I’m considering racing more crits this year. I typically do 1-2 crits a year, but honestly my only 2 goals in any of them are 1) Get a workout in, 2) stay out of trouble. This generally means staying 5’ off the back of the pack the entire race, and then taking a flyer off the front with 2 laps to go.
This is mostly due to me not being remotely comfortable in corners. How did those of you who race get over this (if you even did…). I mostly race cyclocross…so it’s not like I don’t know how to corner, and I do a lot of very fast, competitive group rides. I think mostly my issue is not wanting to go anywhere remotely close to the limits of my tires, and risking a crash. I don’t typically have this issue in cross. I find myself entering every corner slower than the rest of the field, and sprinting back on to get up to speed with the pack again.
In cat 4…I can do this for the duration of the race…but I know this is not the best route to actually being competitive in races.
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One critical key is looking through the turns…most riders in your situation focus on the wheels directly in front of them. Look up and through the corner to where you want to exit.
When people in crits just follow the wheel in front, the entrance to the turn gets progressively earlier as you go back through the bunch. So riders are hitting the turn before the apex, which causes them to hit the brakes in the turn which causes the accordian effect, which makes riders have to sprint out of the turns.
You can also find short loops with low / np traffic and practice different lines / techniques there. Industrial parks, empty parking lots, etc. can all make for a good “sandbox”.
I know some people who have gone to the extremes of putting on skating elbow / knee / hip pads to give them extra confidence trying to find the “limits” of their tires. A bit overkill IMO, but…
At the end of the day, it is about experience as much as technique…racing more is one of the best ways to get better at it, but you have to be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable (but not dangerous) positions.
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Yea it’s not so much a technique issue as a comfort issue. It’s wierd…I’m totally fine with contact…people bouncing off me in the middle of a crit doesnt phase me in the slightest. Probably from CX…I’m a big guy, and am used to smaller riders trying to body past me in corners, and just holding my line and letting them bounce off into the tape lol. Yet…at speed…yea I think it’s a combination of being hyper focused on protecting my wheel, and probably barely getting to 75% of my tires potential in corners.
Honestly the pads and parking lot might be a good idea. I’ve never washed out a bike on road tires on dry pavement…I havent the slightest clue when it would actually happen.
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The only real way to get comfortable is to do it. But there are some drills you can do to get used to it. Bump drills, cornering with others around you (friends in semi-controlled environments), and riding around people on fast group rides.
If you have good cornering technique then there’s approximately a 0% chance that you’re getting close to the limit of a decent road tire in a flat Cat 4 crit.
It’s scary at first but you just have to slowly introduce yourself to it. Start out in the back, corner around the 2-3 people back there for a little, then slowly move up and get further and further into the larger group
But at some point, if you want to be successful in crits you have to accept the risk of possibly crashing. 90% of crashes won’t have big consequences outside of some road rash.
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I think the biggest obstacle for me is the cornering. I’m reasonably comfortable in the pack. I have the cornering issue even when I’m 20’ off the back of the pack playing it safe in corners.
I think i just need to go to a parking lot…and whether that means putting the bike down…or just progressively leaning harder until I know I’ve gone past what I’ve ever done in crits.
Just remember that better technique can directly lead to increased comfort.
Just make sure you have old kit on!!
Honestly, most riders don’t understand how far they can push their tires / traction. Unless you take an absurdly bad line or overreact in the turn, it is (IMO) pretty hard to find the breaking point in a Cat 4 crit. Most crashes tend to be from overlapping wheels in a turn or poor technique, not pushing the limits of traction.
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I’m 44. I’ll be out in hockey pants and a motorcycle helmet 
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I think for me it’s the opposite actually. I know how to corner…I probably just don’t actually do it well when I’m not comfortable. Had the same issue in cross…I think my technique got much better when I understood a) the limits of traction, and b) crashing doesnt hurt. When I’m comfortable…I tend to consciously focus on technique, rather than calculating my curent life expectancy.
It’s kind of funny…I think if I watched tape of myself…I probably lean the bike with a greater angle on a fast sweeping CX corner than I do on dry asphalt in a crit…
I dont actually know…but I’d assume you have more grip on asphalt?
In most cases, almost certainly. Firm base, relatively smooth, full contact with the rubber, no knobs to squirm, etc.
Other factors can play into it that may reduce traction…road camber, moisture, condition of the asphalt, etc.
Thank you guys. I think the answer is definitely just spending a few hours in a parking lot getting the bike leaned over more than I’m used to. I’m pretty confident if I’m not worried about dying nonstop…I’ll choose significantly faster lines than most of my competition…I’ve seen how these guys corner, and they’re all over the place 
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95kg undressed and run mid 60’s on 25’s.
Are you using tubes or tubeless?
Practicing is certainly a good idea. Though I’d skip the first hand seeing seeing what happens part and just find some race/youtube clips. The bike washes out and you hit the deck and (maybe) slide. It sucks, though there’s definitely worse ways to crash.
Entering the corner with a gap isn’t inherently bad; it’s your position (and speed) at the exit of the corner that matters. I tend to pedal through more of the corners than the field much of the time. As a result I’ll start with a gap and close it during the turn and by the exit I’m back on the wheel.
This is course specific isn’t always practical but when I raced collegiate I’d get there early and ride a number of laps to scope out the corners and get a feel for what they felt like at different speeds and getting comfortable going faster and faster through downhill corners.
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I relate to this. I came to bike racing from car “racing” (autocross/solo – we aren’t supposed to call it “racing” for insurance purposes…). The first thing you learn when driving the car fast through tight corners is where the limit is. You learn where the limit is by going past it (spinning or understeering way off course), and eventually you learn to listen to your tires. On a bike, that’s doesn’t work. Oversteer means roadrash, understeer can put you in oncoming traffic, and the tires don’t talk–it’s scary.
I got past this without having to dawn a motorcycle helmet and bubblewrap by going to team crit practices. We found a small under construction neighborhood with nice pavement and a reasonable slope so that there is one “fast corner.” After an hour a week of taking that corner over and over and over, I can pretty much rail it. I still don’t know where the exact limit of my bike is, but I know enough to be fast for a cat 4.
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I have a different take. Think about just not racing crits unless you’re willing to crash and it’s that important to you to be racing a crit.
I’ve raced a few and done okay in them, but it just isn’t worth it to me and it kinda sounds like that might be the case for you too. I would much rather go race cross, MTB, or gravel and generally if I crash it is my own fault not someone around me. I also have no desire to be around the culture I’ve seen at crit racing, yelling at each other, cussing in the group, and just generally a bunch of lame behavior by a bunch of mid forties dudes trying to sausage swing in a Cat 4 race. Don’t let that last comment devolve the thread; it’s just my experience and part of my reasons to never race a crit again but maybe some of that rings true to you too.
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Oh it definitely does haha! I mean this specifically is why I started racing CX other than any other discipline. That said…I feel awfully safe off the back of the field, and I’m strong enough to hang there even while taking corners poorly. I dont want to crash…honestly I will likely ensure I’m always front 4-5 wheels, or literally last man in the bunch, and take a flyer the last lap or two every race…I’m not going to mix it up in the bunch…too much outside my control. I dont need to take risks to win a crit. But I WOULD like to get confident cornering at faster but safe speeds.
I think the specific issue I have is I take a better line than the pack, enter at a slower speed than the pack, then drag my back brake through much of the turn, then get on the gas earlier than the pack, but have a 1-2 mph difference to make up, plus a 5-10’ gap every corner.
Why are you braking in corners, particularly if you have a good line, are already entering them slow, and there’s a gap? Or am I reading that wrong?
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The short version is I’m much more comfortable cornering at 20mph than 25mph. I’m not confident I’ll stay upright at the higher speed.
Yea this is actually exactly what I do haha. It’s juat I’m doing the whole process like 3mph too slow because I’m scared of washing out haha
somebody already mentioned practicing your cornering, and I’ll add that no amount of practice could make up for the fact that my gen1 Domane sucked at cornering. Great for fast descents, but it took real will power to turn that ship. Not the best bike for my first crits. My Tarmac is a completely different story, it loves tight corners. What bike do you have?
That doesn’t explain why you are braking in the corner. Brake before the corner if you must, but I don’t see any good argument for trail braking a bicycle.