I’m writing to express my disappointment in the recent coverage of the spring classics on Versus “Cyclysm Sundays”.

Last year was the first year that I closely followed the spring classics and was riveted to OLN’s coverage of Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. The coverage on OLN and the commentary by Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin were excellent. I had followed the Tour de France for years, but watching the classics last year I was converted.

For the past year I have been looking forward to the classics this spring, even driving my wife nuts as I walked around the house perfecting my pronunciation of de Ronde van Vlaanderen. I then drove her equally nuts as I moped around the house after the race, surly from my disappointment from the poor coverage of this year’s race on Versus.

The problems all started when the coverage was reduced to only one hour. These races are long, complex affairs and trying to cover them in only an hour, with race previews, recaps and necessary commercials does not leave enough time for the viewer to get a sense of what is happening in the race. I felt like I was watching a series of small hill climbs as the coverage showed the grind and the attacks on a berg, would then go to commercial jump ahead to the next berg. There was no sense of placement in the race nor was there any kind of continuity to the race. The magic from last year as I watched the riders jockey for position, fight for the advantage of entering a cobbled section first, then fight just as hard to stay on a wheel as the group (or attack) came off the cobbles was completely lacking this year. One of my most memorable moments from last year’s Ronde was when Erik Zabel and Thor Hushovd worked together after being dropped by the lead group and collaborated to regain contact. This kind of athleticism and sportmanship had no chance in this year’s coverage of de Ronde or Paris-Roubaix, there simply isn’t time when skipping between the horrors of Arenberg and Stuart O’Grady’s attack. How did he get back to the lead group? He was flat in Arenberg. I have no idea, but I wish that I did. I’m sure it was the “Yellow Jersey Moment” of this year’s Paris-Roubaix.

While it may be too late to change the scheduled coverage for the rest of this season’s classics, I emplore Versus to please re-consider when planning next year’s spring classics.

If you would like to see Versus expand their coverage of the spring classics, please write them at feedback@versus.com

For those of you that are interested, I received my coaches certification last year but have no plans to take on clients. I don’t mind passing out some free advice though. With that in mind I decided to pass along some advice to new riders about movement in the pack.

Movement in a pack of riders is actually a very difficult thing to do, and it is not something I felt comfortable doing until last year. The trick is moving up in the pack, hopefully without wasting lots of energy. There are a few ways to do this that people know about. The first and most obvious way to move up is to stick your nose out in the wind or blast up a hill. This usually works, but it can waste lots of energy. It is best to do this only when it counts or when the pack naturally slows up and gives you a chance to sneak out in the wind for a small stretch with a big gain in places. It is often best to read the race to figure out when best to do this. Look for a spot in a crit where the pack slows each lap and pounce. When moving up on a hill, make sure it is really worth it because it uses lots of energy that might be better used another way.

Second, you can really concentrate in corners and find a better line than the other riders. It is often possible to get a line that works better than most of the other riders. Ninigret offers a good case in point. The second hard left corner on the track often dumps riders out into a headwind. Most riders take this corner far too wide, even in the Cat 3 races I usually compete in. It is usually fairly easy to take the turn much tighter and slip into people’s cross-wind draft on the inside of the track. You can easily move up several places while drafting with this technique. The trick is not to do it so many times in a race that other riders catch on. Save it for when you need to move up.

The last technique is the one I really want to talk about and the one that I really just figured out how to do last year. How do you move up from the inside of a pack of riders when you are nicely protected in the draft but have very little room to maneuver? How do you move up and insert yourself into a spot that the other rider doesn’t want to give up? There were several occasions last year when I indicated to a rider that I wanted to slip in line in front of them (I do this to be polite not because I really need their cooperation). In two cases, the rider adamantly indicated he wasn’t going to let me in. In both cases, I had slipped into that spot within 20 seconds without any dangerous maneuvers or threats. I know that one of the riders seemed almost shocked (not angry) at how easily I took the spot after he had tried to defend it. I think it is also fair to say I never was yelled at any point in the year for dangerous riding, so what I recommend is safe (I also don’t claim credit for the technique, I just don’t remember where I read about it).

Anyways, to get to the point here, when moving up surrounded by riders you need to move diagonally through the pack. You need to define your space and assert your presence in the pack defined around your handlebars. You also need to keep in mind your front wheel and try to protect this space at all times to prevent someone knocking your wheel out and causing a crash. Your handlebars (and elbows sticking back to protect your bars) prevent other riders from moving up past you. To move up, you want to wait for a time when you momentarily surge ahead of a rider immediately to your left or right. When you get your handlebars in front of the space defined by the other rider, you can move closer to the rider by a few inches. Keep in mind that we are talking about a very subtle movement and sideways shift here, not a sudden sideways jerk that will cause panic in the peloton. You have now asserted dominance over the space and the other rider cannot move forward unless you let them. If they try to move up, they will bang their handlebars into your elbows causing them to crash (Hopefully you can absorb an impact of this type since your bars are not directly involved). Once you own the space with your handlebars, you can slow slightly to start to move directly behind the rider in front of the position you are stealing (You probably initially overlapped their wheel slightly, which is probably fine because they are probably prevented from moving sideways by the rider directly in front of you). The rider whose spot you are stealing will now start to be squeezed out and will need to yield his space or be forced to move further off their line away from you. Usually, it is fairly easy for the rider to simply let you in and follow in your wake. Remember to do this movement slowly enough to give the rider a chance to safely yield the space and avoid contact. The space is now yours and it is time to look diagonally up the road for the next victim. Perhaps it sounds a bit scary to try, but it really is an excellent way to safely move through a pack. 

If you want a real test of you pack riding skills, try this challenge. Last year at Fitchburg , my Anthem team had a rider in the top ten going into the last day, the criterium. We wanted to protect that rider as best as we could and just insure he finished the race in the pack since it was unlikely a breakaway would form in the race and steal any time. Therefore, I assigned myself the role of riding in support of this rider to protect his wheel and bridge him up if needed (Turns out he was caught behind a crash at one point and this paid off). As a team, we realized that it is easier for a support rider to follow than lead a protected rider (Teams don’t make room like they do in the Pro Tour on T.V.). My role was simple; follow my teammate’s wheel (not just close by, but directly on his wheel to prevent someone from accidentally taking him down from behind). I will say it tested my pack riding skills to the max. At that point in the season I felt very confident about pack riding, but fending off over 100 riders from my teammate’s wheel for over one hour was very tough. I like to think there were not many other riders in the pack that could have followed the wheel as well as I did. Even with all my efforts, I was only directly on his wheel for about 67% of the time. He would take opportunities to move up and I had to fight my way into a line of riders. This is one of the instances where a rider told me to f— off when I tried to politely ask to be let in. As I said before, I didn’t really need his cooperation so I grabbed the wheel within 10-20 seconds. I really recommend some of you folks try this drill during a training crit and test your pack movement skills. Follow a teammate’s wheel for 1/3 the race, switch roles for the middle 1/3 and then see if one of you can set the other up for a sprint finish. You are guaranteed to learn something.

If people want, I am also happy to tell the story of how our team set up our best climber in the road race at Fitchburg.

Anthem turned out with good numbers for the Memorial Day Parade in Branford, CT. We all met at Kate’s apartment in Branford to a beautiful day and plenty of bagels and coffee supplied by Kate. So with food & caffine in us and sunny skies above, we geared up and rolled out to the parade start.

After wandering around a bit trying to determine exactly where we should be, we found a nice spot in the shade sandwiched between the Good Humor Man and the lone Port-o-Let in site. We then waited for the parade to start. And we waited. After waiting some more, we waited a little longer. Apparently there was some speachifying going on over at the town Green. At least this gave us all some time to rest before the grueling effort to come. (This was nothing compared to Bike New York last year when we experienced a 21 hour day, read the recap of that nightmare here.)

A rather plesant hour later we got moving, setting off behind the Guilford Saab team car. In all we had Mike McGinley, Aiden Charles, Peter Petrillo, Jeff Murray, Sasha Timkovich (with his wife and son, Zack), Doug Thompson (with wife and daughter, Haley), Kate Giordano, Leslie Stevens (with husband Sam), Bridget Nester, Robyn Passander (with her daughter) and Ron Fantano piloting the sag wagon.

Right from the gun the pace was intense. For the first 15 minutes, we must have averaged 0.86 mph. I’m not entirely sure since my cyclo-computer couldn’t get a reading. At about the half-way point, the driver of the flat bed truck leading us out allowed a gap to open in front of him. Despite the urge to come around the truck and close the gap, we held with our pre-race discussion to stay disciplined and sit tight.

As we rounded the corner at the bottom of the parade route, the throngs of fans on either side of the road let out a collective gasp. Peter Petrillo had washed out and hit the deck. Peter dusted himself off and got back on the bike before he was nearly run over by the vintage Model T Ford that was close on our heels all morning. Luckily Peter did not suffer too much from his crash and was able to chase back on to the field.

On the return leg of the route, Doug decided to circle around the team in short, quick laps. “To get a few more miles.” Seeing how much Doug was obviously enjoying himself, many of us decided to join in the fun. As Doug was unstoppable today, several members of the team had to withdraw from this inpromptu crit in embarrassment after getting lapped so many times by Doug. By the end of the parade, Doug was very proud of himself, having ridden an extra 0.7 miles at the incredible average of 6.1 mph.

After we returned to Kate’s (and plenty of bagels), a bunch of us set off on a ride up the coast, enjoying a gorgeous day in southern CT.

Make sure to check our Photo Gallery for pictures from the parade.

Qualifying and Placing Time Trials for all CT special Olympic cycling athletes were held on May 21, 2006 at the Cheshire Campus of the Connecticut Light and Power Company. The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield - CCCC Cycling Team was present in full force as an advisor to athletes, coaches, and parents, and to provide support for the cycling events that were held throughout the day.

The day started quite nice. It was sunny and warm. The team’s efforts began with setting up our tent and base of operations and quickly moved to assisting bicycle and helmet inspections. All of the riders are required to have their equipment checked prior to participating in the events. Jeff Von Dauber made quick work as a mechanic, repairing a few bicycles with coaches consent, and Jeff Murray oversaw the inflation of tires. With the race team’s help, officials noted that the inspections were completed in record time (a fact that would prove to be beneficial later). The Anthem teammates then made rounds through the groups of racers providing well wishes and good luck in the events.

Racing soon began. The events range from 200 meter sprints, a 1k race to a 5k race. Athletes were of varied ages and skill levels, but all of them came with monster amounts of enthusiasm. The racers were eager to get going and show us their stuff. Some of the highlights from the racing included a racer on a trike with custom made clipless pedals (wood pads and lots of tape), the speedy finishes to the 1k race, and one of the favorites in the 5k race crashing in the late rain and then getting up to finish the whole race and be the last rider across the line.

During the racing Jeff Ferraro and Lesli Stevens provided support at the officials tent timing and recording the races; Anthony, Jeff Murray, Tom, Kate, and Jeff Von Dauber marshaled the course, uprighted blown down safety cones, and monitored rider laps.

The bright spot of the day was when a first time athlete with reservations about racing asked Jeff Von Dauber to ride the race with him. Jeff took on the honor and escorted the rider through the course and to a high finish. Smiles were abound and Jeff had a new friend.

The whole team made a lot of new friends that day. Many of the racers came to ask us about racing, give them tips, and enquire about our “high-tech��? equipment. Coaches, including the great contingent from Bristol (the one with the cookies), were quick to welcome us and include us as an integral part of their day. Although rain came for the last race, and many of the team was forced to hold down the scorer’s tent, the lasting image of sunny faces remained.

With an invite from the athletes and coaches to attend the summer games, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield - CCCC Cycling Team looks forward to seeing our friends again in June.

Check back soon for pictures!

Make sure to read the Special Olympics flyer for information on upcoming events.

A friend of mine recently saw this statement on a website for cycling tips: “Brake your back wheel first, and use the front wheel brake only in emergencies.”

To which my friend responded the following:

“I noticed in the advice about cycling that you should only use the front brake in emergencies. This is totally incorrect. The front brake has much more braking power than the rear brake and is thus more efficient at stopping a bike. Using only the rear brake is dangerous as it is more likely to lock up and then you can lose control of the bike. It is in fact very difficult to lock up a front brake unless you are going very slowly or you apply the brake with great force. The optimal use of bike brakes is to use both balancing the pressure between them to achieve maximum braking power without locking the back brake. Admittedly this does take experience to perfect but avoiding the front break is dangerous and this advice will probably lead to more accidents than if you advise to use front brake with care.”

In my opinion, my friend is correct - balanced pressure to both brakes is advised. Weather and terrain conditions might dictate the optimal use of brakes at a particular time, but overall one should not avoid use of the front brake as suggested. For instance, on long, steep descents, the bike’s wheel rims become quite hot under the constant braking pressure, sometimes causing tires to burst. The use of both brakes spreads the friction to two surfaces rather than one; if all the braking power was put on the rear wheel only it would increase the likelyhood of a flat tire, which on a steep descent is extremely dangerous.

So what gives, what is the safest, most effective way to hit the brakes?