I am looking for a little advice from the experienced racers on this board. Okay, this is my first full season of racing. I am a Master's level Cat 4 racer now. Based on performances so far, my reletive strengths are in the following descending order:

1. Time Trialing (the longer the better).
2. Long steady grade climbing
3. Power Climbs/Uneven grades of climbs/brow sprinting.
4. Sprinting.

Of course I am going to work more on my weaknesses because I definitely want to improve those, but int he meantime, what advice would you provide in terms of road race day. What opportunities or situtations should I look for or tactics would you atempt with similar strengths (besides the obvious of riding TT)?

Thanks

My experience has been that in the lower categories unless the course is hard enough to be selective it will come down to a field sprint almost everytime. That being said I knew a guy who 2 or 3 times in one season attacked or just rolled off the front right from the gun and made it stick. So that seems like a tactic that might thwart the "chase everything" that pervades the low categories.

I am looking for a little advice from the experienced racers on this board. Okay, this is my first full season of racing. I am a Master's level Cat 4 racer now. Based on performances so far, my reletive strengths are in the following descending order:

1. Time Trialing (the longer the better).
2. Long steady grade climbing
3. Power Climbs/Uneven grades of climbs/brow sprinting.
4. Sprinting.

Of course I am going to work more on my weaknesses because I definitely want to improve those, but int he meantime, what advice would you provide in terms of road race day. What opportunities or situtations should I look for or tactics would you atempt with similar strengths (besides the obvious of riding TT)?

Thanks

Your strengths are similar to mine when I raced Cat 4 and Cat 3. Here is an excerpt I wrote from a previous post about criterium racing but a lot of it applies to road racing tactics for the non-sprinter.

"If you are a non-sprinter type (me) then you have to determine how exactly you are going to maximize your chances at a result. Look for places to attack. If the course has a hill, attack near the top of the hill before the next corner or just out of the corner after the hill. The idea is to hit them when everyone is hurting. Attacking when it is easy is usually unproductive. If the course is flat, use the technical sections. Attack before a tight turn, or just before the wind changes from crosswind to tailwind. Ride on the edge of road opposite the crosswind side during the attack, to keep others from being able to overlap you and get a full draft. Avoid attacking into headwind sections unless the racing is very hard for a long time and then there is a lull. If you are going to have to attack to get results, know which riders are useful to have in breaks and also know which sprinters you do not want to tow around. Do you fair share of the work, but don't overdo it unless you are happy to ride for a placing and not the win. This is only a small subset of tactics, each race has its own."

Continuing on from there: As Dwayne said, in the lower categories a lot of road races will end up as field or large group sprints. This happens because there is a "chase everything mentality" in the field but also because most attackers in cat 4 don't really commit 110% to the move. If you are a weak sprinter and you know you won't be getting results in a sprint then you have to find other ways to get results. Personally, I used stage races in the lower cats as my targets. Rip the TT, front group road race, defend position in the crit. A lot of upgrade points are on offer at stage races. For single-day road races it really comes down to fitness and luck. To beat the cat 4 field mentality you need to be prepared to attack multiple times and in some cases counter your own attacks with another attack. But, you have to be strong and know that you are one of the strongest. Use crosswind sections to your advantage, attack just before the crosswind hits for maximum effect. Also, attacking on false-flats after steep climbs works well as the steeper part will put people in debt and hitting them on the false-flat afterwards is usually better than trying to attack from the bottom. Timing of the attack is also important, if the pace has been easy your attack will have little chance of success because everyone will be eager to chase. In that case, if you want to have a go, I recommend rolling off the front gently before hitting the gas hard. If the group sees you out of the saddle and pounding away on your attack and they are fresh the reaction will be quick. But if you roll away innocently until you have a gap and then kind of attack from there it will work better. Still, the best time to attack is when the pace eases after many attacks or a long single-file section, or even better timing this attack so it happens just before the field eases off. Being the attacker is hard work, you have to have the ability to go when you are hurting!

Also, give consideration to your breakaway companions if you are in a successful break. If you are in a small break (say 3-6 riders) and you know you are stronger than everyone else, play your cards wisely because this will be your best chance for victory. Work hard, but not too hard because you need to be able to attack the break if it is successful at staying away, unless you are certain you can win the break sprint. If you are in a similar group and you are the weakest, then hang on for dear life and work when you can. Take your chance near the finish with an attack, sometimes the weakest guy gets lucky and the other break riders will underestimate him. Worst case scenario, you end up last in the group. Of course teammates and team dynamics will add a very complex element to all of this, but in general in cat 4 and most of cat 3 team tactics are not a big factor.

Part of being the non-sprinter is accepting that your chances at victory will come up less, so you have to maximize your chances at getting RESULTS. I'm not saying that winning isn't the ultimate goal, but there are many days where you might sacrifice a very slim chance at winning outright just to guarantee a top-5.

Your strengths are similar to mine when I raced Cat 4 and Cat 3. Here is an excerpt I wrote from a previous post about criterium racing but a lot of it applies to road racing tactics for the non-sprinter.

"If you are a non-sprinter type (me) then you have to determine how exactly you are going to maximize your chances at a result. Look for places to attack. If the course has a hill, attack near the top of the hill before the next corner or just out of the corner after the hill. The idea is to hit them when everyone is hurting. Attacking when it is easy is usually unproductive. If the course is flat, use the technical sections. Attack before a tight turn, or just before the wind changes from crosswind to tailwind. Ride on the edge of road opposite the crosswind side during the attack, to keep others from being able to overlap you and get a full draft. Avoid attacking into headwind sections unless the racing is very hard for a long time and then there is a lull. If you are going to have to attack to get results, know which riders are useful to have in breaks and also know which sprinters you do not want to tow around. Do you fair share of the work, but don't overdo it unless you are happy to ride for a placing and not the win. This is only a small subset of tactics, each race has its own."

Continuing on from there: As Dwayne said, in the lower categories a lot of road races will end up as field or large group sprints. This happens because there is a "chase everything mentality" in the field but also because most attackers in cat 4 don't really commit 110% to the move. If you are a weak sprinter and you know you won't be getting results in a sprint then you have to find other ways to get results. Personally, I used stage races in the lower cats as my targets. Rip the TT, front group road race, defend position in the crit. A lot of upgrade points are on offer at stage races. For single-day road races it really comes down to fitness and luck. To beat the cat 4 field mentality you need to be prepared to attack multiple times and in some cases counter your own attacks with another attack. But, you have to be strong and know that you are one of the strongest. Use crosswind sections to your advantage, attack just before the crosswind hits for maximum effect. Also, attacking on false-flats after steep climbs works well as the steeper part will put people in debt and hitting them on the false-flat afterwards is usually better than trying to attack from the bottom. Timing of the attack is also important, if the pace has been easy your attack will have little chance of success because everyone will be eager to chase. In that case, if you want to have a go, I recommend rolling off the front gently before hitting the gas hard. If the group sees you out of the saddle and pounding away on your attack and they are fresh the reaction will be quick. But if you roll away innocently until you have a gap and then kind of attack from there it will work better. Still, the best time to attack is when the pace eases after many attacks or a long single-file section, or even better timing this attack so it happens just before the field eases off. Being the attacker is hard work, you have to have the ability to go when you are hurting!

Also, give consideration to your breakaway companions if you are in a successful break. If you are in a small break (say 3-6 riders) and you know you are stronger than everyone else, play your cards wisely because this will be your best chance for victory. Work hard, but not too hard because you need to be able to attack the break if it is successful at staying away, unless you are certain you can win the break sprint. If you are in a similar group and you are the weakest, then hang on for dear life and work when you can. Take your chance near the finish with an attack, sometimes the weakest guy gets lucky and the other break riders will underestimate him. Worst case scenario, you end up last in the group. Of course teammates and team dynamics will add a very complex element to all of this, but in general in cat 4 and most of cat 3 team tactics are not a big factor.

Part of being the non-sprinter is accepting that your chances at victory will come up less, so you have to maximize your chances at getting RESULTS. I'm not saying that winning isn't the ultimate goal, but there are many days where you might sacrifice a very slim chance at winning outright just to guarantee a top-5.

Thanks for the advice Eric. Next chance I get I will attempt to either attack on a slight downhill if there is a lull anywhere in the last 5 to 10 miles or just ease off the front. I will attempt both. The other tactic that three of us on the team that are reasonably strong is to try and up the pace and line out the field to see if we can get one or two of our guys in a break with a couple of strong guys from other teams. If the 5 to 10 mile works out for me, then I may try to increase the distance out from the finish line where I attempt a move.

If you want to learn how to race, do crits........lots of crits.
You will learn how to suffer. You will learn how to conserve. You will learn how to surge. You will even learn how to crash. You will learn how to crash correctly, or you will learn that you are one of those people who always get hurt in crashes.(broken bones)

Thanks for the advice Eric. Next chance I get I will attempt to either attack on a slight downhill if there is a lull anywhere in the last 5 to 10 miles or just ease off the front. I will attempt both. The other tactic that three of us on the team that are reasonably strong is to try and up the pace and line out the field to see if we can get one or two of our guys in a break with a couple of strong guys from other teams. If the 5 to 10 mile works out for me, then I may try to increase the distance out from the finish line where I attempt a move.

Don't attack on a downhill, as you can be assured that everyone else is willing to chase you. That, and you have aerodynamics working against you, as it is easier for a group to go faster on a decent than it is for a single person.

I second the notion of doing crits. It makes you a really conservative racer, and road races become easy after them.

Also, unless you can hold 27mph for 3 miles, don't take a flier with 3 laps to go. It won't hold.

I've raced some crits. Still just pack fodder (see comment related to sprint) but at least I can say I stay with the pack.

I will attempt both. The other tactic that three of us on the team that are reasonably strong is to try and up the pace and line out the field to see if we can get one or two of our guys in a break with a couple of strong guys from other teams. .

You don't use your "core" team of 3 at one time to set up a break or line out the field in hopes of cooking someone as your just going to give a free ride for the others and blow up your best 3. Send your weakest guys up front early for that to set tempo for the first half of the race and to make sure that nobody attacks early on if possible. This is time for you to check out who the competition is and take turns marking any potentials. The weaker guys don't have to finish the race, so tell them put everything they have into it, if that's what it takes to set tempo on the front or covering moves. If you only have 3 racers then a successful break may take several tries. The odds at establishing a good break aren't good in the first half of a race. Best odds are in the last third of a race. IF you have your "core 3" still intact send 1 at first to test the waters and find out who the players are and that one should commit for a 3-5 of minutes of max effort to see if it's going to work or not. This should be your weakest guy as the effort will probably cook him for the rest of the race. After that first attack then send out the second guy as soon as he is caught. The smarter opponents are going to go with that guy and the third guy should let them drag him up to the 2nd guy to stay fresh for the final. As soon as 2nd guy is caught and hopefully a selection was made, he should get on a wheel and rest if he can hang on. If you have 2 guys left in the last 20 mins. then one should put in an attack or high tempo at 18 mins remaining to put some pain into the other guys legs setting up the strongest guy for final run in.

Like grumpy said...crits are where it's at when learning how to race. I love crits because it's a very mental game and you don't have to be the strongest guy to do well.

Do you have a teammate that is a good sprinter? If so, based on your abilities you might be able to weaken the field for your team member. First half of the race have the weaker riders do some flyers to weaken up the pack that has to chase them. Hopefully this will split the race up to where there are only the 'contenders' left, maybe a group of 15 or so.

Second half of the race might be your time to shine. You mention that your strongest quality is the TT, so getting a good jump on the field and then settling into TT mode will force the the people from the remaining group to chase you down, giving your good sprinter a chance to just sit in. Once caught, settle in for a few minutes and recover, then do it again, or better yet, have the second of your three riders out (not your sprinter). Right before he gets caught, you go again. One of these may stick for you, but even if they don't you are animating the race and setting it up for your sprinter by forcing the other sprinters and riders to cook themselves catching you while he/she can sit in.

The key to this, in my experience, is getting a good jump on the field. Attack hard from about mid-pack, then sit into TT mode.

Even if you don't have a great sprinter, at least you are 'racing', rather than sitting in the pack and waiting for the pack sprint which, based on you ability ranking, isn't going to be something you'll contest. Plus, you'll be amazed at how fast you can ride when you're working for another teammate off the front of the race. :thumbsup:

Thanks, Great Advice!

Don't attack on a downhilld.

LOL

I always laugh when a flyer takes off at the top of a hill. :p This is a primo newbo tactic.

But....lately my favourite trick(learned this watching a cat1 lady decimate her whole group when I was driving a wheel truck) is to get on the front right before a hill and slow everyone down at the foot and half way up kick it. Talk about people cursing your mother! It's like watching a slinky compress and then stretch and pop. It really hurts the pple on the back end and you will drop some.

LOL

I always laugh when a flyer takes off at the top of a hill. :p This is a primo newbo tactic.

But....lately my favourite trick(learned this watching a cat1 lady decimate her whole group when I was driving a wheel truck) is to get on the front right before a hill and slow everyone down at the foot and half way up kick it. Talk about people cursing your mother! It's like watching a slinky compress and then stretch and pop. It really hurts the pple on the back end and you will drop some.

Man i hate it when somebody does that, it just kills the legs, i need some speed into the base of the climbs, to the OP dont do this you need to have acceleration on th eclimbs for this to work you stated this is not your forte, so for u i suggest get into tt mode on hills and just suffer. attack when its hard or just after the group bridges to another attack when they make it across hit them hard. if you get the gap then continue if not sit up. Dont drag the pack around. If your team has no sprinter hit them with about 2km to go and hope they let u go or about 800m but you have to be attacking from the back and get the jum on them so the sprinters have to chase if they get your wheel no spoint its just a lead out. think cancellara in this years tour or vino/magee on champs a few years ago. you have to be wiling to lose to win.
slowdave

LOL

I always laugh when a flyer takes off at the top of a hill. :p This is a primo newbo tactic.

But....lately my favourite trick(learned this watching a cat1 lady decimate her whole group when I was driving a wheel truck) is to get on the front right before a hill and slow everyone down at the foot and half way up kick it. Talk about people cursing your mother! It's like watching a slinky compress and then stretch and pop. It really hurts the pple on the back end and you will drop some.

Very smart. I like it.

to add to what B-Fun suggested, which is good: this also assumes you have a teammate or 2.

In a crit, there are often primes, and they can do the work of several teammates if you know how to use them. If you have a couple teammates, you can definitely work the primes to your advantage. Assume you have one good sprinter you're holding out for the finale (A), one okay sprinter (or just a sacrificial goat) who may or may not have enough fitness to make it thru (B), and you, the good TT-guy (C).

Have B go for a mid-to late-ish prime, doesn't matter if he wins it or not - what matters is having a guy out there causing the field to speed up. Many if not most lower cat men's fields tend to coast a bit after a prime sprint anyhow, and countering them at this vulnerable moment is a sure way to catch them off guard and soften up the field. The *instant* the field regains contact with B and/or the prime sprint, you (C) attack like gangbusters and put those TT skills to work. Doesn't matter if you get caught (you probably will), the counter is going to really catch the field offstride. A good enough counterattack will split the field and drop a considerable amount of riders (if you can do this more than once, even better - just make sure your A guy is johnny-on-the-spot and doesn't get caught behind the split if it happens!). If/when you get caught, get back in the field, find your A guy / designated sprinter and DON'T lose track of him. At 3 to go you both need to be in the top 15. 2 to go you need to be in the top 5-10. You know the rest of the story - go like hell (without crashing) on the last lap and give him the best leadout you can.

A bonus to this tactic is that rarely, if ever, do you have to even finish the race to collect primes. Knowing this, and depending on how many guys you have, you can set your less-fit teammates to go pick up all the early primes and work over the field this way.

Plan B: do you have a velodrome nearby? If so, I highly suggest you go rent a track bike and do one of their weeknight learn-to-track-race clinics. Track is the fastest, easiest way to both learn tactics and train all the weaknesses you claim to have.