Nothing will give training more focus than joining the world of competitive cycling. You will prove who you claim to be: A Cyclist – with a capital “C.” You are more than just a bike rider.
“There simply is no thrill quite like rocketing along on a bike fueled by the power of your own legs.” – Bernard Hinault
And of course, you’ve been training, right? Because without an engine to drive you, racing will be a frustrating experience. Your first step to successful bike racing is reaching a useful fitness level. Go read over these training tips if you’ve haven’t done so yet.
Once you’ve built a basic racing engine in your legs, heart and lungs, a beginner still needs skills to race. Because racing isn’t about brute strength alone. If that was the case, we’d test every Cyclist on a trainer in the lab, and award medals to the strongest.
Here’s what every rider should know before standing on a start line to become a Cyclist.
Warming Up
The shorter your race, the more important the warm-up. All your physiological systems need a little priming to turn them on.
Sometimes, when it’s a long road race, the start will have neutral miles. Those will serve you well for a warm-up. Keep your gearing easy, and cadence high, and you can ease into the race. Pre-race you should spin around on nearby roads. Ensure your bike is mechanically sound. Make sure nothing is loose. Test that all your gears are shifting fine.
For a criterium (or a road race less than 50km), you need to be ready to sprint hard for a great position from the get-go. That means your warm-up should be at least 20-30 minutes. Include some 5 minute ramping efforts up to about 2 minutes at threshold. And finish with at least 2 high cadence 15 second sprints. It’s all about tapping into each energy system the race will demand.
A time trial needs a warm-up like a criterium, but without the finishing sprints.
In the very least, your warm-up should break you into a light sweat. Warm your muscles with increased blood flow. Stretching before is not recommended. Research has shown that stretching before high-power efforts reduces your peak-power potential. Save the stretching for your post-race cool down.
At this point, if you haven’t done so yet, remove all lights, seat bags and frame pumps. Take only your bike computer and water bottles along for the race.
Beginning With Your Start …
In any mass-start race you’ll be standing over your bike with one foot clipped in, and the other on the ground. When the commissaire blows their whistle, it’ll be a mad dash to get going. The faster you get your foot clipped into your pedal, the quicker you’ll have both legs powering you onward.
But getting that free foot locked in can be a scramble at the best of times. Add in the anxiety and chaos of a mass start race, and you could be really fumbling. Sometimes entry-level race categories will be marred by crashes. A few clumsy riders don’t hold their lines while madly pressing their foot into that pedal.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Practice getting your foot locked in on your first try. Embrace stop signs and red lights as your opportunity to practice clipping-in. You can even go so far as creating practice time during the warm-up in one of your weekly rides. Spend 15 to 20 minutes practicing your smooth clip in process.
Each pedal system requires a little bit different flick of your foot to get it right. Practice the flick to the point that you clip in the first time every time.
Then at race start, you won’t even need to think about it. Your foot should have a mind of its own and find the pedal automatically. You can look straight ahead, maneuvering your way around the newbies fumbling about. You’ll take off in the head of the pack, because …
Success Comes to Riders in the First Third of the Peloton
In the amateur ranks of racing, you’ll find skill and fitness levels spread all over the spectrum. The peloton will be a pack of anxious racers making many mistakes. Usually the most dangerous place to be in your race is at the back of the pack. Opening gaps will become insurmountable chasms for you to race across.
Prevention is your best strategy.
Do your best to queue up at the head of everyone, on the start line. That could mean finding your way to the start at least 10 minutes before scheduled go time.
Then stay in the front third of the pack, or about 10 riders, in most race situations. You’ll increase your chances for success dramatically. You won’t get caught behind an exhausted rider who is opening a huge gap to the pack ahead of you. You’ll also cut the chances of being tangled in the crashes of sloppy riders.
In front you’ll also avoid the funneling effect that happens through corners. The pack must squeeze down to 2 or 3 riders wide to fit safely through corners. This slows the riders in the back much more than those up front.
If you’ve found yourself a bit farther back, take every opportunity to move up. Look for an opening directly in front of you and fill it in. Edge to the side of the peloton and slip up along the outside by a few spots. Mind the shoulder debris and ditch. Never cross the center line (unless the race organizers have closed the whole road).
Be confident. Be one of the best. Stay near the nose of the race. But don’t put your nose into the very front for too long.
As you know, there is no energy-saving draft for you on the very front of the peloton. It’s proper racing etiquette to take your turn at the front, but it doesn’t need to be much more than 30 seconds. The only real exception is when you’re working for a teammate. And that probably won’t happen until you’ve graduated into a higher racing category. You’ll find yourself racing with some equally strong teammates around you. That will open up the exciting world of team racing strategy and tactics.
Be Reliable
Reliability relates to predictability. I don’t mean your race strategy should be predictable. Eventually you’ll need some type of surprise move to win a bike race. But on your way towards racing to victory, you must be a safe, predictable rider for other riders to be around.
Primary to being safe and keeping your fellow competitors safe is riding a straight line. Your cadence must be smooth, with your bike tracking a straight line down the road. Then other racers will not fear having their front wheels “chopped” by your bike swerving in front of them.
Riding a straight line is a simple and very necessary skill for racing. And you’d be surprised how many beginners are terrible at it. Not only does it make you a danger to ride with, it wastes your energy too. You need a smooth pedal stroke with no side-to-side motion in your bike or wobbling upper back and shoulders.
Practice riding a smooth straight line on your training rides. If the road is free from frequent traffic passing you, then use the shoulder’s white line as a guide. Track along it for as long as you can. You’ll find most success by keeping your upper body relaxed and your grip light on the handlebars yet still positive. Please, no white knuckle death-grips. Discover your confidence!
Also practice a shoulder check while holding a straight line. We tend to drift the opposite way from where we turn our head. Using the same white line on the road, see if you can cut the drift while shoulder checking both right and left. It’s easy to incorporate this type of skill practice during your training ride warm ups and cool downs.
On group rides, ride shoulder-to-shoulder with another rider. Tell your partner you’d like to try bumping shoulders lightly. Then, hold a straight line and ever-so-slowly ease towards the other rider. Touch shoulders. Get used to the feeling, so you won’t flinch away if it happens during a race situation. It’s a jerky jump to the side that often causes crashes in many bike races.
Save Energy in the Draft
If you can reliably ride a straight line, then you should be able to follow a wheel with confidence. Stay about 1 foot (30cm) behind another rider and you can save at least 15% of your energy. This is another skill to practice during your group club rides.
Maintain your drafting position mainly by soft pedaling as needed. Don’t grab a handful of brakes. That will start a yo-yoing chain reaction for yourself and other riders behind. That’s not safe. You’ll slow too much, then need to re-accelerate, then run the risk of overrunning the wheel in front again. Ease off the pressure on your pedals when creeping too close to the lead rider.
And never let your front wheel overlap the lead rider. A sudden side swerve ahead will chop out your front wheel. Almost certainly you’ll be sent smashing down to the pavement.
Let your lower peripheral vision mind the gap ahead. Never stare down at your front wheel. Instead be aware of everything happening ahead. Look at and over the shoulders of that lead rider. Trust your peripheral vision to tell you when you’re getting too close.
And here’s another useful tip while looking ahead: watch for riders that stand on their pedals. It usually means they’re “dropping the hammer” – starting a big attacking effort. If you can see riders 5 places ahead jumping like that, immediately react with your own jump. You’ll reduce your precious reaction time and improve your chances of not getting gapped by the attackers.
When You Should Ride the Tail of the Dragon (or rather … peloton)
Like I said, you want to keep most of your riding in the front third of the peloton. All the action is up there. You need to see it happen to react quickly or be ready to make your own move.
But when you need to eat or drink, the safer place is at the back. One-handed riding is a bit risky and hard to do smoothly. Give yourself and your competitors some safe-space until you’re an expert bike handler. Don’t spend too long back there. Just sit up, grab your bottle and swig. Reach into your back jersey pocket and grab a quick bit. Stretch your back briefly. Then get back to work. It’s still show time!
When the action is fast, or the pack is huge – like 40 riders or more – then you need to be confident grabbing your bottle, or reaching into a pocket, while riding mid-pack.
A trick in this instance is to place your driving hand on the handlebar top, closer to the stem. You see, the handlebar is a lever. The closer your hand is to the fulcrum of the lever – in this case the fulcrum is your fork headtube – the less small wiggles in your driving hand will be amplified. The bike will track with minimal wiggles while your free hand is trying to grab stuff to eat and drink.
Collaborating with Your Frenemies
There’s a certain amount of collaboration with opposing teams that’s expected in bike racing. But only to a point.
I’m talking about breakaways here. First question you might have is, “Why break away at all?” If the draft is easiest in a big pack, why make it smaller with fewer riders to share the work?
Because when it comes to the finish of your race, you’ve got a better chance of winning, or at least placing well, with fewer racers around you. Would you rather sprint against 60 other riders, or 6?
Once in a breakaway, it’s only possible to make it work – and stay away from a much larger chasing peloton – if everyone in the break commits to riding pulls on the front. Keep sharing the work as much as possible to keep the pace high.
Almost every break will have opposing teammates in it. To commit to the break means supporting the opposition. You’ll encourage them to work as hard as you and keep paceline rotations smooth and fair. Sometimes you may even give an energy gel to a competitor when they have run out. It may give them just enough energy to keep the break working longer.
But near the end of the race – and you should be thinking about it by at least the 10km-to-go point – you’ll need to assess other riders’ weaknesses. Exploit them to take charge of the win for yourself. Sorry, you’ll need to get cut-throat at some point. For what’s racing if you won’t go for the win?
The Place to Start Cycle Racing
The best place to start your bike racing journey is by joining a local cycling club. Clubs provide weekly training rides, often with the support of a coach. You will meet like-minded racers. They’ll share their expertise and support you at your first races.
In the peloton, racing with teammates opens an exciting frontier of strategies. You may not win your first race, but you can help your teammates reach the podium.
Visit the website of your provincial or state sport cycling association. They’ll provide a list of sanctioned clubs to choose from. You’ll also need to register with the association yourself and buy a bike racing license from them.
Want to work with your own personal coach? See how I can help you with my E•P•I•C Season Coaching System™. CLICK HERE
Interested To Learn More About Each Event Type?
Read these articles to dig deeper into each event, and find out if it’s for you:
Road Racing [Coming Soon!]
Criteriums [Coming Soon!]
Time Trials [Coming Soon!]
Stage Racing [Coming Soon!]
Track Racing [Coming Soon!]