Sunday was the planned "introduction to newer riders" team ride in Columbia IL at noon. Joe and I feared the worst so we went over early and did our usual 9am fixie ride first. Justin joined us on his regular bike. He's always up for extra miles. Like last week we rode the bluffs down to Valmeyer. I struggled for the first few miles. Saturdays surprisingly difficult ride was still having its effects it seemed. My legs loosened up quick enough though and we seemed to reach 156 quicker than the week before. It must have been my imagination because I didn't feel that awesome. Back to Valmeyer was easy riding with a hefty tailwind. We skipped riding the side roads and just took B and Levee back and finished in just under two hours. We probably could have taken those roads because we got back at 11:15 and got a little chilled waiting for the noon ride to gather and get rolling.
Despite Mike's late-ish arrival we actually rolled out of the parking lot pretty much on time. Our group had a decent seven man group. Everyone was experienced except for maybe one guy who's name I still don't know. Not good on my part. He did an okay job with the paceline though, especially when you factor in the strong cross and headwinds. Along the way I did my best ruin any rhythm we had with two unrelated flats. In between those flats we had passed Kong on the side of the road with a flat and being helped by Butthead. They caught back up to us during my 2nd flat and decided to ride with us instead of fighting the fierce headwind with only two riders. We got rolling and came across Luke doubling back to see where Butthead and Kong were. I guess it was nice of him to double back but the idea was to have at least one experienced high cat rider with each group. Now there group was left without either one of those riders. Justin was still up there but he can get a wild hair once in a while and just away from a group.
Kong was hurting and told our group to go on and he would just spin. I wish he could have held on to Maeystown but he has very few miles in his legs and he should know his limits. Unfortunately Patrick dropped back to Jeff and we never saw him again. We went on in a decent fashion until the first knucklehead move. Just before the turn into Maeystown we were just about to catch another group. It was Mike's group and I guess he saw us. He was in a playful mood and circled back and then did a trackstand across our side of the road. Now we weren't going terribly fast but we kept going and I half expected him to move but he didn't and caused us to put on the brakes and sent everyone swerving. Luke pushed him into the grass as we went by which was good for a chuckle.
Most of the group was at the intersection of roads that went to either Maeystown or on to Prairie du Rocher. Joe and I kept rolled on past toward Maeystown as did Glen. The others were trying to catch our attention like we didn't see them but we already had 37 earlier miles in our legs and Glen had almost no liquids. There is no way he would have made it to Prairie with two swallows of liquid. Besides he was hurting for most of the ride. Joe doubled back to let the others know what we were doing and to give anyone else a chance to go with us. He brought along three or four others when he came back and we headed on the The Sweet Shoppe for fuel. Joe W's group was rolling out of town as we were going. They ended up turning around and joining us for the return trip after we fed ourselves.
Having the strong southerly wind at our backs was going to be fun on the way back. Rather than going back the same way we took Outlet Rd west to Levee so we had to endure another tough, windy section. My legs were heavy after stopping in town and I was sitting at the back of the pack. Not a good spot to be. It seemed like the pace was being driven pretty hard. We started getting in an echelon. It wasn't a nice, smooth echelon. People were fighting for calm air including myself. One girl (Whitney?) was dangling at the back too and looked to close to popping. I passed her and caught the tail of the echelon and motioned to her to move to my right side. She caught on and immediately and remarked how much better that was. Maybe that is something that will stick with her.
Finally we made the turn north and started cruising quickly. Not so much because of effort but because of the push provided by the wind. Somewhere we must have shed some riders that were struggling. We turned off of 156 near Valmeyer and only had about 10 left out of the original 16-17 riders. PJ came up to let Joe W know she was going to gather up those that were behind. There were some other experienced riders like Nate and I think Craig back there too, so there was still a good core of people with whoever else was there.
Our small group remained under control. Joe W and BugMan finished their turn at the front and Fuller and I took over as we turned into a crosswind. It was odd because I wouldn't have expected a crosswind there. I need to look at a map of that section of road and figure how the wind was hitting us. Regardless, we had the wind. Joe and I were leading the others. The miles were getting into his legs and he drifted into my draft a little and I could see others shadows off his shoulder. I soldiered on at the front because my legs felt surprisingly good still and I figured I would go ahead and fight the wind rather than make someone else have to deal with it. I think I may have hurt some people in that section but no one really complained to me so I'm not certain. Joe mentioned that someone commented to him that they thought he was pushing the pace. Whoops! I know I never saw Joe W again. I doubt I would crack Joe, so it must have been a conscious decision to not go beyond a certain limit.
We regrouped some after the crosswind and then got another paceline going with the tailwind. The early season miles or the pace or maybe both started to take its toll. Soon it was just me, Hairdoo, BugMan, Justin. Mark was hanging tough and taking a few turns and skipping others. Joe F and Parker were staying close, too. After a while we eased off and rode in together for the last several miles. We hurt some guys in our little group in that last effort but it was pretty fun. Of course it's always more fun when your legs feel good. The others were probably cursing us.
The ride turned out okay for me but all along I had a sinking feeling that not everything was cool. I didn't like leaving the one group behind on the way back. And I worried about whoever went rode down to Prairie du Rocher. They were swimming with some big fish when you head down there with Mike, Joe, Josh, Luke, etc. The potential for carnage was great when you have cat 1's and 2's pulling around some unsuspecting new rider who are unfamiliar with the roads or how much further they were going to be riding. When I started riding with a team I would occasionally overestimate my abilities and end up bonking. My bones tell something like that may have happened Sunday, but I don't know. The conditions were ripe for sure.
The more I do of these "mentoring" type rides between experienced riders and new riders, the more I wonder about their benefits. I always have the sense that sometimes the really good riders get frustrated and want to leave the others. That's just my impression. I can't read minds. For instance, our team time trial event actually has that result built into it. The idea is to introduce inexperienced riders to tactics and strategy of pacelines. If that is the case, why is a team allowed to drop a rider after one lap? That is exactly the person that would benefit most from another lap. I don't have a solution, just an uncomfortable feeling about these types of rides. Maybe it is the big numbers of riders that show up to these things. I'm far more comfortable when a newer rider comes to our little Saturday rides. Goodness knows we've towed a rider or two around and over some hills before. They still struggle at times but it seems more low key. We push the pace at times but then ease up and offer an encouraging word or two.
Okay, I have written entirely too much. Goodnight.
Ride time: 2 hrs in the morning, 3:15 in the afternoon = 5:15 hrs. somewhere in the upper 80 miles.
Weight: 155.7
Despite Mike's late-ish arrival we actually rolled out of the parking lot pretty much on time. Our group had a decent seven man group. Everyone was experienced except for maybe one guy who's name I still don't know. Not good on my part. He did an okay job with the paceline though, especially when you factor in the strong cross and headwinds. Along the way I did my best ruin any rhythm we had with two unrelated flats. In between those flats we had passed Kong on the side of the road with a flat and being helped by Butthead. They caught back up to us during my 2nd flat and decided to ride with us instead of fighting the fierce headwind with only two riders. We got rolling and came across Luke doubling back to see where Butthead and Kong were. I guess it was nice of him to double back but the idea was to have at least one experienced high cat rider with each group. Now there group was left without either one of those riders. Justin was still up there but he can get a wild hair once in a while and just away from a group.
Kong was hurting and told our group to go on and he would just spin. I wish he could have held on to Maeystown but he has very few miles in his legs and he should know his limits. Unfortunately Patrick dropped back to Jeff and we never saw him again. We went on in a decent fashion until the first knucklehead move. Just before the turn into Maeystown we were just about to catch another group. It was Mike's group and I guess he saw us. He was in a playful mood and circled back and then did a trackstand across our side of the road. Now we weren't going terribly fast but we kept going and I half expected him to move but he didn't and caused us to put on the brakes and sent everyone swerving. Luke pushed him into the grass as we went by which was good for a chuckle.
Most of the group was at the intersection of roads that went to either Maeystown or on to Prairie du Rocher. Joe and I kept rolled on past toward Maeystown as did Glen. The others were trying to catch our attention like we didn't see them but we already had 37 earlier miles in our legs and Glen had almost no liquids. There is no way he would have made it to Prairie with two swallows of liquid. Besides he was hurting for most of the ride. Joe doubled back to let the others know what we were doing and to give anyone else a chance to go with us. He brought along three or four others when he came back and we headed on the The Sweet Shoppe for fuel. Joe W's group was rolling out of town as we were going. They ended up turning around and joining us for the return trip after we fed ourselves.
Having the strong southerly wind at our backs was going to be fun on the way back. Rather than going back the same way we took Outlet Rd west to Levee so we had to endure another tough, windy section. My legs were heavy after stopping in town and I was sitting at the back of the pack. Not a good spot to be. It seemed like the pace was being driven pretty hard. We started getting in an echelon. It wasn't a nice, smooth echelon. People were fighting for calm air including myself. One girl (Whitney?) was dangling at the back too and looked to close to popping. I passed her and caught the tail of the echelon and motioned to her to move to my right side. She caught on and immediately and remarked how much better that was. Maybe that is something that will stick with her.
Finally we made the turn north and started cruising quickly. Not so much because of effort but because of the push provided by the wind. Somewhere we must have shed some riders that were struggling. We turned off of 156 near Valmeyer and only had about 10 left out of the original 16-17 riders. PJ came up to let Joe W know she was going to gather up those that were behind. There were some other experienced riders like Nate and I think Craig back there too, so there was still a good core of people with whoever else was there.
Our small group remained under control. Joe W and BugMan finished their turn at the front and Fuller and I took over as we turned into a crosswind. It was odd because I wouldn't have expected a crosswind there. I need to look at a map of that section of road and figure how the wind was hitting us. Regardless, we had the wind. Joe and I were leading the others. The miles were getting into his legs and he drifted into my draft a little and I could see others shadows off his shoulder. I soldiered on at the front because my legs felt surprisingly good still and I figured I would go ahead and fight the wind rather than make someone else have to deal with it. I think I may have hurt some people in that section but no one really complained to me so I'm not certain. Joe mentioned that someone commented to him that they thought he was pushing the pace. Whoops! I know I never saw Joe W again. I doubt I would crack Joe, so it must have been a conscious decision to not go beyond a certain limit.
We regrouped some after the crosswind and then got another paceline going with the tailwind. The early season miles or the pace or maybe both started to take its toll. Soon it was just me, Hairdoo, BugMan, Justin. Mark was hanging tough and taking a few turns and skipping others. Joe F and Parker were staying close, too. After a while we eased off and rode in together for the last several miles. We hurt some guys in our little group in that last effort but it was pretty fun. Of course it's always more fun when your legs feel good. The others were probably cursing us.
The ride turned out okay for me but all along I had a sinking feeling that not everything was cool. I didn't like leaving the one group behind on the way back. And I worried about whoever went rode down to Prairie du Rocher. They were swimming with some big fish when you head down there with Mike, Joe, Josh, Luke, etc. The potential for carnage was great when you have cat 1's and 2's pulling around some unsuspecting new rider who are unfamiliar with the roads or how much further they were going to be riding. When I started riding with a team I would occasionally overestimate my abilities and end up bonking. My bones tell something like that may have happened Sunday, but I don't know. The conditions were ripe for sure.
The more I do of these "mentoring" type rides between experienced riders and new riders, the more I wonder about their benefits. I always have the sense that sometimes the really good riders get frustrated and want to leave the others. That's just my impression. I can't read minds. For instance, our team time trial event actually has that result built into it. The idea is to introduce inexperienced riders to tactics and strategy of pacelines. If that is the case, why is a team allowed to drop a rider after one lap? That is exactly the person that would benefit most from another lap. I don't have a solution, just an uncomfortable feeling about these types of rides. Maybe it is the big numbers of riders that show up to these things. I'm far more comfortable when a newer rider comes to our little Saturday rides. Goodness knows we've towed a rider or two around and over some hills before. They still struggle at times but it seems more low key. We push the pace at times but then ease up and offer an encouraging word or two.
Okay, I have written entirely too much. Goodnight.
Ride time: 2 hrs in the morning, 3:15 in the afternoon = 5:15 hrs. somewhere in the upper 80 miles.
Weight: 155.7
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