Cycling great Robert Millar recently wrote this article about how Australian Cadel Evans came out on top in this year's Tour de France. Of great interest is the mindset that Cadel had to take the overall victory. Essentially, he went in looking for opportunities to take instead of defending against losses.
My best race results to date didn't have anything to do with "just surviving" or "just making it to the finish line", or "just" anything now that I think about it. Instead, I attacked at every opportunity to shave time off my result. I cut every corner on the bike and run as close as possible, squeezed into the draft zone behind the cyclist in front of me to slingshot past him, and used every runner as a marked target to catch, only to keep doing it to the very next one in my sights. In the end, I won second place in my age group, qualified for Escape from Alcatraz and Age Group Nationals, all with a spread of only 19 seconds between first and third place. It was a difference that was so tight, even the post-race announcer had to comment on it.
To this day, I still remember that day as real racing. It was hyper-aggresive and there was a specific target in mind - qualify for Alcatraz. Reading Millar's analysis of Cadel's performance made my great luck that day suddenly make a lot more sense. I went into that race looking for opportunities to take, not defending against losses to others.
This isn't just a tactic for those that want to win. Everybody can use this in any event, no matter how fast or slow they are. There a dozens of ways to get a leg up on race day, this being just a few:
- Previewing and memorizing the hill profile. Look for places to attack, not restrain.
- Checking out the course on Google Map's street view. Analyze how fast you can go through the turns.
- Staying on top of the weather conditions. Change your tire pressure based on how wet the roads are.
- Look at last year's results. Don't see if you're fast enough to "make it." Pick somebody else's time in one of the events, even if it's a transition, and see if you can beat it.
- The shorter the course, the faster your time. Bike and run on the inside of turns as much as possible.
And a million more... Look, don't go out there just defending yourself. You already are what you are. You want to improve, proactively empowering yourself with more and more velocity and moving up in the pack.
Good luck and race safe!
- Coach Brett
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 8:24AM 
