Ryan Bonick

Road Racing Year in Review (2024)

Well, this was probably a road season to forget.

Coming into the season, I planned with my coach to prioritize getting into great shape for cyclocross season over road results, but it still feels bad not making a significant improvement over last year’s racing! (sure feel like I’m in great shape for cross season, though, so nice job coach).

Progress

One thing I did focus on trying to improve this year was getting better at cornering. Last year, I felt like I was slowing up way more than other riders around me, and I paid for it by having to gas it out of every corner.

This year I focused on trying to get more comfortable railing corners without using my brakes. Somewhat hilariously, my final race (Littleton Twilight) I ended up having a leaky rear brake which prevented me from doing as much last-minute panic braking haha. Was fine, I didn’t have any issues! So… don’t brake so much in general, Ryan.

I got a lot better at sitting in and conserving energy, but I did it too well and wasn’t worried enough about moving up at the end of the race. The result was that several races I was just too far back to compete for the win; you can’t win from 20th wheel on the final lap.

Last year’s goals

Better fitness / FTP

Well, these felt about the same. At no point racing did I feel like I was going to get dropped, other than an absolutely terrible decision to try and bridge to the lead group at Boulder Roubaix on a downhill section going 40+ mph. Made it, but burned all my matches to do so & the next headwind section destroyed me.

I think it’s actually slightly better than last year? My peak 1 minute power has gone up significantly (+20%) and I’m getting close (10 to 15 watts below) to some shorter efforts from last year & prior years that were from Intelli aka sea level.

Prioritizing rest during the race

Uhhh I was plenty good at this. Too good. Sat in a bunch & saved energy, then failed to move up at the tail end of the race into a position I could actually finish well from. Gotta work on using those matches now that I’ve gotten them usable.

Finding the right opportunities to move up easily

Yeah, I was okay at this. Needed to be a bit more aggressive, but the overt spread five across everyone’s coasting sort of opportunities were obvious & taken advantage of when possible (sometimes it was TOO wide and there was no room to squeeze past lol).

Put in some break attempts

Did a good job of this! Me and my teammate Brian spent some time doing breaks and counter attacks to try and get breaks going. He even managed to win a solo break! Need to make sure that we’re actually getting a break going instead of sending a solo flyer, though, and just wasting energy.

Figure out how to handle the last few laps & be in a good position for the sprint

Nope. Terrible at this. I think next year I just try to spend the entire race in the top 10 wheels or else, because I’m not doing a good job of timing my attempts to move up after sitting in the pack for most of the race.

Next Year’s Goals

So, what’s the takeaway for next year (assuming I don’t bail on crits and just become a trackie)?

1. Be more aggressive about moving up when I need to

   It’s all great and dandy to sit in for most of the race. But it doesn’t work in the last 5 laps when you need to make up 20 spots as everyone starts accelerating and vying for position. Figure out when it’s time to move up better (or just stay more toward the front) and use those matches if necessary to put myself into a position to actually win from.

2. Shut down solo breaks faster

   Look, I tried my damnedest to get some breaks going, especially when I had willing teammates to counter. But I’m not strong enough or enough of a time trialist that I can just roll away from the whole field and stay out alone and win. So, if there’s not other people in a break with me, give up quicker & settle back into the pack.

3. Merge back into the pack better

   If I’m going for breaks (which I probably will; I don’t think my sprint is super impressive), when I do get caught I need to make sure I still slot back into the pack at a reasonable position. I can’t slide all the way back to 40th wheel & still be in the race, and I can recover just fine in 10th wheel. Surge a little bit when caught, especially if my teammate is countering, so that I can stay toward the front and still be active in the race.

4. Cheat and Copy Good Racers

   Look, every year there’s a few standouts. People who show up & just dominate for half the season. They’re good, they’re finishing top 5 or so consistently. What are they doing? How do they achieve it? Just sit on their wheels the whole time and keep an eye on them!! Bonus points if you can get them to attack and follow them into a solid break.

5. Get Stronger

   Strength isn’t everything, and usually isn’t enough to win races alone. But more matches never hurts. Keep on getting stronger & buy myself a bit more leeway when racing.

6. Race More

   Honestly, the best way to get better at racing is to do it more. Analyze all I want, some things can only be learned when actually racing. With a lighter schedule racing this year (including no Intelligentsia trip), I missed out on some valuable experience. Do more races, especially if I can make some trips to bigger races like Intelli and, say, Tulsa Tough or TOAD.

Stats

Thoughts

Like I said, nothing much improved, results or power-wise.

• Average power: Big drop haha. I definitely had a few races where I ended up feeling like I had matches left, which is never how you want to finish a race.

• Normalized power: Teeny drop. On the bright side, with the drop in average power, you could look at this as spending matches more when I needed to rather than burning them all the time out of corners?

• Points: Surprisingly, little drop compared to last year even though results weren’t much to write home about. More consistent maybe? Highlights were top 10s in the Louisville Crit and one of the weekly CSP practice crits (basically a circuit race, though). Sad I didn’t do better at Littleton.

I got my cornering figured out a little bit better, or at least am more comfortable about taking a corner surrounded by people at high speeds. But now I need to use the matches that freed up to actually put myself into a good position to win.

Previous Years

Season 1 (2021): Cat 5. Bad at racing, relatively strong. Podiumed by riding most racers off my wheel & catted up to 4. Spent the rest of the year (including a stint at Intelligentsia Cup in Chicago) getting destroyed in the washing machine at the back of the field.

Season 2 (2022): Went big on crits. No longer stuck in washing machine, not able to really win either, but could make it to the end of most crits. Raced Intelligentsia, best was 8th place there.

Season 3 (2023): Fewer crits this year, both out of a dying road scene and just a busy life schedule that seemed to have more conflicts with racing. Totally fine hanging in the pack at this point but not great at finishing well. Got some advice that I really sucked at cornering (way too cautious, would slow up too much & let gaps open that I was then stuck closing). Picked up my first upgrade points in the last 2 races of the season, including a 9th at Littleton Twilight that got featured in NorCal Cycling.

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