Candi Murray
For a long time I've been meaning to type in and mail out a check list
and a set of pre and post race preparation notes for our cat 1/2s.
I mentioned to them earlier in the winter that I thought people here
didn't prepare nearly as carefully before races as I remember folks
doing in European races. So, I finally got around to typing in some of
the things I do and used to do. If you're curious about what some of
this means let me know and I'll add some explanations.
I thought it might be of interest to others too, so I've mailed it to
the whole team. Please make a copy for anyone not on e-mail who might
be interested.
Thanks!
-- Jon Walpole
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CHECK LIST - this is what you should take to each race
Clothing
- socks
- shorts
- knickers or knee warmers
- tights
- skinsuit
- ss jersey
- ls jersey
- 2 sleeveless undervests
- long sleeve undervest
- leg warmers
- arm warmers
- chest warmer
- wet weather chest warmer (big plastic bag)
- booties
- shoes
- rain jacket
- fingerless gloves
- thin gloves
- thick gloves
- helmet
- cap with brim for under helmet
- glasses (dark and clear lenses)
- post race clothing
Equipment
- bike
- pump
- spare wheels
- rollers
- tool kit
- chain lube
- rags
Miscellaneous
- license
- money
- race number
- safety pins
- release forms
- race flier
- directions and map
- sticky labels
- pen
- paper
- large plastic trash bags
- toilet paper
Pre and Post Race Prep Kit
- face towel
- soap
- chamois cream
- sun screen
- moisturising lotion
- chap stick
- hot embrocation
- medium embrocation (such as Cramer Atomic Balm)
- mild embrocation
- vaseline
- baby oil
- leg towel
- water/alcohol mix in spray dispenser
- towel mitt
- camphor (or similar)
Medical:
- Saline irrigating solution
- surgical scrub brushes
- Xeroform
- 4"x4" guaze
- Coban wrap
- fishnet dressing retainer
- Tegaderm dressings
- Mastisol or tincture of benzoin
- an ointment (Cortisporin, A&D, Vaseline, etc.)
- Q-tips
- triangular bandage (for sling)
- neosporin
- eye drops
- arnica gel
- inhaler or other personal medication
- ice (perhaps with your food in a cooler)
Food and Drink
- pre-race food
- pre-race drink
- race food (more than you need - and race and weather specific)
- water bottles (2 per bike plus enough for handup feeding,
plus platypus foldable water bottle for jersey pocket if you
don't have anyone to feed you)
- post race food and drink
- large water container
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PRE-RACE PREPARATION - this is what you should do before the race
Try to arrive at least 1 hour before the start, preferably 1.5 hours
before
Bike preparation
- assemble your bike
- pump up tires to suit weather conditions (use less air for
wet weather - I use about 100 psi in the rain and 115 in the
dry)
- check your tires for glass, thorns etc, and check side walls
- lube chain if necessary
- bike safety check
Strategy
- sign in
- see who else is riding (list names and numbers of top riders)
- team meeting (discuss strategy, tactics and clothing, categorise
rider list according to sprinters, climbers etc, and figure out
who is marking whom)
- make sure all team members have a list of the key opponents (use
sticky labels on bars/stem for rider numbers)
What to wear
- body temperature and aerodynamics: wear enough to be just
warm enough when you're working hard in the race; make sure
all your clothing is close-fitting and aerodynamic; the most
common errors are being unaerodynamic by wearing loose-fitting
clothing, and being over-dressed once the race gets underway
- as a general rule, insulate your core more than your limbs,
for example, I often wear three layers on my body, and one
layer of arm-warmers, but leave my legs bare. This approach
gives me more control over cooling since my body can push
blood to the exposed skin areas to radiate heat if needed,
or keep it more in the core if its cold.
- protect your hands and feet (its easy to take off gloves and
put them in your pocket, and you rarely overheat from having
too much on your feet
- modular dress: assume you got it wrong, and make it easy to
incrementally cool off by removing items, such as arm warmers,
chest warmer, helmet cover or cap, thin gloves over fingerless
gloves (not the other way around)
- wear tights on very cold dry days, but not on wet days, even if its
cold! They just collect cold water, make you colder and heavier,
and don't dry out between showers like your skin does. Make sure
you insulate your core well, use a plastic bag as a chest warmer
(you can rip it out if get too hot), embrocation and good gloves
and booties in cold wet weather.
- use a lot of pins on your race number to stop it flapping or
catching the wind, but don't make your food inaccessible by
pinning your pockets closed, and don't pin to your undervest
in case you need to use the bathroom
Embrocations
- what to use when: in wet weather use vaseline based embrocations
such as Cramer with a layer of vaseline over it; in dry weather
use oil based embrocations and layer baby oil over the top
- put the hottest embrocation on your knees; the medium stuff on
your legs and maybe your back if you're not sensitive; and the
mildest stuff on your back
- make sure you do things in the right order: put your chamois
cream on first, then put your shorts on, then apply the
embrocation!
- avoid getting embrocation on sensitive areas such as your eyes,
and you know where else; clean embrocation off the back of your
knees and the top of your booties, otherwise you'll get sore there;
clean your hands thoroughly!
- towels and cleaner: use your towel mitt and water/alcohol mix in
a spray dispenser to clean your hands and other areas such as the
back of your knees; keep your face and leg towels separate (use
different colors); never use your face towel for embrocation!
Food and drink
- make sure your drinking bottles are on your bike
- make sure your race food is in your jersey pocket
- make sure your post race food and drink is prepared
and waiting for you where you can get to it right after
the race
- make sure your feeders have your spare food and drink,
and that you both know where and on what lap to hand it up,
make sure you know what they will be wearing (preferably
a team jersey) and make sure you have enough to get by
if you/they screw up the handup.
Warm up
- allow at least 30 minutes, unless its a really long race and
your endurance is at the limit, then just warm up easily on
your rollers (better to be vulnerable to attack in the first
ten miles than to blow in the last ten miles)
- apply your embrocation first, but not the top vaseline or
oil layer, then put some tights on and warm up
- ride steadily (stay aerobic) while checking out the course
- add a couple of harder efforts near the end of the warmup
- take the opportunity to check on wind direction, gearing,
timing and positioning for the sprint: before the start you
should already know what gear to be in, what position to be
in at a certain point (i.e., 2nd or 3rd in line around the
last corner), what side of the road to sprint if you lead out
(i.e., the sheltered side), and the latest point at which you
must engage your full sprint
- check both your tires again for glass/thorns etc!
- take off your tights and apply your top layer of embrocation/
vaseline/oil
- finish up your warmup on your rollers, ready to race, and within
sight of the start
- line up near your team mates so you can hold a meeting on the
start line to discuss any surprises
POST-RACE CLEAN UP - this is what you should do after the race
- warm down BEFORE stopping
- move fast, don't hang around chatting in wet clothing
- be strict about using your towel mitt and leg towel for
embrocation and your face towel for the rest
- put all your wet dirty clothing in a large trash bag
- eat and drink your post-race food and drink within 20
minutes of the finish