pedaling with anger

posted on August 29th, 2012 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen

Looking for a short turbo boost?
Focus all of your emotions into the pedals.

There is a saying around the interwebs about ‘Stomach of Anger’. Although I’m not really sure what they mean by that I can tell you that I have pedaled with Anger before. And it makes you fast! But also out of breathe very quickly.

You see I was on a group ride that was usually very steady paced. Everyone rotated evenly and the pace of the group as a whole was pretty quick at around 22-24 mph. But this day we had 1 rider that was randomly attacking the group.

It was throwing off the rhythm of the group and thus lowering our average speed, and it was getting on my nerves. So with each successive attack I was getting more and more P-O’d at this person and their failed attacks off the front that were distracting other riders, until he attacked one time, and I had enough!

I down shifted & MASHED the pedals, shift, MASH, shift, MASH, until I not only went by him at a much greater pace than he was going, but had gotten a significant distance up the road to a red light. As I sat at the red light attempting to catch my breath, I had a chance to think for a minute about what had gotten me so riled up. Although I felt better getting some anger out, I also felt guilty for doing the same thing that this person was doing to the group.

I guess in hindsight I was trying to tell him that he wasn’t the only strong rider in the group that ‘could’ go faster. I’m still not sure, but one thing I learned from this was that when I got my emotions together and focused my energy, that I could create a large amount of watts for a brief amount of time.

I could pedal in Anger!

The thing about pedaling in Anger is that your mind shuts down – you don’t feel any pain, all you have is raw emotion – and all that energy is poured into stomping on those pedals!

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never ride at the front

posted on June 7th, 2012 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Ride Reports, Strength Training by Stephen

I have said it, and I see that others are posting articles or info about it. The problem is maybe too many people are taking it too far.

Do not ride on the front should not be confused with NEVER ride at the front.

Too many people seem to just sit-in – on ever ride, year around. Bah!
Too many people never do any work – whether they are afraid they will get dropped, feel they aren’t strong enough.

Sometimes you need to move, do something, stir things up. Sometimes that is for the group & sometimes that is just for yourself & your training.

It’s interesting how the group dynamic of a ride can change – week to week and sometimes during a single ride.
Not long ago, at the ‘Wednesday night World’s’ the group was being shy. There were only a few people rotating & it was often that if you rotated you would have to sit on the front for awhile before someone else would come around.

What happens next is that the stronger riders and/or opportunists attacks the group. Sometimes this is enough to stir things up, sometimes the ride will continue along in the same manner watching that person increase the gap until they are ‘out of sight, out of mind’. As this keeps happening all the stronger riders & some opportunists are ahead on the road and there isn’t enough people strong enough or willing to work to bring them back.

I watched this happen a couple times and tried to shake things up myself by rolling past the group on a downhill and along the uphill on the other side – what this caused was the group finally sped up and started getting more aggressive.

Remember, “Don’t ride on the front” is different from “Never ride on the Front” there are good reasons to rotate and pull-through, and there are good reasons not too. Sometimes the group is hammering along and you should conserve your energy for later. Sometimes you should rotate just to get others to rotate also, sometimes it is to keep the group going.

One of the best ‘team blocks’ I had ever witnessed was by Scotty Weiss – we were racing a 1Km pan flat crit in N.C. His team mate jumped the pack with another racer and they were rolling up the road – well most team mates would go to the front and soft pedal or not even pedal at all – but not these guys, Scotty went to the front and kept the field going at a steady pace. He knew if the group slowed down too much there would be attacks and his team mate would have less chance of winning the race. So, he kept the pace slow enough that his teammate was still going faster than the group, yet just fast enough that no one would attempt to attack the group! At that time I was a fresh Pro1,2 rider and at first I was bewildered that his own team mate was on the front doing the pace-making. It took me about 5 laps before I realized the plan.

Most everyone knows the basic tactics, but when you can mix things up that is when you are racing intelligently!

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Mens Racing Category

posted on August 24th, 2010 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Reviews by Stephen

There was a question asked many times, about road racing categories and which category should a beginner cyclist join to attempt their first race? Hopefully, this will clarify some of these questions for beginners as well as give some racers a better idea of what to expect from teams and team strategies for racing in higher categories.

While this may seem like a basic question to the common racer, it is a often asked question from outsiders of the cycling racing scene.

I can only write about things that I have seen and experienced from racing in the categories and some USPro races in the South Eastern US.

Here in the US we have USA Cycling Federation that creates and enforces most regulations of ‘sanctioned’ races.
But as I look over their website, it seems based for riders that are into racing, not riders that are looking to get into racing. So, I thought I would compile the basic categories and some info on what to expect in each.

MEN Categories are as follows:

Beginners = Category 5, nearly all racers must start in this category. There will be 1st time racers as well as some folks that are used to doing group rides and are now starting to get the hang of what it is like to ride steady and finish a race.

Upgrading 5-4:
To’upgrade’ from this category you Experience in 10 mass start races. Mass starts are groups starts – IE. criterium or road races. NO Time trial starts will qualify.

Category 4 = These riders have competed in a minimum number of cat.5 races. There will be riders here that are still getting their feet wet, and some riders that like racing in this category and can win many races.
Expect the pack to roll along usually together, and chase most attacks from other riders, but usually no counter-attacks, Therefore, most races in this category will come down to a sprint finish.

Upgrading 4->3:
20 points in any 12-month period; or experience in 25 qualifying races with a minimum of 10 top ten finishes with fields of 30 riders or more, or 20 pack finishes with fields over 50. 30 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Category 3: These racers are really starting to get strong. These riders are usually frequent group riders. They will have fairly good bike handling skills. Some racers will want to stay in Cat3′s and not upgrade – for a variety of reasons.

Expect these races to be often aggressive, but many still only attack the climbs, then keep a steady tempo, and chase any attacks. Therefore, many races may come down to sprint finishes.
Expect to see some team tactics, both failed and ones that work well. This is where team strategies will start to play a factor in the outcome of ‘some’ races.
Expect more climbers to show up at hilly races & more sprinters are flatter races.

Upgrading 3-2:
3-2: 25 points in any 12-month period
40 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Pro1,2: These races are where the racing really hits the fan!
These are the guys that have ridden 100-200 miles each weekend over the winter. Some maybe moto-pacing. On group rides, they are the guys that are either chatting at the back of the group (because they know they won’t get dropped) or on the front, pushing the pace. These guys can ride tempo on the front of a group at 20 mph and still hold a conversation with you about drinking last night.

Upgrading:
2-1: 30 points in any 12-month period**
50 points in 12 months is an automatic upgrade

Attacks are the norm for this category! expect most races come down to a sprint – a sprint of who is still left in the break! Sometimes, the break gets shattered and the riders will come-in 1-2 at a time due to the speed, attacks, heat, terrain. Sometimes chaotic, sometimes controlled, the pace will vary based on who and if any Pro’s show up that weekend.

The pace may slow down just in time for you to breathe, but usually before you actually recover, someone will be flying off the front again!

Expect team-mates to be organized and team-members that are not afraid to be a sacrificial domestique for their team leader & chase anything down that they don’t like.

Master’s categories: In most Master’s races you can expect a steadier pace than in a Pro1,2 race. The attacks are there, but usually not quite as aggressive – these guys all know they have to go to work on Monday – they usually have families and don’t take some of the chances that the lower categories may try. The racing team tactics can be fierce! Expect the pace to be only slightly slower than a Pro1,2 race.

Some fields require a Master’s fields have 2 requirements:
A) ‘racing age’ over the category. So, if you are turning 35 in December or earlier you racing age for that year, then your ‘racing age’ is 35.

B) to be a cat4 or higher (no cat 5′s) but each race may have different rules.

I hope this helps clarify the questions about where to start off as a new racer, and a little of what to expect in each of the categories, and the differences to expect once you upgrade.

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