10 Things That Make for an Awesome Bike Race

A lot of people ask me about riding bikes. 

 “Doesn’t it take a lot of time?”  Yep.  No doubt about it.  Practice makes perfect in cycling, so the hours I spend on my bike are important.  But, I’d rather put the hours in outside with my friends than on my butt watching TV.

“Isn’t it expensive?”  It’s beyond expensive, actually.  It’s a ridiculously monetarily draining sport.  But, once you fall in love with a sports car, you can’t go back to driving a Yugo, now can you?

“Are you really supposed to ride in the road?”  Face palm.  Most of the time I just give this one the proper “Are you really supposed to be breathing my oxygen?” face.  Or, if you prefer, a solid snort of derision also works well.

“Isn’t it dangerous?”   Um… sure, but so is origami… those paper cuts can be nasty.

“Why do you race?”  Ahhh… One of my favorite questions to answer… personally, I race because I love it.  It’s fun, it allows me a sort of social activity on a weekly basis, and – if the proper elements are involved – it can be incredibly personally rewarding.

So, since everyone likely has their own list of what they think makes for an awesome race, I’ll include mine here…

10 Things That Make an Awesome Bike Race

10.  A great course!  This means something different for every racer, of course.  Some like steep climbs (no, thank you), others like simple, flat, 4-corner crits (meh).  Me?  I like technical races with a little bit of everything thrown at you.  Lots of corners make for some challenging fun, while a longer straight here or there or a moderate climb allows for attacks and breaks. 

9.  A nice selection of categories.  This one might be specifically geared at promoters, but any race that allows for racers to compete at a level that they feel comfortable is great.  Note that this goes both for those experienced riders as well as beginners.  For women, it’s really nice if the Cat 4 riders get their own race or can be put in a solid 3/4 field.  Open races are great, too, giving those same novice riders the chance to “up their game.”  But, the options are always nice.  I often wonder what would happen (besides obvious utter chaos) if men just had “Open” fields where Cat 5s were expected to vie for a win against our domestic Cat 1s and pros.  I guess that would just be the Greentree Training Crit, eh?  But, I digress….

8.  Fun swag!  I don’t race to win money.  Some people do.  I do not.  This is mainly because I’m a domestique rider whose job is to deliver my sprinters to the line to win races (and money).  I race for a variety of other reasons, but a paycheck at the end of the day is not generally one of them.  BUT.  Swag is always fun!  Especially prime swag… whether it’s a pair of socks, Jim Bernstein’s delicious coffee roasts, or a case of brewskis, winning a prime is a fun way to grab a little goody.  Plus, it’s fun to try to win primes!  :)

7.  Proper Training.  Racing when you’re out of shape or not ready to race is not fun.  Srsly.  Not. Fun.  If I think that I’m going to line up for a race when I’ve just been dawdling around on my bike to the local pub and back, it’s unlikely that I will have much fun or think that much of anything is awesome.  I’m just sayin’.

6.  Great crowds!  I’ve been fortunate enough to have raced at events like the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia and the Iron Hill Twilight Crit in West Chester.  The crowds at these events are amazingly awesome.  Plus, they’re hometown crowds for me… so, to hear my name as I’m wheezing my way up the Manayunk Wall is pretty rad.  But, great crowds come in a variety of sizes.  From the small local crit where my husband yells at me on every lap to the state championship races where every local cyclist I know is rooting for every other local cyclist they know, having a crowd out for an event is so key.  A little cheer from the side of the road, “Don’t quit now!!” can mean the difference between sitting up and finishing mid pack or digging a little harder to grab a podium spot.

5.  Willingness to take chances!  There’s nothing more boring than a race in which no one is willing to take a chance.  An awesome race has you on the edge of your seat (literally), watching your competitors and expecting the attacks, the moves, the exciting attempts to get away, etc.  And, of course, for me… it’s always about taking chances.  As The Jensy once said, “If you are at the start line with 200 riders, and you are not going to try to attack or try to win, you’ve’ already lost. If you go out on attack, you have maybe 10 percent chance. Maybe it’s five, maybe 15. But I’d rather take 10 percent than no chance at all.”

4.  Good sportsmanship.  Be nice.  Both on and off the bike.  Be nice.  Both before and after the race.  Be nice. Good sportsmanship is absolutely key to a fabulous event.  Yes, sometimes racing is frustrating.  Sometimes you just want to scream and yell and be a complete jerkwad.  Fight that urge.  Be nice.  Go back to your car, grab a teammate, ride AWAY from the race… and then explode for 10 seconds.  Then breathe.  Then, return to the race area and be a gracious winner/loser/competitor/etc.  And be nice.  Oh, and always thank the promoter, the officials, and any volunteers that you see at the race. 

3. Strong Competitors are a MUST.  Sure, it’s great to win races.  But, I guarantee that if you are cherry-picking races because you KNOW that you’re stronger than every other rider in the field… that win will not be as awesome as if you’re pushing yourself to race against strong competitors.  If you can push yourself to race against racers that are better than you, do it.  Having stronger competitors around you makes everything more exciting. And, it makes a good result even more rewarding and fulfilling.

2.  Teammates.  I could have done a whole blog post about teammates.  Hell, I could write a novel (or twelve) about teammates.  Racing alone can be nice.  Having the opportunity to be concerned only with your own wheel is kinda fun sometimes.  But, NOTHING compares to racing with teammates.  Nothing is as rewarding as training together, practicing tactics together, planning tactics, and then seeing them come to fruition.  Nothing compares to being on the front with one lap to go, your sprinter tacked onto your back wheel like a remora on a shark.  Hearing her (or him) begin to yell, “Go… faster.. now… go, go GO!!” and ramping up for a sprint that you know will end 100 yards from the finish line.  Gasping for air as you pull off and watch your sprinter put in one final kick to win a race.  And, then that sprinter turns to YOU and hugs YOU and says, “THANK YOU!”  What could possibly be better than that?!?! 

I guess being the sprinter that gets the wicked sweet lead out and win would be better, but….  ;)

1.  The knowledge that “It’s Only Bike Racing.”  By far the most important rule to an awesome bike race…remembering that we aren’t curing cancer out there, people.  We aren’t finding the secret to world peace.  We aren’t figuring out how to end racism, or sexism, or any other form of –ism that ruins people’s lives.  We are racing bikes.   We are reliving the best moments of our childhood when we hopped on our Schwinns and sped up and down the neighborhood pretending to be free.  We are allowing ourselves a privileged moment of joy in the midst of lives that really do deal with the big issues.  So, remember when you’re out there… “It’s ONLY bike racing!” 

So, as you anticipate the arrival of the 2015 race season (I know I’m already counting down the days until the first step up to the line) think about what will make your first race awesome.  And, then make those things happen.

Keep the rubber side down, folks… and may the tailwind rise to meet you!