I joined the local cycling club group ride this Sunday, a rugby team mate rides with them and he has been encouraging me to go along for a while. The club have an A group ride and a B group ride; I was confident I could hold my own on the B ride with a goal to moving on up to the A ride as I improve. I have done a number of group rides recently around the Surrey Hills and was pretty sure I could handle the ride rules and etiquette OK. The benefits I hope to gain from this ride are: A longer ride, they are at 60miles right now as opposed to my lowly 60Km (35miles) and improved group riding skills prior to L’Etape.
It did not exactly go to plan but I was happy to have go out all the same, I hope I will be welcomed back and was not too much of a hindrance. The club was very friendly and after checking out how often I rode etc. they were happy for me to join them. Unfortunately no-one from the B group turned up – I assume due to the overnight smattering of snow which meant I was with the A group, before we left we agreed that I would be OK to get dropped at any point if I was off the pace.
We started out well and after a few Km we hit the first hill, to say it was a hill would be a bit of an overstatement, a piddly 4% climb for around 1Km, I rapidly fell off the back as the peloton disappeared into the distance, it took me over 5Km to catch up again and they had slowed to wait for me. My heart rate was up at 160bpm as I worked hard and when I finally grabbed the tail it was a relief to have the relative rest within the slipstream. The group was riding a lot closer and a lot faster than I was used to and it took a while to get confident enough to stay the 20 odd cm behind the wheel in front at speeds over 20mph whilst chatting to the person next to me. A peloton is quite graceful in the way the front riders alternate fluidly in a natural flowing movement. I had agreed with the ride leader that I would not take the front at any point; this was the cause of my first undoing . As the guy behind me pushed through the middle of the column to take his place at the head I was forced to the left and onto the verge: slush, rocks and grass awaited and all of a sudden I was bouncing around on and off the saddle and struggling to keep the bike under control.
I opted to hit the verge and only damage myself and not my newly found teammates and ended up flying over the handlebars, doing what David Coleman would probably call a Double Salto and landed on my feet legs spinning in a successful attempt to stay upright. The group waited for me to mend my resulting puncture and check out the bike which took a couple of minutes. Suitably humbled I set off again and picked up the pace. On the next hill I was adamant I was not going to get dropped and had at least two riders behind me when my chain slipped and became jammed, I was done for; I was not going to get this fixed quickly. Again, I watched the peloton disappear into the distance and that was the last time I saw them. Chastened but still confident enough to think I can hold my own in the B group next time out, I only hope they welcome me back!
Training done: Bike: 65Km LSD; Run: LSD 16Km.
Next week: Recovery Week
It did not exactly go to plan but I was happy to have go out all the same, I hope I will be welcomed back and was not too much of a hindrance. The club was very friendly and after checking out how often I rode etc. they were happy for me to join them. Unfortunately no-one from the B group turned up – I assume due to the overnight smattering of snow which meant I was with the A group, before we left we agreed that I would be OK to get dropped at any point if I was off the pace.
We started out well and after a few Km we hit the first hill, to say it was a hill would be a bit of an overstatement, a piddly 4% climb for around 1Km, I rapidly fell off the back as the peloton disappeared into the distance, it took me over 5Km to catch up again and they had slowed to wait for me. My heart rate was up at 160bpm as I worked hard and when I finally grabbed the tail it was a relief to have the relative rest within the slipstream. The group was riding a lot closer and a lot faster than I was used to and it took a while to get confident enough to stay the 20 odd cm behind the wheel in front at speeds over 20mph whilst chatting to the person next to me. A peloton is quite graceful in the way the front riders alternate fluidly in a natural flowing movement. I had agreed with the ride leader that I would not take the front at any point; this was the cause of my first undoing . As the guy behind me pushed through the middle of the column to take his place at the head I was forced to the left and onto the verge: slush, rocks and grass awaited and all of a sudden I was bouncing around on and off the saddle and struggling to keep the bike under control.
I opted to hit the verge and only damage myself and not my newly found teammates and ended up flying over the handlebars, doing what David Coleman would probably call a Double Salto and landed on my feet legs spinning in a successful attempt to stay upright. The group waited for me to mend my resulting puncture and check out the bike which took a couple of minutes. Suitably humbled I set off again and picked up the pace. On the next hill I was adamant I was not going to get dropped and had at least two riders behind me when my chain slipped and became jammed, I was done for; I was not going to get this fixed quickly. Again, I watched the peloton disappear into the distance and that was the last time I saw them. Chastened but still confident enough to think I can hold my own in the B group next time out, I only hope they welcome me back!Training done: Bike: 65Km LSD; Run: LSD 16Km.
Next week: Recovery Week
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