Radish_legs

And then the vans pulls off about halfway through the video IIRC, and he goes on alone.

He has many real race videos of bridging to breaks. He is so good at it, that it seems to be one of his go-to strategies. Instead of going with multiple breaks. Wait for the one that seems like it is the right one, then bridge to it. Many of these are much more than 10 seconds up the road.

mattm

Those were "ZeCannon" intervals i think, right? How hard was the "on" part?

Riding threshold wouldn't be enough to bridge to a break, at least for me.

globecanvas

103-108% (it's in the first post in the workout recipe sticky thread, above)

merlinextraligh

Training and Racing with a power meter has what they call "winning intervals" which replicate the pattern they saw in power files of successful breaks. IIRC, it's something like this : 30 seconds all out; followed immediately by 10 minutes at or slightly above FTP, and ended with a 20 second sprint.


So 30 seconds to jump clear, 10 minutes working in the break, and a sprint at end to win from the break.


Seems like this would also work for replicating the type of work necessary for bridging.

TheKillerPenguin

So, I was in this scenario yesterday and wasn't able to get closer than 10 or so seconds before having to settle in and watch them slowly roll out of sight. I'm not sure there is much you can do if the break is working well and you missed the train to the promised land unless you are part horse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ygduf

that's why it's (not you) stupid to put a limiter on it (timewise) - if I get clear of a pack and am heading toward the break I'll do over threshold for a bit to get space, but then settle in. My riding threshold is usually going to be faster than all but super-motivated/coordinated breaks. It might take me 10 minutes but I'll get there eventually.

then I get 4th, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

jdms mvp

buddy system works best.

i've missed two breaks by attempting to bridge solo. Both times the group had about 15-20 seconds on us and I got 'close' within 7 seconds, proceeding to blow up spectacularly. One was in a RR when they eventually finished 5 minutes in front of us, and the top 5 for the stage race was that group =( . Another was in a crit, where i attempted to bridge to a group of 6. Doing a 3 minutes PR for the season on the flat, and again blowing up.

i think it really depends on what the break is doing, how big the gap is, and the horsepower u got. Being a smaller built rider i think i'd need the perfect storm of things to happen for me to bridge a 30 second gap or something. On the surface, there is just little hope for me to outpace 5-6 dudes working together in the front of a race, i just dont have that horsepower not matter how hard i try =(. But maybe if they mess around, the group behind me messes around, i could have bridged by some miracle 1% of the time. lol

dz_nuzz

I have always had the theory that a 2 man group is %125 stronger than a 1 man group. Being able to go into the red just a bit and then recover is a lot better than going at just FTP.

Ygduf

only if they're working together and not afraid of getting dicked over. if there's mistrust everyone is riding at 95% and saving a little for the inevitable shenanigans. That's how I can bridge to just about any break.

dz_nuzz

Doesn't sound like a break I would like to bridge to.

rubiksoval

A similar question popped up on fb. The guy was asking vo2 max and it came up that there was a portion in which he was trying to bridge. He said "3 man break got away. I tried to bridge but failed (this was around the 16 minute mark)"

Two replies:

(BTW, if you zoom into your bridge attempt, I bet that the average during that part is very close to your FTP.) -Andy Coggan

I would actually one up him, I bet the time period before the bridge effort and the bride effort will result in 8-14 minutes just over FTP as an average.... - Tim Cusick


So, my takeaway, and my constant struggle and something I have to always remind myself to go back and work on... is ftp as high as possible, even for sub 10 min efforts.

Radish_legs

The way I figure it, the best way to successful bridge up to breaks is to have the highest FTP in the race. The guys who can do this are the guys who are always in the mix to win.

Ygduf

if you only want to bridge to breaks that are riding at 125% of what you're capable of, you must not bridge to many?

I usually get there, work hard and take my 3rd. 3rd from the break is still better than 25th from the field.

aaronmcd

I've got pretty good 4 to 8 minute power relative to my other durations. But that's still not very good for bridging I think. If I'm doing 400 watts for a 5 minute bridge attempt but the break is doing 350 I'm going maybe 1 mph faster.

Maybe 28 or 28.5 mph.

So divide 5 minutes by 28, that's a 10 or 11 second gap. I'd rather do 450-550 and try to close that in a minute or 2 than wallow in no mans land blowing a 5 minute power test mid race.

20 seconds Ill never close unless I downgrade to cat 4.

Ttoc6

Had a situation like that today on a group ride. I had gone solo otf on accident. Group of two came past me not going super fast and I was slow to react. Got on top of the pedals and was hammering trying to get there when I realized it was not going to happen with how fast they were going compared to me. Sat up for the group to catch me when the one threat that was left in the group jumped past and was FLYING. Tried again to catch his wheel and realized it wasn't going to happen either. I should have just buried myself and got to the group real quick rather than trying to pace it back. I was capable of riding with them, but just lacked the mental fortitude to make the high power jump to catch on. Pacing like that blew my opportunity to go over twice.

hack

My ftp is pretty lousy, but I have decent 1 to 5 min power. If I see a break develop that looks promising, I'll try to jump across as hard and fast as possible. Once i get there I'll skip a turn or two and then start working. If I relied on a long drawn out perform to get across I'd either never make it or be too fried to contribute.

dz_nuzz

Nope, I like to seed my own breaks.

Ygduf

an under appreciated skill. when I have few or no teammates I always do this.

mattm

Same. When I bridged to the break I won from at Golden State, it was an all-out ~50-second effort.

At Davis I just waited too long.

It's always funny to me to think about how at some point, the break was zero seconds ahead. Then one, two, ten, etc. Why didn't I just go earlier?!

Ygduf

if you go too soon it's not a break, you're just closing a gap and everyone will come with you. That's why.

I get pissed on TNR because dudes refuse to let breaks get far enough ahead to give them a chance to stick. They go to bridge too soon and suddenly the ride is just single file and there's no gap at all.

Doge

Exactly what Daniel says. I sit there frustrated he has let another one go, and he is instead waiting for it to establish. No point in going when it is going to get caught anyway. He did that with you at Knight Ferry, but you decided to make it more difficult. It is still much harder to TT at the front of a break than TT to it.

The one that is kinda obvious no-no, I see all the time, is when a break is being caught someone thinks it is good to bridge to it, when if they waited 10 min, the group would be caught anyway. I have seen breaks almost get caught, then re-ignite again and stick, but that is pretty rare.

Ygduf

If there's a failing break that I can get to, rest, then launch from I will do that, but I go across with the intent of going through.

Doge

When do you launch? At capture, or just before?

Ygduf

from the pack? I want to bridge to it while it's still a break. I go again from the break depending on tons of variables. I like to use them as a short rest then basically seed a new break from the field from that position. Even if it's only 5s ahead of the pack, that's 5s I don't have to contribute to my new gap.

Doge

No, from the break. You answered - tons of variables. I was looking for simple.