The need to warm up before the competition is almost beyond doubt, but not everyone knows exactly how to choose the right way to warm up the muscles for a certain type of competition under various additional conditions. Before we get into the details of pre-race preparations, let’s take a look at the benefits of a good warm-up:

The blood vessels supplying the muscles of the legs expand, which simplifies the process of delivering oxygen.
Causes the blood to give the muscles more oxygen.
Raises the temperature of the muscles, which increases the efficiency of movements and the strength of muscle contractions.
Reduces the risk of muscle strain, as increased temperature increases their elasticity.
Reduces blood flow resistance, thereby reducing the load on the heart muscle.
By activating the mechanisms for removing excess heat, it prevents early overheating of the body.
Improves the body’s ability to produce energy quickly.
Minimizes the burden on the body as a whole, reducing the production of lactic acid in the initial stage of the competition.

What does all this mean? That if you warm up well before the race, your body will warm up, and the effort will be much easier than if you skip the warm-up.

Warm-up duration

There are two main criteria when determining the duration of a warm-up. The first is what is the expected duration of the upcoming race. The answer to this question depends on several variables – what is the distance of the race, how high is the estimated speed immediately after the start, your level of preparation and degree of fatigue, as well as weather conditions. Long warm-ups are preferred for short races – Criteriums, Prologues and Time Trials when the starting speed is usually high. In the event that the race lasts several hours, it is more likely that it will start at a moderate pace. In this situation, a short warm-up is best to save energy for the race.

If your level of fitness is high enough, the warm-up can be longer than if you were in the worst shape. It is not uncommon for well-trained athletes to spend an hour or two warming up before a short race. How do you determine which is best for you? Let’s assume that you are going to take part in a one-hour criterium and you have an hour to warm up. Think about how you usually feel after two hours of hard driving. If such loads are not uncommon for you, then a long warm-up is quite suitable. In case you know that during a two-hour intensive work, maintaining a high pace presents significant difficulties for you, it is better to shorten the warm-up.

In multi-day races, the degree of fatigue you accumulate after completing stages allows you to limit the length of the warm-up. For example, if a criterium is being held on the final day of a five-day race and you feel like your leg muscles are not recovering and getting more and more tired every day, reduce your warm-up to a minimum and use the warm-up time at the beginning of the race.

Weather is another factor to consider. On hot and damp days, raising your body temperature is easy and doesn’t take long. Since overheating can be a problem for you, it’s best not to peak at the start of the race, so shorten your warm-up time. On cold days, especially when it rains or snows, it takes a long time for the legs to develop. It is also necessary to avoid cooling immediately before the start. In this case, it will be more convenient to warm up in a warm room on a bicycle station.

So, how long should you warm up? Ten minutes is the minimum time needed to prepare the body, and it is probably enough to warm up before a very long race on a hot day for most normally trained cyclists. A warm-up of 20 to 60 minutes is suitable for short and fast races and its duration depends on the parameters outlined above.

Load value

In addition to the length of the warm-up, another factor to consider is the amount of exercise. Here it would be better to divide the warm-up into two stages – the first to achieve the general readiness of the body, and the second – to prepare, taking into account the characteristics of the upcoming race.

The first stage takes about half of the total warm-up time, usually 10 to 30 minutes, and can be done on a bike rack to keep you close to drinks, clothes, music, friends, family, or anything else that allows you to relax and calm down. Gradually increase your cadence and effort to bring your heart rate up to 25-45 beats below your “lactate (milk) threshold” (read the article “From the Heart”). In the final few minutes, do a few high-cadence sprints to prepare your legs for Stage Two of the warm-up.

In the Second Stage, after getting rid of excess clothing, remove your bike from the bike rack and find a place on the highway, as free as possible from people and cars. It’s good if the race director provided a place for a warm-up. You can take a teammate with you or go there alone. Decide in advance what is best for you. At this stage of the warm-up, perform several short accelerations at the expected speed of the start of the race, or a little faster. If the race starts uphill or downhill, try to work in the expected mode. Each exercise should be more difficult than the previous one, and the rest period after each of them should be quite long.

Schedule your warm-up time to arrive at the start no more than five minutes before the expected start of the race. Please consult with any of the officials responsible for conducting the warm-up before beginning the First Stage of the warm-up. Standing still waiting for the start for a long time will lose the benefits gained after the warm-up. The short waiting period for the start of the race is a good time to drink some kind of “sports drink”, especially on hot days, and work on overly tense muscles. Most likely, at the same time, your bladder will remind you of itself, but perhaps this is not because it is actually full, but because of some characteristic features of the sphincter – the muscle that controls it. As soon as the race starts, this problem will disappear.

Psychological preparation

The second stage of the warm-up is the perfect time to put all your daily worries out of your mind and start concentrating on the upcoming race. Consider your strategy, technique, and related goals, such as keeping your body in good shape or drinking properly. Do not think about how the race will end and what results you can show. Thinking about how you can (or can’t:) perform is not just a waste of time – such thoughts in most cases have a negative effect, or at least make you feel insecure. All you need at this moment is focus and a positive attitude.

Some riders during the warm-up have to relieve psychological stress by focusing solely on the process of cycling. Going to the start in a state of excessive excitement, you can say goodbye to any hopes of a successful performance. Calm down, think about the pleasant.

The warm-up process should be so familiar and well-practiced for you that you go through this procedure with little to no thought, leaving yourself time to mentally prepare for the race. Therefore, it would be nice to sometimes work out the warm-up process separately.

Good luck!