Flatlining

Pushing yourself on pancake-like flats (alone or in a group) may be the toughest mental chore on a road bike. I’ve wrestled with the notion for a few years. Now, I’m convinced. Consider:

1. You can pretty much decide if — and when — you want to put down the hammer
2. There’s no mountain or hill to force the issue with the law of gravity
3. Plus flats are simple, easy and a breeze, right?

Wrong on number three. Unless you’re out for a recovery ride (which still can sting the legs). No, riding on the flats is anything but “flatlining.” You’re either next up on the front to take a pull, rotating back to lower your heart rate, or pedaling alone on the drops with no shelter. When solo, there are rarely the moments of cat-and-mouse, ham-and-egg, and fast-or-slow you can enjoy with one or more fellow riders. That car that just pulled away from the traffic signal? It can provide a slipstream for about 1km with the correct launch. But the random roadie mashing the big ring who just flew by? Hard to know the benefit of making impromptu alliances. Even harder to time well. If you’re on mile 80 of a hard ride and they’re on mile 20, that’s an equation ripe for further study. Reverse the numbers, and guess who’s going to be blocking wind much of the time. That’s right. Very likely you.

Which is why riding the flats in any form can be so much more strategic than a day in the mountains. Tucking here here, pushing it there, you can often survive (hide on the worst days) on flats without revealing much weakness. Not so on the side of a mountain (or hills in big doses), which will expose just about everything — your strengths, vulnerabilities, limits. For the life of me, I cannot remember the last time I successfully held another rider’s wheel up a big climb and had something special left for the final kick to the summit. The decision to hang-on (or not) with everything possible is usually made for me. Minimal — if any — choices await at higher elevation. You can find them at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yes-or-no, good-or-bad, feast-or-famine.

But pushing yourself on the flats at sea level? Knowing when to dose a huge effort and when to save fuel? Having a sprint that honors the word? It may be the toughest mental chore on a road bike.

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Tagged as: cycling training, race of truth, ultra distance cycling