The Suitcase of Courage Simulating attacks, breakaways, lead-outs and sprints in an indoor cycling class

By Jennifer Sage Master Instructor, Team Spinning International http://funhogspins.blogspot.com

I’ve taught many different stages of the or other stage races in my Spinning classes, and have also taught many instructors how to teach them. But the most perplexing aspect of simulating a race profile is how to cue attacks, breakaways, lead-outs and true sprints in a way that realistically simulates how they are used in an actual bike race.

I understand that many of our students may not be cyclists, nor do many of them follow the Tour de France or other bike races. But I’ve also turned on many instructors as well as students to the excitement of these bike races; now they are avid fans! The first time you watch any sport, if you don’t know the strategy behind it, you won’t understand what’s going on. This is very true for stage races, because it’s not as simple as the “fastest” guy wins.

The title of this ride comes from a colorful metaphor used by Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen, the announcers of many cycling races such as the Tour de France, on Versus television. They describe bicycle racers as having to possess a “suitcase of courage” in order to race in the Tour de France. In my profile, I’ll sprinkle numerous other fun expressions and metaphors that they use in their commentary.

More “Phil Liggestisms, Paul Sherwenisms and Bob Rollisms” as I like to call them, are available on my blog at the following links: http://funhogspins.blogspot.com/2008/06/tour-de-france-spinning-racing-lingo.html http://funhogspins.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-creative-verbiage-phil-liggetisms.html

Strategy of attacks and breakaways The strongest teams in a bike race have a rider who is designated as the “team leader”. Phil and Paul refer to these men as the “Heads of State”. The rest of the riders on the team are designated as “” (servants). They usually have their specialties; some are better climbers, some sprinters, some are time trial specialists, some are just very strong all-around domestiques, not strong enough to win the whole race, but they are there to help the team, and may win a stage occasionally.

It is possible to win the Tour de France without ever winning a stage; what’s more important is to be as high up in the “GC” (General Classification) as possible, with a lower overall time than any other rider.

Attacks: when a rider makes a sudden acceleration to pull away from a group of riders. It’s not a sprint – it’s a strong acceleration. (A true sprint has only one purpose – to beat someone else across the finish line at the end of the stage). His purpose may be to actually breakaway and try to win the stage, but sometimes the purpose may be to simply tire out the other riders, or to just taunt them to see if they’ll bite and counterattack. Counterattack: when a rider responds to an attack and closes the gap. An aggressive group of riders might be launching attack after attack with the goal of fatiguing one particular rider (usually the one highest up in the GC). Team leaders may send out domestiques on “attack” missions to chase down other riders and wear them down. Another reason a team leader may send a ahead in a breakaway is to make sure that when the peleton does reel that breakaway in (many breakaways are not successful in winning the stage), then the leader will know he has a teammate up there to help him in case it’s needed as they get closer to the finish line.

Attacks can occur anywhere, but the attacking rider tries to time it when it is least expected. This often occurs on steep sections of climbs. Remember, a 200km stage will take many hours to finish, so there is a lot of “down” time during the stage; they are looking for that moment of inattention by other riders.

On TV, an icon on the screen indicates the various breakaway groups and the distances between them. The first group is labeled “breakaway” and the successive ones are labeled “chase group 1”, “chase group 2”, and so on. Then will come the peleton, which also might splinter into two or more groups, especially on mountainous stages.

Cycling etiquette dictates when it is inappropriate to attack: when a rider high up in the GC is taking a “nature break”, if the peleton is stopped at a train crossing, when a rider crashes or falls - in fact, they’ll often slow down to let the rider(s) in question catch up to where he was at the time of the fall or train stop, especially if it’s someone high up in the GC. And no one attacks the yellow jersey on the final day into Paris for the TDF. Not following these unwritten rules may lead to a rider being shunned by the peleton in this, and other races. Not a good idea, because cyclists never forget…

When does the peleton respond to a breakaway and why, or why not? Sometimes there is a breakaway and the peleton simply lets them go, with no desire to chase them down. Other times, they will increase the pace to try to “reel in” the breakaway, or send out domestiques to catch up to them and slow them down by attacking further and tiring them out. It all depends on who is in that breakaway group.

If that breakaway group contains riders who are not a threat to the “Heads of State”, the peleton is likely to let them go without a response. In other words, those breakaway riders may be so far down in the GC (e.g. 20 or 30+ minutes down) that even if they won the stage it wouldn’t hurt the leaders’ chances, whereas chasing them would require wasting energy.

However, if the breakaway group contains a rider or riders who are a threat to the Heads of State (for example, they are within 5-10 minutes of the leader in the GC) then to let them go without a response could be risky and they could risk losing their time advantage. They always have to balance their own level of fatigue, and the need to save their own energy for strategic places in that stage, or upcoming more difficult stages (such as time trials or big mountains).

Who goes on the counterattack? It’s not usually the Heads of State, although sometimes you’ll see them on a hunt if they feel really threatened, or if it’s in the final few kilometers of the stage or last few days of the race. It’s always exciting to see a “Head of State” attack – it almost always raises the stakes in the race!

Usually domestiques are sent to chase down the breakaway group. Or, the team that has the most to lose (often the one defending the yellow jersey) will increase the pace in the peleton. This can be formidable to watch. They don’t “attack” per se, they just crush the rest of the peleton by increasing to a relentless pace. Usually they will set up a paceline at the head of the peleton. One rider on that team may set the pace for as long as 10-20 minutes before peeling away for the next rider to take over.

For years, we saw this with ’s teams, US Postal and then Discovery Channel. They were given the name “the Blue Train” for their ability to set a searing pace at the front of the peleton. Another amazing example was at last year’s 2008 Tour de France, Team CSC (now Team Saxo Bank) was often setting the pace to protect their team leader, Frank Schleck, who wore the yellow jersey for several stages. Two incredibly strong riders on the team, and were like locomotives, setting a blistering pace, never letting up and breaking the spirits, legs and lungs of the rest of the peleton. When there was a breakaway that needed to be hunted down, it was almost inevitable that Team CSC was the one closing the gap.

Often attacks are made by unknown riders that are trying to make a name for themselves. They may just be looking for their 15 minutes of fame, or perhaps to be awarded the “Most Aggressive Rider” title for that stage. Sometimes there’s another compelling personal reason for wanting to win the stage – it could be a rider who grew up in the arrival village and in the case of the Tour de France, on the 14th of July, a Frenchman always wants that extra glory of winning on his country’s independence day!

Unfortunately, few breakaways succeed, but when they do, it is very exciting and will be talked about for years (if not decades) to come.

Most of the time however, the peleton inches its way closer, like a relentless, advancing army. Motorcycles indicate to the riders in each group how close the peleton or chase groups are by writing it on a small blackboard and holding it up for them to see. You may see their lead shrink from 8 minutes, to 5:30 to 3:15 to 1:25, etc. You can see the consternation on the faces of the riders in the breakaway group. Do they still have time before the finish line? Can they maintain this pace? Or will they be swallowed up by the peleton?

It is usually the latter. The breakaway can sense the approaching peleton even before they can see or hear them, and when they do see them, it is a formidable sight. Most often they simply give up, but occasionally you see riders in a breakaway making another attempt at maintaining their lead, but it is usually in vain and they are “reeled in”. This is heartbreaking to watch, especially when it happens within a few kilometers of the finish, but it is a big part of cycling strategy.

The sight of the peleton enveloping the breakaway is amazing; it’s like an amorphous shape engulfing its prey. Or, sometimes the breakaway riders simply slip to the side to let the peleton march by, especially if it has its mind set on another breakaway group further up the road. To “resist arrest” would mean certain death (such as fatiguing themselves so much they can’t continue the race).

Intermediate sprints: sprint points scattered throughout the route, often in the middle of villages. The purpose of these intermediate sprints is to award sprint points (that go towards the green jersey), but their secondary goal is to increase the excitement for the viewers. These intermediate sprints often come with “primes” (cash or prizes) awarded by sponsors to the first one across the intermediate sprint line. To be honest, these intermediate sprints are often not contested as a true all-out sprint, because no one wants to deplete himself that much before the finish of the stage.

Lead outs and sprints Many of the stages with long flat endings will result in a mass sprint finish. In this case, most teams have a sprint specialist who will be maneuvering for position. A true sprint effort can only be maintained at this level for about 12-15 seconds, so a team’s goal is to get their sprinter towards the front in the final two kilometers. One rider is designated as the “lead-out” rider who pulls the sprinter and sets a strong pace, sheltering the sprinter behind him. The leadout rider jockeys for position, truly suffering in a deep state of O2 deprivation, until the precise moment when the sprinter will take over. The lead-out pulls to the side, almost catapulting the sprinter, whose margin at the finish line may only a few millimeters (as was the case in this year’s Tour of , where Team Colombia-Highroad’s beat by three millimeters in stage four).

It’s hard to know which is more painful, the anaerobic effort of the leadout rider, which may endure several minutes, or the intense, explosive all-out effort of the sprinter, which “only” endures 12-15 seconds but is one of athleticisms most beautiful and difficult skills.

It’s also important to know that if a bunch sprint finish is expected, sprinters will usually not be asked to help out in pacelines or breakaways during the stage. Instead, sprinters tend to tuck themselves in the middle of the peleton, taking advantage of the draft and conserving energy.

The best sprinters in the world often have the biggest egos of all the cyclists. But they have a specialized skill that few others possess, and their self-confidence helps makes the difference in a race that can be won by millimeters and by milliseconds!

Sprinters only have a handful of stages in a stage race where they can expect to claim their prize. If a breakaway occurs that is successful, it is as if the sprinters have been robbed of their opportunity for glory. In this case, they will simply cross the line with the peleton and save their energy for another day. No one is dumb enough to sprint for 80th place!

References: • For information on how to simulate the Tour de France at your facility, click here to download: http://www.mediafire.com/?tugc4yrytjf. • Or go to my blog at http://funhogspins.blogspot.com, click on Tour de France under labels on the left, and scroll all the way through (to early June 2008) for lots of tips on the various types of stages in the TDF. There will be more for the 2009 Tour de France. The June 15th 2008 post has links to the document on simulating the TDF at your club. There are several posts on attacks, breakaways, and time trials, as well as many on mountain stages. • Wikipedia, on Cycling sprinters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_sprinter • An article on a lead-out in the 2009: http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2009/feb09/california09/?id=/news/2009/feb09/feb18news 3

Note: I use the pronoun “he” in all my descriptions, but you should know that there are also women’s stage races with very talented female cyclists. They aren’t as well known and don’t get television coverage, but a women’s Tour de France was inaugurated in 1984 and has been run 11 times. Lack of sponsors has canceled it since 2003. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/235677.html)

On my blog, there are many posts from last year’s Tour de France. Here are 37 of them you can scroll through: http://funhogspins.blogspot.com/search/label/Tour%20de%20France

Make sure to check back during this year’s Tour, as I will most likely be posting additional profiles from this year’s stages. The Suitcase of Courage Attacks, breakaways, lead-outs and sprints in a stage of the Tour de France

By Jennifer Sage Master Instructor, Team Spinning International and Tour de France addict…

This is an example of a profile from the 2008 Tour de France. (Another example of a profile from the Tour of California that I have used for a similar ride is at the end of this document). For this particular profile, I wanted a fairly flat finish, with some rolling hills, and a few semi- challenging climbs where I could stage some attacks.

Music Playlist (song title/artist/cd -if available/song length): J'aurais Bien Voulu, Babylon Circus, Dances of Resistance (3:22) Encore Une Fois (Blunt Radio Edit), Sash, Electronica (Full-On Big Beats) (3:45) Je Taime (Feat. Nicole Roux) , Armand Van Helden (7:19) Desenchantee, Kate Ryan, (3:41) Desire (Hollywood Remix), U2, Grapes (5:22) The Millenium Bell, Mike Oldfield (7:22) Salva Mea, Faithless, Reverence (10:47) All Season (FREq Slow Fat Remix), Frogacult, Frogacult (FREq All Season Rmxs) (5:12) Ça plane pour moi (Original 1977 Version), Plastic Bertrand (3:02) Ne Cedez Jamais, Angelique Kidjo, Black Ivory Soul (3:57) Ma Liberté de Penser, Florent Pagny 3:54

Note that I don’t often refer to a specific rider for several reasons. To many of our students, these names mean nothing. A few years ago, when Lance Armstrong was reigning at the Tour, it was easy to throw out names they might have heard of before. During the years of 2006-08, not having Lance and Team Discovery (and the fall from grace of many riders due to doping allegations) made it less likely that rider’s names would be recognized. With Lance Armstrong and Team Astana in the Giro d’Italia and this year’s 2009 Tour de France, it will be easier to designate specific riders if you feel like doing so. (You can get all the teams and riders’ names from the TDF website www.letour.com)

However, I do refer to several riders in this particular profile, Jens Voigt and Fabian Cancellara. This is because in last year’s Tour de France, Team CSC (now Team Saxo Bank) exhibited astounding teamwork in support of its leader and sprinter. Two of those heroes were these two men, and TDF announcers were in awe of their ability to drive the pace at the front of the peleton.

There is a lot of commentary during this ride. You can choose to minimize this if you want. But if you’re going to talk a lot as if you’re the TV commentary, you obviously have to limit your own intensity, and “fake” your effort! I will often start the attacks out of the saddle, then sit back and urge them to continue for a while. Otherwise I couldn’t coach and describe the scene effectively if I am breathing as hard as they are.

Disclaimer: this is a physically challenging ride, especially if students choose to take part in all the attacks and the sprint finish. Qualify the effort required of your students. Encourage newbies or the less fit to “stay in the peleton” (to wear the “invisibility cloak”). For those who are eager, able and ready to go hard – this will be a well-deserved effort – and a lot of fun. And of course, encourage recovery the following day. Remember, we’re not training elite cyclists who can do this day after day (who, by the way, know the importance of recovery, and will ride some stages completely in their aerobic zone, and will take a much deserved rest following the race.)

The Suitcase of Courage Ride

Note: quotes used from Phil Ligget/Paul Sherwen/ are in italics, taken from their commentary over many Tours I’ve watched. You can choose to use some of these as needed if you feel comfortable, or make up your own. (See the accompanying pdf on TDF commentary for additional ones). It’s always a good idea to watch any Tour de France stage with a pen and paper handy to write down clever new ones they come up with!

Also note that every time I do this ride, the # of riders in the breakaways and the # of breakaways that occur will always be different. I let it come out as it happens, relying on my own instinct. You can change this as you see fit, or write out a specific # of breakaways and riders, until you feel comfortable enough to announce the race as it happens in your mind.

While leading this ride, I wore a yellow jersey on stage, and occasionally referred to what the yellow jersey was doing during this stage, and what was important to me (as the GC leader) and my team. The yellow jersey team will be out to defend the jersey, making sure their team leader doesn’t lose any time. They will be hunting down breakaways that contain riders fairly high up in the GC who are a threat to the leader.

I had a satchel that I held up to the class. “You think this is just a messenger bag? No, this is a very important bag. This is the ‘Suitcase of Courage’ and every one of you would be wise to carry one with you. In it you will want to store extra dosages of courage to pull out when you need it most. There’s also a few other items in there that you will need during today’s stage.”

If you want to do well in the Tour de France, you must ride with courage. You have got to ride with determination.

Today’s stage is 190 km, with some rolling hills early on, a couple of challenging climbs 2/3 of the way through, though not as daunting as you encountered in the Pyrénées a few days ago. It finishes on a flat note. The nature of the course is perfect for aggressive riders trying to make a name for themselves, and will most likely be filled with numerous attacks and breakaways. This stage could easily be won by an astute breakaway, or, depending on how good the peleton is at reeling in those breakaways, it could also end up as a bunch sprint. That is, IF the sprinters don’t fatigue too much on the climbs. As you know, sprinters abhor the mountains! So this stage is rife with opportunities.”

Warm up: Songs #1 & 2 - J’aurais Bien Voulu, Encore Une Fois I describe the profile and the above scenario during the first two songs as we warm up. I tell them that I’m going to be describing the race as if I’m a TV announcer, going back and forth from the breakaway groups to the peleton. As a rider, they have a choice. They can decide to take it easy and ride in the shelter of the peleton, avoiding any aggressive attacks and/or the sprint at the finish. Or, they can decide to be a part of any or all of the attacks. As we move back and forth between the different groups (like the TV coverage would), they can “change” and become a different rider. In other words, I’m not asking them to be one specific rider, because so much will be happening in this ride, they have the choice to participate or not.

Song # 3: Je Taime Early in the stage are some gradual climbs. The peleton is glancing around; will there be an attack? They aren’t foolish, they know this is a good place for an opportunist to take advantage. And sure enough, just as the road gets steep, a few minutes into the climb, “Attack! Attack!”

[I stand up and “attack”, inviting those that want to come with me to do so. This is how all the attacks are offered during this ride – as options.]

One rider stands up and increases the pace. Three other riders jump on his wheel. They put their heads down and continue for about a minute and a half. They can’t continue that pace forever; it’s still very early and they can’t expend too much energy at the beginning. So they convene and assess – there are 4 of them, and all they need to do is be slightly faster than the peleton for the remainder of the stage.

They’re in a little bit of an O2 debt because of that acceleration.

The four riders must work together to increase their lead, so they work in a paceline on a hill, with 8-15 second pulls in the front, standing up for a brief 4-6 seconds to overcome the gear and hill. Then they pull off to the back for a brief recovery. They work hard as a team for several minutes like this, until satisfied that they have pulled away from the peleton.

They are going to release their anger on this climb!

Back to the peleton: the Heads of State didn’t feel anyone of importance was in that group, so no one launched a counterattack….they may regret this later. They continued climb at a moderate pace to the top.

Song #4: Desenchantée Back to fairly flat roads. The breakaway must continue to work together in a paceline, following the tenet that “none of us is as fast as all of us.” I have divided the class into 4 groups and proceed to have them ride in a paceline, with each one taking turns at the front, pulling the others. (On the flat, 15-30 second pulls at the front. When they aren’t in front, they are drafting, “recovering.” There’s a description of pacelines both in the TDF handbook and in my blog).

Song #5: Desire (The paceline continues into this song. )

I occasionally go back to the peleton, describing how many of these riders are conserving their energy, or recovering from the hard mountains – the riders in the class have a choice to take it easy if they want to. In fact, they reach into their “Suitcase of Courage” and pull out their “Invisibility Cloak” (a la Harry Potter), wrapping it around themselves when they want to be incognito.

The lead group is filled with hope. The motorcycle indicates they have almost 8 minutes on the peleton. They decide to amp up their pace just a little, with great hope for a stage win. Just like this song says, a rider must be filled with “Desire” if he is to excel at a stage race. They know the big climb is ahead, and in order not to lose too much time on that climb, they want to gain more time now. It’s a painful effort, but pain is a part of riding in the TDF.

Song #6: The Millenium Bell A fun, energetic song. A good time for the lead group to pick up the pace a bit. But other riders in the peleton have designs of their own…

Attack! Attack! (The song Millenium Bell has numerous breaks in the music where the energy surges – perfect for an attack or counterattack). Several riders have jumped on the wheel, making a chase group of 5 riders. Two riders from (’s team) have been sent on this breakaway with the sole purpose of fatiguing the attacking rider – he is too much of a threat to Basso.

During this song, these two riders take turns attacking and counterattacking. One will stand and pull away for 10-15 seconds, then ease up. The other riders have no choice but to go with him (otherwise he may see an opportunity to breakaway by himself). Then anywhere from 30- 60 seconds later, the other Liquigas rider will attack. These counterattacks continue throughout this song, like a machine gun.

But the biggest climb is approaching, and the riders know they must settle down and at least try to work together to make it over this climb.

Song #7: Salva Mea (A fabulous long song for rolling hills and attacks on a hill, with numerous tempo breaks in the song.) Go back and forth a few times between the various groups during this next song. At the start of the song, I describe the chase group of 5 riders. They reach the hill (seated). Some of the riders haven’t been pulling their weight in the paceline, a few are discussing that they might have a better chance for success in a smaller group. So when the others are distracted….

They ATTACK!

(This happens at minute 2:26 in the song when the tempo takes off. Use the first two minutes to describe the suspense prior to the attack, then use the energy of the song to accelerate up this hill in a standing climb). I have them climb standing until 3:10 (tempo change) and then sit down and drive from the saddle - hard. There are 3 of them – all strong & experienced riders, all potential stage winners. The two Liquigas riders who attacked so hard earlier are losing steam and dropping back.

They are discouraged, knowing the peleton is approaching, but not knowing how close they are. So they continue to climb, trying to minimize the damage….

Everyone is riding into his own personal purgatory.

At 4:00, when the tempo slows, I go back to the peleton with Jens Voigt at the front. His team has set him at the front, as the locomotive, leading the calvary. He puts his head down and drives with a purpose.

Where does he fill it up with petrol? Because he just doesn’t run out of energy! He is breaking the spirit of every other rider in this peleton.

There’s a lot of pain being dished out here.

They are climbing seated, but very concerted. Many in the rest of the peleton are wondering if they can keep this up; some drop to the back. The peleton might even splinter into several groups as a result of this concerted effort. Stragglers begin to fall off the back….

The pelton has been split asunder!

Slowly but surely, the peleton starts to make up ground.

The front of the pack is driving in self-destruct mode. Look at the acceleration that’s going on here – the hammer has really come down!

I pull out another prop from my “suitcase of courage.” It is a pendulum that I wave back and forth as they are climbing. The ‘pendulum of pain’ is another favorite metaphor of Liggett and Sherwen.

The ‘pendulum of pain’ is swinging in their direction now. Every rider is in about the same amount of suffering.

In cycling, the pain bank must be full before you can start drawing interest. And in the mountains, you better be ready to make withdrawals.

At 8:28 the song tempo picks up again. Now I go to the chase group. They are energized, and rise back out of the saddle. They know they are gaining on the lead group, and they also know they are better climbers and descenders. Now’s the time to make up that gap, they must dig deep into their reserves. So they continue to drive…

Bridge to engine room: more power please!

At 9:42 the song slows again. Go back to the lead group of 4 riders. They are starting to despair. They’ve lost their edge and the pain of the effort has taken over their movements. The song gets moody at the end – use it to describe the somber mood of this lead group…But the rider with the King of the Mountain jersey is in this group – and he is hungry for those KOM points at the top of this climb. So he reaches deep inside for his motivation.

He’s ridden into the abyss of a lactic acid crippling haze! The legs are unwilling, the mind is turned off…

They look to be in a spot of a bother at this moment…

Review: this is a long song, and we go back and forth between the groups. The chase group has split into two, with a very determined group of 3 attacking and breaking away, the remaining 2 are discouraged and will soon get swallowed up by the peleton. The small lead group is dwindling in energy and confidence as well; the peleton has gained energy, drive & determination and has stepped on the gas. This climb should be suspenseful, not knowing what lays ahead in the downhill and flats. At the top, our KOM rider gets his points, but he has squeezed every ounce of his abilities in order to do so…he knows it won’t be long until he can no longer put out the effort …

Before the peleton reaches the top, they engulf those two lone riders who dropped off the chase group…

Song #8 All Seasons Descent time: pick up cadence, reduce resistance and ride “downhill” in a big gear. Describe how dangerous the descents are, that you cannot let your attention wander even for a millisecond. Many of the riders in the peleton must completely trust the front riders and trust their instincts. They often can’t even see what’s ahead.

Once on the flat, the pelleton edges closer and closer to the remainder of the chase group. The three riders see them approaching and resign to defeat. The peleton doesn’t even look at the riders as they pass; they “have bigger fish to fry” on ahead.

The lead group still has three riders bent on trying to win the stage, the KOM has dropped back and it only a matter of time until he is reeled in as well. For the lead riders, their only hope is that the peleton isn’t too close…can they hold this effort until the finish line? They step up their efforts, what little is remaining, continuing to work together and riding with purpose. Can they regroup into a cohesive unit? Are they too fatigued?

Back to the peleton. Fabian Cancellara at the front now. He is the firepower leading the brigade at the moment, in full battle cry. Jens Voigt led up most of the hill, completely depleted himself for the sake of the team, and has relinquished the lead. He is now way in the back of the peleton, his job for the day completed.

Cancellara’s got legs of steel, nothing gets in his way. I don’t know where he purchased those legs on the way up that last climb, because no one seems as fresh as he does!

All cylinders are firing at full capacity right now.

The peleton can smell its prey and is relentless in its pace. They have one thought in mind – to overtake them. Sprinters are starting salivate, as they realize they have their opportunity for glory. Only one more group ahead, and all signs indicate they will overtake them a few kilometers before the finish. [Note: ask your students to decide whether they want to be a leadout rider or the sprinter. Explain the role of each. The leadouts work harder, the sprinters go out in a burst of glory - they can’t be both. Remind them they can still choose to be back in the peleton].

The lead-out riders start to organize towards the front of the peleton….

Back at the two leaders: Motorcycles indicate their lead has fallen to less than a minute! Oh how that deflates their spirit! They can sense the peleton approaching before they see them. They keep throwing furtive glances behind them, but “wishing them away” won’t work. Their tanks are empty now, but no amount of pushing harder can thwart a peleton with one goal in mind – reeling in this group of riders.

Shortly after, the peleton engulfs them, and that’s all she wrote…

Song #9 Ca Plane Pour Moi Note: this song is short – only 3 minutes; the organization of the sprinters into place must take place quickly. Finish talking about the approach of the peleton before the previous song ends, leaving most of this final song to organize the sprinters and lead-outs.

Two minutes before the end of the song, lead-out riders are maneuvering with their sprinters in tow, trying to get to a choice spot near the front of the peleton. Who will win this stage?

One and a half minutes before the end of the song the leadouts surge ahead, in a very anaerobic effort. In the words of Phil Ligget regarding the lead-out riders:

You’ve got to hurt your body as long as possible. You’ve got a job to do – you have a sprinter behind you. You go and go until you can’t go anymore, then peel off and leave it up to the sprinter.

Know your music perfectly…with 20-25 seconds to go…the leadouts pull off to the side, and the sprinters are catapulted ahead, standing up for 3-5 seconds to overcome the big gear and increase leg speed, then sit down to the finish line (assuming you’ve already educated them on how to do a sprint properly - a high performance effort with resistance. If their feet are flailing at 120-140 rpm, they LOST the sprint and LOST the stage win!)

As Phil Ligget says regarding the sprinters: They’ll kick in the turbo, open the nitrogen, and BOOM!

Everyone crosses the finish line with his hands in the air or with their own personal sign of exultation. Some sprinters point to the sky with one finger, some pat their chest with one or two hands, some make the sign of the cross (especially the Catholic Spanish and Italians)! Who won? Every one of your students did!

To be honest, no one really cares who “won” in a ride like this! They have such a fun time in this class, they know all along they are the yellow jersey, the domestique, the aggressive young rider trying to make a name for himself by attacking, the rider simply hanging on for dear life in the middle of the peleton until the end of the race, the lead-out, the sprinter, the winner AND the loser all wrapped up in one.

Cool-down and stretch.

The

Here is a stage profile I took from stage 3 of this year’s Tour of California that I did with my class as I was preparing the Suitcase of Courage ride.

This profile lends itself very well to a ride like the one just presented. It has challenging climbs, many opportunities for attacks, breakaways, pacelines, and a long flat run out guaranteeing a bunch sprint finish.

You can go to the Amgen tour of California website to download the stage profiles: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/