Team Catenary Group Ride, 11 Jul 2021
As a ‘newbie’ to group riding, I was very excited that this group ride was scheduled on a rare weekend day off work, so I could actually take part!
My first ever group ride was only a few weeks ago with Newmarket Cycling and Tri Club, and was a brilliant day, so I was looking forward to building on this experience. The weather was perfect, warm, dry and no wind – happy days!
I must admit to feeling pretty intimidated when I first met the other riders – most of them were both much younger and much more experienced in group riding than me, some of them telling me about their races the day before etc!! Butterflies now as I wondered if I would be able to keep up, or manage well enough within the group… but a lovely friendly group, and after introductions all round (where we hadn’t already), we set off…
And OFF they set!!! Streaming off away down the hill and out through the town – oh my god I thought, I will never keep up! However, Coach Tim soon nipped this over-enthusiasm in the bud and the group settled into a lovely rhythm. After a few miscommunications about how we should change leaders, we stopped for a group chat and Tim reminded us all how he wanted the ride to work, with the lead riders changing by the outside rider accelerating into the lead and the outside riders following up to form new pairs, so that new riders were taking the lead.
The group worked really well within this format, and I loved swapping into the new ‘pairs’ and getting chatting with the new rider, a great way to meet new people and swap stories and experiences. Also, to learn lots of new techniques as I watched how each rider managed with different aspects of group riding, terrain and changes of pace or direction.
I quickly learned to keep my eyes up, both at the rider directly in front of me but also to the front of the group, to help gauge what the group as a whole was going to experience, and also to keep my eyes on the road ahead to help anticipate gear changes etc. The other riders were all very courteous and quick to notify everyone of cars and potholes etc. I sometimes even managed to do this myself, but usually a bit too late! Apologies to some of the riders behind me who experienced my inability to react quickly enough yet!
I particularly noticed (as with the other group ride I did) how quickly the other riders accelerate out of any slow down, either for a car or a junction – getting really quickly back into a rhythm and cadence. When I actually remembered to change my gears in time this really helped as well!
I was really confident in all positions in the group except the front – some more experience needed there as I felt a lot of pressure to keep the pace even and not drop too slow, despite other riders telling me that there was no pressure! I did learn a top tip - when the group sets off after a pause in the riding, take an inside position quite near the front – that way you can neatly avoid getting to the front of the group as usually the ride had to pause before I worked my way up there!
The route was pretty hilly, but only rolling hills in the main, and I was pleased how well my fitness coped with the terrain and I was easily able to maintain the overall pace, just finding myself lagging on some of the hills (this has always been my difficulty – but I’m getting so much better). The route ran to just under 100km, much to the consternation of Frances who set off on her own at the end to top up her Garmin to the nice round number!
Overall a great day and I’m looking forward to putting my new skills and experience into practice!
Ros Blackmore
