Today’s question is about how long to spend warming up at race intensity before a Cat 5 race…

Great site! Just found it. Question: my Robbie Ventura DVD mentions you should reach match your race intensity during your warm up. As a Cat 5 racer (24miles) how long should I “warm up” at that intensity? I keep thinking I’ll burn out or waste to much energy during my “pre-race” warm up.

Thanks!
Warming-up Willie

Hi Willie,

Excellent question! Warming up can be tricky but it’s extremely important – in some cases, in can make or break your race.

You’re on the right track so far. You definitely do want to hit your planned race intensity during your warm-up. A lot of people don’t realize that, and then they end up in a state of shock when the race heats up for the first time. There is a slight chance you’ll wear yourself out before the race starts, but there’s a much greater chance that you would get dropped early if you don’t perform a substantial warm-up.

Now, to answer your question…

The best answer to your question is also a vague one – you need to warm up hard enough that your body is ready to race, but not so much that you wear yourself out. The exact time will differ based on the individual, the specific race, the weather conditions, and how you feel that day.

Looking at your race, it’s 24 miles. (I’m going to assume you mean a circuit race or something and not a time trial.) It might take an hour to finish. But you have to keep in mind, “race intensity” will vary greatly over that hour. So what I would do is include more than one intensity in your warm-up.

To give you a general idea for a starting point, after you do 10-20 minutes of easy and moderate riding, throw in maybe 5 jumps (short sprints, perhaps 5 seconds each, almost full intensity) and a few minutes of hard race pace intensity (perhaps as three, one-minute intervals.)

You could also set it up as a “ladder” type warm-up where you do one minute in each heart rate zone ( increasing difficulty as you go along,) then work your way back down.

There are many ways you can warm-up. As you train and race more, you’ll develop a better sense of how to read your body, and therefore better understand the fine line between not enough and too much warming up!

While your training plan and racing tactics are extremely important, you can’t forget the little things that can make or break a race. One of those little details is pinning your number on properly. While a rare situation, it’s no joke – screwing up your number plate could get you disqualified!

What worse way to lose a race than by getting disqualified for a simple rule violation?

So here is what to do when you get your race number from the registration tent…

First, get the number out of your bag, and make sure you have at least four safety pins. If possible, grab eight safety pins. (If you do enough races, you probably have at least eight pins lying in your car!)

Why eight pins, when there are just four holes in the number plate?

I’ll tell you why. It’s a technique called “flat pinning” and it’s a generally agreed upon way to pin your number down so it’s flat, secure, and aerodynamic.

With flat pinning, you skip the pre-punched holes on the number and go straight through the paper/fabric of the number plate. This helps keep the number completely flat against your jersey so it doesn’t flap in the wind! (Even if a loose number plate isn’t a huge aerodynamics problem, the sound of it flapping around is rather annoying!)

If you choose to use four pins, you will pin through the four corners of the number. If you choose to use eight pins, you’ll pin through the four corners plus each of the four sides. It depends on how strict you are about a super aerodynamic number plate!

The actual technique requires you to stick the pin down through the number, through your jersey, back into and up through your jersey, and through the number again before closing the pin.

Once you practice it one time you’ll get it.

The next topic for number plates is crinkling and rolling your number plate.

Typically, the number plate is going to be made of stiff, heavy paper. Even with flat pinning, it can be hard to get it perfectly flat against the curve of your body.

So what riders will do is crinkle the number up into a ball (then unroll it) before pinning it to their jersey. This loosens up the paper and helps it conform to your body.

If crinkling it into a ball seems too much, you can also roll it up (like putting a poster into a cardboard tube) in a couple directions so it’s no so flat. This will do less damage to the number.

Note: Crinkling is a good technique for the fabric numbers, while rolling works better for paper/cardboard numbers.

The controversy over crinkling your number actually comes from the USCF rules. Technically, any modification to your number plate (which includes crinkling) violates USCF rules.

The rule comes from the possibility of race officials not being able to get a good view of your number, like if the crinkles reflect the sun some way where the finish line camera doesn’t pick up your number.

I’ve never actually seen this enforced, but it’s risky. Especially if you do something to get on the official’s bad side. (Who knows, maybe one of the officials was the kid you bullied in middle school? He might get revenge by disqualifying you for a manipulated number plate!)

Now, if it’s just a local race, no one will care. You’ll probably have a timing chip anyway, and no finish line camera.

The only thing to worry about is not pinning down the little tear-off tab on the bottom! (Same as the number plates used in a 5k.)

As for number placement in a road bike race, it will most likely lie parallel to your back, on the left side (people to your left can read the number, people behind you will have to tilt their heads sideways.)

In a mountain bike race, it’s more likely you’ll have a number plate on your handlebar. However, you could also have a number on your left or right hip.

For more info on race number placement (it varies with each race, so the more info you have, the better,) check out this link:

• Race numbers: Pinning and Placement – Help with number placement and pinning for road bike racers.

When you’re running a 5k, whether for the first or hundredth time, you don’t want to screw up any of the little details that are easy to forget due to pre-race jitters. One of those important details is your number plate!

You need to pick up your number plate and make sure it is positioned properly, or you might run into timing issues and not get the right time or listed as a finisher! (Some races are strict enough you could get disqualified for not placing your number plate perfectly!)

So here is what to do:

Step 1: Get your number plate and safety pins.

The first thing to do is get your number plate and four safety pins at the registration tent.

This is a great time to ask them where exactly to put your number. It will most likely get centered on your stomach or on your right hip. It might also go on your left hip – it just depends on the finish chute, where there will be a volunteer on one side to tear off the tab and order them for results.

Also, it’s important that officials can see your number to know you’re actually in the race. (In some big races, if you don’t have a number plate, you’ll be escorted off the course by security.)

Step 2: Line up your number plate.

This is easiest to do with a friend lending a hand, or you could do it while your shorts or shirt are lying on a chair. Or do it while wearing your outfit. (That’s not hard when the number is going on your stomach or hip, but if it was going on your back, it would be quite rough!)

Step 3: Pin it down.

With the number in place, it’s time to pin it down. If you’re short on time, you could just stick the pins through the holes on the plate, but I prefer to use a technique called “flat pinning.”

Flat pinning is where you pin through the number plate itself (rather than using the pre-punched holes.) This holds the number down closer to your shirt so it doesn’t flap in the wind.

Near each corner, place the pin through the number plate, down through your shirt, back up through your shirt, and back through the number plate. Then close the pin.

When done properly, the number will lay flat against your shirt.

The critical step here is DO NOT pin down the tear-off tab. That’s the bottom section of the number plate that has your information, right below the perforated line. They need to tear that off at the finish line, and they can’t tear it off if it is pinned to your shirt.

Now, get to the start line!

When I first started mountain bike racing, my experience consisted of solo road rides and group mountain bike rides. Eating while road riding was easy, and on the group mountain bike rides, we always stopped to regroup, making it easy to get a bite to eat.

But… you can’t stop riding during a race! You need to get plenty of food and water, all while navigating treacherous terrain!

It’s tough, but not impossible. Here are some tips on how to do it:

1. Know the course.

You need to know the type of terrain you’ll be dealing with in order to make the right food choices.

If the course includes many dirt roads or smooth doubletrack sections, it will be possible to consume energy bars. If the course is technical singletrack, you might have to limit yourself to liquid calories.

Knowing what you’re in for will help you decide what to carry with you.

2. Open your energy bars before the race starts.

If the course offers easier, open sections, you can probably eat an energy bar while riding. But you don’t want to have to tear open the wrapper while riding. That’s annoying and completely unnecessary.

Before you line up at the start line, always tear open the wrapper and peel it back at least half way. Then re-wrap the bar and place it in your jersey pocket.

During the ride, you simply peel back the wrapper, rather than tear at it and then peel it back.

3. Tough terrain calls for energy gels.

If you’ll be on singletrack most of the time, and you only have very short sections of smooth terrain, you’ll want to skip the energy bars in favor of gel.

Gel is easier to eat because you just squeeze the packet into your mouth and swallow. Bam, it’s down. I like to either carry GU gel packets under my shorts (easy to grab,) or carry a gel flask. With the gel flask, you don’t have to worry about tearing open the gel packets.

Even easier are the newer energy gel bites, like GU Chomps and Clif Shot Bloks. These can be carried unwrapped in your jersey pocket, which makes for a very easy-to-grab snack.

4. Extreme terrain calls for liquid calories.

While I do like to carry some gel with me during races, I have been moving towards getting my calories via my water bottles. This is great for the really rough courses because you don’t have to deal with any wrappers or reaching into your jersey pocket.

You can do this with a high-calorie drink like Hammer Perpetuem. Fill your water bottle with Perpetuem and you can get 200 calories per hour that way.

(Skilled riders can stick with water bottles, but usually a hydration pack is easier for drinking, especially on singletrack. I stick with my Specialized bottles since they’re easier to clean out than a hydration pack.)

5. You can make a mess!

When you’re already covered in mud and gunk from the course, don’t worry about smearing a little gel on your face. You’re going to finish dirty, so gel, sports drink, drool, etc. will just blend right in.

The key is to get some nutrients into your mouth, not to stay clean.

Just remember, don’t litter! Dropping gel packets on the course can get you disqualified (and could ruin the race’s future, depending on who owns the land,) so make sure all wrappers end up back in your jersey pocket. Yes, even the little tops to gel packets.

Now practice these tips on your next ride and you’ll be ready to eat and drink without hesitation during your next mountain bike race!

Have you ever been too scared to eat and drink during a road bike race?

For my first years as a cyclist, I almost always rode alone or with one other person. Eating and drinking were easy, and I could always stop and relax to peel open an energy bar if necessary.

But once I started doing fast group rides where I was rotating through a paceline, there were days I definitely didn’t eat and drink enough. It just seemed too weird to grab my bottle or pull something out of my jersey pocket in a big group.

Not only is it hard to eat while also concentrating on the riders around you, you never know when a competitor could attack, forcing you to either drop your food or get dropped!

Here are some rules to follow, based on tips I picked up over the years:

1. Choose an easy-to-eat bar or gel.

I like Powerbars because I can take small bites and chew them quickly. They also slide down easily. Not so with bars that resemble real food (think dry, grainy bars such as Powerbar Harvest.)

Energy gel is another option, especially when carried in a flask. That is very quick to go down. I do recommend the flask, as dealing with a gel packet (tearing and then squeezing) can be cumbersome.

2. Your energy bars should be open before the ride starts.

Always rip open the wrapper and peel it back at least half way. Then re-wrap the bar and place it in your jersey pocket. This saves lots of time.

During the ride, you simply peel back the wrapper, rather than tear at it and then peel it back.

Another great idea is using energy gel bites like Clif Shot Bloks and PowerBar gel blasts. You can simply dump them into your jersey pocket and grab one at a time. They’re pretty dry, so they don’t need wrapped, and that saves a lot of time.

3. Eat a little at a time.

When you do eat your energy bar, take small bites. You will most likely be traveling at a fast pace, and your already heavy breathing will be even heavier if you have a huge chunk of energy bar blocking half your airway.

Just have a big enough bite that it still fits on one side of your mouth, between tongue and cheek.

The aforementioned energy gel bites work great for this as well, since they’re bite-sized.

4. Eat at the back of the pack.

The best time to eat and drink is when you’re at the back of the pack. You can relax a little bit since you don’t have riders on your back wheel.

You can also make use of the draft created by everyone in front. You can pedal with less effort, so you can devote more attention to eating.

Still pay attention to the leaders, though, in case they attack.

5. Eat when the pace eases.

At a stoplight, when the pack is settled down and calm. Or if there’s a tailwind. (If you’re in the back, you get the most benefit from the tailwind.) The easier the pace, the better, so you can devote more effort to chewing.

I like to eat at the top of a hill if there are no attacks. (Rarely are there attacks on the descent, so if everyone is together at the crest of the hill, it’s probably safe to grab a bite.) Then chew on the descent.

I usually don’t begin eating during the descents because I need both hands on the bar! This is especially true when you’re not familiar with the course.

6. There is no such thing as table manners.

When you’re riding with a pack of stinky guys blowing snot rockets, you don’t have to worry about being polite. Chew with your mouth open, swallow food whole, drip water on your jersey, grunt, etc.

The only “rule” that comes into play here is, don’t litter! Make sure you get your gel packets and energy bar wrappers back in your jersey pocket.

Practice these tips on your next solo ride, and put them into play during your next race. Eat enough food and you’ll finish strong!