The Drift

Here's a useful tactic for hilly road races. This can be used by a strong rider who wants to save his or her strength on the hills. It can also be used by somebody who is not a strong climber so that they can make it over the hill.

It works like this: As you approach a big climb, make sure that you are near the very front of the pack. As the pack starts climbing the hill ride at a slightly easier tempo than the leaders and slowly drift back towards the back of the pack. Ideally, you will crest the climb near the back of the group and then slowly work your way back up front on the descent and flat sections that follow. It is VERY important to use this tactic wisely. Use it when you feel confident that your group will not split for good on a climb. It's kind of counter productive to save energy on the climb only to be forced to waste it chasing back on!

This works best on relatively short climbs of say, five minutes or less. Good examples where you might use this in Northern California road races would be: Berkeley Hills, Wente, Copperopolis, Sea Otter/Fort Ord, Pescadero, Diamond Valley, and Winters. This will NOT work at Mt. Hamilton! :-) Also beware of small groups as there is not much space to drift.

Let's use Berkeley Hills as an example. In this case, you'll have between two and four full laps, plus the majority (including most all the climbs) of another. Each lap, until getting the bell you could do the drift on the Castro Ranch grunter hill, Mama Bear, the two Baby Bears, Papa Bear, and the short, steep climb up to San Pablo Dam Road. During that time you will want to be attentive to the mood of the pack, but for the most part you KNOW that the group will reform on each of the climbs until right up to the end.

Think of all the energy you will save by drifting the climbs for two or three laps! Then you can use that saved energy when it counts later in the race. Not only will you be stronger because of the energy you saved, but your opponents will be surprised since they will probably have assumed that you were weak as you drifted back each lap. Double bonus.