Category 5 (beginner) race tactic pointers

Ride hard at the 5 mile mark for 2 miles, and ride them all off your
wheel. Yeah, in the Category 5 UCI World Championships. This comedy
piece is on www.pezcyclingnews.com.

crit pro


PRO TACTICS: Ring the Fire Bell to Breakaway
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 7:19:55 PM PT

by David Harrison

We've just upped your daily dose news you can use – here's another
in our series of race tactics you can use at home. Forget throwing
yourself willy-nilly off the front in hopes of sticking a break – the
team with a brain is the team with a gain…


Ring!…..Ring!…..Ring!…..Ring!…..Ring!…..Ring!…..Ri ng!

Living in an apartment or dorm and hearing the fire alarm jolts you
from deep sleep and out into the street. The serenity of the night
suddenly breaks apart as people hustle to get outside. In the Olympic
Men's Road Race, Paolo Bettini charged up the Lycabettis Hill twice
awakening the pack to his strength and forcing everyone to crawl back
into their saddles and chase him down. The pack failed and Paolo took
the gold.

Amateur teams should plan a fire drill for every race they enter. Pick
an advantageous section of the course and then have a portion of the
team attack. If the first break is caught, the rest of the team should
keep punishing the leading edge of the pack. The rush of the
accelerations will break the rhythm of the road and catch a majority
of the riders asleep. The rest of the peloton will be forced to fight
the fire. A few miles of flame throwing from your team will create a
breakaway.

My team's favorite time to pull the alarm is about 5 miles into the
race. We gather near the front of the pack and one teammate attacks.
If no other teams follow the attack, or the solo rider is ignored by
the peloton, he simply sits up and comes back to the field. Once the
smoke clears from that initial break, the rest of the team explodes
off the front and forces the other riders awake. If that attack fails
we keep our position at the front by riding in a paceline at attack
speed. Two or three minutes of hard riding reduces the peloton to
fumes when two or three teammates launch another small group attack.
Usually a couple of riders from other teams are awake and ready so the
four riders break from the pack while everyone slows to recover from
the excitement.

This strategy works best when narrow roads or hills add to the
challenge. An attack on a narrow road can only be chased by, at most,
five or six opponents at the front of the peloton. If those particular
riders are not interested in chasing, the break immediately goes free.
Hill attacks also limit the number of riders physically and mentally
able to respond. Bettini chose both and only one rider (Sergio
Paulinho) had the right positioning and oomph to follow.

Bike races can only end in two ways, sprint finishes and breakaway
wins, so organizing your team is easy. Reserve two riders to stay in
the pack and cover the potential for a sprint finish. Everyone else is
free to light firecrackers in the attempt to go solo. With six or
eight strong teammates continuously creating fires, the pack will dial
9-1-1 and eventually let the arsonists escape.

Now get out there and try this at home!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Harrison has led multiple amateur teams throughout the Midwest,
Rocky Mountains, and New England. His book, Professional Road Racing
Tactics for Amateur Cycling Teams is available on
www.roadbikerider.com.

On 25 Aug 2004 21:09:21 -0700, (crit pro) wrote:

Ride hard at the 5 mile mark for 2 miles, and ride them all off your
wheel. Yeah, in the Category 5 UCI World Championships. This comedy
piece is on www.pezcyclingnews.com.

crit pro


PRO TACTICS: Ring the Fire Bell to Breakaway
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 7:19:55 PM PT


That article was bizarre.

JT

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