Pinning on your numbers is something that everyone has to do when you race and I think shows a lot about a person – more than you might think. There are a few rules that I try to keep to.
1. Pin the number on yourself – this way, if your number falls off you can blame no one else other than yourself. To me it shows you can look after yourself. The only time I let people put my number on is when I am wearing I am already wearing my skinsuit and then get my numbers, this only happens when the race is a local crit, so not important. I always make sure that the person that puts the number on is trusted and puts their own numbers on well.
2. Pin the number on the right way round – a simple one, but it can be tricky. Different organisers have different ways of wanting their numbers displayed. Sometimes you have to guess, so go with what the majority are doing. They can’t disqualify everyone. An good example of this is a Scottish Sup6r race where we arrived while the support race was taking place. We noticed one rider with his numbers on the outside of his buttocks attached to his shorts. Massive sails. This was ridiculous, oh how we laughed. When we arrived at HQ and were told where to place numbers, we were told to put our numbers on in this way, we ignored this and put them on the normal way…..we didn’t get disqualified.
3. Make the number as aero as possible – the whole point of pinning your number on correctly is to make sure that it interferes with your ride as little as possible. So to make it as aero as possible make sure you make the number as small as possible (cut or fold away parts of that aren’t needed, but always keep sponsors signs showing, don’t want to upset anyone). Just get the number as flat to your jersey as you can, so it’s not a big sail and you can still get in your pocket!
4. Pin it properly – this is the biggy. If you don’t listen to the other points, listen to this. Pin the number on so that it will stay put and not move in the race. If it falls off, you could win a prime but no one would know who you are. To avoid this from happening use more than 4 pins. I use at least 7 pins per number, more if it is a weird type of number. Added weight = less watts lost from a flapping number. And the main rule is: pin in number, in jersey, out of jersey then back into number.
So those are my 4 basic points on putting a number on….I’m not the best at doing it, but I’m definitely not the worst. Sorry if I sound a bit pretentious, but a psychologist I’m sure could tell you a lot about someone just by looking at a riders numbers. Luckily for me I had people telling me straight away how to pin my number on correctly so I almost always do it right. Make sure you do.
The reason for this rant is at the recent junior national series race, there were far too many juniors with pins coming undone resulting in numbers flapping. Notice how most winners of bike races have their numbers on correctly. One rider nearly lost all his numbers, only way this would be acceptable would be if he had crashed….he hadn’t.
The race was my best result this year, I stayed quietly in the bunch for the first half and let Jonny and Llaurie do their thing then the second half started getting in moves, following anything that looked like it might go anywhere. Not committing due to Laurie being up the road but being there for any splits. The penultimate lap, me and my Dad did a beautiful feed, with me getting the bottle magnificently with admiration from the small crowd. 
Thanks must go to Brian Barton who showed my Dad how to do it, it was poetry.
The final lap saw me go past the feed (at the top of the main climb) bridging across to a small group of riders who had clipped of the front. There were then 7 of us at that road quite well together to the finish, with one rider going clear on the last KOM but eventually brought back. I chose to ride at the back to see how everyone was feeling and looking at them I felt strong. So did another rider, so I let him to a lot of the work! The team BMW then came next to me to try and encourage me, I think it encouraged the other riders more though, I didn’t have the legs to ride away from them but was comfortable on the climbs and was able to chase a couple of people and bring them back and get 3rd in our groups sprint coming in 13th. Jonny got 19th and Laurie finished a few mins down having ridden at the front all day and unfortunately blowing in the final kms. This leaves me and Laurie 18th in the national series with Jonny 13th.
Main climb on the steepest part - bridging across to a small group on the last lap.
Photo by Larry Hickmott
Going over the top of the climb trying to find a wheel to sit on!!!
Photo by Charles Whitton - http://www.charleswhittonphotography.com/
The sprint for 11th - I managed 13th, not too shabby for stick like me.
Another Larry Hickmott photo
Tags: Junior National Series
