Saturday, August 3, 2013

Aug 3rd course ride

The sun was out, 72F, 6-8 NNE wind, low humidity... a dozen fit riders... yes! what a fine, fine day for 2 laps on the course. Most of the 459 Express was there and we had some guests: DG bike club Prez Gary, and Rene' and John from the Turin team. I had a blast and the team improved and learned a lot today! I'm stoked for the team... we have solid riders, a team mentality, and a good handle on the pacing plan to save energy.

The first lap we established a rotating pace line once we got on Allen road. The group was a bit loose with gaps appearing and some surging to close them. And the two lines were 3-4 feet apart. We stopped after we crossed Route 23 on Melms and we cleaned up the lines. We paced ourselves nicely up and over I90 smoothly bleeding down to 16-17mph. AND nobody broke any spokes in the chuckholes. All was reasonably well until we got to Riley and were heading into the quartering headwind. We changed our rotation to match the wind (keeping the slow line to the windward side, and fast line to leeward)... and the formation kinda fell apart. Gaps and accelerations in mid-line and decelerations/accelerations on the front during pull-throughs. Even these small changes in pace will wear on us on a 100 mile ride. Anyhow, we finished the lap averaging low 20mph average speed. We did a 10 minute stop, including a 4-5 minute talk and review of our pace line issues.

The start of the first lap we tried a double pace line (both riders on front pull off, and the group 'threads the needle'). That didn't last long because while we were 4 wide, the rider dropping back (Tim) got squeezed off the road when the shoulder narrowed... and not enough room was given by the group threading through. We decided to work on the single rotating pace line and the group a good groove going. The lines were tight and close together and keep the pace moving and smooth. I was loving it. We had some trouble with the right hand turn off of Melms unto Eisenhower (it's unmarked). Some of the group crossed the center line coming out of the turn and there was oncoming traffic. A bit scary, but all was well.

After Riley we had our counter clockwise rotation working well and many commented how the second lap felt easier, particularly on that part of the course we had struggled on the first lap. We were working better together as a team and saving energy. At one point we slowed because Mike lost track of the road under the piles of grass clippings in the road. He was in the right hand line, couldn't move left, kept his cool and rode over the grass... got a little too far right and realized he was off the road. He coasted and eased it back unto the pavement without further incident. Craig had a front row seat to that cyclo-cross excursion. Once we got the group together, I had us soft pedal a half mile or so for Mikes adrenaline surge to subside. After that, the group was solid again. We finished the 2nd lap ~20.5mph,  maybe a little more and most everybody thought the 2nd lap was easier.

Craigs Garmin Stats.  http://connect.garmin.com/player/352864680
(Note Craig suffered a cramp with 4-5 miles to go and soft pedaled those last few miles.)

A great practice ride! We improved our teamwork, learned some from our incidents, and kept the rubber side down. The team is coming together. Next course rides will be 3 shortened (~27mile) laps with shorter pit stops. These simulate event day efforts (big timber hill 3 times and 2 short stops) without doing the whole monty.


Key pointers we learned today:
1. Be aware when the road/shoulders narrow. Call it/point it out and move over well in advance.
2. When you're in the left line you need to keep an eye out for hazards for the right line and move over in advance so the right line has room to move left and avoid the hazard.
3. Do not cross the center line into the oncoming traffic.
4. Once the group is established on a downhill section, the front MUST keep pedaling normal effort. Otherwise the line will be ridding the brakes burning energy.

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