By James Stanfill, Head Mechanic for the Cycling Canada Para-cycling Team, President of the Professional Bicycle Mechanics Association, owner of Kyle Cyclery in Texas and curator at Pedaling Tools

I own a bicycle shop, a tool resale company and run a non-profit focused on improving the lives of bicycle mechanics around the world. How did my love of bicycles start? I used to race. In 1991, I was 15 years old and a guy my mom was dating was going to do this ride called El Tour de Tucson. I was immediately hooked. I have medals, trophies and memories from races and non-races alike from all over the Southwest United States. I raced regularly until I was 25 years old.

I was lucky; growing up in Tucson, cycling was mainstream and a hotbed in the winter months. Folks like Canadian Gord Fraser, Neil Stewart and Any Gilmour helped bring big names to Tucson for solid winter training. I was able to ride with and learn from some of the best riders in the world. I started racing with the adults when I was 17, and every now and then I could double down at a crit. By the time I was 25 and even before I knew I’d never be a pro, I enjoyed the competitive elements of racing and training.

However, you probably know that cycling is an expensive sport and I had to work in order to be able to afford to travel to races, buy equipment and pay race entry fees. That’s how I first started working at a bicycle shop. I worked at a shop in Tucson for a long time, a shop in Scottsdale, St. Louis, and Austin, Texas. I’ve worked outside the industry and at one time was in charge of 10 stores and 100 people. Sad day for them, I’m a hardcore manager!

I have been to some 35 or 36 countries, I’ve worked in race support for riders who have won the Tour de France and I’ve worked at every race in North America worth thinking about. I spent time on the back of a moto carrying wheels for Mavic, have had such bad hypothermia I couldn’t change a wheel or undo my zippers at the end of the stage. I’ve done hero level wheel changes in breakaways on TV. I’ve done the same work for Shimano and for SRAM. I’ve worked for USA Cycling and been credentialed at all the races, World Cups and World Championships you can imagine. I was in Toronto for the Pan-Am Games, Alberta for the Tour of Alberta and crossed the border enough times now to get questioned nearly every time.

For the most part, the work I do as a team mechanic is done in the background. To me a great day is nobody even knowing I was there. It means there were no errors, no mistakes and the athletes’ machine was an example of near perfection. Some think the job is easy, to them I say, it isn’t easy but it can be easier.

“Work Smarter Not Harder” and “Smooth is Fast” are two of my favorite phrases. A mechanic running around stressed is bad news for everyone around; it doesn’t exude confidence to the riders, the staff or other teams that may be watching. Panicking in the heat of the moment is much slower than remaining calm and being smooth. When the UCI changed its rules for time-trial positions I can’t tell you how many handlebars I cut on a start line without an athlete noticing. I can tell you how many mechanics I saw completely break down and cost their athlete time.

The team around me is made up of coaches and other assorted staff but the person I depend on most is the soigneur. Without people like Delphine Leray, I probably would not have lunch, or a person to vent to and have a beer with. Working with people like her makes life easy, as we can anticipate the needs of others and together ensure the athletes have less on their minds. So I’m the mechanic and if you never see me, never know I was there, you can consider it was probably a good day.

This has been a strange year and I imagine that the first months of the new season will also be strange. Whatever the new normal is for being at races and working with the amazing athletes and staff I’ve come to known surely can’t come soon enough!

By Kevin Field, Head of Performance Strategy at Cycling Canada

Cycling Canada was recently asked by a journalist to provide any insight we had on Chapatte’s Law for an article he was researching. To be honest, I had never heard it referred to this way, or if I had I’d forgotten. I had to look it up.

While I didn’t recognize the name, the principle of Chapatte’s Law is really well known in cycling and is definitely used by cycling teams all the time in race planning and during races. I have vague memories of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen talking about it during race coverage from the 90’s. It’s more a guide than a law and it essentially says that in a road race, the bunch will likely be able to chase down a breakaway at a rate of 1 minute every 10 kilometers.

You can also think of this as seconds per kilometer and I often refer to the following table:

When you look at this something stands out. At slower speeds the time difference per kilometer is significantly different and diminishes the faster you’re going, which makes sense.

Chapatte’s Law is 6 seconds per kilometre or the time difference between going 42kph and 45kph. These are reasonable speeds on undulating terrain for a break versus well organized, sustainable chase.

However, applying this guide too literally can lead to tactical mistakes. I thought it would be fun to look at how it actually works by looking at last year’s National Road Championship course and explaining how I might break down the course and explain sections and time to riders if I was directing a team.

I would break up the race into six sections. Assuming you had a team of seven to eight experienced athletes I would explain it this way:

1. Breakaway

A small break will likely go in the first 15-30km. The smaller the better on this course. If a team chose not to put someone into the break, you would want to keep the break between 3-5 riders, any more than that you’d want to put a rider into it, or shut it down and re-shuffle.  

Chapatte’s Law doesn’t really apply here.

2. Control

The 15km circuit in Saint-Odilon is tricky to control on. Keep the break under 4 minutes, ideally 3:30. When a break is gone, the bunch can really lull… you need to be extremely careful when this happens, as going slow even for 2-3km can lead to giving away huge chunks of time that will be very difficult to bring back later in the race and/or put you too short of resources at the next key point of the race (section #4).

The Côte de l’Église climb on the circuit is too short to gain time back on a breakaway. Over the top there is a left turn onto an undulating section of twisty road. Depending on wind and other factors, this is an important part of course to manage counter attacks.

3. Chase

Start chasing with just over 2 laps on the circuit to go. Chapatte’s Law would say you should be able to close 1:30 per lap, but in reality this is difficult because there is 4km of gentle descending on fast roads where the bunch and break will be going more or less the same speed. You can only count on closing 1:00 minute or less per lap on this circuit.

I would tell the team to get the gap under 2 minutes before the end of the last circuit. You want to be within 30-45 seconds of the break at the summit of Route Langevin (section #4). To do this, you need to exit the circuits with under 2 minutes, even ideally 1:30.

On this circuit you are chasing back slower than Chapatte’s Law.

4. Smash

Your top riders have to smash the race apart on Route Langevin. It’s really hard for 2.5km, especially after 140-50km, and this is 4-5km in total. You can anticipate being able to close to 1:00-1:30 on a break that is likely starting to fall apart or has no “change of speed” after a long steady day.

During this 5km section, you are chasing back at double Chapattes Law, ideally.

5. Manage/Feather

If it worked out, you have a small elite group and you have the breakaway in sight. Hold high/sustainable speed, do not allow any lulls in the pace… they will be deadly. Manage the gap at 30-45s. You can recover a bit from the Langevin effort, just don’t lull. Get your final bottle from the car and assess the situation with your sport director. Calling the car at this point is essential. The bunch will be in tatters and the commissaires will be barraging groups. You want your riders to call the car up for a feed so you can move ahead of the barrages and cover your top riders to the finish. Being able to service them and give them critical information is important as they manage the final 25km of the race.

There’s lots of downhill, and sections of really straight road (high visibility). With a hard-coordinated effort, a chase group can close the gap to a tiring break quickly in this section, especially since you will get some draft effect from the official car/moto behind the break. If your riders are confident, they don’t have to close to the break here.

Chapatte’s Law doesn’t really apply here. You have an approximately 20km section where you can be feathering the gap to the break. This can be really important because you want to set up the…

6. Catch and counter

This section is where you MUST catch whatever is left of the break. At the end of this section there is quite a hard hill, which is a launch pad for a winning attack. You want to control this counter move so someone from your team makes the move and solos to a win. Or, you control an opponent’s move – cover and kill. You want to come into this section no more than 10-15 seconds behind whatever break is left. Your riders need to be really smart to manage this section and try to assess what the break may/may not have left as well as what your opponents in the chase have. You need two or more teammates in the group and it is important how they position in the group so you maximize visibility on your opponents.  This is where all alliances in the chase group go away, the knives come out and the race is won or lost by how you play this 3-4km section.

As far as Chapatte’s Law, you should be able to close 15-20 seconds in 2.5km in this section leading to the final kicker. You are chasing back at double Chapatte’s Law.

If you are interested in learning more about Chapatte’s Law, click here.

By Sarah Orban, National Track Sprint Team member and Sorbs Cooking founder

What started as cooking for survival in university quickly turned into a passion for being in the kitchen. As a busy student-athlete, I knew that I would have limited time to cook throughout the day or evening after practice and that’s where meal prep came in. I decided to designate a couple of days each week to cook and portion food into containers. By doing this, I was ensuring nutritious eating habits, saving money by not resorting to eating out and saving time by not having to cook as often throughout the week. My main objective as an athlete is to make sure I am fueling my body properly, as we all know nutrition is easily one of the most important factors contributing to performance. Simply knowing what I am putting into my body and making sure that I am fueling it with the correct sources of energy it needs is truly what ignited my desire to cook meals for myself in the first place.

As I grew more familiar with how to operate in the kitchen, my cooking became more ambitious. Much of my inspiration comes from my mother’s cooking. Growing up in a house full of athletes (my brothers are both hockey players), my mom always had home-cooked meals on the table for us. Although my interest in cooking on my own didn’t start up until I moved out of the house for university, I developed a style of cooking similar to my mother’s; easy, homestyle cooking. Over time I began to explore more and more in the kitchen and realized I was always putting a unique twist on almost every recipe I was following.

After learning and experimenting with cooking out of necessity, I soon found out that those around me were quite enjoying the cooking. This became very obvious with some of the healthy treats I would make and share with family, friends and teammates. I started getting requests to share the recipes, and decided to create an Instagram food account called @sorbs_cooking (sorbs being my nickname on the soccer pitch) about three years ago. Now not only was I working towards my athletic goals, but I had discovered a hobby in the process. This account became an outlet for me and I started to take photos of the various meals and treats I would experiment with. Cooking has also allowed me to learn about different cuisine cultures and all the unique and delicious food around the world, which is something I have really enjoyed.

Lately, I’ve had some help enhancing the photo department for my food account. My boyfriend and teammate Nick Wammes has a very creative talent bringing my dishes to life with his photography skills and attention to detail. We have a great relationship: I create the food, he creates the photograph, and then he eats the food… It’s a great motivator for him and he makes me look good. It’s a win-win.

Below is a fan favorite recipe! A delicious snack that provides sustained energy. Easy to make and super adaptable if you have flavor preferences.

Protein Energy Bites: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Ingredients

1.5 cups quick oats

½ cup ground flaxseed (excellent source of protein and omega 3)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup natural peanut butter (or any type of nut butter)

4 medjool dates

1/4 cup of honey or agave

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Optional:

¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

¼ cup cacao powder

Directions 

Step 1

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2

In a food processor or blender, add peanut butter, honey, maple syrup and dates. Pulse until ingredients are well combined. If making without a food processor, chop the dates finely and mix all of the wet ingredients together in a large sized bowl.

Step 3

Combine the dry ingredients with the wet and stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon. You may also need to use your hands work the dough.

Step 4

Roll into balls using a teaspoon to make a consistent size. *It helps to form the balls if your hands stay clean and wet. Keep a bowl of water next to you while rolling them! I usually take the bowl with me to the kitchen table to roll the balls!

Step 5

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. Enjoy 

Note: These are all about finding the perfect consistency so the measurements are just a guideline. If they are too mushy and soft add more oats, or if it is too crumbly add more honey or maple syrup. They should be sticky enough to form balls.