So you think you want to race? Part 1: Questions demanding honest answers

[There are plenty of places where would-be bike racers can learn about how to get into the sport. Trouble is, most of them are unintelligible, boring, outdated, full of holes and/or just plain wrong. NCVC's David Kirkpatrick is none of those things, so when he offered to write a series for GamJams designed to pave the road for the aspiring pelotonista I happily agreed. So if you're a new racer or just about to become one, this series is for you. Leave feedback, questions, suggestions for other topics or additional resources in the comments and David will respond to them there.]

So you think you want to race?
Part 1: Questions demanding honest answers
by David Kirkpatrick, NCVC

So you’re into bikes, huh?  You ride enough that people don’t believe you when answer their question of how many miles you do.  You’re pretty much over the whole dressing up in lycra thing, and may have even flirted with the idea of shaving your legs.  Now you’re thinking that racing’s what you want to do.  So how do you get started? 

First, you’re going to try to find out if you’re fast enough.  There’s about a 90% chance you’ve approached some racer and said “okay, if I can do 20 mph for an hour, am I fast enough to race?”  Hopefully you got an earnest answer that expressed some of the irrelevance of this question.  There are actually a ton more important questions to ask, like do you have a carbon Cervelo, do you have a powertap, what kind of Zipp wheels have you got, do you have a coach yet, have you made the leap to SRAM Red?  Just kidding.  Honestly, how fast you can go isn’t going to determine whether you’re ready or not.  If you aren’t fast enough, you’ll get dropped, and getting dropped happens.  Hopefully not that often, but it does.  No harm no foul. 

Here are some more relevant questions, not necessarily in order of importance.

Can you really ride your bike?  By this I mean are you comfortable riding at high speed next to another guy closer together than the guys on CHiPS?  Can you easily bunny hop objects as tall as a curb?  Can you take a turn at speed without freaking out?  Can you ride a straight line at high speed with no hands?  Can you pick up, drink from, and replace your bottle while looking forward and going straight?  Can you look in either direction and behind you without changing course?  Bike racing is a sport that’s done in groups moving at high rates of speed.  If you have the skills to handle yourself in a large and fast moving group, you’ll be fine.  If not, you’ll endanger yourself and others around you. 

Does your bike fit you?  With the volume of riding that racing entails, a bad bike fit is going to cause you some pain at least and injury at worst.  There are several different schools of thought on the fine print of bike fit, and any of them will get you close.  The big thing is that you should be comfortable.  A 2 hour ride should cause next to no discomfort.  That said, a good racing position is going to take some getting used to – look at some pictures of top racers and you’ll see they aren’t exactly riding comfort bikes down a bike path.  Some discomfort while you’re adapting to a good position is normal, but the fit of the bike should ensure that this is temporary.  Once your body “learns” your racing position, there should be no pain.

Does your bike work perfectly?  A rattletrap bike is not only inefficient to ride and annoyingly loud, it’s dangerous.  That charming squeak that keeps you company on long rides isn’t going to be so charming when you’re hauling the mail down the road in a big group.  It’s a sign that you don’t take good care of your bike.  When you are hurtling into a corner in a pack, everyone is depending on everyone else, and everyone else’s equipment.  If your bike blows up in said corner, the road will soon be littered with blood and teeth.  No one wants this.  If you aren’t perfectly comfortable with adjusting and maintaining your bike, take it to a good shop and have them give it a good going through.  $25 for a rear brake cable may sound like a lot, but what’s the cost of making four guys miss a week of work because your brake cable blew up and you took a bunch of guys out?  On top of all that, a poorly tuned bike is going to waste your energy and make you less efficient.  Brakes, shifters, derailleurs and wheels need to be adjusted well and every bolt and screw needs to be tightened properly.  Water bottle cages need to keep bottles in the cage.  People never forget the water bottle grenade launchers in a group.  Also, keep it clean.  It’s just more pro that way.

Do you know the etiquette?  Communicating in a big pack requires speed and efficiency.  By the time you’ve sipped your tea and said “chaps, there’s an automobile approaching from the back, and it seems he’d like to pass us,” six guys will have been mowed down, so instead you just give a firm “CAR BACK.”  Likewise, “CAR UP” for a car approaching.  In Lancaster County, “BUGGY UP” comes into play.  An obvious point to a road hazard says all everyone needs to know.  Waves in either direction behind the back signify that you need to move in that direction.  A open hand extended behind the back means “slowing,” while a closed fist behind means “stopping.”

Can you guard your wheel?  Drafting requires riding puckeringly close behind other riders, yet not overlapping the ahead rider’s wheel is essential. If you overlap that wheel and the guy moves sideways into your wheel, you’re going down and taking others with you.  Think of all the times you’ve heard Phil Liggett say “oh a slight touch of wheels and down goes a big pack.”  Yeah, it happens.  The big key is to not stare at the wheel in front of yours, but to look up the road.  Use the rider ahead’s shoulder or helmet as your distance gauge.  This allows you to anticipate what’s going coming and gives you way more time to react.  You want to stay within a half wheel diameter behind the guy in front of you, but leave it to the long side of that until you are very comfortable. 

Can you ride without your brakes?  The brakes are easily one of my 5 or 6 favorite parts on my bike, but I try never to use them when riding in a group.  There are better ways to slow.  If you’ve gotten the hang of keeping your eyes forward and anticipating what’s coming up, you can slow by not pedaling.  Imagine that!  Especially in a fast moving pack where the draft is really working well, standing up for a second will slow you nicely.  If there’s room to your side, you can gradually swing out of the slipstream and slow down that way.  All of these are far smoother than using your brakes, and will maintain the ability of a line of riders to avoid looking like an accordian, stretching out and then clustering back up.  If you must use your brake, gently feather the front brake.  Everyone behind you will appreciate your hard work here.

Can you pull through?  Riding in a smooth pace line is one of the most fun things you can do.  Riders who interrupt the smoothness of the line are treated harshly.  When it’s your turn at the front, you gain the lead by maintaining your speed while the rider pulling off slows.  Maintain your speed until your back wheel is just ahead of the front wheel of the guy who just pulled off and start gradually moving in front of that rider.  Then begin to gradually and slightly slow down to let the next rider pull through and then get in front of you.  It’s never wrong to give a gentle “clear” to the rider who pulled through after you when you see that his back wheel is ahead of your front. 

Can you hit stuff?  If a rider nudges you, can you maintain control?  If an unannounced pothole shows up in front of you, can you hit it without losing control?  The goal is that riders ahead should make riders behind aware of such things, but sometimes they can’t or don’t.  You have to learn to deal with these things without interrupting the pack or getting spun out. 

Can you leave your iPod at home?   Don’t wear earphones in a group.  Just don’t.  Also, turn your phone off or at least put it on vibrate.  No one needs to know just how indispensable you are to the people in your world. 

Simply having a huge motor and being able to pound out high tempo for a long time is what triathletes do.  Cyclists answer to a higher calling, exemplifying Jedi-like control of their bike, country club worthy etiquette (except, you know, for the package adjusting, swearing and blowing farmer hankies on one another), F1 worthy mechanical skills and freakish strength and endurance.  Someday I might even get to call myself one. 

--
Also in this series:
So you think you want to race? Part 2: Your first group ride
So you think you want to race? Part 3: Han Solo or Attack of the Clones
So you think you want to race? Part 4: The Training Calendar
So you think you want to race? Part 5: Toeing the Line

--

David Kirkpatrick captained the NCVC Cat 4 team in 2008 and saw 6 of his teammates upgrade to Cat 3, due in no small part to teamwork, strategy, planning and a lot of the other stuff David writes about here. You can follow some of his less structured rants about cycling at flamencochuckwagon.blogspot.com.