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Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:10 pm
by ColinOldnCranky
JV911 wrote:
foo on patrol wrote:^^ Why not? ^^ :?
if you've ever been on a bunch ride/race with a trathlete in the mix you'll know why...
For a start, wouldn't a triathlete have different bars? Flat bars?

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:16 pm
by toolonglegs
ColinOldnCranky wrote:
JV911 wrote:
foo on patrol wrote:^^ Why not? ^^ :?
if you've ever been on a bunch ride/race with a trathlete in the mix you'll know why...
For a start, wouldn't a triathlete have different bars? Flat bars?
No,they would be able to start with tri bars.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:12 pm
by drubie
ireland57 wrote:
jchamp51 wrote:As someone back to cycling after 40yrs off and only started to keep fit, I am getting more and more interested.
can someone give me an understanding of what times a D verses a A grader consistanly has to acheive.
What grade would a 57yr beginer be in.
John
+ 1.
I'd like to do some crits and road races this year (53yo).

Would anyone here know what pace a D grade crit (I live in Nth Qld) might average and also a road race like the Tour de Tablelands?
It isn't so much about "pace" or times, it's whether you can hang onto a bunch in that grade or not so you can feature in the finish. Ride with that group on their training rides first and they'll soon sort you out into a grade.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:44 pm
by ireland57
I know I can't stay with the A graders when they sprint. :lol:

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:59 pm
by toolonglegs
ireland57 wrote:I know I can't stay with the A graders when they sprint. :lol:
Plenty of C graders probably put out more wattage in a sprint than many A graders...the trick is making it too the sprint...and even if you do have some left in the tank :P .

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:59 pm
by brendancg
As someone back to cycling after 40yrs off and only started to keep fit, I am getting more and more interested.
can someone give me an understanding of what times a D verses a A grader consistanly has to acheive.
At Penrith the average speed for a 1hr Crit in C grade is just below 40kph, B grade about 41 - 42kph and A grade about 45kph.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 8:40 am
by JV911
toolonglegs wrote: Plenty of C graders probably put out more wattage in a sprint than many A graders...the trick is making it too the sprint...and even if you do have some left in the tank :P .
spot on :lol:

tactics play a big part

and it's just not about fitness either...fitness doesnt always translate to race fitness esp in crits with all the surging and break-aways that go on.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:05 am
by /\ |_ |
[/quote]At Penrith the average speed for a 1hr Crit in C grade is just below 40kph, B grade about 41 - 42kph and A grade about 45kph.[/quote]

Speed is never a good indicator of diffrence between groups. A rider who leading his group for most of the race might be putting out as much power as a rider in the grade above who is riding in the middle of the pack.

When i was riding down at homebush in the group training rides, I found the diffrence between the groups to be approx 10% (power) over a 40min period. That 10% diffrence is made up in the last 10 - 15 mins of the ride. When I moved up a group I was dropped a few times but once i got my fitness up I was able to keep up. But i was never going to get that level fitness hanging around in the group below.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:20 am
by toppity
Well, as of next week, I will have made the transition from D to A in about 3 months. HOWEVER, this is a totally misleading thing to actually say due to where I started and where I'm going to be racing "A" grade. I started "D" grade at Southern Vets at the beginning of their 2010/2011 Crit' Season. As it was my first race for 20 years they asked if I wanted to start in "E" or "D". I took the "D" option. There were about 30 riders that day (all SVCC grades "D" and above have 30 plus riders in them at Sandown). I won that race and a few more in "D", a couple in "C", and will be racing "B" grade. I've also started racing Warragul's Crit' series. There are fewer riders there, perhaps 10-15 per grade max'. After winning there a few times I'm now up to "A" grade. Although a few of the riders there are exceptional, I still wouldn't consider myself anywhere near a true "A" grader. But at least I can say I've done it. :wink:

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:44 am
by scotto
made the transition from e to d last night. 5 laps in a 2-3 man breakaway with extra long sprint to the finish. average speed went from 33 to 37km/h. into a headwind we had to call out passing to A grade to get out of our way - then they started riding seriously and went blurry as they passed us...i thought to myself " that'll never happen" theres not enough hours in the day for me to train that much..

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:21 pm
by brentono
I jumped 5th grade, saved a year. :D

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 5:50 pm
by brendancg
Speed is never a good indicator of difference between groups. A rider who leading his group for most of the race might be putting out as much power as a rider in the grade above who is riding in the middle of the pack.
Now I appreciate your response but most of us are not fortunate to own a power meter and must use the tools we have available. Most of us will own a computer which will indicate speed and time. My response was to the question further up that was asked regarding the times for differences within grades. Now a 1hr crit will have the same time but the difference which we will all have access to is average speed.

Now if you consider that a rider is going to maintain about 70% of the effort of the front rider whilst wheel sucking, then for 'A' grade at a 45kph average they are going to have to be comfortable maintaining about 31.5kph on their own. I acknowledge that bike handling skills, tactics, anaerobic ability and power will come into play but basically think my above answer will give the questioner an indication. It is what I considered when I started racing.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 6:14 pm
by toolonglegs
If you can go out and hold 30-32kmph on flatish ground for half an hour then you will be able to find a grade suitable to slot into very easily...probably around C-D grade.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:42 pm
by ireland57
That answers mine for the moment Thankyou.

D grade would suit me but I don't want to turn up and get dropped at the first acceleration. :oops: :cry:

That would mean training even harder/more/whatever. :shock:

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:18 am
by stinhambo
ireland57 wrote:Would anyone here know what pace a D grade crit (I live in Nth Qld) might average and also a road race like the Tour de Tablelands?
Where abouts in Nth Qld are you based?

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:26 am
by ireland57
stinhambo wrote:
ireland57 wrote:Would anyone here know what pace a D grade crit (I live in Nth Qld) might average and also a road race like the Tour de Tablelands?
Where abouts in Nth Qld are you based?
Townsville.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:31 am
by stinhambo
ireland57 wrote:
stinhambo wrote:
ireland57 wrote:Would anyone here know what pace a D grade crit (I live in Nth Qld) might average and also a road race like the Tour de Tablelands?
Where abouts in Nth Qld are you based?
Townsville.
I'm in Cairns. How many calls have you received from people asking how you are coping with the floods?

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:17 pm
by ireland57
Haha. No calls thank goodness. First time though.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:34 pm
by mikesbytes
D grades generally don't have too many accelerations but being dropped is all part of learning to race

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:16 pm
by ireland57
mikesbytes wrote:D grades generally don't have too many accelerations but being dropped is all part of learning to race
Getting dropped is ok. I'm actually quite good at it. :oops: :cry: 8) :lol:

But I don't want to start my first race polishing the technique on the first hard bit.

From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:41 pm
by Redbull
Funny thing is B grade can often be slower than the lower grades until they pull their finger out and get serious.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:45 pm
by stinhambo
Newbie question here but is there a resource on how much and what kind of training these riders do? I'm curious about types of road racing after watching SBS at the weekend!

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 6:10 pm
by jacks1071
ireland57 wrote:
jchamp51 wrote:As someone back to cycling after 40yrs off and only started to keep fit, I am getting more and more interested.
can someone give me an understanding of what times a D verses a A grader consistanly has to acheive.
What grade would a 57yr beginer be in.
John
+ 1.
I'd like to do some crits and road races this year (53yo).

Would anyone here know what pace a D grade crit (I live in Nth Qld) might average and also a road race like the Tour de Tablelands?
There is pleanty of riders older than yourself racing D Grade at Tablelands - do the training and you'll be right, its a fantastic event.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 6:35 pm
by Myddraal
Having no cycling race experience at all, I'd say D to A in a year could be done. But it would require some serious training, and a good coach. You'd have no time for anything else.

Re: From D grade to A Grade in 1 year?

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:41 pm
by Grant. W
stinhambo wrote:Newbie question here but is there a resource on how much and what kind of training these riders do? I'm curious about types of road racing after watching SBS at the weekend!
Bit off the topic Stin,
Good luck tonight mate, hope you are all safe up there.