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In defence of yelling

How everything I learned in bike racing was shouted at me

by Bart Egnal

Illustration of a mouth yelling

Last year, I was racing in the local Tuesday-night criterium series. The race was about half over. I had somehow found myself stuck on the front of the group for a full lap. With no teammates in the race and no intention of trying to ride off the front at that moment, I decided to pull off and drift to the middle of the bunch for some recovery. I checked my shoulder and swung off. Suddenly, I caught an earful as a rider whom I hadn’t seen had to dodge to avoid me. The indignity didn’t stop there – as others passed me there were choice words, culminating in the sagely  delivered advice to, “ride a f@#!&%* line, buddy.”

“When I use the term yelling, I’m not referring to derogatory comments or insults.”

Humbling? Yes. Accurate? Definitely.

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One of the biggest differences I have found between racing and group riding is why and how people communicate with each other. My club, Morning Glory, is overly polite. Can’t ride in the drops when you’re on the front doing 50 km/h? No worries. We’re happy you are here despite your frighteningly high centre of gravity. Leave too big a gap every time you sit in the paceline? Hey, glad you’re here even though you break up the rhythm of the group. After all, the stakes are pretty low. If you get dropped, you can just regroup at the traffic light.

In racing, desire to win and fear of a crash combine to raise the stakes. Tension is high and everyone is watching for dangerous riding behaviour (especially in entry-level racing). And there isn’t an opportunity to sidle up to someone in a double paceline or at the café to explain politely what the rider is doing wrong. So you yell. Or, if you are the offending party, you’ll get yelled at.

What has gotten me yelled at
  • Losing the wheel in front of me, forcing the guy on my wheel to sprint around me to stay with the bunch.
  • Racing up the sideline to get to the front and then forcing my way back into the pack.
  • Not pulling through when the group was raising the pace.
  • Eating in the middle of the group.

In the ‘What Has Gotten Me Yelled At’ section, you see only an incomplete list of things that I’ve done to provoke a good shouting. I’ve done my share of yelling at people, too. I remember the guy at the Niagara Classic Road Race who attacked off the front and whom I chased, only to realize that he had been pulled from the race and had made the boneheaded decision (on the last lap no less) to try to ride away from the group instead of dropping off the back. He got an earful from me. I’ve yelled at people who don’t intend to sprint but insist on being at the front so they can compete for 15th place. I yelled last year at a teammate who didn’t realize the break he wanted to chase down had one of our team members in it. He, at least, was grateful.

Now when I use the term yelling, I’m not referring to derogatory comments or insults. Instead, I’m referring to strongly worded, often aggressively stated directions. Comments such as, “Hold your line,” “Get up on that wheel now!” or “You’ve got to signal properly when you come off the front,” all provide unambiguous guidance.

When it comes to this kind of communication, the more you race, the more you become comfortable with being yelled at, and capable of distinguishing justified yelling from pure anger or frustration. You are able to depersonalize the experience over time. The result is that when you don’t simply dismiss the yelling, you realize that someone is trying to teach you how to ride cohesively with the pack. By checking my ego, I’ve allowed people to teach me how to be a better bike racer and rider.

If you want to improve your bike handling this year, be open to being yelled at. You don’t have to race either. Some group rides will give you the same “friendly” guidance. When I ride with the Wheels of Bloor masters racing team, I know that top racers such as Ian Scott, Phil Hodgkinson and Radek Lukasic are going to put me in my place and give me precise direction that will make me better.

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So the next time someone gives you an earful, resist the urge to give it back. Pause. Remember that even directions delivered with an edge may be worth listening to.