I’ve got myself all kinds of fired up for my second attempt at the group ride tonight – so much so that I put together a little plan of attack for the event.
It’s going to be a little chilly tonight – 55 degrees (F) but it’s going to be sunny all day long and a lot less windy so I’m leaving my jacket in the car tonight – last try, when I got dropped, I was just a little too warm and that sapped me just a bit.
Next, I’ve learned my lesson, it’s the big ring all the way – I’m not running out of gears tonight.
Third, I’ve gotta watch the strong wheels and stay with them. Being my first time out, I was caught a little flat footed because I had no idea who would stay and who would fade – and how long that stinking charge would last.
Fourth, Mike – one of the horses – passed the pack to lead the 28 mph charge – I’ll have to watch for that again.
Fifth, I’ve gotta breathe and pedal more efficiently – and I’ve been working on both quite a bit over the last two weeks. The breathing has been a little tricky to get used to – I have a tendency to breathe with my chest, rather than pulling air in with my core and diaphragm. I learned of my mistake from a youtube video that focused in on a pro’s stomach moving in and out as he drew air in and exhaled… I’m not maxing out so fast since I started working on that. As for the pedals, I’ve always been a masher, but I’ve paid a lot more attention to pulling and pushing in a circle with the big muscles.
Lastly, I’m not getting dropped tonight.
Fit Recovery 
Have fun – and watch the big gear – that will kill you after a while. Spin spin spin – does your computer tell you your cadence? I set 90 as my target. Looking forward to hearin about it. I will ride vicariously through you this week.
I’m in a funny spot – I’ve got a triple and I’d rather a double – and that gets me into trouble with cross chaining. I can crank out 90 on the middle ring and 7th gear (of 9) at 20 mph easy enough – I can do the same on the big ring and 4th gear, but I start to cross there – one down shift and I’m pooched, so I get messed up on hills. Conversely, when I got dropped 2 weeks ago, I was in the middle ring and I geared out – 36 x 12 does not equal 30 mph @ 115 rpm so I started falling behind and once I was out of the draft it was all over – I didn’t have enough to get back. The slowest we’re riding is 20-25 after the 3rd mile so I’m going to try to go big so I’ve got the gears to mash when I need ’em.
The trick here of course, is that a lot of the other advanced riders got dropped way before I did – including the guy that owns the bike shop I frequent – we’re talking next level kind of fast for me so it’s going to take a minute to figure all of this out.
Big Ringing Baby! Not sure if you’ve seen this blog but always good for inspiration before you beast yourself http://www.bigringriding.com/
I have ‘t, I’ll check it out. Thanks!