Before I travel to a race, I have a mantra that I've been repeating to myself since I was a junior: "jersey shoes shorts helmet license; jersey shoes shorts helmet license." I say it a few times as I load up my bag, put everything in the car, and again as I'm driving away from home or where ever I’m staying. It's a basic list of all the things I really can't be without at the race. Everything that's not on this list I can likely borrow without difficulty or without negatively affecting my performance, (though the last thing I might want to wear is someone else's shorts.) And while technology means you might carry your phone to registration rather than a paper license, it's still good ...
The Lantern Rouge: Bus Driving and Stage Race Survival
Stage racing is a unique animal. There are very few sporting events that combine different disciplines or versions of their sport day after day, to award an overall winner. Decathlon comes to mind as one of the few parallels. But that very nature of it's appeal also contains its challenges. For many riders, these races are the peak of their season and their training has revolved around being at their best. For others, the races are primarily training, especially in the early season, or to peak for later events. And of course, some people climb well, some time trial well, and some sprint well, but everyone has to do everything. When you have such a discrepancy of goals and ...
The Card Up Your Sleeve, Part II
In Part 1 of The Card Up Your Sleeve, I wrote about the inevitability of sprint finishes in most Category 3, 4, and 5 races. Regardless of your natural ability, field sprinting is a mandatory skill to acquire if you plan on moving up through the categories. I mentioned two scenarios: when to wait for the sprint if field sprinting is your talent, and how to approach a field sprint if it's not. Here in Part 2, I'll discuss the latter in detail, and outline some approaches useful for a rider in any category.If your skills are time trialing or climbing, or you have a decent sprint but your brain's not wired for the high-speed human pinball that is field sprinting, you're not alone. ...
The Card Up Your Sleeve, Part I
For all road racers trying to upgrade from the lower categories, there's one skill that takes precedence above all others: field sprinting. Outside of pro/1/2 races, the dynamic tends to be to such that everyone is willing to chase down attacks, but no one is willing to counter-attack or work with a break they bridge up to. It's a vicious cycle; most races end in field sprints so no one wants to attack or counter-attack for fear of being tired for the field sprint, thus, the race always ends in a field sprint. At the same time, no one wants to let any other riders get away, so the field will typically do just enough to chase down any attackers, put themselves back in contention and on ...
Mountain Bike Race Pre-Riding: Inspecting and Opening for Race Day
Author: Serena Bishop GordonThere is a lot of talk these days about marginal gains; incremental improvements that over time add up to more significant increases in performance. These can come from changes in training, diet, equipment, or race preparation, for example. Gains from training and diet can take time to play out, while gains from equipment choices can be expensive. But gains from race preparation are quick to realize, cost nothing, and are often overlooked. If you are a mountain bike racer, part of race preparation is previewing the course. Pre-riding when done effectively and efficiently will give you confidence, leave you fresh, and set you up for a great race.The ...
Why Do You Race?
A few years ago a client came to me with a difficult but common question. She was having some challenges in her life outside of cycling, and it was making it difficult for her to maintain her focus and motivation for another season of racing. At the same time, her racing goals were important to her and she did not want to give them up. The advice she sought had nothing to do with how to train or what intervals to do because her problems were existential, not physiological. So, she asked me, why do I race? What is it that keeps me in the sport year after year? And what could she do to keep that spark? It's not an easy thing to explain. Much like being in love with a person, you ...
Warming up for Cyclocross
I’ve written about warming up for races before, and certainly the information in my other article applies to cyclocross. However, there are additional considerations when warming up for 'cross that are unique, or at the very least, more important than they are for other disciplines. Course inspection is the primary additional concern that affects all other factors.From a physiological standpoint, the same rules apply. Any warm up should be as short as possible to achieve the desired effect. That duration and the work you do will change depending on the event, from 15 minutes of easy riding and a couple of sprints, to an hour on the trainer with a specific interval routine. So for ...
Peaking for Cyclocross Nationals
No matter how you got there, the final two weeks before cyclocross nationals is a unique period. With the continued growth and momentum of 'cross, a couple thousand of us will be finishing their seasons with an event that for some of is the most important race of the year. For others it's just a chance to compete on the same course as the United States' best 'crossers before they shut things down. Whatever your level and goals, it's time to fine tune and make sure you're peaking for the event.The first thing to recognize is that what you've got for fitness right now is pretty much what you've got; there's not enough time in the final two weeks to raise your fitness level through the ...
Training in Training Races
As February comes to an end, many of you in North America racers will begin racing in the next few weeks, if you haven't already. Unless you spent the winter somewhere warm where the early season races actually mean something, most of you will start the year with a month or so of smaller training races to get your feet wet (often literally). Training races are a great way to evaluate your early season fitness, sharpen your skills for the real races coming up, and get some higher intensity, variable power training done in a mentally easier environment than solo intervals staring at your handlebars.The catch here is that many riders forget the "training" part of "training race." The ...
The Philly File
This article was written in 2003, shortly after the USPRO Road Race in Philadelphia, aka “Philly,” a 152-mile road race that was the pinnacle of American bike racing at the time, and the dream of every US rider. I was lucky enough to ride it 11 times in my career, and as one of the first professionals to race full-time with an SRM, likely one of the first riders to collect power data for the race. This article was born from that experience. - Adam Myerson
Although I've been racing my bike "for a living" half my life, 2003 was my first as a professional, at age 31, and thus my first chance to ride the USPRO road championships in Philadelphia. As a ...