{"id":29354,"date":"2018-07-13T06:45:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.trainerroad.com\/?p=29354"},"modified":"2022-04-07T07:31:06","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T14:31:06","slug":"the-beginners-guide-to-racing-ask-a-cycling-coach-165","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/the-beginners-guide-to-racing-ask-a-cycling-coach-165\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Racing &#8211; Ask a Cycling Coach 165"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We took your questions and suggestions to build a guide to bike racing for beginners with information and tops that can help even the most experienced of racers.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vo0nZFm1zPw\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start lazyload\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start lazyload\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Topics covered in this episode<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Nutrition, pacing and equipment strategies for Tahoe Trail 100<\/li>\n<li>How to get into bike racing<\/li>\n<li>Which type of bike racing is best for beginners?<\/li>\n<li>How to find a group to ride with?<\/li>\n<li>How fast should you be before signing up for a bike race?<\/li>\n<li>Why bike skill is more important than fitness for new racers<\/li>\n<li>How to save energy in a race<\/li>\n<li>What category should you race?<\/li>\n<li>Should new racers compete in Elite and Masters categories?<\/li>\n<li>How to upgrade categories in USAC<\/li>\n<li>Why ketosis isn&#8217;t a practical solution for cycling<\/li>\n<li>Drills to make you a faster sprinter<\/li>\n<li>A pre-race checklist for new racers<\/li>\n<li>How to find a nearby bike race<\/li>\n<li>Should new bike racers get a one-day or annual USAC license?<\/li>\n<li>Pre-race nutrition for bike racers<\/li>\n<li>The first thing you need to do when you arrive at a bike race<\/li>\n<li>Should you warmup before a bike race?<\/li>\n<li>Should you carry spares and tools during a bike race?<\/li>\n<li>What tire pressure is best for road racing<\/li>\n<li>Why lubing your chain before you ride is a bad idea<\/li>\n<li>Do you need to warm up on the trainer before a race?<\/li>\n<li>What it means to &#8220;hold your line&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>How close do you have to ride to people in a pack?<\/li>\n<li>How to know when you are in the draft<\/li>\n<li>How long should you pull during a bike race?<\/li>\n<li>Why racing in the rain isn&#8217;t that scary<\/li>\n<li>Should you just sit in during your first bike race?<\/li>\n<li>Why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/getting-dropped-why-it-happens-and-how-to-prevent-it\/\">getting dropped<\/a> in a bike race is not a failure<\/li>\n<li>How to know when you should upgrade categories<\/li>\n<li>Tips for racing in a small field<\/li>\n<li>Which type of mountain bike race is best for beginners<\/li>\n<li>What are the rules for passing in mountain biking?<\/li>\n<li>What bike is best for beginner mountain bikers?<\/li>\n<li>What category should you race when transferring disciplines?<\/li>\n<li>Why you should never look back when you hear a crash<\/li>\n<li>How to pin your number like a pro<\/li>\n<li>Do heavy riders need to train differently than light riders?<\/li>\n<li>Should beginner riders use flat pedals or clips?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe data-src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/470851968&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary btn-large\" style=\"white-space: normal;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/podcast?utm_source=TrainerRoad%20Blog&amp;utm_medium=Blog%20Post%2FEpisode%20129%3A%20Higher%20cadence%2C%20bike%20handling%2C%20crank%20length&amp;utm_campaign=TrainerRoad%20Blog%20Content&amp;utm_content=Subscribe%20button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Subscribe to the Podcast<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>For more cycling training knowledge, listen to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/podcast?utm_source=TrainerRoad%20Blog&amp;utm_medium=Blog%20Post%2FEpisode%20129%3A%20Higher%20cadence%2C%20bike%20handling%2C%20crank%20length&amp;utm_campaign=TrainerRoad%20Blog%20Content&amp;utm_content=the%20Ask%20a%20Cycling%20Coach%20the%20only%20podcast%20dedicated%20to%20making%20you%20a%20faster%20cyclist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Ask a Cycling Coach \u2014 the only podcast dedicated to making you a faster cyclist<\/a>. New episodes are released weekly.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We took your questions and suggestions to build a guide to bike racing for beginners with information and tops that can help even the most experienced of racers. \ufeff\ufeff Topics covered in this episode Nutrition, pacing and equipment strategies for Tahoe Trail 100 How to get into bike racing Which type of bike racing is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":29359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3460,5],"tags":[154,329,532,694,709,736],"class_list":["post-29354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-a-cycling-coach-podcast","category-training","tag-cycling","tag-indoor","tag-racing","tag-trainerroad","tag-training","tag-triathlon"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}