By Steve Rouff and Jim Whittaker, Revision 1.0

 

 

Team X Strategy

 

It’s important to understand that cycling is truly a team sport and a good team is greater than the sum of its parts.  Every individual member of the team has specific strengths and in addition to that, riders will most likely peak at different times of the year.  With all of the various types of races, road race or crit, long or short, hilly or flat, there are races throughout the season that may better suit one rider who has developed certain attributes over another rider that has developed different attributes.  Although the particular race may better suit rider “A”, a team with a healthy teamwork ethic will be able to utilize the strengths of rider “B” to the advantage of his teammate rider “A”.

 

Following is a brief explanation of some of the concepts and tactics that help to make a team effective.

 

 

Communication

 

Communication within the team is vital before, during, and after the race.  Communication before the race can happen any time prior to the race, perhaps even weeks in advance.  If someone has raced the course before, they can share their knowledge and experience of how the race was won or lost and possibly even help teammates better prepare.  Just before the race a team strategy can be worked out and riders can communicate how they feel they are riding on this particular day. During the race things are always subject to change.  Depending on how the race is shaping up it will most likely always be necessary for the team to effectively communicate in order to quickly adjust to the race situations as they unfold.  Effective communication on the road is vital, otherwise you are simply reduced to a group of racers that are just wearing the same jersey.  The team should have a captain or two on the road that can assess the situations and be able to determine how best to respond as a team, other team riders should key off of these individuals.  These types of decisions should be based upon the input and suggestions of other the riders on the team as well.  If a rider doesn’t have the legs to chase down and latch onto a break then he had better communicate this so that the immediate strategy can be changed.

After the race a lot of learning can take place.  It’s typical for riders to get together and share “war stories” immediately after the race, in fact this is always fun to do, however in addition to this, the team must get together and discuss as a group how things happened and which tactics worked and which ones didn’t.  Everyone makes mistakes and it is important to understand that the manner in which these mistakes are dealt with can be negative or positive.  Dealing with mistakes in a positive manner means picking them apart and learning from them by having an open discussion where it is understood that opposing viewpoints will be brought up.  It is important to understand that this may not always be pleasant for everyone but things must be said so that it is truly a positive learning tool for the team.  By not giving riders a chance to “air their grievances” leads to hard feelings and talking behind each others backs which will ultimately undermine the positive aspects of being on a team.

 

 

Racing – The “Change” Analogy

 

One way that racing can be viewed is through the following analogy.  Consider that every rider that rolls up to the start line has a “little pocket of change”.  Based on your ability, preparation, and training maybe your “little pocket of change” only holds 85 cents, maybe the strongest guy has $1.15.  It is important that you understand that everything you do in the race is going to either cost you or make you money, however also understand that it’s much harder to save it then it is to spend it.  It is imperative that you learn to spend your money wisely and learn when you can make back a few cents.  As an example let’s say that a crit has just started and the 85 cent rider has no teammates and is maintaining a position in the top ¼ of the field.  The $1.15 rider also has no teammates but knows he is strong and is trading pulls and making jumps at the front.  The 85 cents rider is spending 2 or 3 cents a minute whereas the $1.15 rider is spending 7 or 8 cents when pulling and 10 or 12 cents when attacking.  After about 10 minutes the 85 cent rider now has 65 cents and the $1.15 rider now has 35 or 40 cents.  Now a prime is called and a BIG acceleration occurs as riders ante up 20 or 25 cents in a dash for the line.  After the prime a split has occurred and it’s got the potential to be a strong break, which rider do you think has a better chance of getting into the break and sticking with it? Now, consider being a racer on a well organized team.  It’s like having several like minded investors pooling their money together to…….. 

 

 

Teams – The “Matchbook” Analogy

 

There is a hobo freezing at the beginning of a cold winter night.  He’s walking down a dark alley and finds a book of matches.  He’s so excited to have found the book of matches that he strikes them all at once and he is able to warm his hands for a few seconds before they all burn out.  By morning the hobo is frozen dead in the alley. Another hobo is freezing at the beginning of the same night and is walking down a different alley and also finds a book of matches.  He too is excited to have found the matches but decides to only strike one in order to get a better idea of what is around him so that he can see if there is enough garbage and trash to build a fire.  He only lights one match at a time and with the light of each match he is able to gather more materials until he feels confident that he can get a good fire going.  He takes out another match and lights the fire.  He is able to stay warm with this fire but knows that if this does not get him through the night he still has more matches and he can repeat this over and over again.

How would you apply these two hobos to a bicycle race?

 

 

Specific Tactics

 

As an individual racer you need to hone your individual skills as well. Start getting into the habit of paying attention to the little things.  Things such as gear changes, shadows on the road, body language, are people still chatting and talking, are things getting serious? 

 

Visualization is a powerful tool.  You must practice things correctly first and then once you’ve got them down you can further practice them in your head through visualization.  Also, if you’ve done a race before you can replay the course and the outcome over in your head and visualize different outcomes.

 

 

  1. See the race – don’t look at the wheel in front of you or your heart rate monitor. Look around use your peripheral vision. Listen for gear changes.

 

  1. Use your review mirror – look behind to see who is chasing. Has your teammate been 200 meters off your wheel for 5k? Sometimes slowing up for more riders behind you is the fastest way home. Especially if they are teammates and gaining on your group.

 

  1. Save the big guns for last – don’t put your best rider for that course out in the wind early, protect the big guns!

 

  1. Know your abilities and your teammates – and communicate how you feel. Rider’s ability can change drastically day to day and even in the same race. Just don’t feel good or bad, tell your teammates how you feel.

 

  1. When it’s ok to chase your own teammate down? When your rider up the road told you he’s having a bad day but got in a break with a couple of 1’s and 2’s. Don’t let him get too far up the road only to get dropped. Keep the break away in site. Because out of sight is out of mind.

 

  1. Power of #’s – a team has strength in numbers only if you use them. Never work until exhausted, always spread the load around your entire team. Your team has 8 riders out of 25 in the race. You have one guy in a 5 man break, that’s a bad move unless that one guy is a dead ringer. Have him sit in… Getting 3rd out of the 5 man break isn’t good with so many riders. Unless that is realistically the highest probable finish.

 

  1. “Sitting in” is a legitimate race strategy – when your team has the numbers and strength you dictate what goes on. Don’t work too hard in the break or you might get dropped and your entire team will have to chase. Always save enough gas in the tank to hang on and go for the win. If you have 6 riders back in the pack you aren’t as concerned about the break staying away as the next team. Why? Because you have more options in the pack.

 

  1. Share the work & share the winnings – person that was awarded the money (not won the money, the entire team won the money) gets 50% of their money then the other 50% gets put in a pot and divided between all of the teammates in race.

 

  1. Have a team action plan & have a post race discussion – this is a great tool to understand how things worked. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

 

  1.  Alter the race to fit the team strength’s – might need to burn a few matches to see what’s out there in order to build your warm fire. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive, but don’t get yourself dropped. Spread the attacks around.

 

  1.  Know when, to say when – may have to realize that first and second have gone up the road and you need to now concentrate on third place. Don’t pull all day to exhaust the team when the break just isn’t coming back.

 

  1.  If you are out of form or having a bad day don’t launch a suicide attack. No one will respond if they know you are not feeling well and getting dropped does no one any good. Do your best to conserve and stay in the pack. Maybe you will feel better later or you could at least assist a teammate towards the end of the race.

 

 

 

Personal Tactics

 

1.      Hide like a ghost – if you aren’t attacking or riding tempo you should be invisible, rest and save your energy (money).

 

2.      Attack like a monster – when it’s time to attack put everything you have into it. An attack has to create separation between you and the chasing group. But the more explosive your attack the more “psychological” separation may come into play. By breaking your back the first minute you may break the will of those chasing. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

 

3.      Attack when it’s hardest – over the top of a climb or at the end of a climb or after a long headwind section. Don’t attack when it’s easy or everyone will respond… Attack after your teammate just did, catch the pack recovering and catching their collective breath.

 

4.      Attack when it’s least expected – this does not mean in the feed zone! But attack when know one is expecting it. Before the sandy corner!

 

 

In summary, team work and strategy is difficult in the sport of cycling. You usually get only one or two chances to do it and team practice is not as common as other sports. The top three things to focus on.

 

1. Hold a pre-race meeting and assign roles.

2. Communicate at all times.

3. Hold a post-race meeting to assess what happen.

 

Be patient and understanding when YOU make mistakes and when your teammates do. We all want to win and do well but it’s going to take time and commitment to come together.

 

 

Pace line Do’s and Don’ts

 

1.      Don’t gutter draft your own team mate and expect him to pull through! Gutter draft = when you ride on the white or yellow line and deny a teammate a draft in a cross wind. Gutter drafting is impossible with no wind because then the draft is directly behind a rider and not to the side.

 

2.      Don’t half wheel your teammates. Half wheel = constantly trying to increase the speed when you are at the front by constantly inching your wheel in front of your partners.

 

3.      Don’t increase the speed of the pace line because you rested and feel great. Simply pull LONGER, NOT harder.

 

4.      Don’t put the weakest guy behind the strongest guy in the pace line “rotation”. He will have a hard time pulling if the strong guy elevates the pace. Don’t put him in front of the stronger rider either, he will have a hard time getting back on after the strongman pulls. An ideal rotation may be Medium, Strong, Medium, Weakest.

 

5.      Make effective use of the draft. Put the smaller guys behind the larger guys in the rotation.

 

6.      SMOOTH over SPEED any day. The most effective pace lines have relatively few variations in speed. Our physiology works optimally with a steady rhythm of work.

 

Example;

 

Team A

Rider #1 Pulls at 25

Rider #2 Pulls at 26

Rider #3 Pulls at 26.5

Rider #4 Pulls at 24.5

Average speed 25.5

 

Team B

Rider #1 Pulls at 25

Rider #2 Pulls at 24.5

Rider #3 Pulls at 26

Rider #4 Pulls at 25.5

Average speed 25.5

 

Both teams are averaging the same speed over the first 20k of a 40k race. However the larger variance in speed of Team A means Rider #4’s speed drops to 23.5 the last 10k. Team A loses.

 

If you notice you are stronger than your teammates then simply pull longer. Be aware that your strong pulls could gap weaker teammates at the back, and especially the one that just got done pulling!

 

 

7.      The patient dog gets the mouse, the greedy cat doesn’t! The all time classic scenario. A group of dropped riders patiently work to chase the pack down. One hot shot in the bunch thinks he can bridge the 500 meter gap to the pack. He trys, he explodes, the groups rhythm is shattered. Everyone instantly looses 10 seconds. Stay together until your chase group makes contact. And besides, if that greedy cat was strong enough to close the 500 meter gap he probably wouldn’t’ be in the chase group in the first place.