Rob's Unsettling Guide to Road, Criterium and Track Racing...Or From E
Grade to B Grade in however long it takes. Maybe even A grade...

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An Unsettling and Disturbing Guide to Road, Criterium and Track Racing in Australia

Bike racing is like running, swimming, golf or any other sport. In fact it's just like anything in life. Put the time and effort in and you'll get better at it. It's a simple equation, really, limited more by your own motivation or commitment than by any theoretical potential you may or may not possess. If you are looking for easy fitness and a sport that won't take up much of your time, stop now - it doesn't exist. Multiple Australian and World Point Score medalist Gary Sutton was once reported to have replied to the question, 'What's the secret to success in bike racing?', with the statement: "Ride lots". Eddy Merckx is reported to have said the same, and it's self-evident really. Let's face it, if you want to be good at something you practise it, over and over... and over again.

OK, so it's simplistic, but not a bad thought. Ride lots. Broadly it's also called training specificity - focus on what you do in your sport and repeat it until your body adapts. That's easy enough: just make the time, ease into it, avoid injury, eat well, sleep lots, learn as you go and enjoy the ride. Then you get on a bike and ride a massive 10km in one day and ache all over the next (don't worry, we all started the same way). Your legs go to jelly and walking afterwards is agony. Your buttocks hurt from that skinny saddle. Your wrists and fingers hurt from braking. You had a near miss with a car. You wobbled a lot. And you didn't even get to go fast. Maybe it's harder than it looks. But don't put the bike away just yet, thinking that you won't do well at this, or that you don't have the time to simply "ride lots", or that it's simply too scary. This is a multi-level, multi-discipline sport with a niche for everyone. As the cliche goes, you won't know if you don't try.

So maybe some sports are easier on the body, are less risky, or consume less time. Maybe. But we've settled here on something that does involve injuries (guaranteed - if you ride heaps you will fall off one day), risk (a given, no matter what you do on a bike) and a commitment of some sort. Hey, you can choose not to train and be happy racing in a lower grade, or not at all, but don't come to me after you've died from a mid-race heart attack and then ask my advice. You get out what you put in.

Bike racing at any level is hard. It's a demanding sport that will suck hours out of your day - probably more than almost all other sports - and draw the sweat from your skin, whilst demanding top aerobic fitness, great lower body strength, quick wits and excellent hand-eye coordination. You need tactical nous, swift reflexes and a will to win. It ain't easy. And that's just C-grade.

On the starting line. This is not intended to be a coaching manual for cyclists. There are plenty of those around, if you look. However it may be thought of as a guide, a prompt, a pointer in the right direction. It may save you some time, it may send you straight to the nearest accredited coach. It may just be an interesting read. You will be the judge of that, and of what you do next…

Let's get tough right from the start. You should set yourself some achievable goals, first-up. To do that you need to know enough about the sport of cycling that you can make a reasonable call on what type and level of racing interests you. Let's face a few facts: the higher the grade or level of racing, the more commitment you need to give, both in time and money. It's not a secret that bikes and bike gear cost money. The training is time-consuming, punctures happen all the time and falls hurt. More likely than not you will be 'dropped' in your first race, and many times thereafter; in fact you won't even get close to winning a race for months, if at all, and as soon as you do start winning you'll get put up to the next grade. So you can then get dropped all over again.

3-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond once said that bike racing 'never gets any easier, it hurts just as much at pro level as at any other level - you just go faster'.

Of course you can be philosophical about all of this pain and heartache and just focus on the positives: you'll get fitter, build self-esteem and meet like-minded souls. Furthermore, bike racing justifies the purchase of a really good, lightweight road bike replete with all the bells and whistles, plus maybe a track bike, lots of spare wheels and endless copies of great cycling magazines. And it's better for you than watching television. So why not, as they say, just do it. In fact, why read about it. Get out there now and start riding!

Anyone still with me? Thought so. Part of the fun of any sport is having a good read, or even an average one - and bike racing is no exception. In fact there are countless books on the great riders, the great races, coaching manuals, magazines, touring guides, novels... you name it. Well over a hundred years of 2 wheeled history is out there, waiting to be explored. There are videos and Internet Websites galore as well. And if you get two or more cyclists together at any one time then conversation - on cycling - will spontaneously occur. Guaranteed. So why yet another string of sentences on the subject? Well, I have an angle here that hasn't yet been fully explored. This is a 'Realistic' Guide to Bicycle Racing (with an Aussie focus 'cause I live here!), not a coaching manual or even a beginner's book. It doesn't glorify, nor does it diminish the experience or the effort. It's a collection of experiences, tips, anecdotes and suggestions that you may find helpful and/or interesting as you begin to race your bike. It may provide an insight that gets you up a grade, or it may help you plan and manipulate a race to suit your strengths. Maybe it will ring some bells for you, or maybe not.

Reading this will not provide any sort of guaranteed pathway to competitive success at the next Olympics or at the Tour de France. You may not morph into Lance Armstrong after reading it. It's also not suggesting that you will reach B Grade in your local club competition, or even that you will progress any further than E Grade. I can't guarantee that you will finish even one race. However I am hoping that you will enjoy the read, and I'm attempting to share some hard earned knowledge that worked in a basic sense for me. So let's get started.

On with the show.... you need a bike!

Oops, nearly forgot the bike. But remember, as Lance Armstrong once said, it's not just about the bike! Nevertheless it's self evident that you need a bicycle. The question is, which one? (The red ones are quicker, by the way.)

I'm not going to tell you that you need the lightest bike, or the fanciest. You just need to get a good, strong, reliable steed that delivers what you need. But first, some background...

There are 5 main forms of bike racing in Australia, if not the world, namely BMX, Mountain Bike, Road, Criterium and Track racing. There’s a sixth that I know of: you can also play football (read soccer) on a specially designed fixed wheel bike, but getting a team together may be difficult in this country! You can also do artictic cycling, but let's not go there right here... as you can tell by the title of this essay, we are dealing with road, criterium and track racing here - for beginners.

Road racing usually means, ahem, riding on a road, as against riding on a track. These races are out and back or point to point. So you are either going somewhere or nowhere, or back to where you started. If you string several consecutive races together and add up overall times you get a stage race like Le Tour.

Distances vary according to grade, but road races are usually longer than a criterium, and unlike a crit, sharp corners are the exception rather than the rule. So comfort matters more than outright handling, unless you have some technical high-speed mountain descents to consider. Hills are to be expected, so you need to be trained for some climbing and have the gearing to suit the course. Usually you will have 53 (largest, outer) and 39 (smallest, inner) teeth chainrings, although combos of 50/38 (called 'compact') and even 52/42 can be common as well. At the rear you may have an 11 or 12 tooth sprocket as your "big" gear, and a 'granny gear' (no offence, gran) of 21-23 teeth to get you home after being dropped on a big climb. Plus all the other sizes in between (making up a 9 or 10 speed set of cogs, also called a freewheel or a cassette). Expect to race 30 to 60km for most club-level races, 40 to 100km for most open competitions. However you may race up to 230km in a big classic one-day race like the Grafton to Inverell.

Road handicaps and timetrial events are also held, with specialized timetrial bikes an option but not essential.

Criteriums are multiple-lap events that can be held on roads or closed tracks (not velodromes) and are typically shorter and faster than road races. Accelerations are to be expected, out of corners especially. Hills are unlikely but possible, corners are to be expected and excellent bike handling is needed. The bike will not be as comfortable but will handle sharply, with aplomb; the bottom bracket may be higher than for a true road bike and the cranks shorter, so that pedaling through a corner is possible (with longer cranks you may 'bottom out' as you pedal through). Gearing will be like a standard road bike, except that you won't need that granny gear. 18 or 19 teeth are all you need at the back and you'll be unlikely to use 'em.

Track or Velodrome racing involves a specialized bike: just one fixed gear (ie no freewheeling) and no brakes. Gearing from 47 to 53 teeth on the chainring, 14 to 16 teeth on the rear sprockets. A variety of events take place, from scratch races to handicaps, timetrials to pursuits. The racing is usually in the evening under lights and the tracks are short and banked, with the steepest banking reserved for the shortest tracks. These races are very fast and exceptional bike skills are needed.


Three bikes, then? Although not ideal, you can usually get away with the same bike for both road and criterium racing, but track racing requires a suitable, fixed wheel, 'look mum, no-brakes' bike. If you haven't got a clue, stop now and start looking in bike shops, reading magazines and asking around. Join a club, start learning. Get carried away, within reason...

A Loungechair on wheels... or something sporty?

If you want to push the point, in a nutshell you will be looking for a comfortable, easy-handling bike for road racing and a quicker-handling, higher-clearance machine for criteriums. A blend of the two is a nice compromise, and how you arrive at that compromise will be trial and error - unless you instinctively know that you want an unstable, flighty, jumpy road rocket and will settle for nothing less. (I personally have never had more than 3 road bikes, all different in character, at any one time - and found it more a luxury than a necessity.)

Bikes, character? What? In some respects bikes are simply bikes - 2 wheels, frame, cranks, chain, pedals, saddle et al. However there are the wanky looking carbon single piece frames, the conventional triangled tube effect and many variations in between. But that's not really character, as I see it. It may be style, it may or may not be substance... but it's not character!

Character is the way the bike handles, how it jumps, how it leans into a corner... Some bikes are built short and high in the bottom bracket, with steep frame angles to give you 'jump' out of corners, lifting the front wheel like a 500cc racing motorcycle; which is nice, if a little nervous. You don't want that all of the time. You'll find yourself leaning forward, pushing that front wheel down (and thereby encouraging that back wheel to lift again!). Sounds like a good criterium ('crit') bike to me, but not something for the raw beginner!

Other, less steep frame angles give a more relaxed approach, where things happen slower and you can take your hands off the bars, get that energy bar out of your back pocket, change out of that rainjacket and write a note home to mum without finding yourself falling road-wards. Now that's a road bike - it won’t embarrass you at a feeding station. And you can still use it in more intense crits.

Even when you have the frame angles the way you want them, you can still tweak the bike by changing seat height, stem length and height, crank length, gearing… you name it. It will all have an effect of some sort, it's just a matter of what effect you want. After all, it's weight distribution that really matters... and you are far heavier than the bike itself. So don't get carried away with frame angles and stem lengths, not until you have sorted out your position, anyway.

Get some help, and do be careful, won't you? You won't get your bike set up right without proper assistance, unless you are dogged and scientific about it and are willing to make tiny changes, test, change again.... some experienced guidance will get you closer to the mark, quicker. Even after seeking such help, you may prefer to do your own thing. It's a free country. (Depending upon which country you are in when you read this, of course.)

• Firstly, whatever you do, get plenty of opinions, and be prepared to try different ideas. I know one 70 year old who is still adjusting his position after over 50 years of racing!
  

• Secondly, when making changes, make only small adjustments, and each one in isolation, to give your body some time to adjust to that new position. By making big changes and then doing a long training ride I managed to injure my knees and put myself off the road for a few weeks. It's a painful lesson. Don't be tempted.

Sizing things up, or getting framed. You will get the hang of what you need, bike-wise, by looking around and comparing. Feel some bikes, pick them up, sit on as many as you can, do some test rides, and, if you are lucky, buy one that fits you. (At the very least consider whether you can put your foot on the ground when you stop, or can reach the brake levers without effort!) Then ride it and get that immediate urge to change a few things. For which my advice is, don't be rash. If you haven't had a lot of experience on a lightweight high performance bike before it will feel odd. Flighty. Maybe uncomfortable. Too quick in the steering. Too... uncompromising? Or just strange. You may not think so after a few hundred kilometres in the saddle, however. I won't attempt to give you bike set-up advice beyond my own experience, so here are some measurements that have worked for me.

Warning - pinch of salt required! This is just anecdotal - not prescriptive. I'm about 169cm tall, and for riders around that height I'd suggest frame sizes between 51 and 55cm (measured on the down tube, center-to-centre). Remember, smaller frames are lighter and stiffer, but if too small will compromise balance and comfort. And you will risk damage to components as well as yourself!

Handlebars, for frames between 51 and 55cm should be about 38 or 39cm wide, but shouldn't cramp you or spread your arms too widely. Shoulders vary in width, but generally speaking arms should comfortably fall onto the drops without any serious effort. You shouldn't feel 'splayed' when you tuck down into the drops of the handlebars.

Your own dimensions are vital, but I lean towards stem extensions of about 9 or 10cm. You used to be able to buy goosenecks that allowed variation, and some modern examples exist, but are less common now. Too long a stem will feel odd, if not dangerous, when riding out of the saddle. When climbing out of the saddle you have raised your center-of-gravity, and probably shifted it forward as well. So as the bike leans over during a pedal stroke you will feel it 'flop' from side to side, and even more so with a longer stem... trust me, it takes some getting used to!

Cranks are usually about 170-175mm, however you may prefer the leverage of a longer crank, especially for road racing or timetrialling. Riders taller than myself tend towards longer cranks, and lengths from 172.5 up to 180mm are options; but you will find that you lose the suppleness of your spin and may tend towards grovelling in a big gear. Nothing worse, really. There are formulas to determine the supposed optimum, but trial and error is OK too, as long as you don't go to extremes and injure yourself.

Shorter cranks are suited to track bikes and criteriums, where touching a pedal on the banking or in a corner is not a good idea. I was once racing on a street circuit where we were sharing the road with the local Sunday morning traffic. I broke away from the bunch up a short, sharp rise and put a bit of distance into them. So when I arrived at the next left-turn I was alone, without the benefit of a big, highly visible bunch. Ahead of me was a car about to turn right across my path. Many times have I been in this situation – wondering, will that car give way, or won’t it? Well, it did, but not before I was distracted enough to turn into the corner a bit late, sharpening the bend. I was riding my road bike, a Colnago, rather than my regular criterium bike and I completely forgot about the longer cranks and lower bottom bracket.

In an instant, at bottom dead centre of the left-hand crank rotation, my pedal struck the road and levered my rear wheel into the air. The bike went up and sideways in one motion, before settling. I didn't come off but I lost time getting my balance back and found myself heading for the median strip. Rather than turn harder to the left and try to miss it, I went over it, or tried to, anyway.

When I landed I was flat on my back, the bike was up the road and I had (luckily) somersaulted a post and a small bush, to end up facing from whence I had come. The bike was in one piece, just a few scratches and nothing broken. No damage to the rider, just stunned embarrassment.

Wheely interesting stuff. Wheels come in many types these days, with designs varying from the standard spoked style, the aero rim, the carbon fibre bladed 'spoke', the carbon or kevlar disc or a combination of these materials and designs. You should consider strength, lightness and susceptibility to crosswinds, and again fit the choice to your intended use.

Timetriallers and trackies may find the poor crosswind performance of a disc wheel acceptable given the excellent stiffness and power delivery of a disc wheel. Road racers may prefer a compromise, or simply stay with the proven spoked wheel.

Rims come in two basic designs, singles or high pressures. A 'single'or 'tubular' style, where the tyres are all sewn into one piece and the tyre is glued into place is a traditional high performance racing setup, for road or track; whilst the 'high pressure' beaded tyre, like a conventional car tyre, has come to dominate in recent times. More recently we have seen the advent of tubeless rims and tyres, which likely as not will become 'the norm' when prices fall.

Singles rims are very light yet inherently strong, but the u-shaped high pressure rim has improved in strength and weight, whilst offering the easier repair and convenience of a modular design. Singles are probably still preferred at an elite level, but you need to contemplate the added initial expense, the need to carry complete spare tyres with you rather than just spare tubes, and the risks involved in rolling a poorly glued single off the rim.

Yes, I've seen it done. Once in a criterium held on Sydney's scenic Mrs Macquarie's Rd, where the almost-180 degree bottom corner is taken quite fast, and a poorly-glued tyre came straight off. As did the rider. Another time a fall on the track caused a front wheel to twist hard-right in a instant. In the first case the rider got away with just bruises; in the second example, despite the tyre not causing the fall, the rider received a suspension from racing, courtesy of the Cycling Federation. Such is life.

Even if you aren't racing, even a simple puncture whilst training will result in a spare single being slipped on, and it won't be glued on quite like the one you just punctured… although as it heats up it will get stickier and more secure (which is why we leave some dry glue on our spare singles and ensure our rims are well coated, too).

Spokes are still used in the standard wheel and offer a good compromise between cost and performance. If you are light enough you could consider using fewer spokes. The 36-spoke wheel is strong and will withstand potholes and kerbs better than a 32, 28 or a 24 spoke wheel. If the roads you race and train on are fairly smooth and acne-free, and if you are 75kg or less, 32 spoke wheels are fine. Even 28 is OK, but will require more frequent truing of the wheel. And yes, you can get super-strong high-cost wheels with fewer spokes, but these use spokes and rims of advanced, proprietary design. They are great, and will last you a long time, but do cost the earth. Bear in mind that these proprietary designs - each with their patented spoke and nipple designs - require specialised tools and spares.

Track wheels can have fewer spokes because the velodrome is usually pretty bump-free. Also, a track rim will be lighter because it is unlikely to encounter a pothole or a kerb.

You can mix and match wheels, of course, with different types of rim front and rear (stronger at the rear, because more of your weight and all of your power go through that wheel).

Because the wheels rotate, they generate both a gyroscopic effect and a forward (or backward, as the case may be) momentum that keeps the whole show on the road. Heavy wheels may not exactly assist you in moving off from rest, or in climbing a hill, but they will be very stable and, as the weight is concentrated at the rim, will tend to assist in conserving your momentum. Or so I like to tell myself!

You may deduce from the preceding paragraph two things; one, that light wheels are a good idea when climbing hills or accelerating and two, that I will go to great lengths to justify my use of (relatively) heavy wheels. Correct on both counts.

My lightest wheels (24 spoke singles) go out of true or even break spokes after just two or three hundred kays. I proved this by road racing my 24 spokers on rough country NSW roads one weekend and snapping spokes the very next time I went training. Why I went training on them I don't know, but I'm glad they didn't let go during a race!

24 spoke wheels are too flexy to use on my regular criterium circuit, as well. They feel like mush when cornered at speed. But they are nice to look at and are invaluable as spares to my 32-spoke high pressures!

Spoked wheels are fun. They are an intellectual challenge, like chess. It starts with the number of spokes you want, the type of spoke (round, flat, double-butted?) and the type of rim. Then, how to build it? Radial spoking - no crossing spokes at all - look cool and are stiff, making good front wheels for lighter riders. Or one cross, as a compromise? Crossing four is not as stiff as 3-cross but will last longer. No matter what style, they all need to be kept straight and true, whilst also being round. They have to be stiff, so that power is delivered with effect, whilst compliant enough that spokes don't break. Maybe those carbon-bladed wheels are worth the price after all!

If you go with spokes, buy yourself a spoke key so that you can make those minor adjustments yourself. And carry it with you, so that you can take a minor bend out of your rim when the inevitable happens and you break a spoke.

Hubs are cool too. Did I mention that you need to choose hubs? Yep, sealed bearings or normal cup and ball bearings. Lightweight or robust. Small flange (the ends, where the spoke holes are) for less weight, less cost and more comfort, or large flange for stiffness. Track hubs are usually large flange but these days large flange hubs have crept in everywhere, even on the road. What that does is increase stiffness, and improve power delivery. It also makes for an uncomfortable ride on the open road...

Weighty matters. Moving on from wheels to think of the bike overall, the all up weight of a reasonable road bike will fall within a range of 8.5 to 10.5 kilograms, wheels and all. The all up weight of a similarly good track bike will be less: say, 6 to 8 kilograms. The lighter, the more expensive, of course. And remember that there may be a loss of strength as well. Yes, I know, you can spend squillions and get a lighter, sub 7kg bike. It's true - there are sub-1.0kg frames out there, and road components that weigh almost nothing. They are the cutting edge and cost the earth. Just remember that everything is a compromise, both price to performance and performance against longevity...

So buy the best bike you can afford and get it set up as comfortably as possible. Now with road bikes, as with all competition bikes, the lighter the better is a good starting point. But don't get hung up on it. Sealed bearings may weigh more but they'll last longer and need less adjustment. A heavier frame may be a burden but it may be more rigid as well, which is good for sprinting. Irish Tour de France star of the 80's Sean Kelly used to ride a flexy but light aluminium frame up the mountain passes but swap to something stiffer and better handling for the descent. You need to decide your budget and your needs. Kelly was a big man who, as a matter of honour sprinted in huge gears (like 53x12 back then, but he'd probably use an 11 now) all the time. He needed a strong, stiff frame that transmitted that power. A lighter-built climber can get away with a flexy but superlight frame, fewer spokes in the wheels and so on. Can you?

If you are a sprinter, in my experience you need a stiff bike with a slightly 'cramped' riding position, stiff wheels and as light as you dare. (That's me, I like to be uncomfortable, but fast. Well, as fast as I can be, anyway. It may not be you!)

Everything depends… you need to think about the races you will be entering and what will suit. If you are on a budget and will only have one bike, strike a compromise. I used to have a selection of wheels, some stronger, some lighter. And then choose the tyres, some light and fast, others more puncture-resistant, to suit the purpose. Part of the fun of this sport is the calculation, the selection of components to suit both your body and the race in prospect. It's just like Formula 1 motor racing, except a lot cheaper. Hand me those slicks, I think the track is drying!

Of course it's no good racing a super stiff frame if you get dropped on a hill, or for that matter trying to sprint when the bike is flexing all over the place. It's your budget, you know your riding style: your call! And if you have the budget, try all the options, so that you get to know what works best… it's only money, after all. Most importantly, get properly fitted to whatever bike you use, and try to keep all your bikes as close to identical in setup as you can. For shorter events you can make compromises, but as I said before, big differences can equal big pain. Injuries occur all too easily.

Caution - rules are made to be broken! Cautiously, in the manner of a bike rider on slick tyres approaching a manhole cover, and with the intention only to share an opinion, I do have some basic rules of thumb, setup wise. There are many theories, many body shapes and no one answer. So firstly, I recommend that you give your local expert a go, before you experiment too much. Try your local bike shops or the coach at your local racing club. Read lots of books, or try the 'fit kit' approach - cautiously, as no-one is truly 'normal' or 'average' dimensionally.

But if you want, and can accept that these are not carved-in-stone rules, here are my tips.

Take another pinch of salt - a big one! One of my personal rules of thumb is attributed to American cycling hero, shotgun victim and multiple Tour de France winner Greg Lemond, and comes with my apologies to Greg if I have got this all wrong. It works like this for me, anyway!

Basically, get yourself comfortable on the bike in the crouched, on the drops riding position. Look down to the wheel and if the hub of the front wheel is obscured by the handlebars, you have a good compromise between comfort and handling. If the hub is in front of the bars then you either need a longer top tube or a longer stem. And vice versa. Or you have very straight or very bent forks! It's not very scientific, but it works for me.

Remember, everyone is different, and your preference may be totally different to mine. What I am suggesting is that you should be aware of the options, and the effect that subtle changes in position will make. Long road races demand a comfortable position and by making the appropriate adjustments I have found that an uncomfortable bike can be turned into a wonder machine that just floats. For me, that was a flatter back, stretched out a little more. It meant a lot less pain and tiredness after a 200km ride! And no, that's not how I set up my criterium bike!

Another rule of thumb (actually a few rules rolled into one) concerns saddle height. Most people set the saddle height by placing your (shoed) foot on top of the pedal and rotating to bottom dead centre. The knee should 'almost' lock. I've stuck by that, with the following variations that work (with care) in different circumstances. Firstly, don't make radical changes to your position. Work incrementally and carefully to avoid injury. But if you are prepared to look a bit daggy on the bike, lower your saddle a bit more and adopt a position that allows for easy spin. You can't hammer the pedals as easily as in the 'high saddle' position, but with easy, fast spinning you'll whirr like a top and find (a) fewer injuries and (b) faster acceleration. Works for me, especially in crits and on the track. If you go for the higher saddle, extended leg style, you'll limit your spin a bit but feel better at pushing bigger gears... so you'd maximise that with big gears and long cranks. Again, works for me - maybe not you - and was a sensational combo when climbing.

Labels: Chapter 1 - the basis of it all