OK here it is the last of the recon articles. I have given you several pointers on what you need to do to ensure a successful attempt at winning your next road racing event.

This article is going to be a check list! Something you can copy, print or share with your fellow racers. If you feel that I have missed something or you have different experiences by all means tell us about it and leave comments.

1 Week Before the race

• Confirm with your spouse/family/parents that you indeed will be racing at X race on X day
• Pre-Register for the race (You may need to do this as soon as your race opens for pre-registration)
• See who else has registered for the race
• Check the 7 day forecast (After Registering) Road Racers RACE in all weather!
• Tune up the bike today and fix problems now!
• If this is a priority race then make it a priority to sleep, eat and train like its a priority race
• Find out which teammates are going and who may want to share a ride
• Do not eat 3 hours before going to bed

5 Days before the race

• Check race registration to see who else has registered
• Check with teammates again on who is and is not going with you
• Check weather again
• Look up the race route on Google Earth or bikely.com and look at elevations
• Make a trip out to the race course and ride the course (Preferable) or drive the course
• Make sure you will have a complete clean uniform (Kit)
• Clean bike
• What items are you taking with you the day of the race out side your normal training day?
• Get race day items gathered up in one place
• Get to bed early (9-10 hours of sleep is preferred)
• Drink up to 2 liters of water a day
• Diet should primarily consist of good carbs and lite on the protein
• Do not eat 3 hours before going to bed

3 Days before the race

• Check race registration to see who else has registered
• Check weather again
• If riding a longer road course take notice of all major elevation changes and right down the mileage when they occur
• Tape a small elevation change cue sheet to your top tube or stem where you can see it
• Clean and lube your drive train
• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Go through your race day items (Do you really have everything?)
• Get to bed early (9-10 hours of sleep is preferred)
• Drink up to 2 liters of water a day
• Diet should now be almost all good carbs
• Do not eat 3 hours before going to bed

2 Days before the race

• Check weather again
• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Go through your race day items (Do you really have everything?)
• Get to bed early (9-10 hours of sleep is preferred)
• Drink up to 2 liters of water a day
• Diet should now be almost all good carbs
• Have you started to mentally go over how you are going to race this race?
• Has your team decided who is the race leader and what roles you and your teammates will fill?
• Gather up any food stuffs and fluids you may need the day of the race
• If you are going to take a rest day this week make it today (Stay off the bike or just lightly spin)
• Do not eat 3 hours before going to bed

1 Day before the race

• Check weather again
• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Pack your race day items and put them and your bike in your vehicle. (hold off on the bike if you do not have a garage)
• Get to bed early (9-10 hours of sleep is preferred)
• Drink up to 2 liters of water a day
• Diet should now be all good carbs
• You should now have a mental visualization of how you are going to race this race?
• Do not rest today – Get out on the bike for 45 minutes – hour and ride a moderate pace and throw in 2-3 one minute efforts
• Shower and shave before going to bed
• Do not eat 3 hours before going to bed

Morning of the race

• Check weather one last time (Make sure you have packed appropriately for the weather!)
• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Pack your bike in your vehicle if you did not the night before
• Drink 2-3 cups of coffee (If you like Coffee, who doesn’t)
• Bathroom time dealing with Race Day Jitters (If you suffer like most of us)
• Start drinking your favorite sports drink
• You should eat your breakfast 3 hours before the start of the race
• Do not shave face or legs day of a race (Superstitions and sweat irritation)
• Leave your home with enough time to get to the race course with 2 hours to spare!

2 Hours before the race

• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Drink some more sports drink
• Pick up number at registration
• Dress for the race and pin your number on (Did you know its against USA Cycling rules to wrinkle your number?)
• Make sure you have enough fluids and in ride nutrition to get you through your race or to the feed zone
• Either hit the road to warm up with your teammates or set up your trainer next to theirs
• Go over racing plans one more time with your teammates

15 minutes before the race

• DO NOT MAKE ANY MECHANICAL CHANGES TO YOUR BIKE!
• Drink some more sports drink
• Breathe deeply and make your way to the start/finish line
• Make sure your helmet is fastened (USAC Officials will give you grief if its not)
• Listen closely to the race promoter and officials about course notices and rules.
• Take anything you hear about the course from a competitor with a grain of salt
• If you are so inclined say a little prayer
• Wait for the gun/whistle
• Clip in and go

After the Race

• Drink some more sports drink
• Breathe deeply and safely make your way through the course one or more times to work the “Junk” out of your legs
• Meet with teammates to compare notes
• Get changed out of uniform ASAP!
• Drink some more fluids (Coke, Carb Drink, Water)
• Make sure you have all your stuff packed and ready to go
• Go celebrate with your team and or family You Just finished a/another race!!!

Remember knowledge is power – Prepare to Race Smart

Part 1, Part 2

An important mile stone has been reached, The Coached Cyclist is a year old today!

In a year I have made some amazing new friends on The Coached Cyclist, Twitter and Facebook. While most of my career has been spent as an IT/Web professional I have had some very exciting and interesting moments on this site that I have never had working Fortune 500 web sites.

In the time between Jun 16th 2009 and Jun 16th 2010 quite a bit has happened. I have written 75 posts covering the reviews of products that I was impressed with, written quite a few cycling tips and covered racing tactics that I have learned personally. I have also started writing race reports with simple lessons learned that I hope others can learn from.

In the year I have had 2000+ Unique visitors to the site from 64 countries! I have been surprised by where visitors come from and often wonder what cycling and living is like in their respective countries. I have also been surprised by how people find my site through search terms. Most find The Coached Cyclist through search terms like reviews and concerns over supplementation and doping. You would be shocked how many seem to thinks that creatine is a doping product. Below you will find lists containing the top 10 articles read and my top 5 favorite articles.

Top Ten Articles Read this Year:

• Review of the Fulcrum Racing 7 Wheelset
• Review: Fulcrum Racing 3s Wheelset
• Review of the Lezyne Alloy Floor Drive
• Debunking Fixed Gear Training Myths
• Squeezing more training out of your day
• A relaxed cyclist is a fast cyclist
• Recon missions for competitive cyclists
• Become a supported cyclist
• Weekend Race Report – Criterium, Road Race
• Drafting – AKA: Free Speed

My top 5 favorite articles

• Squeezing more training out of your day
• 4 part series on supplementing for cycling performance
• Tip: Work the junk out of your neck
• Join a team I dare you!
• Tactics: Break up with your climb

I have also taken on Coaching! I have been wanting to go back into business for myself for some time and have experimented with several tech start-ups in the last 5 years. Between my own experiences being coached and writing down my realizations and lessons learned as a competitive cyclist I decided to start down the path to becoming a USA Cycling Coach.

I recently ran a contest to select a name for the new coaching business and ran a poll to allow the readers and twitter followers to have the opportunity to select the name of the coaching company. We have a winner: The name Positive Performance Coaching was selected by a strong margin! The twitter friend who came up with the name is receiving a customized training plan at no cost for her efforts. Since the contest I have been very busy working on the new web site and logo. I have also been lining up new athletes and talking with teammates who want formal coaching. This has reinvigorated my love of the sport and life itself! Stay tuned for more on Positive Performance Coaching.

So what does the future hold for the Coached Cyclist?

The Coached Cyclist will go on as is but will be moved to a new server, will have updated software and be associated with Positive Performance Coaching. I am also thinking about selling training plans based on age and desired out comes along with some e-books on training. There will be even more articles on tips, training and even more bike gear reviews.

If I had a birthday wish it would be more readers, more comments/suggestions and more clients!

Thanks to:

My family who have been so supportive in this new endeavor

Everyone on twitter who have encouraged me as an athlete and as a coach

To my teammates who push me “HARD” on a regular basis

Ride safe, ride fast and just ride

Before I get back to the articles on Recon Work I thought I would cover a topic that one of my readers is interested in, drafting. I have not done a tips article in quite sometime so I feel a bit overdue.

Drafting is the process of riding behind someone in an effort to recover and or share the work.

When drafting one or more people do not I repeat do not Half Wheel! Half Wheeling is described as when a rider in a draft allows their front wheel to overlap the rear wheel of the rider in front of them. This is going to lead to a wreck and you may take someone with you in the process. Maybe not today but eventually you are going to go down by practicing such bad riding etiquette. Heads up for all you new racers out there. If you half wheel and the guy in front of you sweeps into your wheel he is not at fault you are. More experienced riders will check there 6 (Look behind them) before making a line change. Inexperienced/tired riders do not do this.

Why do riders half wheel in the first place? I have two thoughts on this. In the pro ranks there is a reason for doing this in cross wind scenarios. In the case of cross winds pros will form an echelon pace line and the best spot in the line may cause a pro rider to half wheel. What do I mean by the best spot in the pace line? When riding in a pace line an experienced rider will quickly recognize where the best spot is because they feel that they are not having to work as hard to maintain speed in the pace line.

The other explanation I have to why inexperienced riders half wheel is that they are not paying attention nor are they confident enough yet to be drafting in a pace line. Who’s responsibility is it to point out half wheeling? ANYONE in the group or pace line. If you see it call it out, nicely. The other tip that I learned that helped me immensely was to NEVER look down or at the back of the rider in front of you. For one thing it isn’t safe and for another the spot right behind someone in the draft may not be the best. Instead look just over the shoulder of the rider in front of you. You want to see what is going on towards the front of the pace line or group to see what is going on. Remeber in any riding situation concerning groups all ways have an escape route!

In order to get the “Free Speed” from drafting you are going to need to practice drafting, bike handling and relaxation.

When riding in the draft there are 2 constants to remember. The closer you are to the rider in front of you the less work you have to do and wind shifts constantly. Be prepared to move about in the draft trying to find the optimal location to hide from the wind. As far as bike handling goes we are talking about making subtle movements on the bike to control position and speed. This means no wheel steering of the bike and no grabbing of brakes. Instead use your hips, shoulders and elbows to make fine adjustments to steer the bike. Instead of using your brakes anticipate what is going on in front of you and soft pedal “DO NOT COAST” or even sit up in the saddle and pull out of the line to catch wind in your chest to slow down. The relaxation part comes with time. If you find yourself completely racked with nerves because you are not use to riding so close at speed and tight confines I have to recomendations. Don’t give up keep coming back. It won’t get easier to do but you will eventulaly come to find that drafting is one of the most amazing things you can learn to do in a group ride. The other is to practice in the off season. How in the world do you practice drafting in the off season? Well you start riding the rollers.

Rollers are a type of trainer that has little resistance “kind of like drafting” requires you to balance the bike because you are not locked in and has a narrow width for your bike to ride on. Not only did a winter of riding the rollers do wonders for my group riding anxiety it made me a more efficient cyclist.

Good luck and be safe when practicing. Remember drafting equals free speed!