Friday, September 17, 2010

Staying Up

I've been greatly enjoying the Universal Sports coverage of the Vuelta the past few weeks - and particularly watching my friend and former colleague Gogo doing a heck of a job commentating on the race.  Gogo and I worked together for a while when we were both working for Cadence Cycling and Multisport Center in Philly and it has been fun watching his progression as a commentator!

I digress.

The coverage has been great to chill out to while holding the new baby and while I've loved seeing Cav and Farrar go at it in the sprints with some surprise performances here and there from other sprinters and some great exploits in the mountains of Spain by guys like Schleck and Anton.  Unfortunately Anton left the Vuelta with a great lesson for all amateurs that you always have to stay alert; what a shame to have your shot at the win taken away by a crash like that. 

Years ago at a camp I attended run by Eddy B he reinforced over and over the necessity of keeping one's hands wrapped around the bars, not just resting on them.  If you hit something like a pothole or reflector or other road furniture with your hands just resting on the bars you're almost certain to go down, hard.  At the finish of a race I used to promote near Harrisburg (my buddy Zach is bringing it back - Rockville Bridge Cylcocross Classic) the winner of one of the races came across the line and threw his hands up in the air to celebrate the win.  As the final stretch was a gravel road he went down fast.  That's not the way to celebrate a win!  At a collegiate race years ago the A raced finished and as we hung out the the B race came to the line.  A promising freshman came sprinting in for the win and thrashed himself from side to side so hard that he actually crashed himself out of the race!

These sorts of crashes are preventable. It is quite possible Anton was attentive and holding on to the bike and still went down, but just making sure your thumbs are wrapped around the other side of the bar or levers from your fingers gives you a much better chance of pulling out of a crash if you do hit something with that front wheel that sends you askew!

Looking ahead when you're in a group and seeing what riders are doing ahead of you can help you avoid these situations in the first place.  Don't fixate on the wheel or two in front of you.  Keep looking down the road past the riders in front of you and ahead of the group (this is also how you know what is going on in the race and who is where so keep your head up)!  Avoid the obstacles in the first place.

Finally, know how your bike is going to handle in different conditions and situations.  Figure out how to ride on different surfaces.  Practice things like skidding and bumping other riders and rubbing wheels (in controlled and safe conditions) and learn how to ride the bike. 

And, don't take your hands off the bars at the end of your winning sprint on a gravel road!