Tour Pacing

Cyclists can usually be classified by the way they ride. Generally speaking, folks who are interested in cycle touring would fall into the category of “Fast Recreational Cyclist.”

That usually refers to folks who ride a good bit, ride athletically, do a certain amount of “training,” and are capable of doing some endurance riding.

But there’s a bit of a problem here. There aren’t many “cycling schools.” So most of us just sort of pick it up as we go along. We get advice from magazines, and friends. Sometimes it’s even good advice. Unfortunately, sometimes this advice is commercial in nature. Face it, racing sells. Racing is attractive. Racing is exciting and glamorous.

So a lot of the advice we get is aimed at reinforcing the marketing aspect of racing. We are constantly barraged with information that is designed to “help” us become more like the racers we admire. We are led to emulate them. That’s not an entirely bad thing, but…

The problem is, we aren’t being paid to do this stuff. More, while we are coping with jobs, family, church, social opbligations, the lawn, and the car payment, we try to cram a little cycling in there. Is it any wonder that the way we ride is (and should be) different from the profesional racer?

For the tourist, the most profound difference is in an apporach to riding. We are going to go out, for a long time, lugging a lot of stuff. We generally aren’t interested in “cracking” our touring partners.

Gratuitous Note: Cracking one’s touring companions is always a poor idea. Almost invariably we really crack ourselves. At the same time we seriously annoy someone else. And guess what almost always happens? The very person we busted bad on, turns out to be the only member of the group who is carry a spoke tool, when we break a spoke. Oops!

So just what is the major difference between how the racers and tourists ride? It’s in the basic theory of how we ride. A racer is riding a style that could be described as “Speed Maintenance.” The tourist should be riding a “Power Maintenance” style.

In Speed Maintenance, the object is to keep the speed up, regardless of the terrain. It hurts. It takes a lot of energy. It’s inefficient. Attempting to maintain speed when climbing, drives heart rate up. As HR rises, fatigue rates go up geometrically. This is not a good idea if one is planning to keep going for a long time.

In Power Maintenance, the object is to keep the power output constant in the flats and on the climbs. This means HR does not spike up on the climbs. But speed does fall off sharply. A Power Maintenance rider will down shift before the climb, and “let the hill come to her.” She will shift to an easy gear, well in advance of the slope, allowing speed to fall off, until she finds the balance between her gearing and the hill. She is looking for that ideal range that keeps her at that good, aerobic level she has been sustaining in the flats.

This is a more efficient style of riding. It’s not as fast and flashy. It doesn’t bust anyone out of the pack. But it does allow a loaded rider to keep going, and going, and going…