Double C's
by: Frankie Andreu--July 2010
The Tour has started and already there has been controversy and chaos. “Chaos” seems to be the new word for the Tour as every article and quote from a rider or director has chosen this word to describe the first few days of the race. As expected, the cobbles on stage 3 provided a great race but it was on stage 2 that things got interesting.
Stage 2 started off fine but as soon as the riders hit the climbs in the Ardennes of Belgium the riders started to fall. On the descent of the Stockeu as many as fifty riders crashed or got held up by the number of bikes and riders sliding down the road. This led to the neutralization of the race by the riders for unsafe conditions. The leader in slowing things down and shutting down the race was the yellow jersey wearer Fabian Cancellera. Was it a move of convenience or a move for the safety of everyone?
One of the riders that crashed, and was minutes behind, was Cancellera’s teammate Andy Schleck. Andy had crashed on the Stockeu and was having trouble getting going again. His Tour chances for overall victory, after finishing 2nd overall last year, were slipping quickly away by the riders in the front group which included Cancellera. As Cancellera convinced everyone to stop racing and wait for everyone, Saxo Banks’ Tour all of a sudden went from disastrous to fortunate. The decision to stop racing was done by the riders and I understand them making that decision. It was unfortunate circumstances with the weather and with so many riders going down the peloton showed a fair spirited sporting gesture to sit up and allow all of them to rejoin. Unfortunately, this gesture came too late for Christian VandeVelde and others that had crashed well before the Stockeu. They never made contact with the front group losing over eight minutes while those that crashed later in the stage were all able to remain with the same time for the general classification.
Stage 3 provided the drama that we all knew would happen with the addition of cobbles in the final twenty kilometers of the race. Saxo Bank demonstrated a perfect strategy by taking the lead and escorting their skinny climbers to safety over the first sections of cobbles. All the G.C. riders of the race were in good position and then the crash by Frank Schleck opened things up in the peloton. Frank, sitting about six back from the front, perhaps a bit cross-eyed from the efforts of the day overshot a simple gradual left hand turn on the cobbles. Instead of keeping the bike upright to make the turn he leaned the bike, as he would normally do on the smooth roads that he is used to, and the bike slid right out from under him. The crash broke Frank’s collarbone and put a gap between the front group and the rest of the peloton. After that it became a drag race to the finish between multiple groups over each subsequent section of cobbles.
In the first group from the G.C. were Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans. Chasing hard behind was Armstrong in his group, followed by Contador and Vinokourov’s group, followed by Wiggins and Basso’s group. Then Armstrong flatted at a horrible moment. The bad luck that Armstrong had managed to avoid during his seven Tour victories had run out. Armstrong had to do a long hard chase to try and regain contact with Wiggin’s group. A very determined Armstrong chased hard, suffered and fought to keep his chances of trying to win an eighth Tour. It was the first time I have seen Lance actually suffer and dig deep to chase back on during a Tour stage. In all his previous Tour’s I have never seen Lance actually have to really push himself to limit a loss. He always made it look easy, he always just had to defend, and he was always in control. This time the tables were turned on him and he was the one in trouble. Instead of folding he showed his strength with a huge effort to catch the Wiggins, Basso group and keep himself in the hunt.
Contador on the other hand made a big mistake at the end of the race. Vinokourov, his teammate, was driving the group towards the finish with Contador. Then Contador came off the back of the group with less than one kilometer to the finish. At the line, it seemed that Contador had a flat rear tire. In cycling there is a rule that if you puncture or crash in the last three kilometers of the race then you receive the same time as the group you are with. Contador’s mistake was not stopping and signaling that he had a flat tire. Instead, he continued to ride and fight to the line losing an additional fifteen seconds.
With the cobbles shaking up the overall contenders positions in the G.C we are set up for some new dynamics in the mountains. Cadel Evans is in a position to defend which he failed to do at the Giro. Andy Schleck, Contador, Armstrong, Wiggins, and Basso now have the burden of being aggressive and need to attack when we enter the mountains. Basso is the attacking type; he showed this in the Giro. The others are not especially the attacking types except Armstrong when he has great from. Evans lost the Giro to Basso in the mountains, Contador is not used to being over a minute behind to good climbers and this will be a true test of his climbing abilities, especially after not being able to shell riders off his wheel recently at the Dauphine. Wiggins is still an unknown in the mountains after following the wheels of his rivals at last year’s Tour. And Cadel, he is known for not attacking but recently with the rainbow jersey on his back he has finally wrapped his mind around the fact that you can’t win unless you try to attack.
In the next days the G.C. riders will have to fight for position, to stay out of trouble, but they will be able to sit back a bit and try to get some rest before the mountains. The pressure will be on the sprinters like Cavendish, Freire, McEwen, and Farrar if he can recover from his stage two injuries. Just because we enter into some flat stages don’t thing the double C’s, chaos and controversy, will end.
Ambitions vs Sacrifice
by: Frankie Andreu--July 2010
As a professional cyclist you have to get used to losing. It's almost part of the job. The losses not only come from being defeated by other riders that are stronger than you, but also because cycling demands sacrifice. It's the sacrifice for an individual’s own placing for that of the team. The philosophy in cycling is that as long as the team wins then everyone on the team wins. During last year’s Tour de France this was shown with team Astana. Armstrong and Contador clearly disliked each other and, to take it further, the team was even divided into Armstrong camps and Contador camps. Was it uncomfortable and stressful, I'm sure it was. Yet, they remained professional and kept their eye on the main goal of giving Johan Bruyneel and Contador another Tour win. In the end the team wins with prestige, prize money, and fame.
On an amateur level it's hard to see sacrifices demonstrated at such a high level that is seen in the pros. Some of it is inexperience, but I believe more of it is goal and ego motivated. As an amateur, a rider wants to race and test himself each and every time; he believes that he can be the next great racer. This type of attitude is important in keeping racing fun, but it can also hurt the overall goals of a team. If everyone determines they are the leaders then no one is willing to ride on the front or do the work needed for a lead-out in the sprint. In other words, it’s all captains with no workers. It's usually only when one realizes their limits, their boundaries, or potential that they can really become a great teammate. This doesn't mean the rider is weak or will not win races. It just means that he knows his best chances to win races compared to his teammates' best chances to win.
With teamwork at the heart of professional cycling, it surprises me that the leadership role is something that needs to be protected. On the final stage of Tour of California, team Radio Shack had the ability to win the entire race. Going into the last day, Radio Shack had the leader of the race Michael Rogers (Colombia-HTC) in trouble. Chris Horner (Radio Shack) went up the road and had the chance to win the entire race overall but in the final ten kilometers it was Levi Leipheimer and Popovych (Radio Shack) that led the chase behind preventing Horner from wining overall. I saw it as a conflict between protecting the leadership of the team and the goal of the team winning.
As we start the 97th edition of the Tour de France, these types of conflicts could again come to the front of the story lines. Each rider with individual goals contrasted against the goals of the team. Liquigas has three riders that all could do well in the Tour de France. Ivan Basso, who just won the Giro, has two teammates that could equally have a chance at winning. Kreuziger and Nibali are both young riders that can climb and time trial well enough to put them into a leadership position. On Rabobank, Dennis Menchov, 2009 Giro winner, will be the leader of the team. He will not only have to worry about riders from the other teams but his teammate Gesink is one of the best climbers in the world. If given an opening, Gesink could easily find himself in front of Menchov leading into the final days of the Tour. If we are talking about climbers then we have to mention the Schleck brothers. Frank and Andy Schleck both have desires to win the Tour and, if not for the same last name, the brothers would be at each other’s throats to be the sole captain of Saxo Bank.
Besides having Tour contenders fighting each other, it’s common for a team to have a two-sided approach to the races. It becomes difficult to have a balance between the results for G.C. and stage victories. A team like Garmin has one of the fastest sprinters with Tyler Farrar. They split their roster with lead-out riders like Julian Dean and Robert Hunter (stage winner in 2008) to help with stage wins. The other half of their roster is in support of Christian VandeVelde for the overall. Team BMC, first time in the Tour, will have their overall hopes set on Cadel Evans. The flaky Evans has shown that he is a bit unpredictable mentally and physically at times during the Tour. Sometimes putting in performances worthy of a Tour winner and at other times striking out at other riders or the media because of his inability to deal with the pressure. George Hincapie, the rider with the most experience on BMC, will be there to help lead the way. In what could be his last Tour, Hincapie will look to do something on his own and the pressure for results will be immense if Cadel should falter early on in the race. And lastly, don't forget Alberto Contador on Astana along with Vinokourov. Contador is the hands down favorite to win but Vinokourov is a tough fighter and is one of the most aggressive riders in the peloton. Contador will have to give him a very short leash because if Vino smells a chance for victory he will clear his memory of anytime he talked about support
The rider’s are the story of the Tour, each with their own tale of survival and chance of glory. At the Tour, a team needs to be on the same page with their goals, their roles, and their expectations. Many times this means putting aside their personal ambitions for the good of the team. It means finding the right personalities that can work together for three weeks. At the end of each day you will see the winner on the podium raising his hands in celebration. It might be the designated leader of a team or it just might be a new rider that isn’t willing to sacrifice his ambitions anymore.
Bring back the RACE RADIOS!
by: Frankie Andreu--May 2010
It wasn’t long ago that the UCI came up with the idea to ban race radios in races. Their idea was to take away all radio communication to the riders from their directors during a race. This came about because a few years ago the higher-ups watching the Tour de France thought it was too methodical, too boring, and that the directors had too much control over what happened in the race. Well, isn’t that the point of having a director? So, last year the UCI decided to do a test and ban the race radios in two stages of the Tour de France. Remember, the UCI has no control over the Tour de France and yet they choose to do their sample test at the biggest and most important bike race in the world. The Tour de France organization, which already doesn’t get along with the UCI, agreed to the race radio ban suggestion. It turned out that these big organizations thought it was a good idea but the riders didn’t. During the first day of the radio ban at last year’s Tour, the riders rode slow in protest and just sprinted at the end. The second day they refused to race unless the radios were returned to the peloton . The riders won and race radios were back in place.
The UCI, not to be defeated, still believe that eliminating the race radio is the future of the sport. They couldn’t enforce the ban on the most experienced group of riders, the Pro Tour riders, so they decided to implement the ban on radios with the most inexperienced group of riders. Actually, what the UCI did was ban race radios from lower level events and keep the race radios for the highest ranked events. The events themselves receive the ban of radios and, because most riders in the U.S. will never ride a Pro Tour race, they will always end up racing without a radio. I’m not a fan of this because of safety reasons and technical reasons.
Recently, at the Tour of the Gila, there were numerous examples where the race radios would have been useful. The first is just plain and simple: to speak with the riders. A couple times during the race there were ambulances that came on to the course that went in the opposite direction of the field. It would have been nice to give the riders a little notice before the lights and sirens were on top of them forcing the peloton to squeeze over to one side of the road . Another example was when the racecourse had to change direction because someone threw like a thousand tacks down on the road causing the other categories to have a ton of flat tires. At the Tour of Taiwan we had a rider who was passed by all the neutral support vehicles and never received a spare wheel. He had to flag down the sag wagon and take a wheel from a rider’s bike that had already quit the race. By this time, our rider was well out of the caravan in the middle of nowhere in Taiwan, and we had no way of knowing if he had abandoned or kept riding through traffic. We didn’t find him until well after the leaders had made it to the finish and I was starting to drive backwards on the course to try and find him. These are only a few examples from a safety perspective that need to be addressed.
From a racing perspective, it’s much harder to know when your riders are in trouble with a flat tire. At the Tour of Gila we had a rider in the break who flatted and by the time the team car reached him he was already stopped on the side of the road watching the front group leave him behind. He never made it back to the break that eventually stayed away to the finish. Without rider radios the race radio from the officials’ car is as important as ever. When they give you the race numbers of riders in a break you have to trust them that the numbers are correct. There is no way to double-check the information by talking with your riders. If they say a rider is dropped, again it’s just listening and believing. On the last day at Gila they at one time announced that the winner of the race was not in the front break anymore. They might have forgotten his number, maybe misread it, but if I had been able to talk with one of my riders in the break I would have known the information was wrong.
Tactically the riders still have to race and, more importantly, react to situations. The race radio does not change that. In the final kilometers of a race, a rider's instincts will take over as they prepare for the craziness of a field sprint. The directors in the team have little control at this point. The directors might have been able to dictate the chase by selecting which riders need to ride and to give them accurate time splits. As a director you want to give your riders the best chance to win and if the groups split up sometimes there is no way that the riders will know who is in the second or third group. For a rider there is always the responsibility of racing the race. If any of the top five on the general classification attack, the riders need to respond. Their radios don’t tell them, they already know what to do.
The UCI keeps changing rules and randomly decide which rules to enforce. The recent enforcement of the 3:1 ratio rule [a bicycle frame or component of the frame may not have a profile three times deeper than its width] has been enforced at times, like deeming the Specialized Shiv time trial bike illegal, but in the U.S. the 3:1 ratio is being ignored. The changes are confusing and in the end I believe they hurt the riders by preventing them from using the best equipment and by not allowing them to have the best information to race to their full potential.
Getting the Sprint Right
by: Frankie Andreu--May 2010
Many of the races we do around the country are criteriums. This is why in my previous posts I’ve talked about doing accelerations and power accelerations to help increase your speed and power. Regardless if you do road races or criteriums the tempo of a race is never steady. It’s almost the opposite of the common steady training ride. In races there are always surges, attacks, primes, and of course the rush to the finish line. In each of these circumstances, the ability to react quickly is important and having speed is an asset in both types of races.
There are five key points to sprinting.
1. Positioning
2. Picking the right gear
3. The jump
4. Holding the speed
5. Throwing the bike
Positioning is the most important step in the process because without it there is no chance to win the race or prime. It’s important to not wait until the last lap to move up. In the last lap couple of laps the speed is always fast and the power needed to move up in the group takes away from the power you will need later for the final sprint. Ideally, with two or three laps to go, or with 5km to go in a road race, you want to be near the front and ready for any moves. The faster the pace the easier it is to maintain that position and the more effort it will take those behind you to try and move up. When I raced I had a decent sprint-- I couldn’t win a flat out field sprint-- but by being in a good position for the final kilometers I could place well every time. No one owns a position in the group so fighting to hold your position is important in order to get ready for the sprint.
If you are riding a criterium it’s easier to find out what gear you need for the final sprint compared to a road race where you might only go through the finish line once at the end. In a crit, pick the gear you think you will need for the sprint and test your choice a couple of times before the end. This can be done by going for a prime, attacking down the home stretch, or just sticking your nose out in the wind a little when passing across the finish line. The correct gear will prevent you from getting totally spun out, and not accelerating fast enough, while also keep you out of too large a gear and getting bogged down.
When it’s time for the sprint, pick your mark where you will want to take off. Before the race, walk down the finish line area and find a sign, or storefront, that will be your marker to start your sprint. During the race, again test this launching pad point, to see if it works for you or if you have to adjust it because of a head wind or tailwind. In a head wind you should consider taking off a little later than usual and in a tailwind perhaps a bit earlier. In both of these conditions a gear change will be necessary also. If it’s cross wind then try to start your sprint on the side of the road where no one can get a draft off of you. Hug the curb or the barriers to prevent someone from being in your slipstream; the idea is to make them sprint as hard as you’re sprinting.
When it does come time to sprint the jump is essential. The explosiveness off the wheel in front of you is key to getting up to speed as quickly as possible. The initial jump should be as hard as you can go to get up to speed as quickly as possible. Out of the saddle, you should lean forward a bit with elbows bent, and put a big effort to pull on the bars as you push and pull during the pedal stroke. This will allow you to get a quick small gap over the others and then it’s about keeping that speed to the finish.
At the finish, the difference between a win and a loss sometimes can’t be measured. It can be a bike length or just a tire tread width. The throw of the bike is something we see all the time on TV but it’s something that we can all do. With your elbows bent during the sprint it’s as simple as straightening your elbows and pushing your bike forward. Nothing too crazy like going off the back of the saddle but a simple push of the bike, while arching your back upwards, will you get to the line a fraction of a second quicker.
Some think sprinting is not for them. Either it’s because they don’t like the craziness in the front of the group or they don’t think they have the speed. As I said earlier no one deserves a spot in the front of the group more than you do. By being in the front you can bypass much of the aggressive riding that’s in the middle of the pack that is trying to fight their way to the front. By being in the front it’s safer and you will find room to actually sprint instead of getting stuck behind a lot of slow moving traffic. Sprint during training, sprint faster during races and you will soon find the podium.
Spring Classics
by: Frankie Andreu--April 2010
It doesn’t really matter where you live, spring has arrived. This means the start to the heart of the bike racing season. For some riders it’s just the start of their season and for others the spring races can be one of their main goals. In a few weeks the cobbled classic Paris Roubaix will take place. It is one of the most historic bike races that few other races in the world can match. It is a television spectacle and an Oscar night for the riders. They all hope for a performance that will not only win the hearts of fans but earn them that rare prize of the Paris-Roubaix cobble trophy that goes to the winner.
These European pros have been racing since February. We all don’t get that luxury of months in the saddle before spring. For many of us the term “spring” just means getting on the bike without multiple layers of clothing. The idea of freeing ourselves from leg warmers for the first time may give a feeling of a certain fitness level, but it doesn’t. If you participate in any number of Roubaix rides throughout the U.S. then you can get a small…very small…idea of the torture that is involved with Paris-Roubaix. The difference is the riders in Europe are ready for the hard race efforts and difficult conditions that exist in attacking the cobbles. Being able to produce repeated efforts of over 500w for over 250km takes a great deal of condition. In the U.S. the distances might be shorter but the sustained effort needed to win can be similar. Depending on where you live there can be a remarkable difference in fitness levels that can make a huge difference in the early part of the season.
It’s important to build your fitness to a certain level first and not get caught up in doing all the races all the time. By doing multiple races it’s possible to put more stress on your body than what it’s ready for. In the early season the body needs more time to recover between hard efforts than during the middle of the season. It becomes necessary to pay attention to the signals that your body is sending you now instead of relying on what you “normally” do. If you race locally the disparity between riders might not be much, but if you travel to races then it’s easy to find riders that have had the benefit of months of base training in the sun.
The season is plenty long and it’s important to stick with a training plan that helps build fitness. Racing or riding fitness is not only gained by being on the bike but also by what is done when off the bike. Massage, recovery drinks, and rest are areas that are most often overlooked but provide the most benefit between hard rides. If you start to feel that you can’t push yourself to suffer, or hold a long effort, then this can be a sign of needing rest instead of more training. As the weather continues to improve the opportunity to prove yourself will present itself. Don’t let the events dictate when you are ready to race, let your body send you the signs first.
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Winter Road Rides
by: Frankie Andreu
I’ve discovered in the last few weeks it takes a lot of work to make mountain bike trails. It also takes a good amount of time to maintain them, and if you ride the trails you should help keep the trails. On the days I helped work trail maintenance it was above freezing and on other days it was well below freezing. I found it’s much easier to stay warm working on the trails than when riding them. A good set of clothes in either situation is important to block out the bitter cold wind. My biggest problem in dealing with the cold when cycling is the feet. They are always exposed to the cold, turning in the wind, and there is nothing more uncomfortable than when the toes start to get numb.
There are ways to help prevent this problem. It can start with purchasing toe warmer patches that stick to the bottom of the foot. These are thin disposable air activated packs that are easily applied to the bottom of your cycling socks. They will generate a steady small dose of heat for a period of 4-6 hrs. At a cost of about two dollars a pack this can start to tap into your party funds quickly if you ride regularly. A different option is the battery operated foot warmers for shoes. They are full insoles that are rechargeable with either Li-ion or NiMH batteries that will supply heat for up to 15-17 hours. The insoles are put into the shoes and then the wire is led out of the back of the heel cup where the battery is strapped above the ankle. There are a good assortment of different models to choose from, $160- $299, but these heaters can cost more than just purchasing a good winter road cycling shoe.
If you look for winter cycling shoes, the first choices seem to be mountain bike shoes. There are a bunch of winter mountain bike shoes available and all of them have different levels of warmth, comfort, and water resistant features. These are usually SPD compatible, but they don’t all have the 3-hole LOOK pattern for road cleats. For the road scene the selections dwindle, compared to mountain bike shoes, but there are a few that stand out from the rest. Specialized has the Defroster Road Cycling shoe. This $175 winter road shoe has a lightweight nylon sole with a carbon stiffening plate and a 2 strap enclosure. The foot bed is lined with a thermal fleece for added warmth with an added lightweight insulating layer in the upper. The top part of the shoe has a snug fitting collar that easily comes to about 4 inches above the ankle to lock out the elements. This added material at the top is not restrictive at all when riding and the extra protection blocks out the wind easily. The shoe itself is snug, so that it feels like you wouldn’t even need the two Velcro straps to lock your foot into place. That being said the shoe size did not vary much from my normal size of road cycling shoes. The water-resistant and seam sealed upper did a great job in preventing any snow or light rain from penetrating to the foot bed. They maintained warmth very well and the sturdy leather upper did not stretch and was easy to clean off after a dirty ride.
If you have the need for an entirely waterproof cycling shoe then there is the Lake CX140 ($200) or Sidi Hydro GTX ($325). Two waterproof shoes with a bit steeper price tag. The Lake CX140 is a waterproof breathable shoe with a neoprene bootie ankle collar. It has a side mounted push pull locking system for the foot that can be easier to adjust if booties are worn over the shoes. Lake’s more expensive model is their CXZ302 ($270) with water resistant Pittards leather upper. This upper is almost like sealskin and the full leather wrap with two-piece flap enclosure locks out everything coming at it from the road. This model has a temperature regulating liner, insulating insole, and 3M Thinsulate toe box to help prevent frigid foot. That’s my made up word to guess the opposite of hot foot in the summer. The ankle collar arrives a little higher than on the CX140 and it has an easy pull strap at the back of the collar to help slide the foot securely in the shoe.
The Sidi Hydro GTX’s are a pretty penny but you receive a waterproof Gore-Tex upper with that price tag. It also comes with 3 straps and a fourth strap to secure the ankle height collar. With the Sidi’s, the ankle collar is part of the shoe instead of an extension of the shoe. The leather and neoprene are mixed to provide support and to seal out the elements. The Hydro uses the Millennium 2 sole for extra stiffness and has a slightly roomier fit to allow winter cycling socks to be used without feeling constricted. The Hydro GTX keeps the traditional Sidi feeling in this winter shoe with the extra protection needed to survive any brutal winter riding day.
The options are out there to keep riding through the winter. A winter pair of cycling shoes is an extra investment but they will last longer than your summer cycling shoes. The winter season can be nasty but after a few months of the cold season the shoes can be put to rest until the next time they are needed. If you ride in cold or wet weather, traditional cycling shoes will have a very hard time keeping you on the road. The battery operated foot warmers could do the trick but they will not keep the moisture away. The end result might be a warm wet foot but more than likely it will result in a cold wet foot. If you are set on doing early season base mileage, the winter road shoes listed above can keep your training on schedule by keeping your feet warm and dry.
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