Topic Title

Just musing over my fairly mediocre performance round Bishopwood today.
Ignoring the fact that my knee hurt (& I think my brain used that as an excuse), I experienced pretty much the same issues as I did at Croft.

Aside from not being fast enough (let's leave that to one side for a moment) most of my issues are on the corners.

Firstly - technique: Obviously practice makes perfect, but I find myself having to think about it so much that I end up ignoring intuition & taking the wrong line. So any tips on how/where I can improve this then the better. (I used to ride a motorbike so I should be better than I am!)

Secondly (and actually this is more the problem)is power. I can't seem to effectively push out of the corners well, so I lose time then have to sprint longer to catch up & then I don't get any recovery time when I'm back with the group (this is exactly how I got dropped at croft.).

So, some advice please - how can I be more powerful in this respect? Should I practice sprints/interval training? Weights? (eek!)
Being female , I naturally will have less power than most guys - (though I've got to say I think I use this mentally as an excuse far too often). But I am sure that there must be things I can do to build this (without getting scary thighs). But can a really good technique ever overcome a lack of power?
Obviously I need both, but I think at the moment I am never going to be competitive riding as I do .

I need a plan! All advice welcome - thanks

Jess, when I first did a race 2 years ago, I was losing out on corners but after a race or 2 I started to go with the flow and it became easier. I'm only a relative novice but a few things, try and keep it smooth and relaxed, lean as one with the bike, and have confidence with the bike.

Intervals and short sprints (5 sec, 10 sec) are good training for exiting corners. (and the finish!). Maybe you ought to talk to a coach, I use one which has helped me.

Hope this helps abit.

Jess are you sure you are not reading too much into this.One race is not alot to go by and a few weeks ago i saw you towing all the lads up hills.Todaywas hard work but have you asked yourself how much did you really hurt when you got tailed off?Could you have hung in a little longer?This is not criticism just trying to help.I have only raced 3 seasons and when i started the same thing was happening to me espacially at croft.I asked myself those questions and kept going bavk for more until i could stay with the group.
hope this helps just keep at it.

Couple of suggestions, Jess;-

Firstly, don't underestimate the knee problem - sounds like it was a lot worse after than before, so take it easy and make sure it recovers. If you haven't taken Muzzy up on the bike fit offer then I'd do that sharpish - proper bike fit / saddle height is key to happy knees. I'm guessing that it had an impact on your riding today.

Second, as Tim and Dave suggest, just keep at it - it's always corners and accelerating out of them that catches out newcomers to racing. Keep it smooth, follow someone who looks safe, etc.

Third, sprint drills are very useful. You seem to find it hardest when the pace varies a lot, so it may be worth some work on how you cope with changes in pace. The sprint drills regime that I keep banging on about would be useful for you - it's largely about leg speed and getting happy doing short bursts at high cadence. You're probably never going to bang out the sheer Wattage that some blokes do but then you don't need to if you weigh lots less and you can still respond to changes in pace.

Have you got some races as targets to work towards? How long do you have to turn the Plan into Results?!?

hey,

might be worth looking into getting insoles, worked an absolute treat for me, and you get your money back after 30 days if you are not satisfied, so there is nothing to lose but alot to gain. i got bog standard ones from boots for £17

hope it helps

Thanks guys - some good suggestions here.

Dave - maybe talking to a coach will help. Keep meaning to get along to AJ's women's coaching @ croft but it's a long ol' way out there & takes up a lot of my saturday (I know I know, lacking in dedication, eh?) Maybe I'll have a chat with AJ anyway.

Timj - a very interesting point. I think I should/could have probably held on a bit longer. I can sometimes talk myself out of riding well for some reason, so I need to address that!

Phil - another one who is absolutely right - I struggle when the pace varies - particularly on the flat. Not really sure why, to be honest - again possibly I talk myself out of it, especially when I can see the strong lads putting the hammer down in front of me. I'm pretty sure I haven't reached my physical limit on the bike yet so it must be in my head!
I do need to look at what I'm doing during the week as I don't think it is enough at the mo so sprint drills could be the way forward.

Will definitely sort bike fit out & look into the insoles (thanks for the tip-off Toby). Must get those entries in the post too

Hi Jess,

Just sent you a PM

Billy Geraghty

My ha'pannyworth FWIW: TBH Jess I think you are an excellent cyclist already. I'm no expert but it strikes me that you are being very hard on yourself if you are chastising yourself for having less sprint power than some reasonably able male racers. Practically speaking I'd echo some of the above comments - specifically those suggesting sprint drills/intervals.

Jess - the offer still stands.
Your thoughts about racing & training are not yours alone. I simply wouldnt race round Croft and never ride Crits - just not my cup of tea - they are too flat & I'm too nervous. Bishops Wood is marginally better but the majority of circuits offer a bit more varied terrain. The sprinting out of corners thing does come with practice though!
As I mentioned the other week you do seem to push quite a big gear - spinning will mean you can react to changes in pace better.
I Feel sure someone looking over your bike may squeeze a couple more mph out of it!
But I too think you are too hard on yourself.

Hi Jess - I won't pretend to be a criterium cornering wizard but a few races and a lot of fluffed corners suggest to me that:

Keeping a smooth line is nice, not braking too much is nice, but accelerating early is best of all.

The worst kind of corner is where you think you have a great line that will allow you to coast through without having to brake much, so you don't change down either. Then you get cut up just on the bend, have to brake, are stuck in a silly ratio, and end up clunking down the gears just when you should be working the pedals.

So my tactic (I rarely get this all right) is to brake early, make sure I change down one more click than I may need to, try to drift a little wide, check the way is clear and then *start working right on the bend* so I'm accelerating smoothly before the people around me, and moving up on them. Staying in the saddle is much more efficient if you can do it.

I'd much rather drop back on someone as we come into the bend, and be moving up on them through & out of it, than the other way round. The person gaining ground usually gets to choose their line. Obviously it would be nice to move up all the way along, and sometimes you can (people do the weirdest things on corners) but don't count on it.

For the power thing - most has been said already. I'll be doing sprint intervals (usually 15s on, 45s off, 50 times) and also Velmax intervals (something I borrowed from Phil - search on t'internet, but basically it's 30s on, 30s off 20-30 times; not a full-on sprint, but keeping a hard effort sustained right through the 30s). That one has nothing to do with cornering as such, but in fact I think it's a good match for the kind of 'semi-sprint' that you need to stay in touch out of the corners.[/b]

Thanks guys:

Dave - I agree the male/female thing has a part to play but I reckon If I got a good technique on the corners then the power might not be such an issue. this is true in many sports I think. Plus I have to face the fact that in the majority of races I'm going to be in the minority genderwise, so I have to keep up with the guys or be dropped, really. (I have tried to drum up some interest amongst my friends but although they cycle, none of them will ride with me! )

Paul - Shall I give you a call/drop you a line re bike fit - would be much appreciated? And re the cadence thing, I was having this discussion with Darren, I actually find it easier to push in a higher gear to keep up, so the other week when you advised me to drop down a few I found it really hard. He gave me some good advice actually but i need to get my head round it - Is there a cadence rpm I should be looking to sit at?

tomf - some good tips there. Theory makes sense, (same principle really as for motorbikes) I just need to remember it as I go round (though it's probably not feasible to print this off & refer to it en route... )

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions & PMs, really useful stuff.

Jess - I am not an expert in this space - but can tell you what seemed to work for me (at Croft anyway !). The first time I raced there the constant accelerations and decelerations seemed so very different from what I had experienced before - with everyone getting out of the saddle after every corner and putting in huge efforts. I don't have the strength to do that - and have found that the following seems to work for me. 1. On sharp corners try to find a line into the corner that avoids losing too much speed 2. Concentrate on getting right onto someone wheel once past the apex and stick to it. 3. Rather than getting out of the saddle - keeping low and spinning works for me. On fast sweeping bends I try to just stick to a wheel and ensure no gaps emerge. I have found the track helpful for honing my spinning and riding skills. There is always a good mix of men and women to race against on a Friday night - you should try it. The added bonus is that whereas getting a win on the road seems out of my reach at the moment (or perhaps forever) the groupings allow you to be competitive and win some races on the track - which does wonders for your confidence.

Hi Jess PM sent are you free Thursday evening 7.15 - 8.30