bike racing: the penultimate guide

Well it could be about the bike, if it matters that much to you. Let's face it, it's hard work racing - sometimes it can be just as important (or easier) to you to just cruise, get fit(ter) and not worry about racing. Maybe just dabble but don't commit.

I have some problems with this myself, which I'll share now. Dabbling is great. I dabble in Art. But I'm always wondering 'whatif'. What if I had committed to art? Or music? Or writing? Or cycling, for that matter? Life is about decisions and compromises and living with the results. By total immersion you may well achieve your potential, but it's unlikely that you will achieve anywhere near your potential by dabbling. Of course you can always rationalise these decisions and worry about it all later, but I wanted to make the point - dabbling is not going to help you to achieve at the highest level.

It's a sliding scale, though. Maybe your life allows you to dabble 20% of the time in cycling, and maybe that's enough time to reach 80% of your fitness potential? Just be aware that this trade off is your choice, so don't come to me in 20 years time saying that you could've been a pro if only you'd committed yourself... phew, glad that's out of the way. I never really wanted to be a pro, I just wanted to win club races!

So - given that we are dabbling here, not immersing - we are going to maximise our efforts and results and minimise our time. That's the thrust of my argument. Let's get the best result for our buck. Which brings me to bikes. You don't need the flashest gear to win a race. (It may be motivating to have flash gear, but it won't be a bigger lever than your fitness and skill level.)

My winningest bike was an $800 Shogun in 1984. I had a great run on that bike. The headset kept unwinding, the wheel bearings were rubbish and the crank bolt kept loosening off at the worst times. But some locktite and a bit of nous fixed the reliability and a set of lighter wheels had that bike flying. What was good about it? It was pretty cheap and drew no attention. It worked - the gears changed, the wheels turned, it steered. It was light enough, certainly for criteriums if not the steepest mountain passes. It proved to me that the bike was not the problem, nor was it the solution. My fitness and attitude were both the problem and the solution. I could improve my fitness by riding everywhere as often as possible and my attitude was 'let's give it a go and give it 100%'.

Let's stop here for now. More later.