The lethal combination of speed and inexperience

Think of teenage drivers…especially boys. Those of us who can remember our early days of driving probably remember the combination of lack of experience, willingness to take risks, poor judgement or generally reckless behavior.  Teen drivers are a high insurance risk due to the lack of experience, but also the tendency to speed or take chances.  While I never wrecked or totaled a car as a teen, I came close a few times, and certainly did my share of stupid behaviors on the road. Fortunately I grew out of that and started driving more predictably.

While bike racing is not driving, some of the same tendencies exist in new racers. The sport is new and exciting, you want to go fast.  And with todays Carbon frames, faster wheels, power training and online coaches, relatively inexperienced riders can go very fast.  Tools like Strava, while fun and entertaining form of social media, also engage new riders into trying to achieve power and speed.

The problem is that raw speed, without requisite skill and discipline on a bike, can lead to serious injury or even death.  Too many new riders focus on speed or power output, without learning the fundamentals of safe bike handling.  In a cat 5 road or criterium race that is a bad combination.  In that regard, Strava is a safer option, as the rider who wants to finish first can do so, alone, racing against the clock.  Riders who come into road from mountain or 'cross need to realize that road requires completely different pack skills that did not exist in their former disciplines.

Racing requires discipline and safe riding. Obviously if you are undisciplined and crash, you won't have much of a racing season. In coaching juniors, I see some of the same tendencies in juniors that you see in adult cat 5 racers. The ones who are the strongest and most competitive, with unbridled enthusiasm, are typically the ones that jump out of the pace line without warning and sprint up each rise, for a bridge or want to be the fastest down a hill.  We often had to tell these kids that the goal of the ride was not to be the fastest or the first, but to focus on their paceline skills. A successful devo ride is the one where the paceline stays together on a climb, not fragments.

A strong runner does not make a good soccer player. The potential is there, but being fast on the field is only one aspect of soccer. A developing player must do repetitive drills, and learn how to handle the ball and play in a position.  Basic safety skills, like looking over your shoulder while holding a straight line, properly taking a corner, safely accelerating and braking are all part of learning how to race.  Going through a turn alone and elbow to elbow with 50 other people are completely different.

It used to be that cat3 was considered the more dangerous category. Sure, there were crashes in 4 or 5 but those races were typically slower, the 3s race at higher speeds and in a much tighter pack. The sprints in a cat 3 race are blazing.  The problem now is you have riders with cat 3 (or in some cases cat 2) power output and speed in a beginners group.  More experienced riders know the ropes, they usually know when its safe to move into a space, and when its better for them to yield to another rider.  A good rider won't risk himself or others in the pack to go from 18th to 16th in a sprint.  If he is boxed in because the rider in front of him sat up- well that's life, he will finish and race another day.

Thinking back to some of my early training rides with a racing team in San Diego, I was 30 years old, new to the sport and certainly fast to some degree. The weekly training ride had a very fast power loop, which to some extent was all out with a sprint near the end.  One week where I was riding like a maniac at the end of the loop one of the veterans told me I needed to stop hammering so much, relax a bit, sit on a wheel and observe.  I didn't realize it, but due to my hard effort, speed and oxygen debt, I didn't take a good line on one of the curves and nearly ended up in the trees.  This is a great example of how masters in the sport can help new racers add discipline to their raw speed and make them safer riders.  Gradually, I began riding with smaller groups of cat 2/3 racers and you quickly learn the right way to ride or won't be allowed back.

Having seen some horrific crashes in cat 5, many are talking about solutions. Skills clinics are a great start, and it may even be a good idea for USA Cycling to make these a requirement before being issued a license.  New racers need to realize that they are in a learning period.  Mental errors like looking down at 30 mph, going too fast into a corner or making unsafe moves in the pack are more common. It takes time for the racing skills to become second nature.