Bike Racing etiquette

[peterlip]

For all you seasoned riders out there, a question (or two) about bike racing.
Background:
I've been racing since mid Jan, and have seen the same story played out almost every week.
Start race with 10-20 riders.
Through the course of the race, between 3 and 5 of us, will share the work at the front. Everyone else will just sit and wait.
In the last 500m (or less), around come the guys who have sat on the back for the entire race, and the race is usually won by someone who's done no work at all.
Now, I realise that sitting on the back uses 20% less than the poor work horse out front, and it would be good tactics to not work and save yourself for the finish, but isn't there some etiquette that everyone should (if they can) share the work load? Or is this a fantasy?
BTW, I'm one of the losers that will sit out front from time to time. I usually mistime it beautifully to find myself out front as we get a bell lap, which means NO ONE COMES AROUND, until the last 300m (of course).
When I first started, in F grade (they go down to G), I was fit enough to do my fair share of work, and still have enough at the end to win the sprint. Having been put up to E, its just that little bit faster that too much work at the front takes the sting out of my sprint.

Finally, question time:
I suppose the question I have is should I ever have the desire to actually win, should I:
1. Sit up the back for most of the race, or at least the 2nd half until the last 300m. I have no doubt that this will work (because I have calf muscles that scare small children), however, it doesn't feel right.
2. Attempt a breakaway. Since being in E grade, there has been, let me think, zero breakaway attempts in the last 6 weeks. So, the problem I see is if I try, I really would need someone (or two) to go with me and because of the lack of previous breakaways, will anyone else know what to do?
What's the racing etiquette here? Can I check out the form of the riders, and whisper to the guy or girl who seems pretty strong, we should make a break. Or do I just breakaway unannounced, and sit off the front and hope someone will try and come accross before I run out of steam?
I probably should talk to people in the higher grades, as they seem to have breakaways every week.

Thoughts, comments?

 

[caferacerwanabe]

a tough nut too crack on a flat circuit.

If its windy make sure you ride in single file in the gutter furthest away from the winds direction so you give little protection from the wind.

Talk to the other riders who are working and make sure when one of you attacks off the front they are not the ones that chase you down & play into the hands of the non-workers, this puts the pressure on the other riders to chase , then when /if they catch the rider its time for another rider to attack.

Lastly if you are stong but not quick try the Jelle Nijdam or Ekimov move & start your move 1.5km from the finish , the sprinters would have already moved near the front but an effort to catch you that near the finish will ruin their final sprint. just make sure you jump enough to get clear of the bunch & not just give the sprinters a perfect leadout .

 

[caferacerwanabe]

Lastly if you are stong but not quick try the Jelle Nijdam or Ekimov move & start your move 1.5km from the finish , the sprinters would have already moved near the front but an effort to catch you that near the finish will ruin their final sprint. just make sure you jump enough to get clear of the bunch & not just give the sprinters a perfect leadout .[/QUOTE]

Note the last move here would be seen much more in the Tour de France if it weren't for sprinters with strong teams which keep the pace very high in the last few km's to stop such last minute attacks....in a club situation usually featuring individuals everybody is for themselves & won't sacrifice their legs for another rider.

 

[peterlip]

Lastly if you are stong but not quick try the Jelle Nijdam or Ekimov move & start your move 1.5km from the finish , the sprinters would have already moved near the front but an effort to catch you that near the finish will ruin their final sprint. just make sure you jump enough to get clear of the bunch & not just give the sprinters a perfect leadout .

Funny you should mention this. After a week of getting over a cold, I struggled a bit in today's race. After about 15 minutes, I could tell that my fitness was down, and I'd have no chance in the sprint, or attempting a breakaway. The race panned out as normal, so with 2km to go, I thought I'd throw a cat amongst the pigeons. I went for it. Apparently I had a good 50m break, but still suffering from my cold, my initial speed of 53km/h was quickly back to 35, and they caught me with about 500m to go. If I was healthier, I could've attacked again.
It was fun though.

 

[Albert 50]

For all you seasoned riders out there, a question (or two) about bike racing.What's the racing etiquette here? Can I check out the form of the riders, and whisper to the guy or girl who seems pretty strong, we should make a break. .
Thoughts, comments?

I'm in a similar position to you pete. It appears as though all the seasoned riders aren't about to give us any of their secrets
I'm sure I read somewhere in my clubs rules that any collusion between riders was forbidden, so if that is the case, any whispering wouldn't be allowed

 

[peterlip]

I'm in a similar position to you pete. It appears as though all the seasoned riders aren't about to give us any of their secrets
I'm sure I read somewhere in my clubs rules that any collusion between riders was forbidden, so if that is the case, any whispering wouldn't be allowed

Hmmmm, club rules. Forgot about those. I've got a copy lying around somewhere, better have a read.
I think I may try the old "break away and see what happens" trick. I read somewhere that 80% of break aways will fail (however, 93% of statistics quoted on the net are made up, so who knows), so if I attempt one a week, that means it will only take 5 weeks on average to succeed. Plus if they don't succeed, I've still got the sprint to try. Bring on the weekend, I've got things to try.

 

[Eden]

hmmm from what you describe you seem to be racing against other people that are all in your same club? I think that the problem you are getting with that system is that cycling really is a team sport. When you have all individuals then no one really wants to sacrifice themself, so they sit in. Unless you are very much stronger than the rest of the people and can break away and stay away then you don't have any chance of doing anything until the sprint, if you want to sprint you don't want to work on the front.
When you are working with a team you can attack/counter attack. You send someone out on attack - none of your team chases. Its completely up to the other teams to chase and if they don't its their loss. If they do chase you make sure at least one of your team members follows (not working at the front mind you) and as soon as the original break is caught that team member attacks. The idea is that eventually the people who have to keep chasing down these attacks get tired and one of the attacks will succeed as a break. Of course this is only one tactic you can employ as a team.
Maybe you need to get arm bands or something and break the club down into 5 person teams for the races just to make them a little more interesting.

 

[existence]

Just ride them off your wheel from the front. Then move up a grade I havent tested this theory yet lol. Cancarella does it to the peleton all the time....he has some big calves too lol

 

[existence]

Hmmmm, club rules. Forgot about those. I've got a copy lying around somewhere, better have a read.
I think I may try the old "break away and see what happens" trick. I read somewhere that 80% of break aways will fail (however, 93% of statistics quoted on the net are made up, so who knows), so if I attempt one a week, that means it will only take 5 weeks on average to succeed. Plus if they don't succeed, I've still got the sprint to try. Bring on the weekend, I've got things to try.

Why not get to the front then get out of the saddle and slowly turn the screws 38,40,42,44,46....I assume they will come with initially but at some point they will/may hesitate and second wheel might fall back and you could then dish out a short sharp burst to give you some further space. I dont know. Havent tried that one either.

 

[peterlip]

Why not get to the front then get out of the saddle and slowly turn the screws 38,40,42,44,46....I assume they will come with initially but at some point they will/may hesitate and second wheel might fall back and you could then dish out a short sharp burst to give you some further space. I dont know. Havent tried that one either.

Hmmm. You may be confusing me with someone who has an ounce of stamina. A slow turning of the screws won't work when the screw snaps at 42. Spinning the screw to 50 for a good 4 seconds, and winding it back to 36 is do-able

And yes Eden, this is a club of individual riders, so no teams.
With 120 riders accross 7 grades, it could be difficult to organise teams, but you're right, it would be fun.
We occassionally (twice a year??), ride against another club, so there is the occassional opportunity to work as teams.

 

[Andrew76]

You raise some interesting points about the racing scene!

I am a mere coffee shop rider and long time armchair viewer of the TdF, so I am going to offer my "outsiders" view.

If you equate your race with the flat stages of the TdF, 8/10 times there is a bunch sprint. And in this type of race, you can be assured the top 10 sprinters were nowhere near the front of the bunch for the 200+km prior to the sprint. It is the team-mates of sprinters doing the work - either keeping the pace high or chasing breakaways. In effect, you and your 5 mates are acting as the team-mates for the seagulls down the back! You are keeping a reasonable pace and doing all the work, just what they want you to do! In the TdF, this pattern is broken broadly in two ways - the Ekimov manouever as previously mentioned (I prefer to call it the Neil Stephens manouever, nothing against Eki!), or a long solo breakaway that needs, you guessed it, stamina! If you try a breakaway, and you are chased by your 5 mates, then they are acting as team-mates of the sprinters, in effect you versus the peloton, and guess who wins!

Club rules aside, you can only hope your 5 mates peddling hard each week see what you are trying to do and respect you for it rather than give the back markers another chance at glory. You will soon learn whether any of these backmarkers can ride!

Give the breakaway a go, and go early. Hit your 50kmh for 4 secs, but try and sustain above 40kmh for a minute or two and get 100-200m ahead. Then just sit on a speed 1-2kmh higher than you normally would and slowly build the lead. Because this is not the TdF, the guys behind dont have team-mates to ride for, directors yelling instructions, or motorbikes giving time gap updates, so with luck you might have more chance of staying away. Remember, you missing from the 3-5 workers puts a dent in their ability to chase.

At least trying a few breakaways should stir some action, and after a few weeks some of the stronger riders should see their chance to be part of something and have a go with you.

Of course this is all easy in theory, but requires you to be pretty fit! Give it a go, and try and try again, one day it will work...and you will be the happiest rider going because you will have earned that victory. In the meantime, sleep with a clear conscience that you are not one of these seagulls who are so proud crossing the line first, but deep down knowing it was really others doing the real work!

PS - I do sympathise as this morning on my regular commute I had a guy sit on my tail for the last 10km of the ride and offer zero assistance. Needless to say I was filthy!

 

[mikesbytes]

Try different tatics each race. This is a great opportunity for you to learn.

 

[peterlip]

Thanks Andrew, well typed.
In the world of club riding, there are no team mates, well, not where I ride. Plus riding in the veterens means a lot of the opposition will have been riding a certain way for a long time.
My job is to now mix it up, and try different things. I may not succeed, but I suspect it will be fun trying. My biggest disappointment is that my social secretary has me double booked this weekend. So I'll have to wait another week to try a break or two.
It has become a little more interesting too, because we've just started the winter season which is the road season. This means we may actually see a hill or two. Can't wait.

 

[sideshow_bob]

Theres good advice and bad mixed in equal parts in the posts to date imo.

Firstly unless a rider is simply riding in the wrong grade, unless they get help, riding off the front will basically almost never happen (and I'll caveat that in a minute). As others have mentioned 'team mates' are useful. More often than not in club racing, it's mates, not so much as 'team mates' that help and usually rather than a specific plan, like 'I'm going to attack in the 20th minute' you just want a general agreement that if one of you goes, the other (or others) stifle the chase (and you'll reciprocate the assistance at a later date etc). Often, it gives you enough of a gap that the stronger riders in the bunch realize the break looks good and will work to bridge, once that happens and so long as you can get organized then the break is on.

In lower grades, as you've noted the distribution of work is often not equal. Some people tend to do lots and some don't do much. That's definately useful to observe. If one there is one rider in the bunch who's doing a lot of donkey work including covering breaks, then every time he covers a break, make it a point to attack as hard as you can. You've got better odds at generating a small break, then it goes as above.

Depending on the type of racing, understand that the solo break is very very hard to manage against the entire bunch (different attacking a small group of riders in a break near the end). So if you get 50 meters on your own and then can't extend the break any more and no one else is looking like coming over, then use some some common sense and make a decision whether to push on or simply sit up and re-strategize from within the bunch.

All races are different, sometimes you'll need to attack 5+ times for a break to open in the first place or the small gap get swallowed etc. So when you are racing mix it up, but just know you are going to fail more than you succeed. Don't be disheartened when you try something and it doesn't work, just learn from it, and try something else.

Above all enjoy your racing!

--brett

 

[peterlip]

Thanks Brett, and thanks all for your comments and advice.
So, in short, there are no rule/laws/etiquette about sharing the work load. Every person for themselves.
It may (or may not) be illegal to collude with the opposition, so it's probably better not to.
The plan: attempt a break or two. Hopefully someone may try and get across without dragging the pack. Or it may inspire someone else to make a break that I can jump across to.
If this doesn't work, give the final sprint a red hot go (ie, don't work in the last 5+km so I'm relatively rested).
And finally, don't have a rigid plan and play it by ear.
And finally II, have fun.
I'll keep you(s) posted Sunday week when I next race.

 

[artemidorus]

PS - I do sympathise as this morning on my regular commute I had a guy sit on my tail for the last 10km of the ride and offer zero assistance. Needless to say I was filthy!

Consider it a compliment - you were helping the guy achieve a kind of parasitic or vicarious glimpse of fast cycling, the kind of which he wouldn't otherwise be capable.