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So how do you race a practice crit? Should you race to win – sitting in the draft, marking dangerous moves, and coming around everyone in the last 200 meters? Or should you race it like a group ride – attacking from the gun, driving the pace, sitting in the wind, getting in a good workout, and then of course: the last lap flyer?
It depends what your goals are.
If your goal is simply to get in a good workout, then by all means, attack after every turn.
But if your goal is to practice racing, then slow your roll. Sit in, take a deep breath, and assess the situation. You are here to win.
Early-season practice races – whether it’s a crit, road, or circuit race – are the perfect opportunity to test your form and practice tactics that you’ll be employing at your peak in just a few months’ time. It seems obvious, but practice races are best treated as practice races. If you’d rather smash the Wednesday group ride, and go after Strava KOMs and power PRs, that’s great! Just save it for the group ride – or as my friends and I used to call them in college: “smash rides.”
Rarely will you be able to practice real race tactics: attacking, marking breakaways, sprinting, cornering, timing, etc. So take the opportunity, show up to a local practice crit, and employ these tactics that you never get to on Zwift, the Wednesday group ride, or anywhere else that’s not a real race.
I have found that I get better the more races I do – Why? Because I get more comfortable. I get comfortable sitting 2 inches off someone’s wheel, surrounded by 100 other cyclists going 30 mph. I get more comfortable cornering at full speed, and hitting the apex of every curve, something you cannot (and should not!) practice on an open road with live traffic. And I get more comfortable – or should I say, intuitive – reading a race. I can see which moves will work and which moves won’t, which riders are the strongest and which are struggling. I can see who has the legs to sprint and who’s going to get gapped coming out of the last corner.
By July, I’ll have it all down pat. But in March? That’s a completely different story.
Every race, practice or real, is an opportunity to learn. It’s an opportunity to try new things, to see what works and what doesn’t. I never realized I had great 1-2 minute power until I attacked in a collegiate race at 1k to go – and won. I may not be “World Class” on the TrainingPeaks Power Chart, but at the end of a grueling 3-4 hour road race, I still have the punch that most riders now lack.
So whether it’s a Thursday night crit around an industrial park with “that green sign” as the finish line, or an official practice race like the ones happening right now in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with race numbers and closed courses and official officials… go outside your comfort zone and line up at a practice crit. Try new things, but be smart about it too. (Don’t shotgun a beer on the start line because “My coach told me to try new things!”) Attack from the gun if you’ve never done that before. Attack with 1 lap to go if you’ve never done that either. Or if you’re a skinny climber like me, sit-in and wait for the sprint for once. You might surprise yourself…