| Term |
Definition |
| Aerobic |
Exercise at an intensity that allows the body's need for oxygen to be continually met. This intensity can be met for long periods. |
| Anaerobic |
Exercise above the intensity at which the body's need for oxygen can be met. This intensity can be sustained for brief periods of time only. |
| Apex |
The sharpest part of the turn where the transition from entering to exiting takes place. |
| Attack |
A sudden increase in speed to ride away from other riders. |
| Bonk (The) |
A state of severe exhaustion caused by the depletion of oxygen in the muscles, which has been brought about by failure to eat and drink enough during the race. |
| Bottom Bracket |
The part of the frame where the crankset is installed, including axel, cups and bearings of the traditional crankset, or the cartridge of sealed bearing cranksets. |
| Brake Calipers |
The levers on the handlebars that pull the brake cable, thus activating the brakes. |
| Brake Levers |
Mechanisms attached to the handlebars that control both the front and rear wheel brakes on a bicycle with more than one gear. |
| Brake Pads |
Rubber pads attached to the brake arms, which clamp the rim during braking. |
| Brakehoods |
Rubber covering of the brake calipers, hence “riding on the hoods" is riding with hands resting on the brakehoods. |
| Breakaway |
The leading rider or group of riders who have broken away from the peloton; a second rider or group of riders between the breakaway and the peloton is called the chase group. |
| Bridging a Gap |
Going off the front of the peloton and making contact with a breakaway up the road. |
| Bunch |
The main cluster of riders in a race; also the group, pack, field or peloton. |
| Cable Clipper |
A wire cutter whose teeth cut by passing each other like a pair of scissors, required for making a clean cut of a brake or shift cable. |
| Cadence |
The pedal revolutions per minute (rpm). |
| Cassette |
The set of gear cogs on the rear hub; also freewheel, cluster or block. |
| Chain |
The flexible metal link between the rear wheel and the front chain ring. It transmits the power from the pedals to the rear wheel. |
| Chainring |
A sprocket on the crankset; also a ring. |
| Chain Rings |
The front gear wheels that drive the chain. One- to three-speed bicycles have one chain ring. Ten- to sixteen-speed bicycles have two chain rings. Bicycles with more than sixteen speeds (touring and mountain bikes) have three chain rings. |
| Chainstay |
Small tube running from bottom bracket back to rear dropouts. |
| Chain Tool |
A tool designed to break the chain by extruding the pin from one of the links. |
| Chamois |
A soft, absorbent, slightly padded liner of the crotch of the cycling short, designed to be worn next to the skin. |
| Chasers |
A group of riders ahead of a peloton trying to catch a breakaway. |
| Circuit |
A course that is ridden two or more times in a race. |
| Cleat |
A metal or plastic fitting on the sole of a cycling shoe that engages the pedal. |
| Clincher |
Tire and tube separate, and the tire expands under pressure to grip the sides of the rim like a car tire. |
| Clipless Pedals |
Pedals designed for use with cleated shoes. The foot is held on to the pedal by attaching the cleat into the clipless pedal. |
| Cog |
A sprocket on the rear wheel's cassette or freewheel. |
| Crankset |
A pair of crank arms. |
| Criterium |
A mass-start race of multiple laps on a course that is about one mile or less. |
| Cycling Gloves |
A fingerless glove, similar to a rowing or golf glove, but with padding on the palm for comfort on the bars and protection from crashes. |
| Cyclocross |
A fall or winter race contested on a mostly off-pavement course with obstacles that force riders to dismount. |
| Derailleur (front & rear) |
Mechanism that moves the chain from one gear wheel to another. The front derailleur moves the chain between two to three chain rings. The rear derailleur moves the chain among as many as 8 gear wheels. |
| Derailleur Adjustment |
A plastic or metal barrel where the shift cable enters the rear derailleur. Turning left or right adjusts where the derailleur hangs relative to the cogs on the freewheel. Front derailleur usually is adjusted by changing cable attachment. Set screws on front and rear derailleurs determine the full range of movement. |
| Downshift |
To shift to a lower gear: larger cog on the rear, smaller chainring on the front. |
| Downtube |
The tube extending from the bottom of the headset down to the bottom bracket. |
| Drafting |
Drafting, or riding closely behind another rider in the slipstream (a pocket of moving air crated by the rider in the front), decreases wind resistance. This enables the second rider to maintain speed with less effort. A drafting rider can save as much as 25% of effort and be more rested at the finish of the race. |
| Drivetrain |
Components directly involved in making the wheel turn: chain, crankset and cassette. |
| Dropout |
Open-ended fixtures at the fork ends and at the convergence of the seat and chain stays, which receive the axles of the wheels. |
| Drops |
Lower parts of a turned-down handlebar, also called the hooks. |
| Echelon |
A form of the pace line used in a crosswind: Riders line up offset to the lea side of the rider in front so the pace line stretches across the road at an angle or echelon. |
| Ergometer |
A stationary bicycle-like device with adjustable resistance used in physiological testing or indoor training. |
| Feed Zone |
Designated areas on a race course where riders can be handed food and drinks. It is customary to feed from the right because most riders are right handed (too bad for the lefties). |
| Field Sprint |
The sprint for the finish line by the main group of riders. |
| Fixed Gear |
A direct-drive power train using one chainring and one rear cog with no freewheel mechanism. Used on track bikes, which have no derailleurs and no brakes and which decrease speed with back pressure on the pedals. Also used on rollers or on road training bikes to improve pedaling technique. |
| Foot Brake |
Mechanism that stops the rear wheel when pedals are pushed in reverse. Foot brakes are used on single speed bicycles. |
| Frame |
The bike's chassis. Frames are made from a variety of materials including steel, aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber. |
| Freewheel |
The cluster of gear wheels attached to the rear wheel, which provides a variety of gears. |
| Front Fork |
Component of a bike frame that extends from head tube forking down over front wheel to front axle. |
| Gapped |
When a rider falls back out of the draft of the rider in front, usually due to a sudden increase in speed by the rider in front, or to fatigue. |
| Gear |
Toothed wheel (sometimes called ring) that drives the chain. |
| Gear-Shift Lever |
Lever used to switch gears by activating the front and rear derailleurs. |
| Grupo |
Includes crankset, brakes, calipers and front and rear derailleurs. |
| Hammer |
To ride hard in big gears. |
| Handlebars |
The bicycle's steering apparatus. |
| Handlebar Tape |
Tape used to cover the handlebars. Usually made out of plastic, cork or cloth. Some types have foam padding. |
| Headset |
The bearing apparatus at the top and bottom of the head tube into which stem and fork are fixed; should be adjusted snug so there is no play, but not tight so that it binds. |
| Headtube |
Short vertical tube at the front of the frame. |
| Helmet |
Worn on the head to protect from head injury. Helmets used by Special Olympics athletes and coaches must meet the standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI Z 90.4). |
| Indoor Trainer |
Used for indoor training or for warming up before a race. A bicycle is attached to the indoor trainer unit by removing either the front or rear wheel. The indoor trainer is a good training tool since the athlete can use his/her own bicycle. |
| Interval Training |
A training method that alternates periods of effort with periods of rest. |
| Jam |
A period of hard fast riding. |
| Jump |
A hard acceleration out of the saddle. |
| Lead-out |
When one rider leads another to the line in his slipstream so the other can slingshot around the first rider for the final meters of the sprint. In any bunch sprint, the first rider to go for the line is considered to be giving the lead-out. |
| Lantern Rouge |
The last finisher in a stage race, considered a position of honor because it takes some skill and planning to be last yet not eliminated by the time cutoff. |
| Mass Start |
Any race event in which all contestants leave the starting line at the same time. |
| Minuteman |
The rider in front of you in the starting order of a time trial, so called because most time trials use a one-minute interval between starters, but correctly used no matter what the actual interval might be. |
| Motorpace |
To ride behind a motorcycle or other vehicle; usually done for speed work in training, but there are some motorpaced races on the track and on the road. |
| Mudguards |
Fenders. |
| Off the Back |
A rider who has failed to maintain contact with the main group. |
| Overgearing |
Using too big a gear for the terrain or for one's conditioning. |
| Oxygen Debt |
The amount of oxygen that must be consumed to pay back the deficit incurred by anaerobic work. |
| Paceline |
A line of riders in which each lead rider pulls off at regular intervals, drops back to the last position, and begins to rotate through to the front of the line again, May be ridden with riders pulling off the front as soon as they are clear of the previous rider, thus creating a second line of riders dropping back to the rear position; may also be ridden as a double pace line in which the pair of riders at the front pull off simultaneously to the left and to the right. |
| Peak |
A relatively short period of time during which maximum performance is achieved. |
| Pedals |
The foot levers that turn the chainrings. |
| Peloton |
The main group of riders in a race. |
| Pinch Flat |
Internal puncture caused by rim pinching the tube when the wheel hits a hard object. |
| Presta Valve |
Narrow valve stem with small metal screw-down cap, common on light racing tires (see Schrader Valve). |
| Prime |
Prize given to the leader of particular laps during a criterium, or to the first to arrive at a designated line in a road race; pronounced “preem.” |
| psi |
Abbreviation of pounds per square inch, unit of measure for tire inflation. |
| Pull |
A turn taken on the front of a paceline; a breakaway of the peloton. |
| Pull Off |
To move to the side after taking a pull. |
| Resistance Trainer |
A stationary training device into which a bike is clamped. |
| Rim |
The outside section of a wheel, around which the tube is inflated. Most rims are made of steel or aluminum. The tire covers the tube and holds it to the rim. |
| Road Race/Mass Start Event |
Road races are mass start events which take place on public roads (mass start is a race in which all the racers start at the same time from the same location). They can be point-to-point races, or loops of one to 25 miles (40km) in length. |
| Road Rash |
Skin abrasion resulting from a crash, the most common cycling injury. |
| Rollers |
An indoor training device composed of three rollers (about three to twelve inches in diameter depending on the type of rollers), set parallel in a rectangular rack that rests on a flat surface. |
| Saddle |
The bicycle's seat. |
| Saddle Sores |
Skin problem in the crotch that develops from chafing caused by pedaling. |
| Schrader Valve |
Inner tube valve like those found on car tires. |
| Seat Position |
Height of seat from center of bottom bracket; fore and aft positioning of seat over bottom bracket; forward and backward tilt of seat. |
| Seat Stay |
Small frame tubes descending from behind the seat to the rear dropouts. |
| Seat Tube |
Frame tube running from seat down to bottom bracket. |
| Sewup Tire |
A tire that is sewed together around its inner tube and glued onto a slightly concave rim, also called a “tubular.” |
| Shift Lever |
Modern shift levers are built into the brake calipers; before that, shift levers were placed near the top of the down tube. |
| Sit on a Wheel |
To ride in someone's draft. |
| Skewer |
A metal bar with a cam action lever which clamps the hub of the wheel into the frame. |
| Slipstream |
Pocket of protected air behind a moving rider. |
| Spin |
Ability to pedal at high cadence. |
| Spoke |
The thin metal support rods which comprise the inside of a wheel and keep the wheel round (or true). |
| Spoke Wrench |
A wrench with a slot designed to fit the top of a spoke. |
| Sprocket |
General term for chainring or cog. |
| Stationary Bicycle |
A stationary bicycle is used for indoor training. The unit provides different levels of resistance. |
| Stem |
The bar that extends from the top of the headset to the handlebar. |
| Take a Flyer |
To go very early in a sprint. |
| Tempo |
Fast riding at a brisk cadence. |
| Thread Cut |
When a puncture has cut one or more threads of the tire casing (throw the tire away). |
| Time Trial |
Time trials pit individual riders against the clock, with the goal to cover the course distance in the shortest amount of time. The course is usually straight out for the 500 meter to 1km distances, and out-and-back for the 5km thru 25km. |
| Tires |
Protect the tube. Tires come in a variety of sizes depending on the size of the rim. Tires come with different treads depending on the terrain the bicycle is used on. Mountain bike tires normally are "knobby" while road racing tires have a smooth tread. |
| Top Tube |
The frame tube running from the seat to the top of the headset. |
| Toe Clip |
Toe piece attached to a pedal, which holds the foot on the pedal. |
| Tubes |
Tubes hold the air that keeps the tires inflated. |
| Turn Around |
The point where riders reverse direction on an out-and-back time trial course. |
| UCI |
Union Cycliste Internationale, the International Federation of bicycle racing. |
| Upshift |
To shift to a higher gear, smaller cog or larger chainring. |
| Velodrome |
A banked track for bicycle racing. |
