Cycle Road Racing E-Book

Tom Newman

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Cycle Road Racing provides a practical and instructional guide for those entering into cycle road racing, and those improving their performance. It covers the latest developments in racing and cycle technology, and guides the reader through all stages of racing, from setting up the bike correctly to race day itself.The book includes material on: Clothing, equipment and setting up your bike; Training, including the use of turbo training in winter and sample training plans; Techniques such as cornering, climbing and descending; Avoiding injury and recovery after injury; Nutrition.In-depth coverage of time trials and veterans racing; Computerisation of racing, such as use of sat navs and computerised training aids. An instructional guide for anyone entering into cycle road racing. Essential reading for racers looking to improve their skills, club riders and coaches. Road racing is the highest profile branch of cycle sport. Superbly illustrated with 120 colour photographs. Tom Newman is a professional cycling coach.

Leseprobe

[Cycle Road Racing]

First published in 2013 by The Crowood Press Ltd, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book edition first published in 2013

© Tom Newman 2013

All rights reserved. This e-book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 978 1 84797 529 4

Illustration credits Keith Shorten – Westerley Cycling Club for many action shots of racing cyclists. Garmin UK – for equipment photographs and press release. Westerley CC – team mates for various contributions. Woolsey of Acton Cycle Shop – for loan of their equipment and time. The Bike Shop – North Harrow, London, for supplying many of the equipment photographs. Malcolm Edwards – good cycling friend. Bill Butterworth – inspirational West London veteran racing cyclist. Robert Lawrence of ICT Connect for help with IT.

Finally and not least, Lesley Newman, wife of over thirty-two years for putting up with him whilst undertaking this venture.

CONTENTS

About the author

Chapter 1

Equipment and Clothing

Chapter 2

Training

Chapter 3

Techniques and Tactics

Chapter 4

Healthy Eating and Drinking

Chapter 5

Looking after Yourself

Chapter 6

Workout Plans and Race Preparation

Chapter 7

The Computer Age

Conclusion

Index

About the Author

Tom Newman is a professional cycling coach and runs Capital Cycle Coaching (www.capitalcyclecoaching.co.uk).

For over forty years he has toured extensively throughout the UK as far north as Cape Wrath and as far south as Land’s End. He has also raced in time trials at all distances up to twelve hours and participated in track racing, being a regular competitor at the now demolished Paddington Track, famous among west London cyclists. He has ridden countless road races and dabbled in cyclo-cross. As a one-off, Tom even ran the London Marathon in a respectable time of just over 3.5 hours.

Tom is a life-long member of the Westerley Cycling Club, based in west London, where he has held many positions including race organizer, secretary, club coach and editor of the club magazine, Club Record.

Passionate about coaching, Tom has coached many riders to achieve their ambitions and more for over fifteen years. His qualifications include Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) British Cycling – Club Coach, Level 2 Coach and Level 3 Road and Time Trial Coach.

CHAPTER 1

Equipment and Clothing

The Bicycle

These days, there is an enormous choice of bicycles, but before evaluating what is out there, it’s best to have a clear idea of what the bike is going to be used for.

Are you intending to road race with occasional time trials, or are you planning only to ride road races or only time trials? If the latter, are you going to concentrate on short-distance events – 10 miles, 25s and maybe the odd 50 – or will you also include long-distance events? There again, you may want to time trial with the occasional road race thrown in. In this case you could purchase a road race bike and have the option of fitting clip-on tribars when you time trial.

Modern road racing bike.

Before you make any decisions, it’s well worth joining a club or teaming up with like-minded souls and seeing the bikes that are ridden in races. It’s no secret that the bikes that are ridden in these events have evolved over time and choices are made based on hard facts and experience, and not necessarily on current fads. Look at magazines such as Cycling Weekly and visit topical websites, for example www.ukcyclesport.com, where there are informed articles on equipment and clothing.

Carbon cycle frame.

Crucially, of course, you must decide your budget: although the latest carbon dream machine looks very tasty, the £5,000 price tag won’t!

We all have to start somewhere, and no doubt mistakes will be made along the line, but to coin a phrase ‘you have to be in it to win it’. So bite the bullet, decide on what you want and go for it.

Here is an example to help you with the thought process. A friend of mine achieved superb time trial results on a standard road bike, material steel, with clip-on tri-bars. His typical times, were 10 miles – 21 minutes, 25 miles – 54 minutes, 50 miles – 1 hour 54 minutes, superb sub-4 hour 100-mile rides and over 260 miles in 12 hours. This bike cost less than £1,000, and many riders would bite your hand off to achieve these times.

So phenomenal times can be achieved for less than a grand. This figure of £1,000 seems to crop up regularly when I look at race results, and seems the benchmark for bike purchases in terms of value for money. For this money, you normally get a reasonable frame with decent equipment; if you want to upgrade later with better wheels, for example, you can do so. Of course you can pay a lot more and enjoy the benefits associated with the higher price tag, but you won’t necessarily go any faster.

The Frame and Fork

Materials

Carbon This is outstripping all materials for producing road frames – and track frames too, come to that. It used to be expensive but mass production has seen the price come down to affordable levels. Its chief characteristic is that the material lends itself to being moulded into shapes and structures that are impossible in other materials, making aerodynamic shapes easy to achieve. The material is also extremely light, strong, stiff and comfortable to ride. Whether its longevity is on a par with steel, for example, remains to be seen. Still, carbon is undoubtedly the most popular material today and is the natural choice for race frames.

Aluminium cycle frame.

Aluminium Just a short while ago, aluminium was the natural choice of frame materials. It is very responsive and stiff, its harshness of ride, compared to steel frames, possibly making it a bit uncomfortable for long-distance events. With special manufacturing techniques aluminium can be formed into a wide assortment of intricate shapes. Lately frames have been built with carbon-fibre seat stays to aid comfort and stiffness and now it’s the norm to have a frame fitted with a carbon fork. Prices are generally lower than carbon but how long this continues remains to be seen.

Steel Steel was the choice of champions and still is a superb material, especially with the latest Reynolds 953 top-end tubing. This material is extremely resilient and has excellent high-impact strength and fatigue resistance. Steel is expensive, however, and requires specialized frame builders who understand this material. A number of years ago steel was the only choice, and though it has gone out of fashion now it still has its devotees – there is a sort of cult following, with many independent builders producing fabulous frames.

Titanium Without a doubt titanium offers ultimate durability, but while it is becoming more affordable, it is still expensive. Titanium is very difficult to process and manipulate into shapes. Like all materials, a good titanium frame is marvellous, but beware of the cheaper grades out there. For example, you may find frames with seamed tubing, where a flat sheet is rolled then welded into a tube. Although the frame will have the correct material grade it will not have the same characteristics as the more expensive extruded material. Like so many things in life, if it sounds too good to be true then it is.

Sizing the frame

Too large a frame will be awkward to adjust. For example, you may not be able to drop the handlebars or saddle low enough, which will compromise control; having the saddle too high may also give future knee problems. Too small a frame will again be difficult to adjust: you may end up with an extended seat post and very long handlebar stem. There are a number of valuable websites giving good advice on this subject, and if you type ‘Bicycle frame size guide’ into your search engine, a number of useful guides will come up. A good cycling shop specializing in racing frames for both road and time trial competition will also offer good advice, so it’s well worth developing a relationship with them.

An important consideration for road racing frames is the bottom bracket height. Many races are now on closed circuits, for example Hog Hill, Hillingdon and Crystal Palace in the London area and plenty more throughout the country. These circuits require you to pedal through corners to keep in contention. Therefore you don’t want a bottom bracket height that is so low there is a risk of grounding a pedal half way around the corner, with disastrous consequences. Fortunately most modern road racing frames now sold will have a bottom bracket height in excess of 27cm (10.6in) fitted with standard size cranks of 170mm (6.8in).

Setting the saddle height

Although there is more detailed information on this subject later in this book (seeChapter 3), it’s worth spending a bit of time on it here.

Taking inseam measurement.

Most information for determining the saddle height is based on one single measurement – the inseam. Standing barefoot on a flat, firm surface against a wall, raise a rigid, straight-edged object, such as a book, between your legs to crotch height. With the aid of a helper, measure from the floor to the point where the top of the book touches your crotch. With this measurement the saddle height can be calculated a couple of ways:

B An alternative formula is to multiply the inseam length by 1.09. This calculation will provide a measurement that includes the crank length.

Whilst both of the above formulas will give you a reasonable saddle height measurement, other variables that need to be considered include pedal type, thickness of shoe sole, seat tube angle and personal preference. Thickness of clothing can also be an issue – for example, in the winter, with more layers worn, you may wish to lower the saddle to compensate.

Wheels

Good wheels are crucial, and improving the wheels on your bike is by far one of the best upgrades you can make.

Most popular wheels are built with aluminium rims and small flange hubs, have triple-crossed spokes and use clincher rims. Typically they can be used for all disciplines of cycle sport on the road.

An upgrade will typically be to a lighter wheel. This will take less effort to accelerate and decelerate, as rotating weight is more significant than static weight. Better-grade wheels also have smoother bearings and will run better and require less maintenance.

Bike measurement chart.

On high-end wheel packages carbon is now commonly used. This material can be built into deep section designs, and is extremely rigid and light.

However, an important consideration when selecting wheels is to consider your weight. They must be fit for purpose. Lighter riders can use lighter wheels but a 90kg rider, for example, could easily wreck these in a few short rides so will need a stronger wheel set. You may be better off selecting a good-grade hub, stronger rims and more spokes than the minimal number advertised.

Cross-spoked wheels in a time trial.

Rear disc wheel track option.

The kind of terrain being ridden on is another important factor. High-end time trial wheels are fine for time trials, where handling is not such an issue and road surfaces are generally better, while for road racing these two characteristics will certainly come into play.

Most top time triallers in peak season use a carbon-disc rear wheel coupled with a carbon tri-spoke or radial-spoked front wheel, and – if top performance is vital – tubular rims as opposed to clincher rims.

Tubular rims are stronger, being constructed of a box section shod with tubular tyres, with the inner tube sewn inside the outer casing.

Top-end road racing wheels tend to be carbon, but depending on the course and length of race, this material may give too harsh a ride, especially on poorly surfaced roads; aluminium rims may be the better choice for these circumstances. Certainly on closed circuits, top-end wheels tend to be carbon as races are shorter and the road surface is good quality.

Spoking patterns fall broadly into two categories, which have different performance benefits: cross patterns – single-, double- or triple-crossed spokes, and radial patterns, especially for the front wheel – and disc wheels, which have no spokes.

Generally, road racers use spoked wheels of various patterns while time triallers get away with fewer spokes or using disc wheels – which offer less wind resistance so go faster – when appropriate. Hilly courses and windy days will not necessarily suit disc wheels, however, as they are heavier than spoked ones.

Most importantly, with all wheels it is much better to have a lower-cost, well-maintained package than top-end wheels with loose spokes and scored braking surfaces. Don’t worry too much about being able to afford top-end wheels for the sake of a few seconds, as many riders have achieved personal bests in time trials using conventional wheels shod with middle-of-the-road tyres.

Tri-spoked front wheel.

Road racing wheels.

Tyres

Tyres are the only part of the bike in contact with the road so arguably are the most important part. Other than wind resistance, rolling resistance produced by tyres is the largest force acting against forward motion. Try riding a knobbly mountain bike tyre then a slick 23mm-section road tyre on a smooth tarmac road and see for yourself.