You will only need a license if you race a USCF event. UCI is the worlds governing body, but it is unlikely that you will be racing any UCI events. USCF is the national governing body.

When you find a race (online), check to see if it is USCF. If it is you can get a 1 day license for CAT 5 for about $5-10. You should race with the 5's as the field size will likely be limited.

Your first race should be one of survival, just stay with the pack, in the peloton you should hold your line and keep your hands on the bars/fingers on the brakes - watch for any signs of a crash.

Dont make sudden wheel or line movements and never cross the centerline or else you will be DQ'd.

My crude USCF CAT description:

CAT 1 = almost a pro, for the most part, likely on a regional/national team that is sponsored

CAT 2 = semi-pro, likely on a regional team that is sponsored

CAT 3 = Expert

CAT 4 = Advanced/intermediate

CAT 5 = Beginner



Best of luck to you!

i'm curious about participating in road racing as a beginner....

what are some physical goals one should try to have fun competiting in a cat 5 road race....how fast and how long.....what type of shape should you have....

i suppose one should join a local club????

i'm just looking for some healthy competition not a bunch of lance armstrong wannabe's.....is it possible to enjoy the racing or is it a bunch of softballer's wearing major leauge uniforms.....

which brings me to a side note...as a rookie can someone explain why it is cool to wear team replica uniforms in biking.....if i was playing a pick-up game of hoops and a guy was wearing a full laker uniform and another guy was wearing a full nicks uniform..and on and on....(actually that would be kinda cool) but it seems sort of strange to me.......or no???? i mean unless i was the yellow jersy man i wouldn't dare touch that thing.....

I can answer two at once, yes most are Lance wannabes and hence the team replica wear. One thing that makes it easier to replicate the pros in our sport, is that no matter what is sublimated on the suit, biking apparel is functional, so why not look the part. Although I currently have no pro team garb, it's no less a stretch than all the fat football wannabes who sit in front of the TV with their fav team jersey on. As for softballers looking like majors, just try your hand at it and you'll gain some respect for those wannabes. I finished 8th overall in my age group in the Midwest Triathlon series and cycling is the only thing I'm good at. When I show up at our local cat 5 races I was hang on by a thread trying not to get dropped. I encorage everyone to give it a try, and you might be shocked or even pleased. If the bug bites you good and hard, you might even eye one of those CSC Tiscali jerseys... or not.

joining a club can either help or hinder you, depending on how you view it and if you participate in group rides. if you join a club such as Cyclo-Vets or Ranchos, they pay for all your races and entry fees.

most SoCal races are listed on www.timetrial.org and www.socalcycling.com

you should be able to ride 40 miles at a upper level aerobic pace. your training will likely exceed 150 miles per week



you may want to start with a few TT races to guage your fitness, there are TT's all over SoCal and likely one near you, check the calendar for all dates

- Gary

<< which brings me to a side note...as a rookie can someone explain why it is cool to wear team replica uniforms in biking.....



when out training, you can wear whatever you want, but when it comes to USCF racing, you cannot wear that stuff unless you are actually on said team. When you register for a race, you are either on a team and registered as being on that team/club and wear their colors or you are unattached and pay a slightly higher entry fee, and wear a blank jearsy with no sponsor logos on it.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Hey everyone-

I'm also interested in getting into road racing but I live in NJ. I've done a search of some local and regional races, and while I've noticed a bunch of Cat 3 and better and even a few Cat 4 races, there don't seem to be any Cat 5s. Is there something I'm not getting? Do the beginners just jump in the back?

If anyone can recommend some good races for a first timer in the NJ area, I'd appreciate it. Also, given that I do most of my training alone, what, if anything, can I do to prepare for riding in the pack? Since rollers help riders maintain a straight line, would it be a good idea to get on them?

Thanks

every USCF race I've been to has 5's or 4/5 combo. you cant race with the 3's unless you are in a combo category, and you cant get a 1-day license for CAT 4 or 3, just for 5

Some areas have decent sized non-sanctioned races as well. Just show up pay and race in one field. Pros and Cons obviously with this scenario.

Most tri guys are plenty strong to race in CAT V fields, however, don't know how to deal with the quick accelerations that happen. Hopefully you have a decent club and that killer weekly ride the basically simulates race day, gets you ready in no time. Guys in this club/group will steer you toward the events and local procedures for the races.

First of all, I commend you for wanting to race - it will make you a better bike handler, and can be fun if you keep it in perspective.

You will start out as a Cat 5 - beginner. Don't let the beginner tag fool you - this is a competitive category. It's true you should spend the first few races trying to stay in the pack - preferably towards the front third. If you have no pack riding experience, find some local training rides to get some experiece. Hold your line and work on staying towards the front - it's more difficult than you think. This is where your local clubs/teams will come into play. Most will participate in the local rides, and can help you get involved. Find a club/team that is friendly to new racers, and you'll enjoy your experience a good deal more. Depending on its size, you may even get to experience racing your category as a team.

I'm not sure where you got the impression, but wearing a pro team's kit is definitely not cool, and like the previous post already pointed out, if you do not belong to a team, you will not be allowed to wear their colors in a race - you must wear a blank jersey. This rule is not always enforced but, again, you'll only look foolish if you get out there in full Postal gear. If you want to wear a pro teams kit otherwise, feel free but you'll enjoy a bit of ribbing during the group rides. I suggest joining a club/team and wearing their colors - you'll have more fun too.

As for training, since you'll likely be doing crits I'd say intervals are your best bet. Intervals, intervals, and more intervals. Have fun!

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

There is so much advice that begs to be delivered to someone looking to enter bike racing. All of what has been offered above is good stuff. I'll just add that cycling, as opposed to triathlon/timetrialing, is a sport of ungodly hard anaerobic efforts. Success (or even the ability to "just finish with the pack") is a function of how well you can push yourself beyond your preconceived limits and then recover to do it again, and again, and again...



Intervals is the right concept, but I really doubt that you'll ever be able to push yourself hard enough on your own to adapt to the intensity that you'll be REQUIRED to perform in a tough road race. Find a local race team to train with, that way you'll know what's expected of you before you dive into a race and find yourself (hopelessly) chasing the peloton after the first steep hill or hard acceleration. I can assure you that is no fun at all.



Happy trails,

Chris

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Happy trails,
Chris

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. You guys have definately adjusted my expectations.

I thought a pack bike race would be a bunch of dudes just riding tempo for a while and then going all out at the finish (like in the Tour De France). Every now and then someone might try to break away, but the pack would chase them down since the pack is generally faster than a single dude. It sounds like the tactics are that the strong riders are constantly pushing the pace to drop the hanger-ons so that its just the strong guys at the finish.

Thanks for the tips about not wearing pro garb. My family knows I ride bikes and buys me pro jersey's for b-days and such, so I have a ton of them.

I see a race on Feb 29th close to where I live. I think I'll give it a try in cat V.

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- Steve
http://bailey.sts.winisp.net

Don't let all these guys scare you. If you are a decent triathlete you will be able to dust most if not all cat 5's. You won't be "hanging on by your teeth" as others suggested. There is a lot of snobbery in road cycling. At the few races I've done I've had to race as a cat5 but ended up beating most of the cat2's and some of the cat 1's. They hate it when they find out I'm a lowly triathlete.

1) http://www.wsbaracing.com/

look for event calender

2) recommend riding as many "club/training" rides before then. pay attention to ETIQUETTE, holding the wheel in front of you, braking in a pack, pacelines..... all very different than when cycling w/ some triathletes.

3) It is possible the ride you are refering to is acually not really a race. The Cascade Bicycle Club is a great cycling club that puts on the famous Chilly Hilly and other great events but are not really into races.

4) You might check into Aurora Cyling Club. Friendly intro oriented, racing club.

And since it hasn't been mentioned before, you should try to read the USCF Rulebook before your first race. It's at
http://www.usacycling.org/

I would check to see if your area has any mentoring programs/races. Here in NorCal, we have an early bird crit series, the first of which was today. If you are new to bike racing (less than 5 races), you do a mentoring session first, then they cut you loose to race a crit. Lots of new folks out there today, including me and about 15 or so of my triathlete buddies. The men's 5 race was a pretty big field with a lot of crashes (one guy carted off in a car). The women's 4 race (women start at Cat. 4 here, not Cat. 5) had 46 women, probably half of whom had never bike raced before. No crashes in our race. I'll do a full race report on my site, but suffice it to say....it's way different from Ironman racing.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com