by Brianna "Brie" Walle, ALP Cycles Coaching

What better way to embrace the recent snowfall here in Boulder...snow calls for skills and drills!

For our monthly ALP cycles Coaching Ride, Coaches Alison, Paddy, and Brie took the opportunity to cover essential bike handling skills that can be applied across all disciplines in cycling.

The importance of skill work includes: better balance on the bike and in the peloton, maneuvering through a pack of riders during a race, managing obstacles/avoiding crashing and how to pick up speed quickly in a mass start situation (applies to: MTB Cyclocross and Road situations).

We started our ride with our friends at the Specialized Retül Experience Center for some delicious espresso, activation stretches and warm-up...and drooled over the 2019 Specialized bike fleets.

• Bumping and balance: On the field (used cones to square off a designated space) rode 2-3 abreast, around the square, whilst bumping into each other along the way. Focus being : keeping center of gravity, shifting the bike underneath for stability and aiming to bump without going donw. Elbows and knees bowed out to help with balance.
  
  
• Starts: Lined up across the field (sprinting for about 15 seconds) in the smallest gearing combination, moving to the biggest gear combo and lastly gearing of choice. Focus on being: fastest lines, pedal and crank position, and accelerations.
  
  
• Cornering: Weaving around a section of lined posts, spaced 3 feet apart, practicing maneuvering around 1-2 and then every post.
  
  
• Wheelies & riding over obstacles: Shifting weight, pedal power transfer and core activation.

Incorporating skill work into your weekly training routine is as essential as interval training. Mistakes will be made, falls could happen, but you get up, have a good laugh and take away valuable lessons. 

Ask your ALP Cycles coach if you need or want help improving your bike handling skills.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

ABOUT BRIANNA "BRIE" WALLE

Brie is originally from Portland, Oregon and comes from a multi-sport background. Alpine ski racing and cross-country running were her early specialties, but cycling has always been #1.

Brianna has close to a decade of racing experience, including Cyclocross. She joins us after racing 5 years on UCI international teams TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank and Optum Por Cycling p/b Kelley Benefit Strategies (currently known as "Rally Cycling"). She was a General Classification (G.C.) rider with strengths in individual and Team Time Trial. Her proudest moments include winning the 2016 North Star Grand Prix, 2014 Tour de Feminin (Czech), 2015 USA Team Time Trial National Championship and working for Mara Abbott (USA National Team) at the 2013 Giro Rosa.

 Brianna specializes in: Road racing and tactics, cyclocross and exceptional communication skills.. She is looking forward to passing on her knowledge and assisting her athletes in reaching their full potential.

If there was one magic training tool that you could do to become a better, faster, and more confident cyclist, would you do it? For most of us, the answer would be ‘yes”. Unfortunately, not very many people do this one thing. What is this one magic ticket? Improve your bike handling skills. While training, most people are focused on how many watts they are pushing instead of how many times they brake through a corner. Being able to carry speed through a corner or sit in the draft of a peloton is free speed. No intervals or recovery days are needed for free speed.

30 minutes, once a week is all it takes to vastly improve your skills and gain free speed through corners, in a pack, on single track, etc. With good bike handling skills, you will be relaxed and recovering, while others struggle.

Here are 6 drills you can do, on your own, to improve your bike handling skills.

The Slow Race

Pick a start and finish line about 30 meters apart and go as slow as possible from start to finish. Practice this drill standing and seated.- Goal- work on balance

Cone Pick-Up

Place a cone or water bottle on the ground and slowly ride by and pick it up off the ground. Goal- balance, body/ bike separation, and the basic beginnings of proper cornering.

Slalom

Set a cone (or water bottle) slalom and ride through the cones while standing and seated. Goal- dynamic movements, bike/body separation, looking ahead, balance.

Off Set Slalom

Set a cone (or water bottle) slalom with direction changes and ride through the cones while standing and seated. Goal- dynamic movements, bike/body separation, looking ahead, balance, working the bike and creating speed.

Bunny Hop

Set two cones or a water bottle on the ground and practice jumping over it while riding. Goal- learn to avoid holes, crubs, debris, rocks, etc. Timing, looking ahead, anticipating.

Parking Space Figure-8’s

Find a parking space, or two, and ride figure 8’s within the space. Goal- balance, steering your bike, looking ahead, feathering brakes.

This is just a sampling of the many bike handling skills and drills that can be done to make yourself a better and more confident cyclist.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alison Powers only recently retired from cycling, finishing her final season on the UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team. Her career has spanned a wide array of wins, including the 2013 USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championship where she won in memorable fashion by soloing after an early breakaway that obliterated the pro women’s peloton. Other standout results during the 33-year-old’s 2013 season include the win at Redlands Bicycle Classic, second at the Tour of Elk Grove, third at the US National Road Championship and the US National Time Trial Championship, and stage wins at Cascade Classic, Tulsa Tough, Tour of the Gila and Redlands Bicycle Classic. Hailing from Fraser, Colorado, Powers has been racing bikes professionally for eight years and is a true athlete with her career beginning as a teenager in mountain bike racing. In her mid 20s, she added in alpine ski racing before switching over to the road. In addition to being the current Criterium National Champion, Powers has two other national championships (Time Trial, Team Pursuit) and 2 NRC titles (2009, 2013).