And just to clarify, I'm ok with other folks riding faster than me. I just don't want to ride that fast, and there are others in the group who feel the same way. So, what I did tonight, was nothing sinister or with ill intention, I simply wanted to clarify that the B group needs to ride at a B group pace, and not feel like they have to chase down the A group which wants to ride faster.
I decided that the best way to get the groups to separate was to lead the A group. Understand that the A's are so driven and have trained to chase breakaways and they simply cannot stand for anyone to be up the road ahead of them. I decided that if none of the A's wanted to separate, I would roll out solo.
Sam announced that I was leading the A group, which obviously drew a lot of questioning stares and funny comments. I rolled out and about 10 guys followed. The B's were to leave a few minutes after.
I took the front of the train and held a steady pace on the parkway. We rolled the couple of miles to the first downhill to the creek then the climb up to the I-26 bridge. I sat up a little, kept a high cadence and slowly drifted to the back of the pack. And then I really backed off. I mentioned to a couple of people not to wait for me if I didn't make it over the top. I let a gap form, and let it grow. A couple of cars came up behind me and I waved them around. They came around and were slowed by the group ahead. I hid behind the cars until the group was out of sight. Then I sat up and waited for the B's to catch me. The plan had worked out perfectly.
Again, no offense was intended, only to make a statement that " A's are A's and B's are B's, A's are welcome to ride a B pace, but please respect that we don't want to ride an A pace".
Only a few minutes later they came into view with Kevin Hessler pulling the train. The dude is strong. The rest of the ride was spent at a mostly B pace, with some rotating pace lines and the obligatory sprints.
Oddly enough, today's average was slower that Sam and my Team Time Trial average from last week.
 |
| Kevin, dropping in my draft to recover a little bit. |
4 comments:
It is great that there is two groups and the route is the same. I am a B rider and if I knew the route I would always start out with the As and hang with them as long as I could and try to keep improving that distance to make myself stronger. And be very happy there is a B group to hang with and getting a little recovery time before they catch up.
Chris Neubert
that is a good idea and one can definitely benefit from riding above their level, however, riding above level without enough recovery between efforts is detrimental and leads to burnout/overtraining
The key for me as a B group rider when in the A group is stay off the front as much as possible and conserve energy in the pack. But from the looks of it your pack was pretty small to reap a lot of the benefits of the pack.
I have also been in groups where the B group drafts the A group pack. Those one always amaze me how efficient they work. The a group does their rotation and when the front A rider comes to the front of the B group the lead B rider drifts back a bit to let the A guy in. Fun stuff for sure.
If you stay off the front as much as possible, you become the wheel sucker who does not contribute to the whole. I like to do my part and if I can't contribute, then I move to the next level, up or down.
Post a Comment