Got Skills? Learning Draft-Legal Riding

Riding ability is crucial for having consistent performances in draft-legal triathlon. If you’re a fan of the sport, then you’ve seen the evolution of athletes riding faster and breakaways becoming commonplace. You can’t “just sit in” in most big races. I think a lot of athletes are initially intimidated or unsure about the bike leg of a draft-legal triathlon. When I first began training, I had no idea how to ride a road bike, let alone in a group. Developing pack riding skills is a never-ending process. Here’s a bit about what I’ve done, and am still doing, to learn.

I got on a road bike for the first time in college. The first couple months, I rode in tennis shoes and gym shorts. I didn’t know what I was doing out on the roads. But, in going from beginner road rider to draft-legal triathlete, I think I had a couple things going for me. For one, my family always had bikes around as a way to be active, so riding a bike wasn’t a foreign concept. Helena, Montana has an amazing trail system and I loved trying to ride the trails. Second, I like the thrill of moving fast. I think some people naturally have the desire for speed while others just don’t. That duo of generally being comfortable on a bike and enjoying riding fast probably helped me go from riding in tennis shoes in the fall of 2014 to winning a continental cup by riding away solo in spring of 2017.

If you’re new to riding and your goal is to learn road racing, take it slow at first. I’ve seen plenty of people full of scars from trying to move into group riding too quickly. I rode for probably six months before even practicing drafting. I started by simply riding outside frequently and riding on rollers in the winter. When I did start practicing basic skills like drafting and pace lining, I did it in small groups. There were a couple people I would go out with to practice riding closer to their wheel, taking pulls smoothly in a pace line, and drafting in various positions based on wind.

Once you have the basics, learning pack riding boils down to doing as many group rides as you can. Be ready to ride home alone often because you were dropped halfway through the ride. If I’m being honest, sometimes I’ve shown up just to get dropped on the first hill ten minutes in. I used to do group rides once or twice a week for large parts of the year and still do them occasionally. I often go out with certain goals for each ride. For instance, I might focus purely on not letting gaps open in front of me around corners, or I might decide how long I want to sit in before taking a pull, or I might try to come into a climb in a particular position within the group, etc. There’s two key points that I was taught early on. One, never take a pull so hard you can’t accelerate to follow an attack at any moment. Two, in a large group always be trying to move up because if you aren’t actively moving up then you will find yourself moving backwards in the group. Generally, it’s better to be towards the front of larger groups because there’s less chance of being caught in a crash as well as less chance of yo-yoing off the back around corners or having to close a gap that someone ahead of you let open up.

I’ve done group rides all over. I did lots in Montana during college. I’ve been out on Tucson’s Shootout and Tuesday group rides. Those rides are awesome for forcing you to sit in a really large group. My favorite group ride is one through Oak Bay Bikes in Victoria, British Columbia. I loved that route because it had constant rolling hills so there was no hiding if you’d pushed too hard early in the ride. I think the craziest group ride I ever did was in Gold Coast, Australia. It met at 5am or something insane like that. The entire ride was over before the sun came up so you were flying around in a group in the dark.

In addition to group rides, if you’re preparing specifically for a draft-legal triathlon then go practice parking lot skills. Draft-legal races can be heavy on cornering and U-turns. Some courses you might be taking a single-file corner every minute or so for the entire race. Find an empty parking lot or neighborhood and set up a course with a couple corners to ride around. Sometimes practice going slow and making as tight of turns as you can. You can also try the drill of setting down your water bottle then riding past and trying to lean over and pick it up. If you’re really good, you can even set it back down again while riding. Other times, make a larger course with U-turns that are a full lane or full road in width and do reps of a couple minutes at a fast pace trying to corner smoothly. I still often do this for a couple key bike sessions ahead of races. Just be sure to choose a quiet spot and watch for cars.

Learning draft-legal riding is a continual process and the best thing you can do is ride a lot and in lots of different scenarios to get comfortable on a bike. I recently rode in the Tucson Bicycle Classic with two pro continental teams in the race. I was surprised that I wasn’t more out of my comfort zone. Sure, they rode an inch or two closer to the person next to them than we do in triathlon, and I got smoked in the final sprint every day, but otherwise the riding in a women’s triathlon is not far off the level of professional road racing. And the bike leg is only getting faster.

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