Aggressive or assertive? – You needn’t be a jerk to take charge of your racing
(Originally published in Velonews) by Kendra Wenzel and Neil Browne

We all admire the riders voted “most aggressive” in a race. They are the ones attacking time after time and passing the miles in breakaways, occasionally with a favorable result. We want to be like them — confident riders who move wherever they please in the pack, who have no fear of the chaos of a big field sprint.

But for many of us, even the word “aggressive” is intimidating. It’s a characteristic we just don’t see in ourselves, though we may admire it in others.

In fact, aggressiveness is not exactly what we’re looking for as racers. Aggression is either hostile, with the goal of simply causing injury, or instrumental, with the purpose of inflicting harm to realize some external purpose, such as winning money or fame. The riders pushing their way to the front during staging, being rude to volunteers or hovering on the edge of violence, are aggressive. No wonder many riders can’t embrace aggressiveness. Who would want to?

What most riders are really after is assertiveness. Assertiveness is the use of force, without causing harm, to achieve your objective. It’s also the ability to defend and maintain your position. In everyday interactions, assertiveness is the ability to stand up for yourself and something you believe in. Put that way, it’s a characteristic that is a lot easier to adopt. Assertiveness means you are only standing firm for what’s yours: your position in the pack; your decision to attack; or your right to try to carry out your race plan. Assertive actions in the pack are positive moves that make racing exciting.

The flipside of assertiveness is passivity: the fear of making a move; allowing the pack to control you; acting as a pawn of the race rather than a player. Aggression and passivity are both detrimental to your overall chance at a good performance. Indeed, they are similar in that both rely on reacting to the race and other riders, while assertiveness involves taking charge of your own plans and actions.

What can you do to become more assertive without becoming aggressive? When trying to raise assertiveness in a rider, we usually first look at things that bring his or her natural assertiveness to the forefront. Do you change lanes swiftly and confidently in auto traffic without fear, no apologies to the driver who left the spot open? Do you jump eagerly into conversations without fear of the impression you will make? Do you go solicitously after any available bid in your job? Did you or do you go confidently after the girl or the boy?

Think about the things you are successful at and what kinds of assertiveness are required. Now ask, why are you not racing this way? Is it a question of confidence in your fitness and skills, or whether you are worthy of being in the thick of the action? What are you racing for? Is it the joy of competition, getting the most out of yourself, the camaraderie of the group, or winning? An athlete must find a purpose for racing and be committed to it. Realize that sitting at the back of the pack will not help you realize many of your goals.  Realize, too, that the world will not end, the sun will continue to shine, and your parents will still love you, even if you attack in the race and fail.

As with anything else, begin training your assertiveness by taking small steps, such as moving up in the peloton one rider at a time in an attempt to make your way to the front. Next, work on initiating a breakaway or trying to bridge to an attacking rider. Strive to figure out what it is that makes you feel comfortable about asserting yourself in certain situations, and see whether this can be applied to your racing.

You may find that some of the fears that keep you from being assertive are somewhat irrational. Most often, increased assertiveness involves a change of attitude more than anything physical. Sometimes riders will actually have to surprise themselves with a good performance before they allow self-confidence to sneak in.

Remember, too, that if you find you don’t assert yourself in other areas of your life, there is no rule that says you have to be the same person on your bike as you are off the bike. Think of your team skinsuit as having a big red “S” on it. Slip into that convenient phone booth, lose the Clark Kent disguise and become Superman, even if only for “45 minutes plus five laps” of your life each weekend.