My 1st Team Ride of the Year

The first team ride of the year is always a little concerning for me. It seems like I’m always trying to get back into the groove of things and get out for longer rides come January. Most of the road racers on the team have been riding base miles for a while and have a good level of fitness already. As for me, I’m just coming off the cyclocross season and a break, so I feel disadvantaged. I’m always worried I’ll be too week for the long haul, destined to be dropped.

This past Saturday was my first time back with the group. Actually I almost missed it but found out they were taking a route that went near my house. So I hopped on the bike and rode out to meet them. Fortunately I met up with them without any issue, it allowed me to get in a warm-up and prepare myself mentally to ride in a group. There is a basic etiquette you should be know so you don’t wreck the entire group. There were about 30 racers out on Saturday; it had been at least six months since I’d ridden in a group of this size. It was a lot of fun to see all the familiar faces as well as some new ones. The pace wasn’t too high and I could carry on a short sentence conversation between my gasps for air.

It feels so good to get out on those warm winter days. Everyone has a huge smile on their face. They know the indoor trainer waits for them but to escape it for a day and get out with your friends is especially exciting. I know I had a great time. As an added bonus I was able to hang with the group, until the end when the bigger surges started up for the ‘finish.’ I descided to pull the plug before the sprint.

I hope the weather is warm this weekend.

The Group Ride

During the winter months it's always a great boost, both mentally and physically, to get outdoors for a long ride. For most of the winter days it's simply not possible, too cold, snowy or dark. However when you have a quite weekend coming up and the weather is going to be nice and there's no snow on the ground, your mind starts to dream. A nice long ride.. and what could be better than riding with your friends.

So what is the problem? I haven't ridden more than a couple of hours (almost 2hrs) at a time in a few months, they have. Hell, I've only ridden outside once in the past month in a half. Sad

What I need is just saddle time. I need a good long ride to build up the aerobic base. The training issue is my competitive nature. There's no race this weekend (well there is but I only have Saturday to ride and the race is Sunday. I have the kids Sunday... would be fun to race but slow). So the question is, can a go to a team ride and get the aerobic ride I need or will I let the moment overrule my brain and mess it up?

I want to stick to the training plan... but can I? We'll see. Maybe I should just plan on getting dropped, then I wont push too hard trying to hold on to something that's not there.

As the new president, maybe I should talk with everyone and get to know them. I hope they ride slow enough..... wait a minute... I hope they ride fast enough to keep up with my minimal HR and power requirements. I don't want to have to ride too slow!

This is complicated.

Your New President

A few months ago I wrote a piece on the bike team and what I should do as far as the team goes next year.

Well, I decided to stick it out. I also got a little more involved (actually even before this happened). While it wasn't my original plan...
Our 2010 president had to step down, great guy but he got a good job, approximately 3 days into his term. The team was headless and heading towards oblivion (not really but it's my blog) so, I volunteered and actually had a lot of support on the board. Thanks everyone, it was nice to see you all think I can do it. So... I'm it.

It all happened a little fast! I'm going to need some time to wrap my head around this.

Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading.

Your President........ of Team Evergreen Racing

Chasing Points

I got a one page article and a front page photo published in Team Evergreen's Bike Beat Newsletter (The wife takes nice photos). It's a monthly newsletter that goes out to all Team Evergreen (TE) and Team Evergreen Racing (TER) members. I don't know the distrubution numbers but it's a respectable number, for a local cycling group.

As some of you know, I am currently the cyclocross director for TER. My intention for this article was to let people know about cyclocross (more importantly, get them to come out) and I figured the best to do it in the limited space was to tell my story from the past season. TE and TER are one of the largest, if not the largest, cycling groups in the front range. Unfortunaty we only have a small cyclocross group of about 5 riders. Hopefully this will grow our group... considerably... at least that the goal.

If not, I've been tring to network with other CX'ers in the area.

Check out the newsletter here, my article is on page 3.

Let me know what you think.

Weekend Update

The weekend ended up being successfully. Saturday morning I went out for the team ride, we basically hit the usual route. We finished the route 20 minutes faster than the week before. Not sure our average speed was much faster but the weather was getting cooler as the day went on. I think that helped keep people moving.

The team rides always seem to be a balancing act between riding and talking about how we should ride. My thought is getting people through the basics, pacelining, staying out of the wind, controlling the pace... and then letting people go, hoping they will react correctly when the situation arises. Others want the ride mapped out in detail so nothing is left to chance. What do you think it will be like in a race? I have never seen a detailed plan get past the start line.

Spent the rest of the weekend at my parents house. They had everyone at their house. Dogs, kids and aunts. We had a good visit and the kids had a blast. They were so tired from the weekend activities they slept in past 8am this morning. That never happens.

A recovery day on Monday means the weekend was a success.

Saturday's Team Ride

Wow! What a day. Look at that Sky! Super day for a ride.

There was some new candy for everyone to drool on. Nice ride Russ.

52 miles, everything started out great and everyone came home tired. Awesome