Saturday - I Rode...a lot. Maybe not a lot for some folks, but for me 70 miles was pretty good, especially for January. Normally my January's are somewhat underwhelming...
Jan 2013 - 7:53
Jan 2012 - 19:51
Jan 2011 - 23:08
Jan 2010 - 24:35
Jan 2009 - 17:34
Jan 2008 - 26:55
Jan 2007- 11:10
so the fact that I got 70 miles in on Saturday and another 42 on Sunday was a small victory. I'm already approaching 9 hours for the month! Anyway, I did our local fool's paradise that is "The Spectrum" ride...now, I may be wearing the rose colored Rudy's (not a big fan of Oakley's anymore), but it seems that back-in-the-day the ride used to be harder, faster, and more importantly safer! Certainly the influx of hard charging Cat 4 and 5's has diluted the depth of the field a bit, but I also wonder if the lack of real mentoring via local clubs is a culprit. My first club - Aqulia Cycles - in Colorado Springs had a weekly training ride where the experienced riders would teach newbies like me how to ride a paceline, rotate through on an echelon, and generally not be a nuisance. I soaked it up readily - eager to learn the ways of the two-wheeled warriors I looked up to. Today - well, not so much. Everyone has a coach who gets their power prescription 'just right' so what the hell do they need to hear advice for? I'm only half kidding...the number of rider who've reacted somewhat incredulously at my, generally, polite overtures about group etiquette or a simple adjustment to their thinking in the field is pretty funny to me. I would have sooner died than be the guy who caused a derailment of the paceline! Anyway, the pace was slow enough that I could hang at the front over the days primary obstacles Arastradero and Alpine Road - albeit not really that slow since I pulled out a 462W best minute over Arastradero (ouch!). Then again the ride out to the end of Canada road was only 1:30 at ~240Wnormalized and and an average HR of 141 - so not that hard sitting in the back. Anyway, I heard there was a crash on the way back, but I stopped for some coffee, had a short chat with Rick Sutton of Plus 3 (+3) Networks - Rick is a great guy - industry legend - and I'm happy to say that the Sterling Team will be joining to raise some funds for worthwhile causes.
Sunday - I Taught (what is they say, "those who can't, teach")...
Mentored actually. I worked the Early Bird Criterium Training Series for probably the 5th or 6th year...the last couple as a Director with some truly good coaches - folks like Larry Nolan, John Cheetham, Laurel Green and Dan Smith. Of course there are literally dozens of others who volunteer their time to help Newbie Cat 5's get up to speed a little quicker on the whole "racing safe" strategy - we cover things like pacelines, sprinting, cornering, and moving around in the midst of the field - it's a five week series. Actually, the series has become the template for the entire USA Cycling rider development program, so I'm pretty happy to contribute. It's not quite the classic club development approach, but it's been a mainstay of the NorCal scene for over 20 years.
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| John Cheetham Photograph |
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