- Entering your first race
can feel like a big deal.
So we want to talk you through
how you enter your first one
from what to do
during the race (bell rings)
Better do that a bit later.
(energetic rock music)
- [Simon] Sorry. As I was saying,
doing your first bike race
can feel like a big step.
So we wanted to take you through
the process of entering your first event
explaining what to do immediately before it
and during it as well with me as your domestic.
To do that,
we needed a willing guinea pig.
But finding one in our office
that hadn't already done a bike race
seems like a tough ask,
until we heard the surprising news
that ex pro triathlete Fraser Cartmell,
presenter on the Global Triathlon Network
had never done a bike race.
- No, it's true.
I haven't ever pinned on a number,
raced a bike race as such
because well, I was too busy
racing triathlon if I'm honest.
Was always training for that,
and racing with that goal in mind,
and if I'm perfectly frank,
I didn't really want to race any bike races
I mean, wasn't even any swimming or running involved
so there wasn't that big an appeal.
- [Simon] So, not only will we'll be able
to walk you through how to do your first bike race,
we'll also find the answer to the age old question:
can triathletes actually ride bikes?
Firstly you have to find a race.
The best way to do that is to
search on the website of your national governing body.
In our case in the UK, it's British Cycling.
Road racing is split into categories
based on fitness and ability.
And for your first race,
you will of course be ranked in the lowest category.
To climb the ranks,
you need to earn points
which you pick up through good placings in races.
If you then stop getting points,
you can drop back down a category at the end of the season.
Which is why I'm now back at the bottom
and able to race alongside our newbie Fraser.
- So it's the morning of my big crit race
with GCN this evening.
So I've just got an email from Si,
which is actually a little bit lazy
'cause he's just sat over there
but I know what roadies are like
and they don't like walking too much
so I think it's a little bit of a kit list.
So going to have a look through
and see what he says.
Hey mate. Looking forward to our tear up tonight
just a quick reminder of your kit list:
bike, don't laugh people have forgotten them.
helmet,
shoes,
shorts,
again don't laugh,
I've forgotten them in the past,
and a jersey.
Gloves,
some kind of crash protection.
A lot of the roadies don't like their gloves,
but I'll take some.
Things you might not have thought of,
socks,
just a little bit of a joke about us triathletes,
we tend to not like racing in socks
but I'll have some of them.
Safety pins, bog roll.
Guess there's not many toilets around.
Stick plenty of water in your bag,
post race snack,
and a pre race gel.
It's only a short burn up,
so we don't need to worry too much about carbs.
Good to know.
Eat a light meal three hours before the start,
get there an hour before the sign on.
Get changed, do a little warm up.
See you there. Sounds good.
- [Simon] We're racing in the tenth
and final round of the
Castle Combe Summer Series here in the UK,
a race like many, many others around the world
which for me represents the heart
and soul of the sport.
It's on a closed circuit.
In this case,
a local motor racing track.
We've raced this each week
from the middle of Spring
to the middle of Summer.
There is a race for faster
or more experienced bike riders,
and a slightly slower race
for lower category riders.
And in these cases,
men and women race together.
There are also youth races before as well.
- In terms of tactics
and how to approach the race,
I've watched lots of bike racing on TV
so I'm hoping that might rub off a little bit
but in terms of how fast it's going to be
or the quality of riding,
it's all new to me. So yeah, just a little bit nervous
So yeah, just a little bit nervous
or whatever that word.
- [Simon] First thing when you get to the race
is of course you go and sign on
so you can make sure you can actually take the start line.
- And because I don't actually need to have a
full racing license for the full year,
see I'm just getting a one day license
which we're going to go get in there right now.
(upbeat music)
- The key to a good race
starts with getting to the line on time.
So find out what time the race starts,
and then also find out what time
you should be on the start line.
I tend to begin loitering around
about 15 minutes or so before the gun goes.
And then you need to work backwards
from that time in order to give yourself space
to actually fit everything in.
So you need to sign on,
which we've done.
You need to get your bike out,
you need to pin your numbers on,
you need to get changed,
you inevitably need to go to the loo,
and then you also probably want to go for bit of a spin.
Just make sure you also add a little bit of fat time in
because 30 minutes can go by without you even noticing.
And you definitely don't want to rush.
Then the most important thing
with pinning a number on
is not get - To yourself.
- Well no,
even more important than that is
you kind of thread it through
so you ignore the eyelets,
and then you thread it through like that.
- Yeah. - 'Cause then you can keep
it real nice and tight,
and real nice and arrow.
There's nothing worse than
a flattened number.
- I'm with you on that.
- Although I have frankly come equipped
to win a stage in the Tour de France,
you do not need a bike like this
to do a road race.
In fact,
all you do need is
drop handle bars,
brakes that work,
gears that work,
and tires that are properly inflated.
Because one of the beauties of road racing
is that while yes your bike does have an effect,
a far more importance is your fitness
and also your tactics.
Still,
Fraser what have you brought?
- I've just got this with me Simon,
is this going to work?
- You will probably be alright on that I reckon,
yeah you'll probably be alright.
You should go for a spin,
make sure they work,
and then let's talk tactics.
- Perfect.
(tranquil music)
Right so,
I'm a little bit rusty,
in fact I'm very rusty on
the whole concept of tactics in a bike race.
So where should I sit in the bunch for starts?
I mean I would imagine we'd want to be close to the front.
The golden rule is don't be on the front okay.
So when you're on the front,
then not only are you the one doing more work,
but also if you then try and attack,
everyone is going to be able to just follow you.
There's no element of surprise.
And if you try and respond to moves,
again you'll drag everyone with you.
So the key is if you're on the front,
do your turn,
so don't ride like an idiot.
You don't be antisocial.
But just gently sort of ease off the gas,
and then someone will eventually come round.
So where you do want to ride,
is probably in about
sort of 10th to 15th wheel.
But on a race like today,
you don't really want to get boxed in,
you always want to be able to get out at any point.
And then you can attack,
or you can respond,
or things like that.
- Okay, next question.
Quite windier tonight,
so where should I be sitting roughly with the wind?
Either side of your wheel,
or somebody else's wheel,
or directly behind it what?
- Okay, great question.
So you always want to be sheltered.
So if the wind is coming from the right,
then you want to be off to someone's left.
So you can feel when you could feel when
you get in that kind of sheltered position.
What will be interesting is to see
where people are attacking.
'Cause you don't tend to
want to attack in a head wind.
So this finish straight
will be a bit grim.
So probably most moves will go over the top
where you've got slight a cross wind
under the tail wind.
And then this bit will feel really slow
'cause I think we're going to be racing up.
- Into the headwinds.
- Into the headwinds, yeah.
- So final question about rough speeds
relative to the lap
and how the wind's going to affect that.
Are we going to be stochastic,
you know up and down in speed
or is it just going to be fast and full gas?
- Well, it depends really.
I would expect probably
if you're on the front,
it would be quite stochastic.
Where as if you're in the wheel,
I think you'll probably have quite a nice smooth run of it.
And so on flat circle like this,
you could probably spend quite
a bit of time hiding
and have a real nice gentle spin.
But then,
we want to stuck in, don't we?
We want to do some racing.
So at that point,
I think you need to look
for wheels to follow,
and then but just make sure you
give yourself enough time to recover.
So if you follow too many moves too quickly,
you could get yourself in a bit of a hole.
And then you might find that actually
at the sharp end of the race,
- Nothing left.
- No, exactly.
But the kind of stuff that comes with experience
is knowing which of the right moves to follow
and which are doomed from the start.
So I'll try and talk you through that
when we're in the race.
Not that I'm an absolute expert at that,
you really should've had Lloydy,
but anyway never mind.
(bell rings)
- [Simon] And just like that,
the race is on.
(intense music)
But now what?
Well firstly,
we need to contain that initial adrenaline rush.
Let other riders lift the pace,
just sit in the wheels,
try to relax,
and save energy.
Because everyone is fresh
and motivated,
it's unlikely that any race winning moves
will go in these opening minutes.
So rather than attack off the front,
try to hover between about eighth
and 15th wheel.
That means that you can respond
to something if needed
because while unlikely,
it's not completely impossible
that something significant
could happen in these opening minutes.
(biker yelling)
- Generally a race will split at some point
and a breakaway will go.
Now you should already type rider you are.
If you're a sprinter,
you need to save as much energy as possible,
and perhaps gamble on it coming back together.
If you can't sprint like me and Fraser,
you will want to get to the finish
with as few other riders as possible.
Now if you're riding a
circuit race like this,
using the opening few laps
to gauge which parts of the course
look like they might be the likely places
for the race to split.
In this case,
the start straight has a really strong headwind
so it is definitely not
the place to attack.
You'll throw energy away,
and struggle to get any kind of meaningful gap.
In contrast though as the course turns left,
the headwind moves to a cross tail
which is perfect attacking territory.
After that left hand turn it's crosswind,
and so that's the point where people
are going to be struggling to chase.
And then it's tail wind
- And then through the way under.
- Exactly.
Still the time is not yet right.
Everyone is too fresh,
we need to wait for little bit more fatigue
to start to set in.
We are in the final third of the race now
and it's still all together
despite a few little attacks
including from Fraser and myself.
If you do attack,
do so from further back in the group
to try to get that element of surprise.
However,
always keep an eye on what's going on behind you
because if you get chased down,
don't just keep riding on the front,
make sure ease off the pedals,
and wait for riders to come 'round you.
If you are on front,
there needs to be a very good reason for it.
Yeah when you put your head down,
you got to make it count.
'Cause you can be the strongest guy in the race
and if you spend all your bullets but.
It's looking good though.
With 15 minutes to go,
Fraser makes another move
at that perfect point in the circuit,
and this is the one that sticks.
You can tell instantly.
One rider goes with him,
and the rest of the bunch ease up slightly
'Cause the riders are now tired enough
to think twice about chasing.
It's not going to be easy out there for him,
but he is committed,
and he's got plenty horsepower.
(intense music)
Five laps to go,
and the gap is hovering at around 20 seconds.
This isn't in the bag yet.
Four laps to go now,
if they stay away,
Fraser needs to really be thinking
about he can win this.
Don't lead out into the headwind Fraser,
and leave your sprint late.
Three, he's holding steady.
Two laps to go.
Last lap.
Come on, Fraser!
(intense music)
(Fraser panting)
- [Simon] Ah, so cruel!
Finishing second in a two up break
always feels like a bitter pill to swallow.
But let's not beat around the bush here,
Fraser just got second in his first ever bike race.
in his first ever bike race.
Maybe triathletes can ride bikes.
Fraser, yes!
Well done, mate.
That was fantastic.
That was good fun.
- Flat out.
- Yeah.
- Hardest thing I've done in a long time.
- Fantastic, mate.
That is absolutely brilliant.
What a fairytale!
First bike race,
comes in there,
gets in the break,
just misses out,
but still you got to have something to work up.
What're you doing, mate?
- Trainers.
Couldn't run off the bikes.
Triathlon never dies.
- You are kidding me, right? - Got to go. Got to go.
- Seriously, Fraser.
This is when we have beers.
This is when we have beers!
- In all seriousness mate,
how was that?
- That was brutal,
You told me it was about 15 minutes,
and I looked at my watch at 15 minutes
after having gotten away at the little
break that you nudged me into.
And saw the sign on the lap board that said four laps to go
and my heart just sunk so I'm committed now
and I really have to go.
- Yeah. Sorry about that.
It's one of those circuits where
when you're off the front it's savage,
but yet you you get so caught up in
the energy of the wheels.
So I was feeling for you
dangling away out there.
But oh mate, that was absolutely cracking.
I think the thing is just knowing
when to attack, isn't it?
And knowing when to use your energy.
And then once you've got that gap,
then you just fully commit,
and you're engine was enough to pull you clear.
- Yeah and that's the stark difference from me,
'cause it was your literal nudge saying
'Look if you can,
have a go now.' And I could so I did,
and that was the elastic that broke,
and I think my lack of experience
wouldn't have known to go
at that point so teamwork.
- Yeah man, absolutely.
Just whatever you need, don't ask to do a triathlon mate,
that's not going to happen.
Alright if you're in the mood for another video right now,
then make sure you check out
the toughest triathlon in Scotland
which Fraser tackled up in
well that's pretty much been the most case
for all your work, isn't it? - Yeah, absolutely. Same runs.
- But just a lot harder.
- Yeah, well I think so.
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