David Heatley

David Heatley is the director of Cycling-Inform and co-creator of the RaceRight Cycling Camp. He has medalled at national and regional events in New Zealand during the 1980’s. David now runs the Cycling-Inform company while racing at the top level of national Veterans Cycling racing in Australia. David created the very successful Original Bright Boot Camp. His coaching programs have achieved great results with riders across Australia and the world.

Published on 05-Dec-08

Found this great list for newcomers to cycling racing and thought I would publish it here.

Found this great list for new comers to cycling racing and thought I would publish it here:

Sourced from: http://gtveloce.com/bike/index.html

Ride a bit more than usual before your first race, and push yourself a bit harder to gain some confidence
Then have a rest day before the race, or just a short, easy ride
Get into bunches and practice riding with a group
Eat well, keep fats to a minimum and eat plenty of carbs with fruit, rice and bread in the mix
Don't ride hard if you are sick or injured, or overweight (see your doctor for help there before starting any exercise program)
Remember the rule of thumb: train in a week 3 times the distance of your race - so a 30km criterium means you should do at least 90km in a week, and you need to do that at least for a month prior to build your base
Remember the other rule of thumb: you lose whatever you gained after 3 days, so don't leave it 3 days between rides
Get to the race early and warm up gently but firmly - end the warm up with a cool down and build up to a race gear, but don't over-do it
Don't cool off completely before the race
Register for the race and get your number ASAP, don't leave it to the last minute
Ride around if necessary to keep warm
Don't miss the start
Follow the experienced riders, listen to them and watch what they do
Within the limits of what you can do be prepared to dig deep and grit your teeth to "hang on"
Don't cross wheels with other riders, one swerve and you'll be down
Don't show off in your first race, just absorb and learn
Sit on "in the draft", conserve energy, don't fidget, don't surge, be smooth - momentum is everything
Stay close to and follow experienced wheels carefully, certainly not in a jerky, sudden or unpredictable way
Do a turn when your turn comes, then pull off into the wind, allowing the next rider to shelter in your draft and easily come up to replace you
As you pull off do so gradually and slowly ease up, drifting to the back
If you feel comfortable ease back into the first 3rd of the bunch, otherwise go to the back again
Do what the others do, unless they are totally out of their minds!
Be there at the end
Have a go at the sprint but be realistic - don't get in the way.