I made it out for another group road ride, and having been on 2 of them I can safely say that it is some of the toughest riding I've done this side of racing. I didn't get dropped this time, but I had to bury myself a couple times to hang onto a wheel. There is a big learning curve to riding in a bunch, let me tell ya. I kept getting surprised by the sudden accelerations when a strong/fast rider would take a pull. One second I'm about a wheel length behind someone, the next second I'm almost a bike length behind. I've just got to pay close attention as to whose turn it is, and be prepared to bump up the pace a little.
The other thing I have to do is get more comfortable sticking to someone's wheel. If I get anything closer than a wheel length to the person in front of me, my proximity alarms go off. I've just gotta get more comfortable with hugging the wheel in front of me. When I resolve those two issues I'll do just fine...and I think that experience will be the best teacher. I think I've impressed some of the old timers with my strength, they seem surprised at how new I am to road biking.
That said though, these rides can add a whole new dimension to one's fitness. Riding with people of this caliber HAS to make you stronger/faster. I know for a fact that one of the guys is a Cat2, and I know that a couple of the others have to be at least Cat2s or 3s. You can't keep riding with people like that and not benefit from it.
The group rides end on 10/24, and my goal is during one of the remaining rides to save a bit towards the end so I can contest the sprint. I won't win it, but I just want to show that I have a little something left to give.
After today's ride I'm prepared to alter my race week training program. The legs feel decent right now, but come tomorrow if they're not peppy then I'll abandon my training plans and then do a recovery ride on Thursday. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize this weekend's race. As far as the Florida Series goes, Tallahassee is as close as it gets to a home course...so I really want to do well there.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment