First Race

[JV2022]

Got my first race this weekend starting off in D grade at Heffron Park. Any advice?

[foo on patrol]

Ride smart, don't make sudden changes of direction, be aware of where the other riders are around you and stay close to the front.

Foo

[Derny Driver]

Follow wheels ....dont be a hero and ride on the front. Ride near the front so that it it splits you are in the front group.
Its always windy so just stay in the group and conserve energy out of the wind, in the shelter.
Dont sprint the entire length of the front straight on the last lap. Follow a wheel for the first third of that, then have a go on your own for the last 150 metres.
Watch for cracks big enough to swallow a whole bike up. Dont overlap wheels with the bike in front of you.
Dont get bossed around by bossy riders. You do not need to do turns on the front in your first race.

[AUbicycles]

Derny Driver has the pro advice... but to reiterate from foo... ride aware. People will do things that you have to anticipate, and also anything you do should not be sudden, rather expected. (ie safety)

[g-boaf]

Got my first race this weekend starting off in D grade at Heffron Park. Any advice?

Be alert, don't put your wheels across the wheels of others (I warned someone today not to do that) and don't try to be a hero - just try to be nice and smooth.

As DD says (he knows the racing side of things very well) don't feel pressured to doing too much work on the front because the other bossy riders probably won't do so either.

Be realistic about sprinting, if you are many wheels back it's unlikely you'll make that stick - gaps that exist when you start will probably be gone when you get there.

Careful at Heffron, it has a pretty rough surface too.

If you like it and want some more racing (and provided the times don't clash), we run Thursday evening at the Armory (Sydney Olympic Park). You can find details on Buncheur:

https://www.buncheur.com/lidcombe-aubur ... -1-1-1-1-1

We have many people there who can give you a lot of good advice.

[10speedsemiracer]

Follow wheels ....dont be a hero and ride on the front. Ride near the front so that it it splits you are in the front group.
Its always windy so just stay in the group and conserve energy out of the wind, in the shelter.
Dont sprint the entire length of the front straight on the last lap. Follow a wheel for the first third of that, then have a go on your own for the last 150 metres.
Watch for cracks big enough to swallow a whole bike up. Dont overlap wheels with the bike in front of you.
Dont get bossed around by bossy riders. You do not need to do turns on the front in your first race.

To follow on from the excellent advice above, don't forget your pre-race routine, and put some thought into it in terms of timing.
This includes nutrition and hydration, plus an appropriate set of dynamic stretches pre-race and nice gentle set of static stretches post-race.

Also, if you want to start establishing some pre-race superstitions and habits, like left sock then right sock or a special cap or whatever, now is the time to do it ...

Edit : typo

[lone rider]

Have fun. Thats all its supposed to be at club level, too many people miss this concept.
Watch what the experienced guys do, sit on their wheel for a bit, they wont want you there but do it anyway. Watch how they approach and exit corners, watch where they position themselves on a wheel, where is the wind coming from.
Getting dropped is part of racing, accept it and keep coming back, it will push you to train harder.

[Derny Driver]

Have fun. Thats all its supposed to be at club level, too many people miss this concept.
Watch what the experienced guys do, sit on their wheel for a bit, they wont want you there but do it anyway. Watch how they approach and exit corners, watch where they position themselves on a wheel, where is the wind coming from.
Getting dropped is part of racing, accept it and keep coming back, it will push you to train harder.

+1

[g-boaf]

Have fun. Thats all its supposed to be at club level, too many people miss this concept.
Watch what the experienced guys do, sit on their wheel for a bit, they wont want you there but do it anyway. Watch how they approach and exit corners, watch where they position themselves on a wheel, where is the wind coming from.
Getting dropped is part of racing, accept it and keep coming back, it will push you to train harder.

If the lower grades are racing first, stick around later on and watch the A grade races. If you get the chance, have a chat to some of those riders, I'm sure they'll have a lot of good tips and you'll find a lot of them are very down to earth and friendly.

Where those guys get a lot of speed is how they corner - on tracks like the Armory, you can see just how quickly they take the final corner which is quite sharp. They are losing less momentum coming out of the corner, and you'll also see the clever ones are getting in the right gear to accelerate out of the corner beforehand.

The cornering will take time and building confidence and learning to look through the corner to where you are going.

[RobertL]

The race will have surges of slower and faster pace. When it is going faster, and everyone is strung out further, hang on and maintain your position. When the race slows down, and the people in front freewheel and bunch up, keep pedalling for a few seconds longer than them and use your momentum to move forward in the bunch.

[ft_critical]

Got my first race this weekend starting off in D grade at Heffron Park. Any advice?

Heffron is about trust and avoiding the concertina. Practice looking through the corners not at the wheel in front, try not to brake, try not to let any gap form to the wheel in front, pedal early on the exit, hammer the top corner onto the straight and recover in the wheels on the straight.

Heffron will make you strong.