I just watched the Giro de Burnaby last night in Burnaby, British Columbia. What an exciting sport to watch. For those that have done it, is it as much fun as it looks? Any tips how to get started? I am 36 years old.
Yeah, it’s fun is you like riding close to flat out for 30-45 mins. Tips, get use to riding with lots of people really close to you. Stay at the front, there is usually at least one pile up, particualarly in the 4-5 race. Alot of place have training crits in the summer. Races that are just for training and if you get dropped you can jump back in again after sitting out a lap or two. Those are usually a good place to start and try it.
It’s the most nerve-wracking fun you can have on two wheels.
As a triathlete, be prepared to have your ass handed to you for a good year until you learn how to sprint.
It is fun. Until the fellow in front of you or inside you in a turn goes down and takes you down. Then, not so much.
AJ- come out to Richmond on a Thursday night and give the Coastal races a try! www.teamcoastalcycling.com/display/team/Team+Coastal+Thursday+Challenge+Series I did my first one a few weeks ago (I’m 46) in the C’s and was able to barely hang on to the group. We raced for 36 mins (17 laps) and the avgerage speed was 38.3 kmh, my hr was 95-99% of max for the whole race!. It was alot of fun. I will likely miss the next 2 weeks (Newfie 70.3) but should race on the 9th,16th and 23rd. It’s low key and you will love it!.
I just watched the Giro de Burnaby last night in Burnaby, British Columbia. What an exciting sport to watch. For those that have done it, is it as much fun as it looks? Any tips how to get started? I am 36 years old.
The last 5 laps of a crit are beyond fun. especially if you can ride at the front and you have a sprint in your legs.
If you really enjoy pain and suffering, yeah, crits are loads of fun. They are much more fun if you are the one doing the hurting, not the one being hurt. If you are stuck at the back of the bunch and riding the accordion, they really suck.
I’ve done probably close to 100 crits and have scars as well as good memories. Racing as Cat 1/2 is fun, tactical, and exciting. Racing in the lower categories is more like gambling, dodging, and hoping that people don’t take you out. A compromise is racing Masters (like triathlon Age Group). Usually something like 30+, 40+ etc. These races are filled with aging cat 1/2 riders as well as the rest. The lower cats usually get shelled by mid-race so all you have to do is ride near the front to experience aggressive but safe close quarters racing, which is a lot of fun.
OTOH, if you’re the dangerous rider in a good field of strong masters you will be told to go F yourself in no uncertain terms…
Many crits have one race for non-licensed riders that you can enter to try it out. Stick around to watch the pro 1/2/3 race(s) to get an idea of the difference. Good luck!
Racing Masters in the 30+ category is probably not where one should start racing crits if you’ve never done it before. Those dudes are fast.
Racing in the 5’s and 4’s isn’t that bad, esp if you are strong enough to stay up front.
yeah, its a blast and a great workout. I like doing them although I havent done any this year. Two years ago, I went down at 32 mph. That was fun…NOT. Seriously, its a great thing to do on the side.
I just watched the Giro de Burnaby last night in Burnaby, British Columbia. What an exciting sport to watch. For those that have done it, is it as much fun as it looks? Any tips how to get started? I am 36 years old.
Yes, IF…
- you are in shape and can hang w/o agony
- you manage to stay on the bike.
Agreed, they are a blast, but they’re a little dangerous. If you are strong enough to make it to the front and hang on, it’s a blast. The yo-yo effect with every turn in the back…not so much. Go and ride with a group A LOT, and then do some practice crit racing first. If you show up to the first one, and then take out a bunch of guys, you will be identified as someone to stay away from. As far as fun, they can be a blast.
It’s an absolute blast and e-ticket ride and also dangerous at the same time as others have eluded to.
Here’s some pics that might make it look a little more fun. We had an 8 man break that held off an angry peloton.
I started at 37 and in our region they have a 35+ 4/5 group. Like others said, stay near the front - now that is easier said than done as everyone fights for position. Find group rides to practice holding and advancing your position. Stay on the protected side (out of the wind) and use others for free rides to the front if you lose position. You’ll have to learn to accelerate and corner 6 inches from someone’s wheel and be comfortable, so learn how to corner fast and counter-steer. If you get behind a wavering wheel then find someone else who’s smoother.
One piece of advice that’s kept me out of trouble is to not sprint unless you are in the top 10 or close to it. Often crashes happen when guys go sprinting for like 20th place, which is really just stupid cause no one cares about 20th. If you’re out of the running sit up and stay safe. When you are a Cat 5 placings don’t matter anyway and you just need 10 finishes to get an upgrade. Also, the last couple laps tend to get really fast and that’s where people lose concentration and make mistakes.
Let us know how it goes.
Not everyone has fun:
.
crits are the most fun i’ve had racing anything. ever. a good crit race > ironman any day in my books.
You want more fun? Hit the velodrome. I started that this year and it’s a blast. One person summed it up - each race on the program is like the last 5 minutes of a race.
I have gone back to mostly cycling road races and crits since I did an IM two years ago. Road cycling is very, very, different from triathlon in terms of tactics and bike handling.
Chris Lieto has been supplementing his triathlon with bike racing. In a recent interview with Velonews he responded to the question “How different is road racing from triathlon?” He said
“Road racing is more painful in ways because you just dig really deep and … you feel like you are going to pass out. That pain is short but extremely painful. Whereas in Ironman you find a pain that you can withstand for a long period of time and you just sit there.”
Other differences:
“Part of it is luck, part is strategy, part is experience … versus in triathlon you go your pace, and you’re strong and the strongman usually does better. In cycling it’s different, there’s so much more to it, which makes it exciting.”
For bike racing newbies, good resources include recent books by Prehn on racing tactics and Wenzel on road bike racing for beginners.
Adrian - judging from your race results you are a pretty strong/fast dude overall, you should do pretty well. Depending on your location in Burnaby, you could try the Richmond race, as suggested, or travel East on 7 to Mission where we have a crit. at the Mission raceway most Wednesdays. It starts at about 6 pm.
Its fun, in a waiting for your heart to pop out of your chest as your HR hits 180 kind of way. 37 is not too late to start. At your age, you’ll be a pretty typical racer in Cat 5. If you are in decent shape and are comfortable riding in tight quarters you won’t embarrass yourself and you’ll probably do better than you think. Don’t race masters though as masters are generally very experienced folks. You want to start out racing against other newbies in cat 5, even if they are 25 years old, not against a bunch of 45 year old former cat 2 riders in the masters group who you might not see again after the first few laps. The whole point of doing a crit is to mix it up in a group of riders so you want to ride with folks who you can hang with. Bike races are only fun if you are in the group (if being in the group is not your cup of tea than bike racing is not for you). You’ll here horror stories about crashes but it is not nearly as bad as some like to make it out to be. There are crashes but not every race and if you are smart and take control of where you are in the pack, you can avoid most of the crashes that do happen.
The best place to start is to find a local club that has informal training races. If you want to jump right in, you can just show up and register on the day of a race. You’ll need a license but you can buy a one day one at the registration.
Its way different than triathlon. Infinitely more intense. Its much more painful, both physically and mentally, to go absolutely all out for 4 or 5 minutes than it is to go pretty hard for 4 or 5 hours. Another way its different is in most races they don’t even bother recording places below 10th or so. Its all about winning and only fairly serious folks toe the line so its kind of a refreshing change of pace from the “everybody is a winner” vibe you tend to get at triathlons.
Ouchh… great pics though - thanks!