Speed Secrets

By Maynard Hershon

Click here for the Maynard Page on Planet Ultra!

Each lap of the first Redlands road stage, the 220-man Pro field dropped down a 50mph descent on a wide avenue. At the bottom, all 220 funneled through a 90-degree corner onto a narrow street, still going 35 or 40. No one fell.

Those pros were riding way fast. They rode way fast for miles and miles. They flew around rough-surfaced corners elbow to elbow. They bumped each other, banging handlebars, 220 guys in a tight group. Most of us can't do those things. How can they?

They're relaxed on their bikes. It really works. Everything we do, we do better relaxed. Relax and suddenly you're a better cyclist.

Relax and your bike will handle better. It needs direction, not micro-control. Just suggest to it what you'd like it to do, and it will do it.

You bought a fine bike. Trust it. Let it do what it's designed to do. Beyond the minimum, control effort is not only wasted, it defeats its purpose.

Your bike responds best to you when you're confident, when you trust it and yourself. In contrast, it knows when you're nervous. It reacts badly when you death-grip your bars, muscle your steering and stiffen your legs.

Your bike wants to glide down the road, turn smoothly and respond easily to road irregularities. If you're tense, you keep it from doing its job.

When you overcontrol it, it refuses to track straight. It zigzags over the road instead. It changes line mid-corner instead of carving a clean arc around the turn. It feels like a bike that "doesn't handle."

You sense your bike's uneasiness and get even more nervous; The cycle repeats itself. Relax. Let the bike respond to the road.

Your arms and legs are your bike's springs -- IF they're relaxed. If you sit on the bike like a lump, not letting it move easily under you, you and your bike form a 200-pound unit.

Each bump tries to lift 200 pounds off the road, not just a 25-pound bike with a rider sitting loose on it. Your bike rides like a buckboard, or a car without springs.

Imagine a car without springs going around a bumpy corner. The first bump sends the car skyward, the tires nearly losing contact with the pavement. When it hits the ground again, the next bump repeats the process, if the car has not already skidded off the road.

Try it. Loosen up on your bike. Use your arms and legs for suspension. Keep them supple. Suddenly, your bike handles great. Its tires follow bumps and ripples in the road without skittering, without disturbing you. You scarcely notice them. You corner better, descend better.

You feel more confident. You relax further. Your bike senses your new attitude, your new ease, and handles even better. Yes, the same bike that didn't work that well only a week or so ago.

You go better when you relax, too. Your muscles soften. Your blood can permeate the relaxed muscle tissue to flush away the acid byproducts of your effort. You sustain effort longer and recover faster.

If you see slow-motion footage of a big cat running full speed, you see the cat's muscles hanging floppy loose. He's running as fast as he can but he's not tense. Loosen up your leg muscles as you ride. Relax.

And loosen up on your bars. Bernard Hinault, five-time Tour de France winner, said you should rest your hands on the bars as if they were a piano keyboard. Don't lean on them, is what he meant, and don't grip them as if they were trying to get away.

Aside from the handling benefits of a gentle grip, think about this: If you sat in a chair at home squeezing an aluminum tube for two hours, your hands would be exhausted, right? Why should a two-hour bike ride be different?

You need your energy to propel the bike. Don't waste it squeezing an alloy tube. Same goes for any tense muscle in your body: wasted energy.

As you ride, relax your muscles, one area at a time. Start with your forehead. Are you squinting? Tensing your facial muscles? Loosen 'em up. Work your way down your body, relaxing area after area down to your toes.

If you're relaxed on your bike and someone bumps you, body or bars, you can recover from the impact. If you're tense on your bike, tight on your bars, and someone bumps you, you're going to fall.

If you're relaxed on your bike and something surprises you, you'll react appropriately, responding smoothly. If you're sitting there tense and something surprises you, you will react clumsily. So relax.

Why not relax?

Very few of us will ever make any money with our bicycles. We'll never ride for the Postal Service Team or Volvo-Cannondale or compete in the Hawaii Ironman. We're in it for fun.

When we're relaxed we have more fun. We have more fun, we're safer on our bikes, our bikes handle better and we go faster, longer.

If you only make one cycling promise to yourself this year, resolve to relax on your bike. It's the most important change you can make, way, way more important than any new parts group, frame or anything you can buy. And -- it's free.

Don't forget to try it when you're off your bike too.

END