One of the scary things to learn to do in criterium racing is pedaling through a corner.  Here is short video about pedaling through a criterium corner.  If you have speedplays, you have to lean really far to hit your pedal.  I actually hit my shoe before I hit my pedal.

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Ride Hard

Steve

I was playing around with iMovie.  Here is a short fun little video about criterium cornering.

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Ride Hard

Steve

You have to be able to pedal through corners to make it as a crit racer.  In the early USCF categories 3/4/5, it is not as critical but to make it as cat 1/2 racer and even as masters racers (which are mainly old pro/1/2 racers) you must be able to pedal through corners or else you will not be competitive.  If you have Speedplay pedals, most corners can be pedaled through no problem but sometime you might need to use the rocking technique.  Basically, you rock the bike so that your pedal does not hit the ground as you pedal through the corner.  This can be effective technique then the race is strung out and you need to hold the wheel in front of you with all you got.  This rocking technique takes some practice.

Cornering - Equipment

• Having pedals that provide for a large lean angle when pedaling around a corner is critical.  The pedal below is close to the ground but there is plenty of room.

• The racer below is pedaling through a corner and is most like right the edge of hitting the ground.  It is important to be able to start your acceleration out of the corner as soon as possible.  In fact it is a key skill to learn how to pedal through a corner.

•  I have been using Speedplay pedals for many years because they provide the greatest angle. In fact, I usually end up grinding the side of my shoes because I don’t hit the pedal. Hitting the shoe also provides for slightly less scary hit compared to hitting metal on the pavement since the shoe has some give when it hits the pavement.  If you have hit a pedal while going through a corner, you know how violent it can be.  It can cause some very scary crashes during a crit.  Speedplay pedals are also great because they are quick to get into at the start of a crit. If I don’t have a front row spot for the start of the crit (you should always try to get a front row spot), I always look at the pedals they guy has in front of me. If he does not have Speedplays, I always make sure that I am ready to go around him when is not able to get his pedal clipped in.
• Crank length and bottom bracket high also play a role in your ability to pedal through a corner. I am a believer that you should choose your crank length based upon the size of your legs, i.e. follow the standard methods for this. Some frames have a lower bb height which will decrease your ability to pedal through a corner.  However, a lower bb height will reduce the center of gravity of the bike which can potentially help you corner faster.
• Wheels – This is a balance item.  You want to have stiff/solid wheels for sprinting, but you want to have light rotating mass for acceleration out of each corner.  If you are a strong sprinter a pair of light weight climbing wheels won’t last very long.   Tubulars vs Clinchers: I don’t believe the difference is as great as it once was.  The maintenance headaches of tubluars for me does not justify the minor performance gains.  If have the cash, a pair of high-end light weight tubulars will be lighter and have slightly better cornering feel.
• Good tires are critical for cornering.   Any of main manufactures (Vredestein,Continental, Michelin, Vittoria, Hutchinson, etc…)  of tires all make high-end tires that are good enough for anyone and can corner faster than you think your bike is capable.  The high-end tires are worth using just for racing because of the light weight and higher grip characteristics.  The key is to make sure that your have tires that are not worn out or have the flat spot in the center, i.e training tires.  Having tires that are relatively fresh help ensure that they stay pressurized during the race. The rubber on the tires is the first defense against getting a flat or worse slow leak during a crit. If you get a slow leak that you fail to notice, you can easily lose the wheel on a tight corner….not good.

When you are riding by yourself, it is easy to determine when to start a turn and when to end a turn.  However, when you are in a pack when you start and end a turn is determined by the people around you.  Many times you might not be able to see the corner so your ability to determine when to start a turn is determined by the person next to or in front of you.  A great example of this can be seen by the line of riders setting up for the upcoming turn:

If you look down the line of riders, you can see that each rider is slight more into the lean as they set up for the corner.  It is important that you learn to time the start of your corner at the right time.  If you start late you will over shoot the corner and if you start too early you will bump into the guy next to you.

The riders in the front of the pack can take the corner at a much faster speed because there are few or no riders in front of them coasting or braking as they set up for the corner.  In fact, many times the riders in the front are accelerating through the corner because they can pedal through the corner.  This allows them to hold a more even speed around the course.  The riders further back must slow down into the corner and must sprint hard out of the corner into order to hold the wheel in front of them.  After few laps of the yo-yo effect, you can be worn down quickly.

Cornering is a key skill that must be learned by any new criterium racers.  New crit racers are quickly shelled out the back if they don’t know how to corner.  Even if you have good fitness if you can’t corner, you will not be successful as a crit racer.  There are many other skills but being able corner is the first.  It is one thing to be able to go fast through a corner by yourself.  You can follow the typical advice of starting at the outer edge and then hitting the apex of the corner, and finally drifting out to the outside while making a nice smooth arc.  Obviously, this is the fastest way to go through the corner, but the story changes when you are 3-5 wide with a hundred other guys all trying to do the same thing.  My first crit about 20 years ago was quite a shock!  I had no idea about how to corner with that many riders.  Now, I don’t even think about it.  This is one skills that is like driving a car for a crit racer.  You must be completely comfortable going through so fast through a corner that if you start to slide a little bit over a paint strip or rough pavement that you can recover a thought or you when you bump someone or someone bumps you, or when someone drifts toward your front wheel, you hit your pedal;, someone crashes directly in front of you, etc….  Over the course of few post (I am sure there will be a lot of post on this topic), I hope to give you my insight on the key skill of cornering! 

Topics about cornering:

• Setting up for the corner
• How and when to start your corner in the pack
• Following the wheel in front
• Pedaling through a corner
• RAIN RAIN go away!
• Crashes
• Types of corners
• Finish the corner
• Setting up for the next corner
• Corning in a breakaway
• How to make cornering an advantage for you
• More I am sure

Ride Fast!

Steve