I am a big fan of rollers for indoor riding or getting yourself a cross bike and riding outside.

I am not super excited about trainers due to the lack of improvement ive seen in riders that use trainers all winter vs. those that do rollers or (the best idea) ride outside.

you guys that say you sucked at road racing..what are you sucking at? just curious so i know what to be prepared for

I was too fat, basically, for the elevation change in our road races. I did two and both were hilly. The second one was also on a really fucking hot day in May that kind of came out of nowhere. I also was still relatively new to the whole thing as well and not that fit. I dropped my weight down from 215 to 168 in the course of training and racing, but my two road races came relatively early in the season. I just wasn't fit enough to hang and, in particular, climb with the pack.

My first race had a big fucking hill right in the first mile. Not long, but very steep. I passed two people standing on the side of the road with their chains in their hands - they had broken their chains trying to get up it. I fell off the back on that climb and never caught up. The second road race I held on for about 12 miles but a big hill eventually separated me from the pack.

By comparison, I did probably 15 or so crits and improved quite a bit by the end of the season once I got my weight down and my general fitness improved.

I hope to do better this year in the road races since my weight is already down and I'll be focusing on fitness and endurance more. I want to actually put together a training schedule and think about it more than just focusing on weight loss like I had to do last year.

ah i see where you are coming from then. the first race i picked is 31km, and its description says rolling hills so im not worried about that. where i live there are hills of every kind everywhere. i go to climb a hill just to get out of me neighbor hood. fitness wise im 23, 175lbs, around 10-12% bodyfat. always been active and into sports so overall i think im in pretty good shape. i know i need to make sure i have the speed endurance for an entire race and just getting seat time in so i have the legs for it

Yeah, you are in far better shape than I was going into my training. I had been riding for about five years recreationally, but never with any structure. I will say that training for racing was one of the best things I ever did healthwise - it got me in the best shape I had ever been in.

Racing on the road is very much about energy conservation, and that requires skill and confidence in the pack. Getting in shape is important, but it is also very important to get accustomed to riding in a pack if you aren't already. The first time descending into a turn at 30+ miles per hour with 30 other riders and very little margin for error was terrifying.

400lb motorcycle inches away at 100 mph is much scarier than a bunch guys on a bike at 30mph imo lol. i get what you are saying though...

ugh i need to get outside for some long rides