Coach Profile
From Wenzel Coaching
Aaron Oakes is a USA Cycling certified coach and has been racing for the past 10 years, currently competing as a Pro mountain biker and UCI Elite cyclocrosser. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Exercise Science from the University of Massachusetts with a double concentration in food science and exercise science. During the span of his racing career he has raced his way through full seasons in every category in mountain biking as a full-time student or full-time scientist in the food industry.
Aaron's strengths as a coach include balancing the unique requirements of racing, training, school and working in each racing category. His strengths also include teaching off-road and cyclocross technical skills.
As president of the UMass cycling club he enjoyed racing on the road, especially enjoying planning and executing road racing strategies and tactics. But ultimately he fell in love with mountain bike and cyclocross racing. On the mountain bike Aaron has raced every course in New England and New Jersey. He's also raced most higher profile races on the East Coast, including Seven Springs, PA; Greenbrier Challenge in Maryland; Snowshoe, WV; Mt. Snow, VT and Banner Elk, NC.
In the cyclocross arena, Aaron is a two-time New Jersey Cyclocross Cup Champion in the Elite category as well as the 2007 State Champion. He's raced most high profile US Grand Prix of Cyclocross races in the Northeast, including Gloucester, MA and Mercer, NJ, and has also raced the Verge New England series, the Mid Atlantic series races, and the National Championships in Kansas.
Aside from his racing and coaching interests, Aaron is currently working on a Master's Degree in Food Science at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He enjoys baking, chess, craft beer, learning, and photography in the time left over.
For more information email Aaron at AaronOakes @ gmail.com
Course Inspection Article
Originally written for the Wenzel Coaching newsletter
While mountain bike season is still several months away, it is never too early to start planning for successful races. A thorough course inspection can make a big difference in mountain bike racing. Courses are often marked a day before race day; check with the promoter to see if and when pre-riding is allowed.
The main things to look for during your inspection of the course are: places to eat and drink, places to pass, and places to attack. This article will help you to decide what criteria define these places so you will be able to find them during your course inspection.
In the ideal racing situation you would be consuming around 200 Calories an hour along with about 32 ounces of fluids in small doses every few minutes. Rarely will you find a mountain bike course with terrain that offers this luxury. In reality, you’ll be limited by the course as to how often you can take a drink and force down a gel. You should eat and drink whenever you can.
The places to drink can be identified as any place where you can ride comfortably with only one hand on the bars long enough to actually take a drink. Slightly uphill or flat non-technical sections meet this need nicely. While riding the course for practice actually take a drink to make sure you’re comfortable. Because these sections are infrequent and often short, drinking quickly is an important skill. Plan to drink the contents of your whole water bottle by the time you make it to the feed zone to pick up another. Make a mental note of course features or markings that come immediately before the sections where you plan to eat and drink. This way you will be prepared to eat and drink before you get there and will make the most of your time. Plan to eat and drink on these sections whether or not you feel thirsty or hungry.
What about passing other riders? Rather than thinking about passing opportunities make note of places where you cannot pass. You may be surprised at how many opportunities there actually are to make passes. If you catch up to another rider this means you are going faster than they are, and you should pass them promptly. Only if it is unsafe to make the pass should you wait. These places where it is unsafe to pass should be identified during the course inspection.
Unsafe passing sections are typically sections of trail that are too narrow to accommodate two riders and offer no alternate lines. Technical sections can be good places to pass provided they are wide enough, and they often times will offer an option. Take the alternate route to make your pass, or ride the technical element if your competitor takes the option. It’s a good idea to ride both the technical section and the option in case you will need to make a pass there.
Having previously decided which sections are most unsuitable for passing will either motivate you to make a pass prior to one of those sections, or provide an opportunity to take a short rest behind another rider through that section. Remember to call out your pass with a clear, “on your left (or right)”, and if you know the rider is not in your class, letting them know that will increase your chances of getting by quickly. You may be surprised at how often the rider in front of you will yield the trail to you even when it looks too narrow. When in doubt, you should assume you can and will pass; let the other rider decide that the section is unreasonable, and be prepared to go around them as soon as they allow it.
Attacking is generally done where the course is hard. In a mountain bike race this provides a few options and is fairly dependant on your competition. Uphill sections are hard for everyone and you can attack here. Downhill sections can be hard for some riders and offer another chance for attacks. Technical sections and tight, windy sections are two more places that are good places to consider attacking.
Some knowledge of your competition will be helpful in deciding in which of these sections your attack is most likely to be successful. Because you won’t know which riders you’ll need to be attacking, just make notes of the sections you think you’re good at riding. Like with the other sections, make a note of a trail feature such as a broken tree stump or a sharp turn that will serve as a reminder that your section of interest is coming up.
Sections like hills are universally good for attacks. Another is the tight and windy section of heavily wooded single track. This is a great place to put some distance between you and other riders because you will disappear from sight. Out of sight is out of mind, so if you can hide around some turns your competition may lose motivation to chase because they don’t know if your gap is 5 seconds or 5 minutes.
In summary:
- Look for places where you can eat and drink by actually eating and drinking on those sections. These are where the course is easy.
- Pass riders without hesitation. Know where it is not possible to make passes to ensure you pass prior to reaching these sections. These are narrow sections of single track. Try calling out for a pass even if you think the rider in front of you may not yield.
- Attack where the course is hard, and especially if it’s a technical element you can ride faster than your competition. Making an attack just before a section where you can hide from your competition can be especially helpful. Hard sections are hills, both up and down, technical elements like rocks and roots, and mud or sand.
- For all of these places of interest make note of a trail feature, sign, or other reminder to signal to you that the time to eat, attack, or pass is coming up.
- Be flexible, just because you know where to attack does not mean you need to. If an attack would cause you to overextend yourself so that you lose time and places it is not a good idea. It is better to have course knowledge that you may not use than it is to not have any knowledge of the course.
- Simply riding the course ahead of time will give you the advantage of avoiding surprise on the course. Even if you fail to make a specific note of it, you will have at least seen it before.
Use these guidelines to develop a race strategy during your pre-ride of the course. A quick mental summary that puts it all together might look like this:
- Drink on every fire road section
- After the second downhill attack through the mud section before the tight twisting wooded section
- The fire road with the really tight left hand turn is the last section to pass before the finish so pass as many riders as possible here
- Make sure to finish each bottle before the feed zone and take a gel right after the bottle exchange
Remember, you have put a lot of effort into preparing your equipment and body for the race; leave as little to chance as possible by knowing as much as you can about the course.