This was the first ride where we broke into our
smaller training groups. We have a lovely little team of 4 women, including
myself, and two coaches – Phil (a cancer survivor!) and Scott. The purpose of breaking into these
smaller, similarly paced teams is to train with others who ride at the same
speed. Our coaches provide tips, tricks, and feedback about our riding
habits—better to break the bad ones now, rather than taking them to Tahoe with
us!—and some pretty awesome inspiration and support.
Today, we had our usual large team send-off and then met the
follow cyclists we will be riding with...or behind...for the rest of the
season. As I mentioned before, we have four great women in our group—Rae,
Karen, Emily, and myself. While we’re all from different walks of life, generations,
and cycling experience, we do share a similar “newness” to the endurance
cycling world.
Once our coaches gave us an overview of the ride (25 miles!),
they explained that we would be practicing our pacelining. Just what is a paceline and why is it beneficial? Think
Lance Armstrong. Think Tour de France. Think much, much slower.
A paceline is when everyone lines up behind the first rider,
who maintains a constant speed. A rotation occurs when the front rider pulls
off to the side and drifts to the back of the line. The next rider then tales the lead at the same pace. Riders stay on the front from a few seconds to several minutes and the
benefit comes with sharing the work. Especially in the wind.
We also learned how to communicate with one another while
riding. Since we should never be riding side-by-side, unless someone is
rotating to the back of the paceline, and we’re riding so close together, the “head” of the paceline serves as the eyes of the group. It’s this person’s
responsibility to notify the rest of the group of what’s going on ahead. For
instance, if there’s a yellow light, or stop sign, the first person in the
paceline will yell, “slowing” or “stopping!” so the others know to do the same.
The message then travels backwards through the paceline (think a simple game of
telephone). We also communicate when there is something in the road that may be
blocking a clear path (i.e. sticks, gravel, and worst of all glass).
Now, there are also hand signals that accompany this
communication that more “advanced” riders will use. I, however, look like a
baby fawn just learning how to walk when I attempt to take one hand off of my
handlebars. This is the one time in my life when I can say being a former
cheerleader really comes in handy. While I am not yet able to remove make these
hand signals while riding, I sure can communicate loudly and clearly enough for
the entire paceline to hear.
While this ride taught me how to paceline and how to be the eyes
for our group and trust the eyes of those in front of mine, I also learned that I am
slower downhill than uphill. What?!
I know what you’re thinking. How is this even possible?!
Well, I assure you, friends, it is possible and I am a rarity. As mentioned in
a previous post, I struggle with the idea of potentially loosing control of my
bike, skidding across the road, and lying in the street just waiting for a car
to run over my limp body. Okay—that’s probably a little dramatic, but I do have
some serious trepidation when it comes to going downhill fast. Luckily, we
climb and descend at our own pace—there’s never any pressure to go faster than
your comfort zone allows—except the fact that we wait for our teammates at the
top and bottom of every hill. And I hate being last. So maybe there is some
pressure.
Luckily, one of our coaches hung back with me today and
taught me some tricks to help while descending. Since I do not feel comfortable
peddling downhill yet, putting a majority of my weight in my pedals helps
stabilize my bike. Not locking-out my elbows also helps. Being more relaxed
makes hitting those inevitable bumps in the road not sooo bad. Feathering my
breaks, instead of keeping a death grip on them, also helps with all of the
above.
Whew. I have a lot to learn and most of it involves trusting myself. And
all of those crazy drivers whizzing by me in their 2-ton vehicles, drinking
their morning coffee, texting illegally, and putting on mascara. Ugh! This is
going to be a long road (pun intended).
All in all, we finished the 25-mile ride feeling strong and
all knowing what we should work on over the next week. We even felt good enough
to take this lovely group photo. I have to say, if there’s a group to spend the
next 4 months with, this is a great match! I’m definitely looking forward to
getting to know these lovely women, learning from our coaches, and attempting
to conquer my fear of, “what goes up, must come down”--(That would be me. On my bike. Rubber still on the road.)
Please take a moment to visit my fundraising page and consider donating to help CURE Cancer: http://pages.teamintraining.
GO TEAM!
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