A friend of mine noticed on a recent race report that I had mentioned setting up a teammate to attack. He was wanting to know what went into this. I told him that it was pretty straight forward. Then I thought about all the different ways there are to attack. So rather then give away what type of attack was used in that particular race I thought I would post a few of my favorites.

Before I list my favorites you might or should be asking your self why should I attack in a race. Even better why shouldn’t I attack in a race. An attack is when a rider with or with out help will suddenly sprint away from the group he or she is with. These attacks are done primarily to peel off weaker racers, or those not paying attention and to possibly just possibly get away and stay away for a win. I have witnessed larger and more organized teams put one attack out after another to wear down an entire peleton with two or more riders in reserve so that they are but guaranteed a win at the sprint.

When one team attacks its inevitable that one of four things are going to occur.

1. Another team or team’s will respond to join in the attack to create a break or to reel in the rider by slowly over time settling the pace down to where the main group (peleton) can catch them.
2. The peleton will let the attacker go knowing they don’t have the legs to go for a break away and wait for them to come back to the peleton.
3. The attacker(s) attack for purely psychological reasons. This is done in an effort to show superiority or to break down weaker riders. What new riders don’t understand is that very few attacks lead to much and the pace will settle down. Instead they go all out on every attack and wonder why they are off the back heaving. Been there done that.
4. The attack is successful either because the peleton is to tired/weak to catch the break or do not believe it will stick. This is when the break away artist must have Time Trialing strengths to stay away.

Here are some of my favorite Attack tactics:

Attack when it hurts

If you have been keeping up with the main group or the break away group then the likely hood that you are the only one hurting is probably pretty narrow. This is a great time to attack. More than likely everyone will require the same amount of time to recover. You won’t see this happen much in amateur ranks but Pros are known to attack right after attacking! The element of surprise plays a big roll in attacking successfully.

Lead out an attack

Often when teams are well organized and bunch together at the front of the peleton this is where one rider can jump off the front hopefully only with one teammate in tow and sling shot them out further and faster than if they were doing it all by them selves. Teams that are smart won’t allow this to happen by simply not allowing to many teams to organize at the front of the peleton. There is also the threat of this happening off the back or the middle of the peleton but it can be tricky to execute due to road constraints or team communication. You know, the guy who yells out what everyone is doing.

False attack/Lazy attack

Not really sure this one counts as an attack but it can still serve to wear out other riders. When a rider finds themselves rested and drifting to the front and the pace slows down to the point of frustration especially on a down hill section go off the front at speed faster than the peleton. They may or may not try to bring you back if you have legs attack again and begin your time trial.

Surges and more surges

Surges aren’t really attacks but I thought I would mention them because they serve some of the same purposes. Primarily weakining riders and limiting field sizes. Surging needs to be done from the front of the peleton and it needs to be done with out telegraphing it. To do it you just want 2-3 revolutions of your spin to be a bit more powerful then the last 2-3 revolutions. DO NOT do this more than a few times, you can wear your self out. What happens is that this effort is magnified ten fold in a large peleton and has an accordion effect to those in the last third of the peleton. This accordion effect requires those in the back to work much harder than those on the front to hang on. In lower category races this happens in most road races with out actually trying!

Attacking in out of corners

The tactic of attacking corners is very effective psychologically in Road Races but especially Criteriums. When approaching a corner sprint away from the front into the corner then sprint again out of the corner. The goal is to get threw as many corners as you to where the peleton can no longer see you (Out of sight out of mind). To be truly effective using this tactic you need to have a teammate/supporter not racing call out the time splits so you know if you are working to hard or not hard enough. You will know if your attack is leading to a successful break away when you time splits hold or the announcers tells you that you are about to lap the field.

Thanks to my teammates of Main Street Velo for offering up shots from various races this spring!

Capital City State Championship Criterium (Frankfort KY):

I have really been looking forward to this race since last year. I didn’t have any delusions of a top finish like last year but I wanted to hang in. Had an OK warm up and a great start. The course in the 4/5 race was no different from last year with the exception of some cold patch, newly painted stripes and the removal of the horrendous cross walk tape from last year. The other thing that was different from last year is we actually had some wind coming through the start finish. We didn’t realize until watching the 1/2 race that there was shelter from the wind on the inside.

I managed to hold on and move up some in the first few laps and then it got hot. More surges than I remember from last year but for the most part considerably smoother race than last years. By lap 3/4 I and several others including a teammate got spit off the back. We quickly grouped together in a pace line of about 8. We kept the pace up and rotated some but by the time the others were getting the hang of the rotation we lost time and speed.

About this time another teammate is in site along with another rider. My teammate offers to pull me back to the main group right when we got lapped. I thought OK why not. We dropped the pace line and climbed back into the group and I managed to move up pretty quickly and even saw the top 10/14 for a lap or two. Then the bell lap hit and all hell broke loose and I was off again. Finished 31st in the end due to being lapped.

Warning and lesson learned: It helped my ego big time to get back in the group after being lapped but this is frowned upon by the officials because it makes it difficult to score a race. Next time I need to warm up  bit longer and may bring a trainer. To ride conservatively ride to the right of the course to set up for the corners. To finish fast and remain on the front take some risks and hold the inside line. I must keep reminding myself that I am still build fitness right now and that it will come, soon

Shelby County Road Race (Waddy KY):

A great morning for a race in my home town! Still warmer than I have acclimated to but at this point its a training race for me. I have had to much time down between late last summer and this spring to be a threat to anyone right now. THIS WILL CHANGE.

A teammate and I warmed up and decided we needed to make a contribution to the team in the 4/5 race. We decided that he and I would ride the front all the way to the first climb and keep the pace sane unlike last year’s first lap. At the whistle I flipped my damn pedal twice and lost my spot on the front but did not fall back far. When I looked up and got over the embarrassment of it I saw the coolest thing I have ever seen. All of my teammate riding in a double pace line and looking very organized determined and proud. I actually choked.

About the time I shake off the awe I have over how well things are going I see another teammate and get him in front of me. Its a good thing too as he is the one of several designated sprinters. At least 3 times before the beginning of the climb I had my rear tire buzzed. Not a fun feeling in that large of a pack. We progressed in a descent manner and only had one hiccup in the peleton before the first climb with someone not paying attention to the pace.

We got through all the corners unscathed and I looked up every time to see my teammates pulling on the front and setting a very smooth and confident pace. We get to the downhill section and I got to say I was bit nervous to see what would happen to those not familiar with the Waddy hill. We got through the downhill and did fine until we got the the first step of the climb when two separate issues popped up. First an older (larger) unattached rider flies right down the middle of the two up pace line and and doesn’t have his gearing sorted before the climb and almost comes to a complete stop when he tries to climb! Then the other issue at first sounded like a wreck. I witness a guy stopped in the middle of the hill hear whats sounds like rending metal and a rear end collision. What it turned out to be was a really bad shift and rear derailleur exploding!

At this time I pray that I can drift back and hang on to the peleton. I putt down 600 watts and blew sky high then missed the back at the kicker. Oh well that’s Road Racing.

Got in with a couple of decent rotating pace lines and finished the race. I managed 40 something out of what was suppose to be a field of almost 70 riders. Only 46 completed the race due to heat issues!

Lesson’s learned

Protect your teammates and remember to take everything you hear in the peleton with a grain of salt.

Do you find yourself at the beginning of a race or in the race cursing yourself for racing again? Why are you doing this? Feeling edgy? Everyone is to an extent when they first start racing. What has helped me immensely is to race more. I know it sounds silly but once you put your body into the red zone week after week the feeling of dread dissipates with every passing race.

If you can’t find a race every week or can’t cover the cost of racing every week then start looking for some training races. Training races are cheap or free and are usually Criterium based. If you don’t have a weekly training race near you then participate in the fastest group ride you can find. If you can’t find a fast group ride then find people faster than you to ride with.

What it boils down to is that you cannot improve race performance unless you repeatedly put higher intensity training into practice.