Since we had a couple racers cross the finish line with solo victories this past weekend, I couldn't help but wonder to myself what was going through their minds as they were riding off the front for the win. Maybe someday I will be lucky enough to find out....

I have had plenty of time riding off the back by myself and lots of things tend to come to mind. Saturday I had devised a Strategy/Luck matrix in my head. The top had three boxes; Good Execution of Strategy, No Strategy, and Bad Execution of Strategy. Down the left hand side was; Good Luck, No Luck, and Bad Luck. A good execution of strategy and some good luck would have you at the top left of the grid and should give you a great result! I was down at the lower right end, bad execution of strategy and a bit of bad luck, the results were not so good. Sunday on the other hand, I had a much better execution of strategy and neither good nor bad luck, so I ended up with a decent result.

All this came back to mind this morning because I was reading an article on Pez about Bike Race Anatomy. It focuses a bit more on the anatomy of a Pro level race, but several of concepts play out in any level of racing. Once you understand the anatomy of the race, then building your, or your team's strategy becomes that much easier. Determine how you think the race will play out and base your strategy on that and your strengths and weaknesses.

I'm still working out my strengths, but I know I have two definite weaknesses; sitting too far back in the field, and I get dropped if I am forced to do to much work. Unfortunately my weaknesses compound each other. Sitting too far back often forces me to do too much work. So my primary strategy for almost any race is to stay near the front and hide as much as possible. Saturday I didn't do that and paid the price, getting dropped halfway through the race. Sunday I did a much better job at it and easily finished in the top half of the field.

Hopefully with a better understanding of Bike Race Anatomy and your own strengths and weaknesses you will start to see better results. Someday you might even figure out what you think about when you ride away from the field for a solo victory!

Here is the link to Pez: http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=6822&status=True&catname=Latest News

Enjoy!