ride report by peter.

third time on the bike since before christmas and gee my butt is sore.  to be more specific, my sit bones are sore.  it is amazing how much resistance you can build up to that sort of abuse if you just persist with it.  i was having trouble backing up rides and had to ride the first few kms standing up.  i guess i am just lucky that the rest of the muscle groups seem to be firing ok.  cardio is a different story.

i turned up relatively early (well for me anyway) as my kids are still not quite over running on melbourne time.  the first morning we got back and they were up at 3:30am ready for action.  at least now they are closer to 6:00am but still not quite there yet.  anyway, i turned up to a sea of unfamiliar faces and this both excited and worried me.  excited as it was great to see that the group is steadily growing, but worried me because i like to know everyone’s name.  i am going to have to work on the names thing so don’t get to upset if i apologise for not remembering we have met.

as per the blog, we proceeded to split into 4 groups.  i sent the advanced group on their way as they had the longest to travel.  then i split the novice group out and left them in the hands of mark and carol.  the intermediate group was next with the transitional group to follow the same path.

dr ronny has volunteered to look after the transitional group and i came along today to make sure everything went well.  we took off and i sat on the front with mandy as we set an easy pace along mill point to great eastern.  the idea was to just leave a couple of people on the front and then have them peel off when they got tired.  nice easy pace and no roll through or anything. 

we made it to ascot with me playing sheepdog and constantly moving from front to back to give directions and make sure we hadn’t lost anyone.  there was the occasional person falling off the back and we had to slow the group down a bit to keep everyone together.  we were heading out guilford rd into a decent headwind and it is important to know where to sit to keep out of the wind.  these are skills that you pick up along the way and it is generally trial and error that will see you through.

a bit of confusion at the turn at guilford saw half the group going straight instead of turning to get onto west swan rd.  by the time we got together, we were already on benara rd.  once the group formed up we tried to roll through, but it didn’t go too well and we dropped a couple of riders.  also there were people that hadn’t rolled through before and didn’t know what to do.  my fault really, as i thought that everyone had been through this sort of thing with the previous novice group.  it is something that we will work on but it will not be the focus of the transitional group.

i dropped back a few times for riders that were struggling and once for a dropped chain, but we were back together for the route through the northern suburbs.  the roads were tighter and the traffic heavier so we were down to single file for quite a while, but eventually got formed back up.  the rolling hills heading into bayswater took their toll on a few and the group split a bit with me off the back lending a hand.  on the last small hill, lynda stopped as she dropped her chain.  or so we thought.  turns out she snapped it totally.  too much power i expect.  she was within rolling distance of the train station so she headed for a ticket machine.  with the remaining three riders, we made our way home along whatley crescent and to the belltower.

the rest of the group were waiting there and the other groups had already taken over the majority of the coffee shop.  we stood around and had a quick chat about the ride and how we thought it went.  there are some changes that i think that we will make to it, but basically there are a few things that we need to work on.

• two leaders are needed.  one to control the group and one to help those that are struggling.
• know the ride route.  not just the leaders, everyone that is riding.
• know where to position your bike to get a good draft.
• know how to safely move off the front.
• the ride route needs to be shorter.  some people were struggling towards the end.
• how to roll through.  we will discuss this before the ride starts next week.
• correct gear selection at traffic lights and climbs.

all up though, i thought it was a good ride today for the new group and definitely something we will continue to do.