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Show Wednesday, Uay 29, 1974 Page 29 CYCLING A Cl The sport of cycling is suddenly becoming tremendously popular. Bicycle path legislation in Salt Lake City, bicycle shortages and tire d shortages are all evidence of the popularity of bicycling. The purpose of this column is to introduce those interested from race spectators and recreational cyclists to serious tourists and racing cyclists. The following is a very brief outline of what one witnesses in a bicycle race, much of which can and should be adopted by any rider with greater aspirations than a short trip to the store. The sections particularly useful to the recreational and touring rider are those on wind draft of slip streaming and spinning. Prospective racing cyclists and race spectators can benefit from them all. In every bicycle race there are many exciting scenes - bicycles and riders moving along in a seemingly endless stream of energy or groups of riders breaking away from the pack and increasing the pace of competition. It is seemingly simple at first how cyclists pedal in competition. But, as with any form of competition, cycling has points where technique is critical and makes the difference between the winners and the losers. One of the first principles to consider is wind. Wind affects riders' throughout the race. Slipstreaming... Any object moving forward through space in excess of 10 m.p.h. has a significant wind shelter, if not a partial vacuum. As the speed increases, so does the advantage of a rider who is riding in the 'slipstream1 of another rider. Depending upon the angle of attack into the wind and the speed, this advantage may vary from 5 per cent for all the riders sitting in. When one considers that persons in excellent condition can turn out approximately .16 of a horsepower continuously, this slipstreaming advantage is considerable. Riding in echelon may be seen when there is a crosswind. This means that when the wind is hitting the cyclists from the side, the riders will ride in staggered fashion, each on the others leeward side. Lk aS Racing) new-foun- 10-2- Taking Pace... The rider who is at the front of the pack or field is the rider who is, in a way, pulling the rest of the riders. For this reason, a cyclist is said to be taking or pulling pace. Riders take turns on pace in order to keep the speeds faster than any single rider could him or herself. By this strategy, the weaker riders drop off the lead group, and the stronger riders can see who the real contenders are. Attacking... This is an exaggerated form of speeding up the pace to get rid of the riders who can stay in the field only due to the slipstreaming advantage. One rider after another will sprint off the front of the pack, forcing the average speed well over 30 m.p.h. The idea is to force every rider into an anaerobic condition. This means they are burning oxygen faster than it can be taken in and producing wastes from the muscles faster than they can be disposed of. The higher ones level of cardiovascular conditioning, the better ones chances of surviving those attacks. The most powerful riders will generally prefer to stage these attacks on the flat or rolling terrain where they can punish the good riders who may not have as much brute strength. The wiry specialists known as good hill climbers always have the best ratios. They usually stage their attacks in the hilly sectors of the courses. These places make interesting viewing for the spectators. power-to-weig- ht Break Away Groups... This is generally a small group of riders that, as a result of attacking, find themselves together at some distance ahead of the rest of the field, either by chance or by plan. These riders will then generally work together to widen the gap between themselves and the rest of the riders, knowing that later in the race they can try to get away alone, or take their chances in the sprint finish. A good sprinter would prefer that the group stay together so that he or she would be able to work less to stay ahead of the field and be fresh for the sprint. A powerful with a mediocre sprint would prefer just the opposite. time-triali- Spinning... st Each time the riders go by, one notices how fast the riders legs are going around. Why dont they shift to a higher gear? Bicycling between r.p.m. is called spinning and it is in this range that each rider, in accordance with his or her physiology, finds the optimum continuous horsepower that they can produce at their level of training. The reasons for this range being the most efficient are many but at the following are a few : the risk of check-valv1. The veins have one way and each muscle contraction helps move blood back to the kidneys and liver to get rid of wastes and 90-12- 0 over-simplificati- on, es back to the lungs to exchange C02 for more oxygen needed in the muscles. slower r.p.m. s more effort is exerted per stroke and the demand on the body for oxygen and waste disposal is greater than the riders capacity and he or she is said to be anaerobic. The differential between blood arriving and blood leaving causes the muscles to grow in size and restrict the movement of blood. The next stage is cramping. 3. Spinning with its loose, rhythmic, 360 degree motion helps keep the muscles loose so as not to restrict the flow of blood. Even more generally, bicycling is as in horsepower, a riders ability to most efficiently do the work necessary. This may be analogized to a weight lifter who was given 5 minutes to move 1000 pounds. He coi a try to move it all at once and fail miserably. He could try to n.ake 5 trips with 200 pounds per trip and be exhausted, or he could move the weight in 20 trips with 50 pounds each time and have lots of energy left at the end. He would then have moved the weight most efficiently with regard to available horsepower, the limits and peculiarities of the human physiology, and would have completely paralleled a bicyclist who is spinning insteadnf stomping a large gear. 2. At Sprinting... For all those left in the lead group near the end of a race, the pace will quicken to amazing speeds. So many things are taking place. Perhaps as far as miles from the finish the roadies are trying to tire the sprinters. The sprinters are trying to sit in to conserve for the sprint. Riders are moving toward the front so as not to be boxed in during the sprint, if there is a large group at the end. The speeds of the sprint sometimes reach over 40 m.p.h. This means that all riders will become anaerobic at or before the finish line. Because of the advantages of slipstreaming, the differences in sprinting ability, type of terrain, length of sprint, timing, positioning and the will to win , one can appreciate the strategy taking place in a road sprint. Occasionally, as the leaders in the sprint are moving toward the and moving at less than 110 per cent of their potential, a rider will jump hard from the pack and sneak up one side of the road near the finish at full speed. If he or she can get farther ahead of the leaders than two open bicycle lengths, which is the effective distance of a slipstream, and hold his sprint, the former leaders may not be able to close die gap and he or she will win. My thanks to Ed Davis of the San Luis Obispo Cyclonies for his large contribution to this article. Welcome to the science of bicycling. Bob Kassow |