Well, thanks for the stories from the good ole days, old timer.

Make sure to check in with your coach on your hydration plan before your bike ride. It might be a little warm today. And pack some snaps in your Bento box.

It may not be hugely complicated, and it may be very possible to just jump in. But that doesn't make it wise or responsible.
I wouldn't think there's any need for a hugely protracted preparation, but if you always ride alone, you are an unnecessary danger to others if you jump straight into a relatively high speed pack who are competing against each other. I see that as selfish and irresponsible. The fact that you got away with it doesn't mean others will and doesn't make it a good idea.

Nationwide, last year road numbers are way down. The novice / 5 numbers have declined as the "cycling is the new golf" crowd has moved on. In my region, cat 5 races are not huge, often 40 or less and not particularly fast. I have been involved with racing either as a rider or promoter or assisting for years and have watched countless individuals take up the sport by using the novice category as an on ramp. Maybe it's different in the Sunbelt, but for our rider base, including the multisport athletes, the just jump in strategy does not lead to the dire catastrophies predicted on this thread. On balance, the 4 races have more mayhem and combined 1-3 are no safe picnic either.

Make sure you have good health insurance. Sooner or later you will crash. Use a beater bike in the crits. Because sooner or later you will crash.

Or you could race time trials. Lot safer, likely to be the only races this year and you've already got the bike.

Lastly, if you're going to race road/crits, find a team. The winning strategies involve teamwork. It's hard to do that as an unaffiliated rider. if you're new to the scene, it will be really difficult because other racers won't know you and if you're safe to work with.

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

This might be useful for you, it's a POV footage of both higher and lower category criterium racing, it starts with the more experienced riders and at 5 minutes flips to the 5 race, over time the rider filming moves back in the pack so you can get a sense for what it would be like. As the narrator notes, the 5's are not riding very close together and you can see many of them working on the turns and learning as they go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZozwvZ_aYhY

This crashing I think can get overplayed. Having health insurance is good advice, of course. And don't race a bike you can't afford to lose.

But I do 50-60 mass starts per year (including track), and I've crashed maybe 3-4 times in ~15 years, zero in the last ~5, and have popped up each time - no insurance needed. I've seen someone die, and seen lots of broken bones, so not minimizing the risk. Just saying that if someone likes racing and takes the time and effort to learn the skills and move up in categories, the crash risk can be greatly managed - though never eliminated.

Thank you. I agree, I've done probably over 1000 races and mostly crashing yielded abrasions and torn clothes. I had seasons where I did not crash at all. In total I have broken both collar bones, an ankle and a rib and hit my head a couple times. But that's 35 years of racing most weekends 10 months a year.

I hate seeing people overstate the danger aspect of racing a bicycle, it scares new people away when it should not. The main danger is to one's ego, for new riders getting pulled from a crit or cross race can be really hurtful. After the dozenth time, no big deal. Yes you can get hurt, so be smart and be careful and don't ride behind jackasses or take stupid chances.

Yeah, I mostly agree with you on the risks, and I don't think you need years and years of experience riding in groups before you race for the first time. I do still think its a good idea just so you have an idea of what to expect, and especially to use the opportunity to pick the brains of more experienced riders on how to stay safe in the bunch and where to position yourself.

I do think the risks of crashing are definitely over-hyped. I raced nearly every weekend back in Bermuda (smaller fields, but still big enough) for 10 years, plus the weekly group ride/race if there was one, and never crashed on the road. Some near misses, so a lot of that was luck, but a little bit of knowing where to be and how to make sure you have an out. Mountain bike season was a different story though.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yeah I agree about the mountain bike. I got pretty banged up going over the bars in the team time trial and promised my family that I would stop road racing out of safety which I sort of did. I decided instead to do more mountain bike racing as a safer alternative and ended up lacerating my kidney on a rock and spending a week in the hospital. Since then the only injury I've sustained is breaking a few ribs by jumping into my own cross race without a pre-ride or much of a plan. As I have gotten older, I definitely don't want to let the ponies run so much on the mountain bike headed downhill

Cat 5/novice is meant to be accessible for some one to come along and try the sport. Few people go oh I'm going to race, often people who commute a lot and do enduros.

The prevailing attitude on this thread that racing a bike is some how a super difficult and one way pass to hospital is what sees more and more people lost to gravel or MTB. Look at numbers who ride bikes and then number who race bikes. In the USA you don't even have a decent weekly club racing scene and have to travel all the time.

We are talking about folk with 3 w/kg at best trying to learn how to race. They are most likely to corner on the conservative side and not stick as much to the wheel in front.

Cat 4 and 3 where you have folks who have just raced for a few seasons, think they know what they are doing and trying to get promoted are much more dangerous than a bunch of newbies.

Your Cat 3 and 4's trying to get bumped up are the danger they seem to forget:

1. They are responsible for their front wheel.
2. Screaming hold your line from 10 positions back, makes you a douche.
3. See number 1.
4. Inside suicide, often done by Cat3/4 racer who is at point 2 above and desperately trying to get back on because he his actually unfit and never trains.
5. Stay in top third, and don't do dumb things to try and stay on, if you can't bugger off back to the lower Cat.
6. If you are in 30 th place at the final sprint, don't bother, you will achieve nothing and might cause a crash.

Novice 5 should be a welcome place for people to have a good experience rather than a place where snooty cyclists ask have you ridden a bunch and I want to ride with you to see whether or not you can join our club!!

Maybe your world is different to mine. I think I know one single cyclist who doesn't ever do group rides.

I was right where you are a few years back. I joined a cycling team and have not regretted one single minute of it. I've done some crit races and some road races and of course, enjoy the Time Trials especially when TT bikes are allowed. Sometimes they'll do an omnium where you do a short, sometimes hilly time trail but on a road bike. The next day might be circuit races followed by crits the day after. Sometimes road instead of crit or circuit.

You will become a much better bike handler and will be ready for just about any Triathlon bike course thrown at you.

I did a sprint tri last year on a multi-lap course that went around a lake with lots of curves. Very few opportunities where you could be on the aerobars for very long. My TT bike was unrideable that morning so I had to use the roadie. Glad I did, that was the one time where I feel I had an advantage over the TT bikes.

I have also been able to avoid disaster with the improved bike skills. At IMLOU a few years back guy in front of me had both bottles eject AND he suddenly slowed ON A CURVE without checking his rear and I was able to veer away, bunny hop a curb, ride on grass then get back on the road. That could have been ugly.

Riding in packs will teach you many things and give you the confidence to handle adverse conditions.

Maybe your world is different to mine. I think I know one single cyclist who doesn't ever do group rides.

Not sure I understand, sure, yes most people who ride will ride with groups at some point, did not intend to suggest that they have never ridden in a group, sorry for doing that.

I am all for anyone coming into a novice crit and most of the problems I've seen are form those who think they are better than they are in Cat 4 and 3.

I did find it hilarious that the local bike club insisted on me doing an individual ride with their Cat Captain to assess whether I could ride.