落入凡間的科學怪人遊記

The beauty of bike racing is that it’s chess on wheels.  The strongest person doesn’t always win because there are so many subtle tactics that can be employed to create opportunities and neutralize the threats.  Some tactics in cycling can be counter-intuitive.  Here’s a good example that Adam Murchie and Cam Lester gave me this morning.  Old foxes like these guys will beat you to the finish line every time if you flinch for a second.

單車比賽的美妙之處，在於在車輪上的鬥智，最強的人不一定每次都贏，因為其中有許多微妙的戰術，可以創造機會與消除威脅，某些戰術是違反直覺的，這個早上Adam Murchie與Cam Lester給我一個很好的教訓，像這兩個老狐狸可以在終點線前每次都擊敗你，只要你有任何一秒鐘的遲疑與畏懼

In certain situations the best way to win a small group sprint (half a dozen riders away in a break)  is to drop the lead rider’s wheel.   You’ll see this done on the track quite often, but the same applies to criteriums.  What you do is you position yourself as the second rider in the lead up to the finish line (say 300-400m out).  Slowly drop the front rider’s wheel about 1-3 bike lengths whilst keeping the others behind in check. This gives you a bit of room to move and ensures that you can maneuver if someone tries a move from behind.  Just before final 200m comes accelerate and get a run at the rider in front, catching the slipstream. As you enter into the slipstream, you will gather increased momentum which means you will be able to attack past at speed (at which point the lead rider will be too slow to respond) The fact you have had a “run” at the rider should also mean you have increased momentum to those behind who are trying to accelerate at the same speed as you but without the “run”.

在某些情況下，最好的辦法贏得小集團衝刺（半打車手離開休息）保持與領先車手的距離。你會看到在賽道上相當頻繁的看到，但同樣適用於繞圈賽。你要做的就是將自己定位成第二個車手在領先到終點前（大約是300-400M）。慢慢與前面的車手保持約1-3自行車的距離，同時檢查有沒有別人在後面。這給了你一點點的移動空間，並確保你可以調動如果有人試圖從後面移動。就在最後200米的來加速和捕捉一個跑在前面的車手，取得氣流真空帶（我喜歡賽車的翻譯）。當你進入了真空帶，你將增加上升的動量，這意味著，你可以發動攻擊加速（在這一點領先車手回應速度會很慢）。事實上是你也可以甩開後方的騎士，意味著你已經得到增加的動能，雖然後面的那些人正在努力加快至與你相同的速度，但是他們無法超越你。

Quite often there will be a corner before the finishing straight in a crit.   Dropping the wheel slightly prior to last corner, (not more than 2 bike lengths at this point) allows you to run into corner with extra speed to close the gap while aiming to pass as you exit the corner. The acceleration you’ll gain in that few bike lengths that you’ve given him will not allow him to respond.

繞圈賽常常在直線終點前會有一個彎道（譯注：感謝方馬克同學提供，Crit也是指繞圈賽）。進彎前稍微拉開一點距離，（在這一點上不超過2個自行車的長度），可讓你有一個增加的速度，同時在你出彎時，可以縮小差距。在這個少許的自行車的長度中，你可以得到加速度，而且你將讓他無能為力回應。

You need to be confident and fit enough to know that you’ll close the gap.  Don’t under estimate the speed capacity of your opponent if you are going to allow a gap.  You don’t want to do this if he/she is a strong time trialist or a significantly better sprinter.

TIP: when in a sprint never look over your shoulder to see what the other riders are doing.  Look at their shadows or back under your arm. This will give you much more flexibility to react to the inevitable attack that’s coming when someone behind tries to catch you off-guard

提示：在衝刺的時候從來不轉頭看看有什麼其他車手在做什麼。應該要看他們的陰影或低頭從腋下的方向看過去。這會給你更大的靈活性，以應對不可避免的攻擊來時，身後有人試圖接近你的後方