Bike racing has the reputation of being a closed sport. Not necessarily because all cyclists are snobs (though they may be), but more because cycling in the US has been a sport that was difficult to find out about and get started with compared to mainstream ball sports. The people who did discover it found a secret world of Italian racing bikes and pink newspapers, or maybe decided to study French instead of Spanish in high school. Road cycling has always been a special subculture that was hard to crack, and so people were protective of the knowledge they gained, rather than eager to share it.If road racing is a subculture, than cyclocross is another faction subdivided from that: the ...
Suitcases and Armpits: How To Correctly Carry A Cyclocross Bike
When I teach a cyclocross technique clinic, I most often start by demonstrating bad examples. Very often riders can relate to that and use it as a starting place. They recognize themselves and can identify with it, often exclaiming “Oh, right, yes! That’s totally what I do!” I’m able to take it from there, show them not only the correct style, but also the path to that style.One of the challenges to teaching good technique is that there are so many top level riders, men and women, with terrible habits, setting bad examples. There are many factors that go into being a top rider, and technique is only one aspect. It’s possible to get into the elite bell curve with good watts or good ...
Sprinting for Success
Sprint training is an aspect that can and should be part of your program year-round, and is an aspect that many riders either neglect or do incorrectly if they do include them. Making a well-designed sprint workout part of your weekly routine is crucial for any cyclist who not only wants to improve not just their final sprint, but also their ability to make speed changes in almost any kind of mass-start bike race.A sprint, like most efforts, consists of two aspects: cardiovascular and muscular. It's important to consider each aspect separately, and then see how to combine them for maximum effectiveness. From the cardiovascular standpoint, any interval that begins with a maximal effort ...
Opening Up: Fine Tuning for Race Day
A recurring choice riders are faced with is whether to train through a week when there are races on the weekend, or pull up on training early to be better rested for the weekend's events. How to make those choices, and how to structure your training based on your choice, is based on a lot of variables. How important are the races? How important is the long-term fitness you're trying to build? What kind of training are you doing, or what kind of phase are you in? And if you do rest, how do you make sure you feel your best on race day?A typical weekly schedule might include a recovery day on Monday, sprints on Tuesday, threshold intervals on Wednesday, a longer endurance day with some ...
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 ...
Get Fit: 4 Critical Bike Fit Measurements
Whether you spend 5 hours a week on your bike or 35, a proper fit can make all the difference. Like many aspects of training for cycling, bike fit is a type of quasi-science, with a lot of folk knowledge and old school adages mixed in with attempts at real measurements of performance changes based on certain angles and lengths. A balance between both is in order, since the science tells us what should be the case, while the real world experience tells us how it actually feels. Either way, there are four primary measurements that we'll focus on here: saddle height, saddle setback, handlebar reach, and handlebar drop. There are many, many other important factors like cleat position, ...
How Much Warm-Up
One thing many working-class racers are looking for is to simplify their training. They want straightforward, direct answers to their training questions and concrete solutions to their challenges. In line with that, one of the most common requests I get as a coach is for a set, simple warm-up routine that will work every time. The problem of course is that there are no easy answers and concrete solutions, and there is no magic warm up routine that will work for everyone. That said, it is still possible through trial, error, and science, to develop a routine that will work for you based on an evaluation of situational conditions.How you warm up for an event will depend on a number of ...
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 ...