Sprint | Stronger Cyclist

The Head-Butt

posted on July 15th, 2010 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Reviews, Ride Reports by Stephen

If you haven’t yet seen stage 11 of the 2010 Tour dr France, then stop reading now…. or maybe watch the video first of the sprint finish because really, what else was there?

The finish of this stage saw a Cavendish lead out man Renshaw head-butt Farrar’s lead-out man Dean apparently because he came to close to him and nearly impeded his movement. A) he wasn’t totally holding his line B) he was starting to impede the line of Renshaw.

I have chatted with a couple great sprinters & they seem to feel that this was all fair in a top-notch sprint such as this. Too bad we didn’t get to see a 2 teams, 2 separate line, Sprinter vs. Sprinter!
I don’t think I blamed Renshaw for the first head-butt, I guess he needed the 2nd to get his point across as Dean clearly didn’t realize the point that Renshaw was making, but the 3rd was clearly cause for a DQ.

Now, watch this, after the sprint finish they re-play in over-head slo-mo.

Now tell me you don’t blame Renshaw for that head-butt! Dean makes a move to his left and puts out an elbow towards Renshaw impeding his forward line. Maybe he didn’t handle it the best, but when you have Cavendish on your wheel and your job is to lead him out, you have to keep moving forward, but suddenly another lead-out man starts cutting you off?

However, the officials may see all this a different way:
- “History shows that a headbutt will get dq’d from stg result (mcewen2005,Zabel 97)”
- “History also shows that looking over shoulder at rival then taking them to barriers will also get u dq’d from stg results”
- “History will now show that combining the 2 aforementioned tactics will get u sent home…greater than the sum of it’s parts”
-Robbie McEwen

Regardless of what you feel about Renshaw’s actions during the stage, I think that it was the right call to make from the officials based on this.

1 thing is for certain that will come of all this….. Head-butting, coming to a Cat4 race near you!

Wednesday night Sprint

posted on May 21st, 2010 in Cycling, Cycling Tips, Ride Reports by Stephen

I did a group ride in the Atlanta area this week. This is a good sized, well attended ride, intown Atlanta ride that basically starts on the West side, and goes almost all the way to the NorthEast side of Atlanta. The ride has about 50 people that show up on any given week. The course and number of riders causes it to be a hectic ride, there are many stop signs and turns, and although, no major climbs, Atlanta is NOT flat!

On this particular day there were several people at the front that were pushing hard on the pedals and causing the front 10+ people to ride single file. As the group wound it’s way on the old Indian trails, now roads, it requires a lot of attention to not hit potholes, and not bump into another rider. One of the tricks that I use is to occasionally shift my head over and look past the rider that is directly ahead of me. This allows me to look up the road 50 yards or so and see what obstacles maybe ahead. I’ve been known to point out holes to people on the other side of the pack. Hitting a pothole or other obstacle that someone failed to point out SUCKS!

NOTE: I did skip a couple miles of the loop, and didn’t climb all of the hill with the group, my Quads are somewhat vertically challenged when it comes to racing uphill with guys that weigh 40-50 lbs less than me, and I wasn’t the ONLY One.

The group comes back up the climb, and I go with the front group for the last half mile of the climb to see what the pace was like – Fast!
We get back on track on Mt Paran & the guys are again hitting the gas pretty hard, single file for most of the way back.
As we get closed back towards the West side of Atl. we turn and go down a long stretch of road (hwy 41) that culminates in a county line sign at the Chattahoochee. The fella’s at the front are drilling it now and it is like the old Red Saeco train, each man sacrificing themselves by putting in a huge effort and pulling out of the way to allow the group to rush past.

As we edge closer to the county line sign, I notice that I have allowed just the right number of guys ahead of me, and they are sprinters. The pace has gone from a frantic 30 mph, and has amped up to 35+, so, I hold my position behind a big guy, the lead-out has begun. 1 guy ahead of us keeps looking back to make sure he isn’t doing an effort for no reason. I keep my head down and make sure I’m in the draft as much as possible to conserve as much energy as I can.

As the guys at the front peel off we are now doing over 40mph into this downhill sprint and I’m thinking I’ve got good position…. another guy peels off and I down-shift looking for another gear, but no dice. I’m geared out. Good times, but it’s over, the 2 guys in front of me have jumped, out of the saddle sprinting, and I’m still spinning the gear I have. Then suddenly it happens, merely a second later, CLICK. A ghost shift, down. I was only in the 12, now I got the 11.

The guy in front of me jumped left, the guy ahead of him stayed straight, only space is on along the White line, but there’s room – I’m jamming out of the saddle, winding out what is left of this gear in a downhill sprint, at 45mph. I’m coming on like a freight train when suddenly the guy I’m coming along side shifts into my sprinting lane – now I have him on my left and an upcoming bridge pillar on the right – split second decision/instinct – I push my handlebars ahead of his in a sprinters throw – it stops him moving over & Swooosh, pushed my wheel ahead of his so he doesn’t have room to come over any more and just like that, I’ve Won the sprint!

This was another case of ‘the last 1 to jump usually wins the sprint’ as was the case with my First race . Of course, you have to sprint with the sprinters to win, but knowing what type of sprints suit you and the timing of your sprint are the key factors, and you can only learn that by practice.

Happy Sprinting!

They all laughed when I entered my first race

posted on January 27th, 2010 in Cycling, Ride Reports by Stephen

They all laughed when I entered my first race, after all, what did I know about racing? I was just a bike shop employee that did the shop ride when I felt like it. I was curious what it was all about. It seemed so cool, like, I don’t ride bikes, I RACE….. so, I paid my entry fee and pinned on my first race number onto my jersey.

My first race was the West Oak criterium in Marietta, Ga. It is about a 1 mile loop that has 2 right hand turns and 2 gradual curves, but otherwise open 2 lane roads. I was anxious, and totally unprepared for what I was about to experience, yet a co-worker was telling me “this course is made for you.” I heard the words, yet had no idea the meaning of them. How could a course be ‘made’ for someone? I’ve never even raced before. It’s not like I’m Lance and it’s Paris Mt. or anything.

We all lined up and I had no idea what was about to happen when they said ‘Go’. The group started off with a slight burst of speed and man, I was ready, I pounded on the pedals! I easily bridged up to the 10′ gap, then had to jam on the brakes……. (hey, it was a category 5 race, it’s expected!)

The pack wound it’s way around the course with much trepidation. Everyone on pins and needles about what was going to happen next. Luckily not much happened other than we ticked off the laps at a snails pace.

As we raced the course I seemed to move all around the field. Someone would spook me with a swerving maneuver and I would stop pedaling and grip the hoods of the handle bars anticipating having to grab a hand full of brake at any second. My senses were on high alert!

The referee finally rang the bell for 2 to go….I was telling myself: ‘okay, be ready’. Although, I didn’t know know what I would be ready for – I had never been in a race before - I had no clue what would happen. Still around the course the group went, swerving…. pedal, brake, pedal, brake.

As we were going through the back side of the course a larger rider than myself started leaning on me – uh oh, I thought….. he is about to fall, and is trying to keep his balance…. so I leaned back. I felt more pressure, so I leaned and equaled the amount of push onto me….. I was looking at the wheel ahead of me – no room there, to the right was another rider – no where else for me to go, I had to hold this guy up so he doesn’t crash. Suddenly he barked something, stopped leaning on me and took off in front of the leaders…… what was that all about I wondered?

Around the course we went, ’1 to Go, 1 to Go!’ The pack was whipped up into a near panic, a frenzy of emotion and anticipation filled the air…. what to do, what to do? The pack wobbled through the last right hand turn. I was starting to grip the bars and my mind was going crazy about what to do next – I had no clue. I wanted to just take off and ride away from everyone….my body was ready, and my eyes were searching for an open space – my brain was screaming ‘GO, GO!’ but we were going into the chicane and the gap on the right was closing fast…. 1 person ahead of me, a guy next to him, and a guy on my right….. no where to go, I was boxed in.
‘GO, GO!!!!’ my inner voice was panicked! Nerves were on HIGH alert, ‘YOU MUST GO NOW’…. and yet I could do nothing but sit behind the wheel I was on. Slowly, painfully, the chicane changed, and the space on my left opened up. We were within 300 meters of the finish line at the top of this roller. My inner voice was screaming: GO, GO! I stood up and with all the pent up anxiety, I jammed on the pedals! I cranked on that bike, twisting the handle bars, torquing the frame, pushing the boundaries of spoke tension. Head down, and I went.

I crossed the line and slowed down, my heart rate was high, but I barely noticed….. was that it? Are we done? What happened?

I didn’t raise my arms. there wasn’t a salute. no pointin to the sky. I was baffled. It didn’t sink-in until I was back with my friends – I WON! Me. I was a winner. WOW.

I never got anything for that Win…. well, nothing tangible. What I did get was a lesson – even though ever fiber of your body is screaming GO, the Win goes to the person that sprints at the correct time. It’s all about TIMING! And from that win, started a BIG spark for racing, and the timing of many more sprint Wins.

Timing your sprints takes practice, don’t get frustrated, gain knowledge and keep practicing on group rides and in races….. A common thing I hear amongst Pro12 riders that are pack finishers is that they wished they had spent a little more time in a lower category figuring out how to get that ‘W’ that has now eluded them.

Something I suggest in coaching is for them to get that ‘W’ in several different ways -> Sprint finishes, from a break, and solo in front of the field.