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Last Updated: 2 Apr 2018 - 8:45:17 PM |
Dear irishcycling.com
I read with great interest the words of wisdom from Paddy Doran in his recent article "IMPROVE YOUR WINNING TACTICS".
Paddy is one of our best coaches, and I was fortunate to have spent a season working with him as a junior on the national squad in the late 80s. Off the foundations and mentoring I received from Paddy I also enjoyed a successful few years as a senior rider. As a rider, I was never naturally gifted, but always rode aggressively with a "make the break or blow up trying" sort of attitude. Which is what prompted me to write in after reading Paddy's article.
Now, as I approach my Vet years, after a few lean years on the bike (and a few not-so-lean years on the waist) I'm back racing at A3 level. While it is great to be back competing and enjoying levels of fitness I haven't had for a few years, I must admit to getting frustrated at the style of racing in the A3 bunch. At times, it can be very negative, with lots of lads not really willing to give a real dig when they try to go clear.
As Paddy says, its more a jump than a break. Then there are lads in the bunch who are very happy to jump onto every rider who jumps over the top. It all makes for quite frustrating racing, and the pace, in my experience, has ended up quite pedestrian. I'm not fit enough yet to ride the A1/A2 races in anything but the sub-40 mile races or handicaps (which I plan on doing to raise my own levels of speed) but I certainly don't see any reason why the A3 and A4 races couldn't be ridden with the same gusto.
Which comes to the main point of my note: how could we build in more aggressive racing into the A3 and A4 races? Apart from the lads really having it in the gut to want to ride hard, one solution could be for promoting clubs to offer a "Most Aggressive Rider" prize at each race. This would go to the person who shows the most persistent efforts off the front.
Personally I would rather see one less prize given out from the standard first 6 or 8,and that prize money being allocated to this award. It would certainly offer an incentive for lads to give a proper dig when they are trying to get away, and to keep trying until the elastic breaks. It would also stretch the race out a lot more, making it easier to pick out numbers on the line in all these bunch sprints we are seeing, and should also reduce the number of crashes.
Food for thought for the promoting clubs. In the meantime, to the lads in the A3 and A4 races, come on, lets be a bit more like Thomas Voeckler or Phillipe Gilbert and less like Mark Cavendish.
Regards
Dave Smyth
Naas Cycling Club
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