Apres Velo Blog

Become the best of the bunch
Riding in a bunch allows you to reach far greater speeds than would be achieved at the same effort level individually. Make sure you’re getting the benefits by using the other riders to your full advantage. Be alert - the temptation can be to slip into a comfort zone when you’re cruising along even for experienced riders but it’s crucial to have constant awareness of what’s around you. Remember you are putting a lot of trust in other riders when you sit in a bunch, so it’s of high importance to know what’s going on up the road. Don’t allow yourself to be caught out by a sudden change in pace or other riders moving around an obstacle or tight section of the route. If it’s your regular ride use your memory - remember the road conditions.

Pick a good wheel
Have a look around for a rider who always seems to be in the right place at the right time & stick to them. The smoother the wheel you pick the more easily you will stay in the bunch comfortably.

Have an escape route
You want to remain as tight as possible on the wheel in front but avoid getting into a position where you are under-lapping the person in front. If they make an erratic move or swing off you need to know that you have somewhere to go otherwise you run the risk of having your front wheel taken out. Really – you’re responsible for your front wheel so make sure you have an escape route.

See bunch formation below
Riders should pair off in 2 by 2 formation. You should not sit directly on the wheel of the rider in front. Try to maintain about a 30cm – 60cm distance off the rear of and slightly off to the side of the rider in front.
The reason you offset slightly is to get better vision down the line, giving you more time to react to any problems.
So make sure you look up the road & not just at the wheel in front !

Brake lever play important

 

When a road bike's brakes are ideally adjusted, you'll be able to pull the brake levers almost halfway to the handlebar before the pads touch the rims. This play in the lever travel is useful for three reasons:
 
First, it helps you find just the right braking power. If the pads touch the rims as soon as the levers are pulled, it's hard to feather them for smoothly graduated braking. Of course, for obvious reasons you don't want the levers to reach the bar before you attain full braking power.
 
Second, it helps you get your fingers around the brake levers special for riders with shorter fingers. You'll have more hand strength for firmer stops when your fingers aren't still extended as the pads touch the rims.

 

Third ,it adds a little more clearance between the pad & the rim so when you’re out of the saddle & the rim flexes a little it won’t touch the brake pad & slow you down.
 
Adjust your brakes this way and you'll feel the improvement. Then you can do something else to enhance braking control when you're in the drops: Use just your index fingers to pull the levers.
 
Modern road bike brakes are so good that you shouldn't need to grab the levers with a full fist. In fact, doing so robs your fine touch and can cause more braking action than expected. The wheels could skid and cause you to fishtail or even fall.
 
One-finger braking from the drops is adequate in almost every situation, even emergency stops. If two fingers work better because of your hand size and lever shape, fine. Most riders will never need more.
 
Braking with hands on the hoods

 

When you're riding with hands on the lever hoods, two fingers from over the top should give you plenty of braking power. Again, adjust the cables so that the levers come back about 30-40% of the distance before pad/rim contact. This improves your leverage

 

Now that we are in the summer months a number of you will be racing criteriums - one thing to watch for is group accelerations & the group decreasing in speed.

WATCHING FOR GROUP ACCELERATIONS

One thing to watch out for when racing a criterium : while in the bunch keep your eyes up the front of the bunch because if a rider attacks at the front the pace will increase. Gradually each rider will start to react by following the wheel in front & if you’re towards the back or around the middle you will use less energy because you will have other riders in front of you lifting their speed & you will get an easier ride by tagging the riders in front. Also by keeping your eyes ahead you will notice if any rider gets away from the group.

WATCHING FOR GROUP DECREASING SPEED

Watch for the group decreasing speed so that you don’t have to use your brakes. If you’re towards the rear of the bunch, keep your eyes towards the front of the group & you’ll see the group start to fan out as the speed drops & each rider starts slow. Rather then touching the brakes you will see riders start to drift out so that as not to touch the brakes. Also by looking ahead you can easily back off your pedaling & over the whole race this will conserve your energy.