Lessons from the Road

With the holiday weekend I got a good deal of time of the bike (I also got a 13 mile run in).  On Saturday morning we met at Winn Dixie.  The group was on the smallish size just being 5 including me. 

I have made the decision to work a little harder and go for it more often.  I also need to be smarter when I pull or try to break away.  When I get to the front or try to create a gap I go all out – unfortunately I can only sustain this effort for a minute or two.  Then I have to give it everything that I have just to grab the last wheel.  I watch my heart rate continue to climb and climb after the pull. 

Well, on Saturday I took a couple of really good pulls for me – I stuck my heart rate at a solid zone 4 and gave good pulls of a mile plus.  This is what I need to do.  The first half of the ride and we were averaging 21 + MPH.  When you consider all of the chit chat and slow pedaling that 21 + means there were points that we were really moving.

Lesson 1:  During the second half of the ride I was drafting about third in line.  It was a rolling selection of road and I we were going into a slight head wind.  I moved just a hair to my left to gage the wind.  Butch told me that during a race it would be easy to edge me out into the draft.  He effortlessly inched forward and had taken my place in the pace line.  Just like that I was working much harder.  Butch let me back in but in a race I would have had to drift all the way to the back of the pack.  Remember to keep it tight and hold the wheel close.

Lesson 2:  Towards the end of the ride I was feeling strong.  We were on another set of rolling hills.  I had forgotten that this was the beginning of a tough couple of miles.  I made the mistake of passing on the down hill of one of the rolling hills and hammer up the next.  Well, when I passed the entire group jumped on my wheel and waited for me to get tired going up the next hill.  Then they passed me like I was standing still.  I was huffing and puffing and just could not grab the wheel.  The pack was just out of my reach and continuing to pull away.  The group was soft pedaling as we reach town when I caught back up.  Ed told me of my mistakes.  He said that he was on my wheel and just started to smile.  He said that I could not have set it up any better.  It is just too easy for everyone to follow on the down hill – even if it is just a dip before the next hill.

Lesson 3:  This was the Sunday ride.  It was another section of road that has a long steady climb.  We were riding steady trying to chase down another rider.  We were closing but I was impatient.  I jumped out of the third position and sprinted ahead.  I charged hard and reached the rider.  Actually, I flew by the rider and tried to keep the pace.  I started to slow but Butch was on my wheel.  He jumped ahead of me and it took just about everything to stay with him.  He then slowed but started to attack every few minutes.  I was able to counter and get back on the wheel but it was taking its toll.  There was no need to jump in front of the group.  I could have stayed in the pack and conserved energy and then attacked at the end.

These were good lessons and an even better time riding.  All in all a great holiday weekend.

Road Racing - Let the chips fall where they may.

F#ck off with your sofa units and string green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let... lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may. - Tyler Durden

Ginny over at Happy Feet 26.2 sent me an article about road racing.

It had a lot of good tips about cycling. She mentioned tip number 5 about the hard stuff not being hard enough and the easy stuff not being easy enough. This is true in swim / bike / run for sure. It is so hard for most of us to slow down for a recovery run. Now the hard stuff. I can knock out running intervals with a group of fast runner like no bodies business. But left on my own it is hard to hold yourself to the line. So I just run my intervals where I have to be accountable.

Tempos are another story. It is so hard for me to go out and run an hour plus at a very hard pace. I almost need a race to push myself – to be able to keep myself at that edge. I have known this about myself for years.

However, the tip that stuck out in my mind was the following:

3. Not Limit Potential

For the first few years, race as hard as you can. When presented with any "yes/no" question--Should I follow this attack? Should I go hard in this time trial? Should I force the pace on this hill? Should I sprint for this prime?--answer YES. If you follow this rule initially, you will craft forward-thinking, aggressive racing habits, and you will learn much more about the limits of your body and your competitors. Don't worry about hiding your cards and being patient, that comes later. If you get shelled because you left it all out on the road, that is fine, you are in the learning phase of your sport. For now, when you see opportunity, pull the trigger!

In a race, I have never blown up - completely. I am afraid of blowing up. I have pushed myself too far and pulled back but never just gone all out – no holds barred – seen the line in the sand and willingly stepped over. I have held myself back in races and pushed an artificial line. Sure, I have had a lot of good results but I have rarely been out in the danger zone – I mean really out in the danger zone. What I have done is called racing smart, but maybe I need to get out and pull like no tomorrow and push the pace – push the pace above and beyond my capacity - just let the chips fall where they may.