Demise of the off-season

Way back in 1992 when I was relatively new to racing, I was riding with San Diego Bicycle club. The racing season had ended and the fall group rides had begun. While weekend training rides were held during the racing season, many of the hardcore racers didn't reappear on the training rides until the fall.  I had not yet learned the art of fixed gear road riding, but many of the riders converted their steel frame road bike to a fixie.  Back in the days when we rode steel bikes with horizontal drop outs, one could easily do this. While the in-season ride was fast, the off-season ride was a sedate 16 or 17 mph average.  At best it was a moderate tempo ride. On one particular October Saturday, one or more riders (with gears) showed up on the ride and started hammering the pace. It didn't take long before there was yelling in the group and someone told the hammering riders that they should "slow down, its October."  The strongest riders (who happened to be on the fixed gears) laid down the law and etiquette for the ride.

Fast forward to 2002, when I started riding in New Jersey with Somerset Wheelmen in October, and Joe Saling was leading the winter rides. A group of 6-15 riders would meet at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater and would ride at "winter pace" of around 16 mph. The ride was not ridiculously easy, but was easy enough that the women riders and even some of the juniors would have  no trouble keeping pace. If it was too easy for you, you could show up on a fixed gear and make it harder.  But the point of the rides was cohesion- to keep the group together in a tight double paceline on those cold windy days, to be able to talk/chat and have a social ride, to be able to enjoy the scenery. Racing was done, winter training would start soon enough in mid-December or January, so why go hard?

The dogma of bike racing experts has always been that November is a rest month. In Fred Matheny's Beginning Bicycle Racing he writes "November and December. This is the off season. It is the time for alternate activities that allow you to retain fitness but escape the onerous aspects of a rigid schedule and hard exertion." In Eddie B's Bicycle Road Racing, which is often considered The Bible, he recommends from October 15-November 30 to "cut your mileage drastically and ride no more than 3 or 4 times a week." Seniors (meaning senior men age 35 or less) should do 50-90 km (~30-55 miles) per ride, "these are not fast rides, not hard rides."  [Note that he also advocates shorter distances for women and masters].

Sadly, the cohesive winter ride is disappearing, or in some cases being shattered by riders who just want to go hard all year round. Here are a few possible reasons why:

1.  Cyclocross. Once viewed and advocated as a way to get off your road bike and enjoy some trails, gravel and dirt during the off-season, 'cross has now evolved into its own racing discipline. Statistically speaking 'cross race attendance far outnumbers road and while not every roadie does cross, those who do are now on a totally different schedule than the rest of us. They're not resting in November they are still racing and training and at peak fitness.  Those that are racing cross on weekends obviously are not going to be there for the group ride.

2. Coaching, training and power meters. Not only has equipment improved (which raises average ride speeds) but with  many riders using a coach and power training, there are a lot more stronger riders, which tends to fuel the "lets go faster mentality" during a time of year that is meant to go slow. While individual strength has increased, that has not necessarily gone along with riding skills.

3. Strava. It would be easy to blame all of cycling's ills on Strava, but in many ways it goes beyond its purpose as a social networking/training tool and is having an effect on our sport.  Strava tends to fuel the "I need to do more" feeling that social networking generates. When you see on Strava and Facebook how much (and how hard) your friends (or in some cases people you follow) are training, you might feel compelled to keep up with them. This can quickly become a "virtual competition" for mileage, monthly badges, KOMs and other achievements, where in reality there are no winners.

When you get a KOM on Strava, what have you won really? Its a brief moment of fame on a social networking site, it may even flood your receptors with dopamine. But the KOM will likely fall, and then what?

There is a new breed of rider now, which I've termed the "Strava Hunter-Killer."  Many of the SHKs don't race at all. You won't find them at USAC events. But they roam the roads each day looking for segments they can kill and take the KOMs.  The group ride is shunned, as the purpose is to slam certain segments and nab the KOMs. If they do ride as a group, its only a means to an end, where the goal is to use teamwork to capture the KOMs.  Ride slow? What would be the point of that? If I ride slow, then I get fewer "trophies" and achievements on Strava.....Its interesting to see these riders in November, riding at 95-100% max HR in cold weather, basically doing hard interval training.  I had one pass me last weekend, as I was cruising about 17 mph on my fixed gear, he flew by at 25 mph, head down. No time to say hello, after all if he slowed down to say hi, he'd blow his chance at the KOM on Oak Grove Road (which by the way is not even a hill).

There is no doubt that many of these guys are strong, you can't argue with their times up the hard climbs. I just wonder whether they would be riding this hard if there were no KOMs or Strava? They are missing out on the group tempo ride experience, which are some of the most relaxing, fun rides you will ever do.