Triathlete wanting to improve bike handling skills

[tskeltonpga]

wanting to improve bike handling skills

calling myself out...yes...I am a triathlete. I do consider myself safer/smarter than the average triathlete you see on the road...but I want to be better/safer/smarter

seeing as how I don't ride with big groups, I feel like I do miss out on the knowledge or riding with better riders...thus my reason for joining here.

i ride 4-5 days per week...3-4 tend to be on a trainer thanks to my work schedule...

tried searching on here...but was wondering if anyone had any insight/links/directions to point me in for improvement on road handling/skills?

thanks!

 

[Afrank]

One thing I would recommend is heading to a empty parking lot and practicing your cornering around lamps posts on a loop. Just take it easy as first and the more you do it the more comfortable you will start to feel taking the corners at faster speeds.

Some basic cornering tips:
When leaning in around a corner make sure your inner foot is at the top of your pedal stroke to ensure your pedal doesn't hit the pavement.
Press down with your outer foot around the corner while also pressing down with your inner hand. Put your weight on the outside pedal.
When approaching a corner, come wide into it, then pass close to the apex of it, and wide coming out. Make sure you aren't on the inside of the road when approaching the corner, because then you will come out of it wider. You want to keep a straight and even line throughout the corner.
Look where your going, keep your eyes focused on where you'll be coming out of the corner. Your body will follow that line.
Don't brake while in the corner, doing this can cause your back tire to skid.
Keep your body and bike in a straight line going through the corner.

As far as handling in groups goes, I would recommend finding some group rides in your area. Look for friendly and easy group rides to start. The more you ride with a group the more comfortable you'll become. Also look into riding with groups that will paceline and work on group riding skills.

Some group riding skills:
Make sure you are stable and aren't making any sudden moves.
Don't overlap others wheels (if they move over they could take you out).
Make sure to point out road hazards if you are at the front or anywhere else in the group. And make sure you are communicating other things, I.E. call out cars.
Be aware of all your surroundings, and control your speed. Make sure you don't brake suddenly as doing so could cause people behind you to hit your back wheel and go down.

To improve your handling even more once you get more comfortable on the road I would recommend cyclocross or mtb. As they can greatly help improve handling and technical skills overall.

And kudos to you for taking notes on what you need to work on and taking steps to improve those things.

 

[Boeing]

dont train in the aero bar position the damn time

 

[velotn]

One thing I would recommend is heading to a empty parking lot and practicing your cornering around lamps posts on a loop. Just take it easy as first and the more you do it the more comfortable you will start to feel taking the corners at faster speeds.

Some basic cornering tips:
When leaning in around a corner make sure your inner foot is at the top of your pedal stroke to ensure your pedal doesn't hit the pavement.
Press down with your outer foot around the corner while also pressing down with your inner hand. Put your weight on the outside pedal.
When approaching a corner, come wide into it, then pass close to the apex of it, and wide coming out. Make sure you aren't on the inside of the road when approaching the corner, because then you will come out of it wider. You want to keep a straight and even line throughout the corner.
Look where your going, keep your eyes focused on where you'll be coming out of the corner. Your body will follow that line.
Don't brake while in the corner, doing this can cause your back tire to skid.
Keep your body and bike in a straight line going through the corner.

As far as handling in groups goes, I would recommend finding some group rides in your area. Look for friendly and easy group rides to start. The more you ride with a group the more comfortable you'll become. Also look into riding with groups that will paceline and work on group riding skills.

Some group riding skills:
Make sure you are stable and aren't making any sudden moves.
Don't overlap others wheels (if they move over they could take you out).
Make sure to point out road hazards if you are at the front or anywhere else in the group. And make sure you are communicating other things, I.E. call out cars.
Be aware of all your surroundings, and control your speed. Make sure you don't brake suddenly as doing so could cause people behind you to hit your back wheel and go down.

To improve your handling even more once you get more comfortable on the road I would recommend cyclocross or mtb. As they can greatly help improve handling and technical skills overall.

And kudos to you for taking notes on what you need to work on and taking steps to improve those things.

Chapeau to you for a thoughtful answer.

Great advice on improving handling/technical skills, specifically the bolded. Ride as much as possible, it's all good.

 

[velotn]

One thing I would recommend is heading to a empty parking lot and practicing your cornering around lamps posts on a loop. Just take it easy as first and the more you do it the more comfortable you will start to feel taking the corners at faster speeds.

Some basic cornering tips:
When leaning in around a corner make sure your inner foot is at the top of your pedal stroke to ensure your pedal doesn't hit the pavement.
Press down with your outer foot around the corner while also pressing down with your inner hand. Put your weight on the outside pedal.
When approaching a corner, come wide into it, then pass close to the apex of it, and wide coming out. Make sure you aren't on the inside of the road when approaching the corner, because then you will come out of it wider. You want to keep a straight and even line throughout the corner.
Look where your going, keep your eyes focused on where you'll be coming out of the corner. Your body will follow that line.
Don't brake while in the corner, doing this can cause your back tire to skid.
Keep your body and bike in a straight line going through the corner.

As far as handling in groups goes, I would recommend finding some group rides in your area. Look for friendly and easy group rides to start. The more you ride with a group the more comfortable you'll become. Also look into riding with groups that will paceline and work on group riding skills.

Some group riding skills:
Make sure you are stable and aren't making any sudden moves.
Don't overlap others wheels (if they move over they could take you out).
Make sure to point out road hazards if you are at the front or anywhere else in the group. And make sure you are communicating other things, I.E. call out cars.
Be aware of all your surroundings, and control your speed. Make sure you don't brake suddenly as doing so could cause people behind you to hit your back wheel and go down.

To improve your handling even more once you get more comfortable on the road I would recommend cyclocross or mtb. As they can greatly help improve handling and technical skills overall.

And kudos to you for taking notes on what you need to work on and taking steps to improve those things.

Chapeau to Afrank for a thoughtful answer.

Good advice on improving handling/technical skill, specifically the bolded. Ride as much as possible. It's all good.

G

 

[tskeltonpga]

One thing I would recommend is heading to a empty parking lot and practicing your cornering around lamps posts on a loop. Just take it easy as first and the more you do it the more comfortable you will start to feel taking the corners at faster speeds.

Some basic cornering tips:
When leaning in around a corner make sure your inner foot is at the top of your pedal stroke to ensure your pedal doesn't hit the pavement.
Press down with your outer foot around the corner while also pressing down with your inner hand. Put your weight on the outside pedal.
When approaching a corner, come wide into it, then pass close to the apex of it, and wide coming out. Make sure you aren't on the inside of the road when approaching the corner, because then you will come out of it wider. You want to keep a straight and even line throughout the corner.
Look where your going, keep your eyes focused on where you'll be coming out of the corner. Your body will follow that line.
Don't brake while in the corner, doing this can cause your back tire to skid.
Keep your body and bike in a straight line going through the corner.

As far as handling in groups goes, I would recommend finding some group rides in your area. Look for friendly and easy group rides to start. The more you ride with a group the more comfortable you'll become. Also look into riding with groups that will paceline and work on group riding skills.

Some group riding skills:
Make sure you are stable and aren't making any sudden moves.
Don't overlap others wheels (if they move over they could take you out).
Make sure to point out road hazards if you are at the front or anywhere else in the group. And make sure you are communicating other things, I.E. call out cars.
Be aware of all your surroundings, and control your speed. Make sure you don't brake suddenly as doing so could cause people behind you to hit your back wheel and go down.

To improve your handling even more once you get more comfortable on the road I would recommend cyclocross or mtb. As they can greatly help improve handling and technical skills overall.

And kudos to you for taking notes on what you need to work on and taking steps to improve those things.

this is my 4th year riding now.

i learned my lesson about what foot should be down in a sharp turn the hard way. kind of scary when you start pedaling out of a corner and your pedal hits the ground.

i'd say the biggest thing i struggle with is holding a straight line. i thought about getting some rollers to ride on so that my indoor rides were focused on stability as well as just intervals.

worth it or not?

riding it groups i'm ok with...learned how to ride in a double pace line the other weekend with a group. would never ride in the aero bars in a group....but i feel like i waste tons of energy with little wobbles side to side constently.

 

[tskeltonpga]

dont train in the aero bar position the damn time

thanks...i'll be sure to take that in consideration

 

[tskeltonpga]

Chapeau to Afrank for a thoughtful answer.

Good advice on improving handling/technical skill, specifically the bolded. Ride as much as possible. It's all good.

G

would love to get a mtb but unfortunately down here at the coast, we don't have many good places to MTB.

 

[Afrank]

this is my 4th year riding now.

i learned my lesson about what foot should be down in a sharp turn the hard way. kind of scary when you start pedaling out of a corner and your pedal hits the ground.

i'd say the biggest thing i struggle with is holding a straight line. i thought about getting some rollers to ride on so that my indoor rides were focused on stability as well as just intervals.

worth it or not?

riding it groups i'm ok with...learned how to ride in a double pace line the other weekend with a group. would never ride in the aero bars in a group....but i feel like i waste tons of energy with little wobbles side to side constently.

I'd say rollers would be worth it. They can help your balance and help in holding a straight line. They personify riding out doors much better than a normal trainer does as well.

 

[fatsprintking]

I would second the rollers as a great way to develop confidence and balance. A lot of issues for triathletes bike handling comes from the fact that they are always riding in too big a gear and lack the ability to change direction quickly. Riding the rollers will do a lot for encouraging a smoother pedal stroke with a higher cadence.

The best way to develop group riding skills is to find a group of 6-8 riders and get them riding a rolling echelon (you might need to look up). This is the quickest way to develop confidence in riding with others but is mentally very intense when you first start as it requires a high level of concentration as you are constantly looking for the wheels and changing your position relative to the people in front and behind you. Once you have done a few sessions of these however you will find riding in a normal group very easy as you will have developed far more awareness of "space".

Another way to really improve your bike handling is to find a mate who is a good decender and follow he or she down a longish descent at a medium pace. This gives you an idea of lines and braking points and does a lot to increase confidence as you start to get the feel for good handling.

Another good drill with 2 or three other riders is to just ride in a pace line with turns that are just long enough to allow the previous rider to get back on the last wheel, where you concentrate on riding tight and get used to touching the other riders a little as you drop back. This is not a session ridden really hard but more a 60% deal where the aim is about neat form and bike handling. again your confidence will really increase after a couple of these sessions.

The last thing that will take you from being a person who rides a bike to someone who really knows how to handle their bike is to do some riding on the track. Motorpacing and pacelines on the track where you have no brakes and are on a fixed wheel teach you more about bike dynamics than a year of Sunday group rides will. Find where the nearest velodrome is to you and go and say hello - you will usually find trackies are pretty keen to show a genuine person how things are done.

All of the above is easy and really if you could find another couple of people who were keen to improve you could start doing these types of sessions straight away and you bike skills would have improved a huge amount in a couple of weeks.

 

[tskeltonpga]

thanks so much for all the advice! looks like we have a velodrome about 3 hours from here in rock hill SC. its outdoor and concrete. not sure that matters?

a few of my good training buddies all need bike handling improvement (shocker). i'm sure i can get them all in to work on this. i have to imagine time is wasted wiggling side to side for 2.5-5 hours.

as far as the rollers...any brands to avoid? found a good handful on ebay.

 

[TrackCynic]

Yep, get yourself to your local velodrome. There is nothing better to learn bike handling and riding in groups (close). It will also improve your pedaling form no end, using a fixed gear. Usually, you will do this under the instruction of a coach and/or mentor and they have rental bikes to hand.

Also, you'll go faster than you ever thought possible!

 

[ElChingon]

Buy a set of rollers, once you're up to using them sans side wall or support that will be enough

 

[BroDeal]

One solution is to join a club that still does old school bike handling practice, like riding on grass and bumping each other, and has a honch that will get on your case if you cannot hold your line or stand up without launching your bike backwards.

Cyclocross or mountain biking is probably the best way to learn how a bike handles in a huge variety of circumstances.

 

[sublimit]

I go with investing in a mountain bike and hitting trails/offroad once in a while.. It takes you out of your comfort zone and hence it should improve your confidence for bike handling once you resume the road riding.

 

[TheBean]

I agree with every suggestion mentioned : cornering advice, rollers, mountain bike, and track.

We used to have a good club party where we would drink plenty, then get on our road bikes for a game of "knock-down". As the name suggests, the object of the game is to avoid being knocked down while knocking down other riders. It's best to be sure everyone has had a few drinks, first.

The rules are pretty simple:

1. No ramming other riders

2. You have to keep both hands on the bars and both feet clipped in.

3. No agro nonsense

We played in a large mown field. Any field will do. We all agreed to the rules, first. As we played quite frequently, aliances were formed giving rise to the sport of team-knock-down.

The two accepted ways t topple a rider were to either come to an abrupt stop in front of another rider, forcing him to track-stand. Or, force a rider to turn sharper than they want by rubbing elbows and hogging his line.

Our speeds for this were about 5-10 mph tops with many stops and starts.

Not only did we have a fun time (it's a riot when everyone is drunk enough) but I can remember about three crashes I would have been in had it not been for my bike-handling skills learned playing knock-down.

 

[Boeing]

thanks...i'll be sure to take that in consideration

simple. training to go straight all the darn time wont help you corner.

 

[Michele]

I go with investing in a mountain bike and hitting trails/offroad once in a while.. It takes you out of your comfort zone and hence it should improve your confidence for bike handling once you resume the road riding.

I have some friends who come from mtb and they join weekly the group road ride and their skills aint so good in group.
You often see him in trouble with staying togheter with other guys shoulder to shoulder.

 

[VeloFidelis]

A few tips from an old guy who hasn't gone down in a long time... and that is not by happenstance:

Lose the tri-bars: The best way to sew the seeds of uncertainty about your riding skill and experience with a new group ride, is to show up with a pair, or worse still a full Tri/TT bike.

Watch, listen, and learn: Every group has it's methods of communication. Most are ubiquitous and universal, but some are specific and local. Sit in and watch to make sure you speak their language before you deign to pull through.

Never "half wheel"!... A rookie move at it's worst. Racing in a pack and training with a group are very different. A group works together to move efficiently. Your job riding next to another rider is to make sure that your hips, elbows and handlebars align with his. Should you bump each other (this can and should be practiced) you will bounce off each other and remain upright. If your half wheeling at that same moment, you're both going down.

Don't watch wheels: You need far more situational awareness than just the distance to the wheel you're following. Find a comfortable and efficient distance to that wheel. Look up!... focus on that riders body. Imprint on that distance and use it as the measure of your comfort zone. You will now be able to look up the road and see other concerns and aspects of the ride and the group dynamic, and intuitively understand and monitor when you are getting too close.

Drive a tractor trailer: When you do eventually get to pull through with your group two big rookie mistakes are, accelerating off the front, and pulling in too quickly after passing obstacles or slower riders. The former will disrupt the group and earn some grumbles if not epithets from behind, the latter will put somebody at the back in a perilous situation. When you are at the front, you're essentially driving a long tractor trailer. Keep it in mind and drive responsibly.

Exit Strategy: One thing too always keep in the back of your mind is an exit strategy. Should a squirrel attempt suicide in front of your paceline, things are going to happen quickly. Braking hard is generally your last and worst option. If the terrain off the shoulder is more inviting than the on coming traffic lane at any given moment, is a good thing to be aware of in a crisis situation.

Talk to me: Always ask about anything that you do not already know about how this particular group rides. The gain is twofold. Your understanding and general safety is insured, and you build more trust from, and acceptance by the group.

General rule: Your most important job on any group ride is to make sure that no other rider hits the pavement as a result of any action that you may take. It sounds simple, but it is the golden rule of group riding. If everyone in your group rides this way it promotes safety, communication, and establishes solid rider etiquette from which we all benefit.

 

[42x16ss]

One solution is to join a club that still does old school bike handling practice, like riding on grass and bumping each other, and has a honch that will get on your case if you cannot hold your line or stand up without launching your bike backwards.

This^^^

There are not enough riders around now who have done this type of thing. I saw a full blown pile up in a Masters B crit recently when someone freaked out and put their hand up heading in to a sprint finish because he didn't want to touch shoulders. A surprising amount of the guys in the race sympathised to some extent because they would have done the same thing.

Getting out on the grass and learning to bump shoulders and recover from a wheel touch is valuable training. It might not be as useful in a Tri as a Crit but it can come in handy heading into and out of the transition zone, or passing less confident riders out on the course.

This is one of the best articles I've read about getting into bunch riding:

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2011/09/the-lost-art-of-the-group-ride-2/

Some real pearls in there.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

this is my 4th year riding now.

i learned my lesson about what foot should be down in a sharp turn the hard way. kind of scary when you start pedaling out of a corner and your pedal hits the ground.

i'd say the biggest thing i struggle with is holding a straight line. i thought about getting some rollers to ride on so that my indoor rides were focused on stability as well as just intervals.

worth it or not?

riding it groups i'm ok with...learned how to ride in a double pace line the other weekend with a group. would never ride in the aero bars in a group....but i feel like i waste tons of energy with little wobbles side to side constently.

While all the advise so far has been excellent and would be beneficial, a lot of it has focused on group rides.

Your aim appears to be on maintaining a straight line and your schedule is limited.

You also stated you had no major difficulty in a recent paceline, which is great - so my guess (and I see it in a lot of riders who ride alone) is that you are over geared.
As posted above, by the aptly named 42x16, a simple way to work on technique is to ride in a small gear. There should be no movement or wobbling even while maintaining a high cadence. If you can find a road with a marking line that you can ride on all the better.

 

[Zorotheslacker]

...
as far as the rollers...any brands to avoid? found a good handful on ebay.

Kreitler are very well made. I like the Hot Dog version - 3" diameter. Bigger diameter rollers are easier to ride and also easier on the tires. Nothing wrong with bigger than 3". The Hot Dog version are narrow. They will be hard to learn to ride. It helps psychologically to put strips of electrical tape indicating the center. If you plan to keep up the Time Trial / Tri thing - DO stay down on the bars. Again hard to do. More speed is easier. So can be riding with no hands. Relax.
Try to stop and start without touching anything. Advanced is stop, jump off, jump on.

Ride on them looking in a mirror - in front of you.

I would bet if you do rollers 30 min 1-2 times a week - you will also get faster.

 

[42x16ss]

Tacx and Cycleops also make decent rollers as well. Riding on the rollers is an excellent way to improve core stability, slight imperfections in your balance will show and you'll have to use a biggish gear early while you get used to them. As Zoro just said, 30 mins a couple of times a week can really improve your pedalling and speed.

 

[King Boonen]

Mountain biking can do wonders for your handling but the only way it'll help with group riding is it'll make you slightly more likely to not go down if there is a crash. In reality, you want to be avoiding crashes in the first place.

I'd still recommend road-riders getting out on the trails though. A £400-500 bike, particularly at this time of year with the discounts on old models, is more than enough for most things you will throw at it.

Oh, and if you do get a mountain bike, get a hardtail.

 

[Zorotheslacker]

Mountain biking can do wonders for your handling but the only way it'll help with group riding is it'll make you slightly more likely to not go down if there is a crash. In reality, you want to be avoiding crashes in the first place.

I'd still recommend road-riders getting out on the trails though. A £400-500 bike, particularly at this time of year with the discounts on old models, is more than enough for most things you will throw at it.

Oh, and if you do get a mountain bike, get a hardtail.

No disputing handling on a mountain bike - but I am assuming the tri position will still be used. I think one can get very good at control on a MTB and still not so much when on the tri-bars (steering with hands vs. forearms). That is why rollers in the same position as you race seemed like a better way to go.

Tri position and bars on a MTB - now that would be something.