Masters Road Racing and the Four Keys to Success

This article applies to Queensland masters road racing, which as a very general rule are two to three hours in duration on flattish or undulating courses. If you do any 'non-high level' road racing of about the same duration and course profile, then this article may be useful for you. When you head off for a Queensland masters road race, there are four things you need in your back pocket; endurance, strong power across the 1 - 4 minute durations, repeatability and a sprint. I am not going to get into specifically how to train for these four things as that information lies behind the DRP Coaching paywall :)

Endurance

This is not what you think. When I talk about endurance, I am referring to the ability to be strong and competitive across the duration of the race. This is the difference between hanging onto wheels and finishing in the main bunch vs. being able to actually take part in the finale. This kind of endurance is not the ability to ride for 5 - 6 hours at a steady pace; it is the ability to ride for 2 - 3 hours at a high Normalised Power. How high? If you want strong legs when it counts, then you need to be able to put out a Normalised Power that is at least your high Tempo Zone. So if your FTP is 250 watts, then you need to be able to put out a Normalised Power of around 215 - 225 watts for 2 - 3 hours. If you can do this, you will be ready, willing and able when it counts. Training Peaks' definition of Normalised Power is here: LINK

Power Across 1 - 4 Minute Durations

Most surges, bomb blasts, explosions (call them what you like) in Queensland masters racing are between 1 - 4 minutes. These can be attacks, surges in the cross winds, following an attack or a hill / climb (pretty rare to climb for more than 4 minutes). As a result, you need to be strong across those durations. If not, you will have a weak spot which can and will be a limiter for you. For example you might be strong at 1 - 2 minutes but then your power curve fades. If so, then a  3 - 4 minute surge in the cross winds is going to be the end for you. 

Repeatability

I bet many of the avid cyclists reading this article work really hard on their intervals. I also bet that those same readers enjoy a lovely little recovery spell between those intervals. Does that ever happen when you race? Afraid not. Those 1 - 4 minute efforts just mentioned need to be repeated with minimal or at best patchy rest inbetween. You need to drop those bombs again and again with sometimes almost no opportunity to recover. This is something that you need to train specifically for and this is an element of coaching and training that I think is vastly underdone. You see good criterium and track racers with excellent ability to repeat efforts and it doesn't happen by accident. 

Sprint

The reality is that the win in most Queensland masters races involves a sprint. You do see solo breakaways but they are not so common. Be it in a group of three or fifty-three, a sprint is an important part of this. It is not always about being a super quick sprinter either. If you have developed the endurance mentioned earlier, then often that translates into a strong sprint simply due to your freshness.

So there you have it; four things to work on if you want to improve your Queensland masters road racing (and other similar types of road racing as well). Good luck!