Tempo means time in Italian. Riding tempo means riding steadily, like a metronome. It is an important skill to have and since it’s Italian, it sounds cool. What it does not mean is riding at a constant speed, half-wheeling or killing it at the front. Riding at a constant speed is like having cruise control on in a car; the car seems to accelerate on the uphills and rides the brakes on the downhills. One would never purposefully drive a car or ride a bike like that. Riding tempo means riding at a constant effort, ticking over the pedals. Without getting back into the topic of power meters, riding at a steady wattage would be a good starting definition.
Tempo predates watts or heart rate or even the V-meter. If you are good at riding tempo, then you are good at keeping a group moving along as a group, eating up the road but not shelling riders on every hill the road offers up. Tempo implies some amount of pace. Riding piano is how every flat stage of the Giro d’Italia used to unfold. Riders would roll off the front to visit family waiting on the side of the road; riders would abscond with trays of pastries to be passed around the peloton. Then, with forty kilometers to go, the pace would accelerate endlessly until some Italian threw his arms up in victory. It was as predictable as today’s formula: break escapes, leader’s team rides tempo for a few hours, sprinter’s teams then ride hard tempo to catch break, and a field sprint ensues. I like the first formula a bit more. It is now a rarity for a rider to discuss his personal agenda with the Patron and then be allowed to ride solo off the front for a teary roadside reunion with mom, dad, family and cousins as the race passes through that rider’s village.
Riding tempo should be a sustainable effort. When your teammate asks you to go to the front and ride hard tempo, that is a different thing all together, or maybe not all together. Someone is going to get hurt now, most likely you, unless you have a few friends to share the work.
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@il ciclista medio
Personally, I'm even more disturbed by the blatant disregard of the three-point system. It just looks so very wrong.
@Shlumpen
Yup, he's officially lost the nickname of "Eddy Boss" with that pic, nothing boss like there...
Great article. I was only trying to explain this to a friend the other day and struggling to get the concept across...so much of it is about feel not pace. Needless to say I have now linked this article to him. Job Done! Thanks Gianni.
@Ccos and he's now the British RR champion.
@Ccos
I agree about the black sock and blue shoe combo. I must admit, I like the white on white, and only on the shittiest of Rule #9 days do I wear my black socks, only to keep my white socks pristine.
@Gianni
Who can forget the smoking Cipo as the perfect example?
@Owen Agree with the radio ban. I think that it would make the breakaways much more fun to watch, as neither the break nor the peloton would know where th other was. It would either make breaking much easier our harder
@ChrisO
Now that I've learn what half-wheeling really is now (Thanks to Sir @ChrisO), I've kinda played dumb, by "letting it slide" (meaning not contest the wheel) but I'm far from ignoring it. I basically hold their pace half a wheel back, waiting for the implosion. If that implosion is going to be my own, I will make it a personal test.... how long can I go here....log it as knowledge for later....
I read this article fresh off a weekly shop ride I join up with occasionally if it fits into the weekly training plan. It usually always turns into someone's race day, and can make for a blip in the wrong direction on the PMC. As such, I intended to sit in for most of the day, really make it a recovery type effort, yet internally perplexed. I hate it when the someone sits in all day when they are clearly not struggling to stay on. So eventually I got out front to do my part, with a solid, steady, non-surgy but stiff effort. I did shed a few off the rear, and heard about it at the water break. Point taken; I'll back it down next time I'm up there. Rule #43, no problem.
So, next time I'm up is basically on the home stretch, and up front I go. Just a bit dialed back from last time, fully intending to keep the group together. All is well, and when I figure we're 15 minutes out, I roll off and head to the rear. As I do, one of those non-pulling but clearly not struggling types, jumps from the rear, drives all the way to the front and immediately pushes the pace. Promptly splitting the group into two, and prompting some shouts from the tired folks in the rear. Who are these people who wait until they can almost see the parking lot to put in their one big hard pull?
What I should have done, was get that second group on my wheel, and pull them back up to the first. Did I.... fuck no. Rule #43 is now an issue. The little bastard sitting on my shoulder is in my ear with "....that dude needs you hand feed him the V...", while the friendly one on the other shoulder is saying, "...but the whole group is going to suffer for it..."
Dear Merckx, please help me not to be a jackass, A-Merckx...
@il ciclista medio
Love the Brikos. Cipo: all style, fair amount of substance.
@Edster99
See...white socks gives a man extra power and vigor! He will now look even more awesome wearing the nice national champion jersey, and white sock, white shoes.