Race Day Preparation How to not throw it all away before the start of the race

Day before the race Good idea to do a Pre-race ride (Friday) – Gets the legs prepared and not stagnate – Test equipment before you get in the car – Gain a little confidence in how you feel – Get time to think about the race demands, course, competition, etc. – If you are going to carbo load (races over 2 hrs), allows the body to prepare to store carbohydrate

Day before the race Pre-race ride (Friday) – Consists of: Warm up 15 mins, check bike An effort at threshold (5 mins, or 2 x 5 mins) (5RBI), A couple of 1 min all out efforts (3-5RBI) A 200 meter sprint. Cool down 15 mins, check bike Total of 1hr. Go home and eat, or start carbo loading regiment.

Pack equipment

Equipment includes: Jersey, shorts (x 2-3) Extra socks (x 2-3) A towel Helmet, shoes, gloves. TT helmet. Arm warmers, knee warmers, a vest, a jacket. (Even if you think it is going to be 75 degrees!!!)

Pack equipment On the bike food – bars, gels, blocks, drink mix, bananas, water, other stuff that you like Estimate # of hours on bike x 750 calories x 0.5 and round up. Eg. 3 hour ride x 750 calories =2250 calories, that would be 1200 calories of food. ( think 5 gels, 2 block packs and a bar.

Pack equipment Other stuff: Trainer to warm up Extra tubes Heart rate monitor, garmin, etc Pins for numbers Medications Tools- tire levers, valve stem extender, multi tool Music to warm up with

Day of the race eating Eat a good, nutritional, easily digestible breakfast, heavy of carbs with small amounts for protein and fats. Oatmeal, a muffin, some eggs and rice, waffle, pancakes etc. Think calories. If, you are doing a road race, have post-race food and recovery beverage ready to go before you start the race! Often these races are remote! Eat calories on the bike so you are not bonked. Buy this and get it ready the night before!

Day of the race -arrival Arrive with enough time. At least 45 mins to park, reg, prep equip If race with hard start (eg. criterium or time trial), add 1 hour warm-up If others are racing, get there to see their race and support them Have a short tactical session with your teammates If criterium, go look at the course, and watch earlier categories to get a read on tactics! Get an idea of where 100m and 200m to go is on the course.

Day of the race warm-up Duration of the race and intensity with which it starts determines routine. – Shorter race with harder start- longer and more intense warmup – Longer race with slow start- easier warmup and equipment check. – Warmup is meant to prime muscles, increase blood flow, increase muscle temperature, and prime the body to use carbohydrate and fats as fuel. – Warmup also prepares the mind for the tough work ahead!

Warm-up examples Shorter race with harder start (eg criterium, time trial, mountain bike xc event, cross race, road race where you are going to attack from early on) Easy spin 15 mins 2 x 5 (5RBI) threshold 2 x 1 min all out (3 RBI) (skip this for tt) Time this to get to the race start <=5 mins after warmup is complete

Warm-up examples Longer race with easier start (eg. road race) – Easy spin 15 mins and bike check – 5 min ramp from 75% to threshold – 1 min all out, and 1 form sprint – Time this to get to the race start <=15 mins after warmup is complete

Multi-race weekends If you are doing a multi race weekend or stage race: – After the first race, cool down 15 mins and drink recovery beverage. – Change and eat a meal. – Relax, and don’t do another ride before the warmup for the next day. – Think about checking out the next day courses. – Have a debriefing about the tactics and performance with your teammates and coach – Recover, recover, recover, recover!