"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Building confidence turning, drafting

I'm working with a friend on building confidence in crits. He has trouble turning and drafting. But, he is confident when riding with me. Can anyone suggest any drills that I can do with him to build up his confidence?

more races. he's not confident because he hasnt raced nearly as much as he's ridden with you.

more races. he's not confident because he hasnt raced nearly as much as he's ridden with you.

+1. Also, group rides with racers - not rec. riders (no disrespect intended, but the styles of riding are very different).

more races. he's not confident because he hasnt raced nearly as much as he's ridden with you.

Good point. I forgot to mention that he has been in about 10 races and hardly improved at all. He's rally strong, making it possible for him to finish respectably without drafting and with braking into the turns.

Needs to gain confidence? There is a point where we eventually just sell out and start to stick a wheel in there. Sounds like he just needs to decide to do this or find another sport. This comes easier to some of us than others. I've known promising riders who could never really take this step.

Have a goal for his next race be to ride in the middle of traffic as much as possible. Doesn't matter how he finishes just so he is mixing it up the whole race.

Good advise, I don't have any first hand experience to lend, but I can see myself in your friends shoes about being a bit timid about getting into the fray. There's a fear of crashing in a pack that you need to overcome, as others say it's easier for some than others. Its a bridge I'm going to have to cross if I want to get into racing myself in the future. And one I am a bit apprehensive about too. Hopefully your friend can gain the experience and increase his comfort to be more agressive in those areas.

Try bumping drills. If he's really concerned with crashing in a race a quick practice throwing some elbows around, bumping shoulders, etc... can go a long way in making you feel comfortable.

One of the more experienced guys on my team did a good drill with me on our last training ride - he would constantly try to cut in and take the wheel that I was holding, in an attempt to see how well I would defend my space. We bumped, touched elbows, but I didn't give it up.

This really builds confidence. And I know my teammate would never do anything to cause me to crash.

One of the more experienced guys on my team did a good drill with me on our last training ride - he would constantly try to cut in and take the wheel that I was holding, in an attempt to see how well I would defend my space. We bumped, touched elbows, but I didn't give it up.

This really builds confidence. And I know my teammate would never do anything to cause me to crash.

+1 these are great drills

Nice drills. Then there are all of the grass drills, chop, picking up water bottles, ect. Are there any club rides or workouts around that use a closed course (industrail park, ect)? Its much easier to do some of this off the road, and where there are Crit style turns. It's a problem going from recreational group rides where things are pretty organized to lower level racing where chaos rules.

You might also check out post #6 in this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=281600&

I did a circuit race this past weekend that had some tight downhill turns on them. I was surprised how comfortable I felt moving around in the pack. Last year I didn't feel nearly as confidant. A lot of this came from practicing with my boyfriend where we pick a gnarly hill and he descends first and I try to keep up with him. Before I think I would use the brakes too much because I wasn't that confidant and was afraid of sliding out. Forcing yourself to try to keep up with someone who is going through pretty quickly helps alot. It also taught me how to work on picking a good line by watching what he was doing.

This helped because I got to practice this first with just him before I was thrown into a situation with a ton of other people.