Teamwork with Jeremy Rudy

This tip of the week is all about teamwork. In the other tips of the week people have alluded to the important role of the team in road racing and crits (you're on your own in the time trial). Nathan, Daphne, Brent, Ross and others have also been talking about organizing your teams for the different race categories as the season approaches. In this tip I hope to bring the whole idea of teamwork together so you understand why and how you should work as a team and I hope to motivate you to do so.

First let me give you some background on myself. Some of you know me as I raced for HUCA during my junior and senior year at Harvard; I also held some leadership roles with the club at the time. I came to road racing from a mountain biking background and didn't realize how this whole teamwork thing worked or why. To me cycling had always been an individual sport, but all of that quickly changed as I started road racing. I guess I was selected to write the teamwork tip of the week because god knows I couldn't win a race without a team supporting me so that forces an understanding.

When it actually comes time to roll up to the start line 95% of your teamwork is completed and all that remains is execution over the duration of the race. By this I mean that racing together as a team starts long before the race ever does. Getting to know your teammates by riding with them is one of the most important aspects of working well as a team. Spending loads of time in the saddle with your teammates will almost naturally lead to a few things. First and foremost friendships will be formed; if you are spending 3-4 hours riding with a person 3-4 times a week you will form a bond. This bond is going to be the foundation for teamwork during the race. When you watch your friend and teammate cross the line in first place with one hand in the air (two will get you DQ'd) and you know you did everything you could to help him or her get there it is as good as winning the race yourself.

The second thing riding together LOTS will do is to teach you each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This become important for planning who the team will work for based on the layout of the course. If you know before the race who stands the best chance of ending up on the podium it makes it easier to unify as a team and work for that one individual. Ideally that individual should be protected throughout the race, until it is time for them to do what they do best (climb, sprint, time trial, etc.).

Third, riding together as a team will allow you to practice teamwork, and realize its benefits. On group rides of more than 2 people there comes a time when someone will undoubtedly attack the group. If the attacker rides for Harvard, teammates can practice riding at the front and slowing down the pace, chasing down individuals who try to bridge up and sitting on their wheels, and generally disrupting the pursuit of their teammate up the road.

If the attacker rides for another club, through teamwork the Harvard riders can work together to catch the attack and launch their own counter attack. Pacelining and taking short (5-10 second) , intense pulls can quickly close almost any gap. Then once the rider has been caught, one or two of the Harvard riders who are feeling fresh can counter and others can block. If all the people in the group pursued individually they would most likely fail, and if they did succeed they each would have spent so much energy that they would blow up shortly after.

Scenarios such as this will automatically get you working as a team and showing you the benefits, so that once race time rolls around everything is second nature. By the end of the race there isn't much spare O2 to come up with a brilliant plan and choreograph everyone to execute that plan, so you need to instinctively know what to do. That comes with practice.

Now that you have been training as a team and feel that you can tell exactly what the other team members are thinking you are ready to put you team to work. Before the race the team should pre-ride or drive the course (depending on logistics). In doing this keep an eye out for key landmarks, dangerous spots (where you want to be near the front of the field to limit your chance of being caught in a crash), places to attack and whittle the field down, and determine which riders the course suits. Before race time the team should get together and formulate a race plan based on your pre-ride and who is feeling like they have winning legs (this is a time for honesty not heroes). Develop your plan around that person, but also remember that racing situations require flexibility, so be prepared either with a back up plan or be prepared to come up with something during the course of the race. This is where it helps to have a team captain to lead the team out on the road. The team captain doesn't need to be the person for whom the team is working that day, just someone to keep things in order and make sure the individuals are doing there jobs.

A plan might sound something like the following:
'The race is 4 laps of a 10-mile course with undulating terrain, no real corners or climbs to break things up, and a 1-mile straightaway to the finish. We expect the race to come down to a field sprint, unless a breakaway sticks. Our game plan will be to cover all the breaks (try to get a rider in each likely breakaway). If a Harvard rider gets in a break that sticks and the odds look to be in Harvard’s favor (e.g. he or she is one of less than a dozen riders and is looking strong), the others will block (as discussed above). If we miss a break, then the team will paceline to bring it back. In the event of a sprint finish, we will form a train with a mile to go. Our time trial expert will lead us out over the first three quarters of a mile, then rider #2 will come around for the next 300 yards. Rider #3 is our sprinter (who will have done little or no work to this point) and Rider #4 is a dummy (will ride on the sprinter’s wheels as though 4 is the sprinter, but who will sag off the wheel at a critical moment, making it difficult for other teams to take advantage of our train’s hard work.'

Of course the time trialist may flat, and the sprinter may get dropped, so you have to be ready to improvise. Having a team captain who knows people’s strengths greatly helps.

Finally, come race time carry out your plan to the best of the teams ability. I know I said that road racing requires flexibility, but once the critical moment comes you must make your move and commit to it 100%. It is better to commit completely and not win than to hesitate and never know. For example, if you plan to attack with 2 laps to go attack and give it everything, you’ve got, make sure you leave nothing in the tank. Even if you think you should save something for a sprint in case the field catches you, don't. Trust that your teammates will do their part to block as best they can, and that they will set up for the field sprint.

In conclusion, get to know your teammates to the point where you desire that they win as much as you do, or even better that you just want the team to win.

GOOD LUCK
-Jeremey