Sprinting - watch Mark

Mark Cavendish and the tour of Britain.

Probably the best road race sprinter in the world.

Le tour has had a rest and so have I. Not posted on here since Friday to busy with bike riding and family stuff.  I did however post some ideas about learning to sprint in group racing situations for a young lad on an old bike getting excited about racing. In this instance he was still using gear changers on the down tube which was made obsolete for serious racing by about 1989.

"RE tips for sprinting, the best training for this is to go out with a gang that treat village 30mph boundary signs or similar as the end of a bike race. I even know of a gang that has 'ahem' painted finish lines in the road. One great tactic is to sit just behind one of the other riders, this way they are working harder than you and then as you get the close to the finish give it everything and try and get past them. You'll probably need a slightly bigger gear than you need to 'sit on their wheel'   Watch the finishes of the tour stages on the telly.

This type of situation is where your having friction levers on the down tubes is a disadvantage. Modern gears are much easier to change quickly in this type of situation.

If it's you on the front, try and position yourself so they can only pass you on one side. This makes it easier to spot the attack coming, giving you a chance to respond. Again having gears on the down tubes is a disadvantage, if they know what they're doing they will jump as soon as you start changing gear!  My guess is many of the young racers these days wouldn't know this as they will not have raced much against people using these levers.

Danger

What is really important when sprinting, is to 'hold your line' DO NOT come across sideways into other riders that are passing you. Do not close somebody down against the Kurb or force them out into traffic coming the other way. Be predictable for the others. You will be reaching speeds where crashing is horrible.

Best thing, join a good club with people that train for road racing.

And don't blame me or anybody else if this all goes horribly wrong. Racing on bikes is aways a bit risky....    "

New bike

Yesterday I was suggesting you don't need fast modern kit to go fast and have a go at racing. Today I have some new kit. Tour fever and bicycle shop wallet seduction strikes again...

Today I collected the latest addition to my bicycle stable. I've been after a better bike for fast touring and longer training rides for quite a while. I've also been suffering with Cyclist's Palsy and wanted something that would help reduce the battering my hands have been taking on my current winter/training bike.

The specification was:
Comfortable, fast, equipped for pannier rack, steel, titanium or maybe carbon. Affordable.

Given the usual cost of the sort of bike I was after I was in no hurry but luck was on my side. I broke a wheel on my winter bike and given the worn out state it was in I arranged for Tony at Brucie's to build me a new pair of traditional training wheels. This wasn't expensive as far as good wheels go and before I knew it I had some new wheels.

BUT

This did mean I was in the shop a couple of times and a steel framed fast touring type bike they had built up was sitting on a rack seducing me....  To make matters worse Bruce was after an 80's steel race frame and I just happened to have one in the garage that had't been used for more than a year. I also had more or less enough good parts to build a bike up. We agreed a deal,  part exchange on the frames, a few new bit's and the new bike was created.

I now have a new bike Blue Reynolds 631 frame, Campag ten speed gears Shimano brakes and wheels built with DRC rims and Ambrosio Hubs.

I've done the initial sea trials this evening, adjusted the saddle a wee bit and gone up a few hills. Good news is I like it.

Maiden Voyage this weekend and more detailed review once it has a few miles on it.

This sport has history and you can do OK on an old bike.

Cycling has a great history, this photo is my mates mum getting ready to start a time trial back in the day. She was fast and did really well but perhaps the rider that really leads the way in terms of what could be done on traditional equipment, admittedly drilled full of holes to make it lighter is Alf Engers who in 1978 broke the 50 minute barrier for 25miles with 49-24seconds.

What this must mean is that on a modern road bike you can go pretty fast without a time trial specific machine and potentially cause chaos at the local mid week time trial.

Have fun, go race your bike....

Rest Day

Today is a rest day for Le Tour, it's also raining more than makes sense for July in Cumbria so I'm having a rest day as well.

Top tip - you get fitter resting not training. The training stimulates the body to respond which it does best when your resting. Make sure your getting enough sleep, don't train to hard on consecutive days and as you get older expect to need more time to recover from harder efforts.

Time Trial

Richard Bickley in the Grey Stoke Time Trail 2011

Blimey, how good was Wiggins at the time trial stage at the tour today? In our house, put Le Tour on the telly and working is impossible.

You to could have a go at a race something like that. (At least here in the UK) Most local clubs will run a time trial series throughout the summer and will allow potential new members a ride or two to see if you like it enough to get further involved.

Like Le Tour, you will probably find young men and women on fancy machines able to ride at more than 25mph but is is likely that there will be people on ordinary road bikes, children with over enthusiastic parents and silver haired men on time trial specific machines from a different era. It takes all sorts.

The quick boys and girls will be quick, but you'll still be OK if 10miles takes you 35 or 40 minutes. Let them know you new to the sport and they'll probably organise it so you one of the first riders off. This way you'll be racing with the others who are slow / new to it.

You can expect to be made welcome, an entry fee of a couple of quid, and if you want to do more than a couple of races you'll have to consider joining the club and taking a turn helping out with the organisation.

Go on, give it a go you might even enjoy it!

http://www.rttc.org.uk/

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/index.php?

PS Don't be surprised if the silver haired men are much faster than they look!

Tour inspired take two (Stava)

Yesterday I talked about how as a small boy I was inspired watching Le Tour on the telly. Forty years on and nothing has changed, Le tour on the telly and I'm out on be bike pretending to race Cadel Evans  and rip it up in the Alps.

Technology has however moved on, Top tip for today is the Stava App. I use it on an iPhone but it can be used with different hardware. What's great about it is that you can have segments of a ride and it will time them each time so you can compare your performance each time you do that segment.

and

It also tells you how others are doing on those segments, who's beating you and who your beating. Loadsa fun - you can, if you want to, turn every ride into a race!

http://app.strava.com/

Tour inspired riding

It's about 1972 and the children have been watching Eddie Merckx doing the Eddie Merckx thing and then, out on their bikes emulating the heroes of Le Tour De France. Le Blagger in the yellow jersey a truly inspired present for an nine year old. His brother on the stunning red Falcon Junior racing bike, 24 inch wheels, 5 speed gears with a real simplex derailleur. Fantastic. Nicola possibly being Beryl Burton

Children can do great on bikes and the top tip today is for those with children showing an interest. Track down a good local club that caters for them and help them join in the fun. A great example of this is our local club the Beacon Wheelers.