes in the race. wasn't uncommon to take 30-40yds out of people every single corner in races etc. I'd peg the advantage on urban type or looped courses at .2mph advantage and .1mph on the rest of the courses.

One of the dudes I raced with way back when and I are discussing forming a masters team for next season.
IMO bike racing compliments triathlon and triathlon can compliment bike racing.

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But that's okay, tris are not for everyone. Some people cant handle that much misery.

Have you ever bike raced?

In bike racing the suffering and the misery can be extraordinary. I've been involved in running, cross-country skiing, triathlon and bike racing, all at a moderately high competitive level for a very long time


The most I have ever suffered, and likely pulled down the biggest numbers( I don't use any training aids), was when in a bike race I was pipped off the back of the group with two other really strong guys - guys who could have won that race. The gap had grown to about 200+ meters. We agreed we would try and chase back on. I don't think I've EVER pushed my body harder, and suffered more, for the next 5+ minutes. It was excruciating. I was seeing double. We did finally get back on, but no sooner than we did, and there was another massive acceleration off the front of the group and I was dropped again. That's bike racing!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

1) What prompted the change?

Two torn Achilles and a torn Peroneal from running. My shoulder would also complain after 6k a week of swimming. I loved running, but after I hit 30 mpw, there was also something that put me on the shelf for a week or two. I ran for 15 years, so I do miss it, but age can be cruel.

2) Do you have any regrets?

I would have liked to achieve some of my goals in triathlon, but with all the injuries I seemed to be taking 2 steps forward, then 3 back.

3) Whatever your expectations were (it would be more fun etc), did it live up to those expectations? Bike Racing is a totally different sport than the bike section of triathlon. Triathlon rewards a steady pace for 30+ minutes and cycling rewards efforts between 5 seconds to 3 minutes. More bursts. What killed me when I started was not having knowledge to draft and race smart in addition to having almost no sprint. It doesn't really matter if you have a 300 ftp; if the pack keeps surging and you don't have that burst power you will get dropped. Like most triathletes I had zero short term power and only now after a year it is respectable.

Racecraft is huge. My first race every corner I had to hit 700 watts to keep up and just died on the last lap. Hired a coach who taught me how to race. Now I can hit the corners at 400 watts and jump 10 places. Navigating in the pack, bumping people, staying inches from a wheel are just as important as fitness. Sometimes (most times) a crit feels more like a NASCAR race.

The sport is a blast, but the feel is totally different than triathlon. There really aren't A races, no one will be proud of you for finishing, people only care if you or your team wins, but even then its really low key.

There really aren't A races, no one will be proud of you for finishing, people only care if you or your team wins

True, but there is a considerable amount of respect and camaraderie that develops in the peleton.


Last year at the Pro 1/2 women's National Road Race Championships, my wife made the move that, really decided the race. The break was away and looking like it was going to stay away. Most of the favorites missed the move. My wife got antsie and tired of waiting, so just went to the front and TT'd for 15K and closed the gap down, almost completely on her own. No one would help. Of course come the finale, and she was baked and really could not do anything, but afterwards, Team Managers, and the girls who ended up on the podium, were thanking her for her efforts! You can be the "hero" of the race, and win nothing! That's road racing!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

My season ended June 28. I now have 8 pins and a plate in my collarbone. In a crit, out of the blue, a guy lays his bike down in front of me on a curve and the last thing that went through my head before waking up on the asphalt was, "It's my turn."

That's racing. If you do it enough, you'll crash. Hopefully no surgery, though.

The bike is okay, thanks.