I was talking to a guy the other day that people consider to be knowledgeable and who has a lot to do with juniors and U23's in this area. I told him about a TT that I was going to do February 16th that starts about 6 miles from my house called the Tundra Time Trial. He about soiled his pants. He told me there was no reason to do a race this early and the ones that do will be burned out by the time July rolls around. He said that instead of doing a 9.5 mile TT when it could be 28° (which it was last year) it would be better just to do a training ride. He freaked me out so bad now I don't want to do it even though I already paid. What do every one here say?

You're in the south, there is a racing lull in July/August because it's so stinking hot. No reason to not to race from February through July. If you're burnt out, so what? The season is pretty much pooped except for smaller stuff until September at that point anyway.

That's silly ... Go for it ! it's only 9 miles .... throw in a 10-15 mile warmup and you should have a good workout for the day. If you were training 300 miles a week and racing 80 miles, then maybe you'd have to worry about early burnout.

it's never too early.

The "knowledgeable guy" is incorrect. Would participating in this short TT that you dont even have to drive to cause you to burn out more than riding for 2 or 3 hrs. on your indoor trainer? or riding 3 hrs. outside in the 28 deg. or whatever cold? Of course not.

Racing is always the best training, IMHO.

My main races this year will be Road Nationals and Tour of Pennsylvania and those are both in July. So I am going to have to avoid a burn out like I did last year.

I've never understood the "it's too early to race" mentality.

I belive in the "racing is the best training" mentality.

I've raced on New Year's day for the last 3 years and start regular racing nearly every weekend in February through September. I don't have enough time to train hard enough to burn out.

I'm doing this whole bike racing thing because it's fun.

Racing is fun. Training and not racing? Not so much.

I have a race the same day.. i can't wait for it, time to see how my off-season training has compared to everyone elses..

Like many are saying: racing is good training, racing is fun, and race seasons in many places dont pull straight through from feb to sep. mine is mostly mid-march to late July.

I'd race year round if I could.

It's a bloody TT. You can't even lose. Do it.

Cyclocross ftw.

You cannot hold peak form all year and if you try this will cause burnout. With that said theres no reason you cant race year round long as you dont treat every race like an A race.

So long as you're not getting paid to ride a bike, you may as well have fun with it. And if you're looking to get into racing, there's no better way to start off than with a TT or two. You get an idea of how you stack up against other people and you get a chance to enjoy and test the fruits of your training.

No offense, but if you're going to be doing both of those races, you should at least know how to properly train yourself by now, or have someone doing it for you.

If you're qualified to the do the second, it should be both. As any ninny/nancy can do the races below and including U19.

Ahhh, actually, you can. My second race was an early season TT in Utah, except for an older woman I had the slowest time. On the plus side I took 17th place in an open race and lost to a pro (Swindlehurst) in my second race : )

Its a TT cody. Albany is 2 weeks later. I don't think it is an issue.

Can put a heavy hit on your lungs at those temps and if you have not trained to handle some LT efforts. Still, assuming you are in a point in training where a 20 minute effort in the cold will not kill you or give you a pneumonia that will knock you out of training for 6 weeks, then go for it. Consider it a 20 minute FTP test.

I'm racing on....

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

where?

Napa, Cherry Pie.

I do have a pretty good idea of training my self and I never thought it was a problem doing this race until I talked to this guy. Even the pro's like Contador are starting to do there first races, even thought his main goal is in July (for now anyway). Now trying to make this your A race and really training for it would be stupid.

Oh and Apus^2, who are you?

PM sent.

Obviously there are enough people doing this that they can keep having it. With that said I would say more do it for a "test" than a race at this point in the season.

Any of you GA peeps coming over for the "winter training races"? I know the second one is the same weekend as Albany...

Not going over to AL alot, but instead I am going to hit up Greeneville,SC races starting the Feb 23. Might be there for a weekend though.
-Mike