Aidan Crowley is one of the most decorated riders in the Irish peloton and here, he shares a few tips about how he feels riders of any level can improve (Photo: Stephen McMahon - Sportsfile)
Aidan Crowley is one of the most respected and prolific riders in the domestic peloton.
The Corkman, riding for Strata3-VeloRevolution, is the reigning Masters 40 Irish road race champion and has won more races in his near three-decade career than he cares to remember.
He’s closing in on 20 Rásanna and has no intention of stopping any time soon.
When we asked him for his top five tips for any rider who wanted to improve, we weren’t disappointed.
And while his words are geared towards racing cyclists, you definitely do not need to race to take a huge amount from this piece.
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1) Weight
In Ireland, it doesn't matter that much. Yes, you need to be super fit to compete but your weight is not everything.
For riders going to Belgium or France; in order to get pro contracts being very light is important.
But for the ordinary working rider with a family and who is trying to go racing each weekend, it doesn't matter.
I’ve seen so many guys focus more on their weight than other aspects of training and race simulation.
I would say 'don’t overly obsess about how many kilos you weigh’. I meet riders and the first thing they say is how they’re 65kg or 70kg.
I’ve seen big guys over the years trying to shed loads of kilos but end up losing what they were good at to start with, like sprinting or being very fast on the flat.
Many of the smaller riders lose far more weight than they should and they get dropped in line-outs, at speed or they cannot ride in a bunch properly.
People must remember that 90 per cent of the races are flat in Ireland.
So you don't need to strip down to nothing and go around telling everyone you have 4-5% body fat on a weekend spin.
Look who won the races this year? They’re all powerhouses, aside from Mark Dowling.
And let’s face it, whether you’re 55kg or 70kg, somebody like Dowling won’t be beaten up a hill by many riders.
Bryan McCrystal is a big man and won the queen stage of Rás Mumhan and that went over one of the hardest climbs in the country, the Coomanaspic.
So don’t get carried away with weight loss. If you’re fit for a race you can win, you will win it irrespective of weight.
Hills usually don’t decide a race in Ireland; a sprint does. So being the lightest is not always a good thing.
2) Skill
The lack of skill in the domestic peloton amazes me. Every February and March there are quite a few rides who cannot travel in a bunch properly.
They don’t know about the benefit of being in the right place inside the group when the winds – especially the crosswinds – are blowing.
Some riders can’t take anyone brushing up against them and they start giving out when another rider bounces off them.
For me, having the ability to cope with this is very important because in the larger races sitting tight is what you need to be good at. In the Rás this is sometimes your only tactic to survive.
There are always better riders around so you need to be able to hide in a group and ride 1mm from the rider beside you and have the confidence to react to a situation when it happens.
I’d suggest that riders spend some time over these winter months becoming more confident riding their bikes and then maintaining it.
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Deliberately brushing off the rider beside you during practice scenarios on an industrial estate where there are loads of straight avenues and then learning how to sprint properly would be useful.
Even if you spent 20 minutes doing a few drills, you’d gain hugely from repeating that a number of times before the racing comes around again.
In Ireland, this is an area where you can really improve and it can definitely help you win races, perhaps more so than improving any other part of your game.
It will also keep you safe in the 200-man Cycleways Cup, Gorey or Rás Mumhan fields.
It may sound boring, but being able to move around with skill and agility in the last few hundred metres and have more confidence in your bike handling may get you over that line in first place with your arms up in the air.
3) Look beyond the Rás, Rás Mumhan, Gorey
Over the years, I’ve seen more and more riders focus on the Rás or Rás Mumhan and forget about doing well in the normal weekend races.
They then disappear out of disappointment because the big races they targeted didn’t go well for them.
The season, as everyone knows, is long. That means they are opportunities from February to September, so why focus on a small number of races that the best guys in the country will be peaking for?
If you can win the 'normal' weekend races or ride very well in them, getting into breakaways; I can assure you that you will be up there or thereabouts in those larger races. The bigger races have a tendency of looking after themselves.
Training for that one race but not getting any results before it usually leads to riders hanging up the wheels for the season afterwards.
4 Advice & Knowledge
Don’t forget to keep asking for advice from riders who have been racing in the events you're training for. They can give you invaluable feedback and knowledge.
I’ve seen a heap of riders who get ready to race but haven’t checked out the course.
They don’t know the final bend or know anything about the circuits, even though many of these races have not changed for years.
The roads stay the same and the weather is probably roughly the same as in previous editions because particular races are held at the same time every year.
So keep asking the riders who have ridden them for years for snippets of information; better still, ask the riders who have won these races.
The same scenarios tend to occur year after year so the older hands know how to play the game.
There seems to be a large increase in ‘Eurosport Experts’ or ‘Pro Cycling Mag Pros’ in Ireland at the moment.
They believe everything they see or read but they forget about the real detail that the older riders can give them if only they’d ask. Training programs only get you to a certain point in your fitness.
Most of these older riders are still in the races or are standing at the side of the roads watching with their young kids.
They are not far away, they are all approachable and most of them will enjoy passing on any advice they can. They are a massive untapped resource. Use them.
5 Enjoyment - Why you started in the first place
Don’t switch yourself off from the world when you’re training or racing.
It’s mind-numbing the number of guys I’ve seen who are afraid to take a weekend off or let their hair down during the season.
There’s a life outside the bike and when you realise this you’ll enjoy cycling and racing a lot more.
You’ll probably perform better too and both can be combined. Just be fit, healthy, confident and strong and that result is only around the corner.
And don’t forget to wave to other riders on the road; it’s not cool to look straight ahead as if you didn’t see them. We all share the same passion.
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