A Little Bike Racing Wisdom

Section head text.

By Beth Jordan, friend of NYVC and Boulder coach and racer

From the mouth of a babe, no less!

Quote from Tom Boonen in a post-World’s interview:

“The last two laps I didn’t see Petacchi because I didn’t focus on him,” Boonen said. “I’ve seen and realized in the past, if you’re focusing your sprint on another rider, most of the time you lose. It’s always better to do your own race, keep cool, keep focused. In the final lap, it’s not necessary to look to other riders, but make your own sprint.”

Ye gods and little fishes, only twenty-four years old and he’s already got the goods upstairs to school the best of the best.

@##=#<1,L>@##=#Rodriguez and McEwen (at a glance) both came up dry from watching Petacchi rather than paying attention to The Race At Hand. Vino came up short 1) because the late-race attack scenario has become predictable from him (not to mention he’s likely the Most Marked Man In The Peloton) and 2) because the Belgian Brute Squad wasn’t having any of it, not on that day. Valverde made a fabulous attempt, but got nervous and jumped too soon…. and so it goes.

Arguably, any of these individuals are equally fit, strong and proven capable of winning from a bunch on any given day. Having it in the legs, and having it between the ears, however, can mean a world of difference on the results tally.

You can race negatively all the time (e.g. Rodriguez), and win occasionally when you get lucky. The missing link of wisdom here is creativity; Freddy seemingly lacks a bit of drive and inventiveness, and he’s never had good team support.

You can race positively all the time (e.g. Vino), take crazy risks, perhaps alienating allies in the process, become a marked man, and win where the course favours you — assuming 60% of the peloton isn’t riding against you out of plain cussedness. The missing link of wisdom here is restraint; the guy is a loose cannon, and a proven liability in teamwork scenarios.

You can build an overwhelmingly strong supporting team, and win when everything goes smoothly, your train stays on-track, and you don’t have a bad hair day (e.g. Petacchi). The missing link of wisdom here is confidence; Petacchi is, by his own admission, fragile in the self-esteem department. Thus he remains codependent upon his team.

Or, you can do all of the above, plus whatever else it takes to Get The Job Done. Note that this approach does require courage, skill, intelligence, innovation, teamwork, and the inner calm to read a race and decisively apply appropriate and well-timed tactics to the situation as it evolves…

… and win when it really matters.

All of which nicely illustrates the adage: ‘You manufacture your own luck’.

Ride smart, gentlemen.


Beth’s stomping grounds are a tad more scenic than ours.

10 Comments

lee3

Herculian …in dire need of a tube sock intervention.*

*05′ TdF stage win. Check out the cotton factory coming out of his cleats! Ya gotta luv’em!

New 2006 CRCA Subteam member

Sounds like another precocious star, this one of the slopes – Daron Rahlves – The greats push themselves to their max and don’t worry about their competitors, just focused on producing their absolute best. There’s a lesson in here somewhere…

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Niko

Vino may be a loose cannon and may be “a liability” in teamwork situations but he sure livens up a bike race.

Hopefully, he won’t read this and decide to change his style.

mr big

a true liability in race analysis scenarios.

vino came closer to winning in madrid than boonen ever will to winning LBL. the crazy kazakh.

lee3

check out some of the footage of our boy T Boonan @ this years TDF. If you look down at his ankles you’ll see some wierdness coming out of his cleat and going part way up his shin. Tube socks? probably not but I got a cheap laugh out of it.

D.Sean Speedy

It takes courage to attack, Vino is still the most complete and completely UNPREDICTABLE rider! Who in their right mind could have predicted his win on Les Champs…?

Boonen has a cool head and played his team-mates perfectly (trade teams ones as well if you like reading between the cogs)…He is Flandrian thru and thru…

and another thing…

ciao!

D

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