Gwen on the Bike
I was cocked and ready to let fly with a critique of Gwen Jorgensen's bike riding performances. In fact, I had it written. I just had one problem sticking to my editorial plan. America's superstar triathlete might be a different rider than she was last year.
Okay, it's only been a couple of WTS races, and some of the early speed is not yet racing in the WTS events so far this year. Nicola Spirig, Helen Jenkins, Nicky Samuels and a few others may have something to say about it.
But danged if Gwen just doesn't look more like a cyclist this year. When I was flipping through all the images Delly Carr clicked of Gwen in the Gold Coast race last week, I could not find one with Gwen's hands on the hoods. She was nailed to the drops and nailed to the wheel in front of her, not getting gapped out of corners, and even taking her pulls.
I spoke to her coach, Jamie Turner, about Gwen's new bike prowess. The trick, he says, is to present to Gwen and the others in her training enclave a "daily routine that challenges her, makes training fun, makes it challenging."
I asked Jamie if there was a concerted attempt between seasons to train her weakness. "It's just consistent practice," he said, "it's not going to happen overnight, but it's starting to happen.
"It's no secret," Jamie continued, "when Gwen positions herself well in the swim it gives her a little more time to get herself to the front end of the bike. When she doesn't have that good position her competitors put her under pressure, making the race for Gwen short on time and space.
"Last year, in races like Capetown and Edmonton, she wasn't where she needed to be after the 3 or 4 kilometers."
I expected the 2015 season to continue that same way, because I didn't think Jamie would make lifting Gwen's cycling technique, tactics and bike position a priority. I was wrong. And pleasantly surprised. Gwen has not only been solidly in the front pack, not getting dropped, and not just hanging on, but doing her best imitation of a Brownlee or Gomez near the front of that pack, first few positions.
"We engage in a lot of games while on the bike," said Jamie, "problem solving." He told of situational training, where Gwen needed to fight to establish her position in the pack.
I asked whether it was my imagination or whether she was positioned better on the bike. It seemed to me that a number of the ladies in the front pack were spending more time in the drops than during last year's races, Gwen especially, in the drops and out of the saddle coming out of turns, not getting gapped out of turns. I also felt Gwen was constricted in her position last year, bars to low, and the distance between the bars and the saddle was compacted, too tight.
"Good observation, fair observation," he said in reference to her position last year and though he didn't go into detail Gwen has fine tuned her posture and position aboard the bike.
In my opinion, and this opinion is shared by a number of coaches on the ITU circuit, including those who coach a number of the top women, bike skills and positioning are the area where the women on the ITU circuit lag compared to the men. Gwen Jorgensen is probably the most obvious case, where she swims like a fish and runs like a deer, but until this year did not ride like a Gomez, or a Brownlee.
But is that changing? This year she's showing every sign of shrinking that technical gap. In my opinion she's still got a little work to do on her position, but where she is in the group, and the riding positions she chooses when on the bike (when to be on the hoods, in the drops, out of the saddle), are correct.
"Gwen works a lot on her agility on the bike, and she's not just riding her road bike. She's got a cross bike, a track bike (I spoke to Jamie immediately after his group's session on the velodrome), an MTB bike and even a city bike."
A cross bike? A fixie? Is Gwen is becoming a bike geek? Heaven help the competition.
