So I've started to notice that during races/ Rally's and what not It always takes about 10-13 miles before my legs stop feeling fatigued and completely drained. Then they come alive and ready to go. What's a good rule of thumb for warming up for an important ride without over doing it?

Depends what type of race - I did a 60km time trial this morning as part of an ultra-triathlon team and I spent a good 40mins warming up at near-time trial intensity. As soon as I started actually racing I slotted into my FTP almost immediately.

For general road races I find 15-20mins light spinning with a couple of sprints enough. To get the most out of it - at some point you HAVE to ride at your planned race intensity during the warm-up, even if its only 10s.

edit to the forum

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Norwood & Adelaide Uni CC

15 to 20 mins, gotcha. On a trainer or just around the area of the race? I need to do something cuz I'm tired of feeling crappy the first 10 miles and getting dropped only to have to work harder to catch back up

I usually aim for a minimum of 20mins warm up, and I try to hit my LT HR (around 183bpm) twice in the warm up.

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Bike Pure

There is nothing wrong with getting dropped. You will find your proper warmup once you get a few more rally's under your belt.

i warm up for 45 minutes, even for short 30 minute crits. usually i do trainer because it's less varied (less variables).

first race ever, i did my warmmup on the road and got a flat.... i was about 5 miles from my car... warmup was cut short and i didn't feel great upon the start.

It seems that there are a million answers to this. Most of the NRC racers I know barely warm up before a road race. For crits they do anywhere from 10min. to an hour with a mix of intensities.

For road races I like to get in a good 20-30m with a few sprints and ramp ups to FTP

For crits I get on the trainer and do a good 30-45min. In that I do a 10m ramp up to just below FTP, then a 5 min. ramp to just above it, then 2x1 at Vo2 max with a 100+RPM cadence. I then spin for a bit, get off and if there are roads to warm up on I bust out a quick sprint start or 2 to wind out the gear a bit and get my leg speed up. I find it MUCH more important to get to the line first than get there in say a specific time period beforehand.

TT's I do usually do an actual FTP interval before the TT as well as some neuromuscular efforts in my TT position just to get the movment pattern firing. FTP interval is usually 5-10min. in length and I try to make sure I don't cool down too much before getting to the start line. The time gap until then isn't as important, but I'd say its similar in length to my crit warm up.

If there are good roads for either the TT or RR I tend to warm up on the road.

Thanks Everyone, Very good info. It's funny I dont suffer from this type of problem on training rides even on faster paced ones that are close to race pace. R3Weenie likes men, big hairy men. He wrote me a private message telling me so awkwardly enough.

umm... ok, hope you have a clear idea on how to warm up now

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Norwood & Adelaide Uni CC

If it's just a club race, riding to the race is a great warm up.

Or half way there, leave the car, and ride the rest of the way.

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