How to survive a ride with better riders

No matter what the sport, you will improve more quickly if you do it with others who have higher ability than you. I have found this to be true with skiing, tennis, running, hiking and cycling.  Aside from more experienced athletes who you can learn from, there is a motivating factor when you're in a group surrounded by higher level athletes.

Cycling is one of the few endurance sports that allows weaker riders to stay in a group with stronger riders, due to the nature of pack riding and drafting.  For example, if you know you can ride 40 miles solo at 16 mph, you might be able to do the same 40 miles at 19-20 mph if you draft off the other riders.  The trick is to this in a way that you can survive the distance of the ride and finish.

Here are a few tips and tricks I've learned over the years to do it:

1. Maximize your preparation. The other riders may be stronger than you even on their worst day, so you need to be at your best. You have a lot of control over your own preparation- such as rest, diet and hydration. Don't cook your legs with hard riding the day before, if you know you will be challenged by the pace. Make sure to eat enough breakfast and to properly hydrate the evening before the ride. Check your equipment- twice. During the ride you want to focus on your riding, not on issues with your bike. Get to the ride early enough so that you have plenty of time to stretch out and get dressed.

2. Underdress slightly. Why? Because you will likely be riding above your comfort zone and you don't want to get too hot.  You also may not have time to stop and remove clothing if the group is zooming along. Make sure you have enough food and water for the ride, and cash if the group stops.

3. Depending on the ride... warm up. Some rides have a 10 -20 min warmup, others start very fast. If you are the type of rider that doesn't fire on all cylinders until the first half-hour is over, then make sure you warm up either by riding to the start or getting their early and doing a warmup loop.

4. Size up the others. OK the ride's been going for 20 min, by now you can see who is smooth, who climbs well, who descends and corners well. You will also see which riders have trouble closing gaps, or are just antsy about staying tight on a wheel.  As soon as I notice riders who are letting gaps open, I go around them and glue on to the wheel of someone ahead of them.

5. Sit in.  Let the stronger riders do the bulk of the workload, believe me they won't mind, especially if they know you are of lower ability.  A common mistake is to feel that you need to keep taking pulls because the others are. No. Not until you're stronger.  If you decide to take a pull, make it a short one.

6. Use your body position and road positioning to maximize the draft. This is often overlooked, but extremely important.  Sitting on a wheel is not enough, you need to find the sweet spot where you have the least wind in your face. Move left or right as needed, stay as close as you can to the wheel in front of you.  When you are in the sweet spot you will feel a noticeable decrease in effort.  Stay low- on the drops if it helps you or if on the hoods bend your elbows to drop your torso. Keep your knees in. Keep your head level, not looking down which creates more resistance. Breathe.

7. SPIN! As in high cadence. I was watching the riders around me who at times were cranking out 275w and they were all spinning at least 90 rpm, some over 100.  Look at your heart rate... if there is room for it to go up and not be in the red zone, then increase cadence. Shift more load to your cardiovascular system and less load on your muscles. You will use your muscles on the climbs and later in the ride or if the pace bumps up and you need a big gear.  

8. Spin up climbs- at least some of them. A lot of riders attack the climbs, and generally in a group where you're one of the weaker riders the climbs may be where you suffer the most.  Try doing some of the more gradual climbs sitting and spinning a higher cadence. 

9. Keep drinking- liquid fuel. On a hard ride I prefer liquid fuel to solid. Eat your banana in the car. On a fast moving ride, maintain energy levels by drinking your sports drink every 10 min or so. Don't be fooled by colder weather. You are still sweating and you need water, electrolyte and sugar.  IN a fast moving pace line you may not have time to unwrap your Lara bar.  Do that when the group takes a break.

10. Go to the front. What? Didn't you say in #5 to sit in? Yes. But there can be times when going to the front works to your advantage. Much depends on the other riders. One benefit of going to the front is that YOU now control the pace. For example, on todays ride, there was one guy that was making it hard for everyone every time he came to the front. My HR was shooting up on the climbs, because he kept attacking the climbs.  So when he came off one of his monster pulls, I went to the front and kept the pace moderate. You can't slow the group too much, but believe me the other riders will often not complain if you ease it up slightly. I noticed that on the climbs, I was able to keep HR constant if I was at the front.  Another advantage of being at the front is that you can keep the pace more even. This is useful in a group that has too many surges or rapid changes in speed. Remember, its not always the pace that wears you down, it is each jump and acceleration. Riding at the front could be a way to recover slightly, if you do it at the right times.

11. Stay positive. Focus on the fact that you've survived this far. Do not focus on the fact that you may be suffering, in fact try to conceal your suffering. Keep your body language that says "I'm fine" even though you may not be fine.  Tell yourself, "OK if I can just crest this hill, I can recover..." and you will.  Much of whether you survive the ride will come from mental toughness. You may be stretched, you may go into the red zone, but at some point the other riders will ease up.

12. Avoid burning matches. Skip the sprints, the sprinters will sit up at the end of each sprint.  Focus on not losing contact with the wheel ahead as each time you need to close a gap means more energy expended. 

13. Remember your round pedal stroke? Use it. Again, a relatively fast circular pedaling motion is your best friend. If you find yourself struggling focus on that smooth pedal stroke. Use your hip flexors to reduce some load on the quads. 

14. Use your strengths to your advantage.  If you're a better climber, then use the climbs as your place to pull. If you're a big strong rider who is a locomotive, then you will be in your element on the longer flatter sections of the ride.  If you are a great descender, rip the descents. Its not that you're trying to drop the other riders, its more a mental game for you to show them that you're not totally useless.  If you can put the other riders into discomfort, they might be less likely to drill you. 

15. If you can't hang on the whole ride, you still did 50% or 75% of it. Do not view it as a failure. It may take several attempts until you can finish the entire distance without being dropped.

Changing it up

Capoolong Creek Trail, Pittstown NJ

The author discovers that the preferred road to Clinton isn't a road at all.

When I returned from the job interview in Fall River, Mass. (just outside of Providence, RI) I hung my suit jacket in the closet, where it will now gather dust until the next interview. It's funny how we put things away we seldom use, or hang them up.  Another thing on a hook was my mountain bike, which resided in the dark basement, with deflated tires and cobwebs amongst the spokes. 

Road season is drawing to an end, many have already switched over to 'cross. The group training rides are dwindling and more rides are now solo endeavors. With many road miles under my belt, and Monday an easy day, I decided to change things up and hauled the MTB up from the cellar.  I would ride the Capoolong Creek trail, which begins in Pittstown and take that to the Lower Landsdown trail all the way into Clinton. At that point, I would relax at Citispot with a cappuccino. 

The last time I rode Capoolong, it was on my 'cross bike, and the first couple miles were a bit dicey. The single track is rutted, there are large rocks and big tree roots. Right now those obstacles are being slowly concealed under a bed of leaves.  While I was able to get through Capoolong on a CX bike, I was never fully relaxed, spending much mental energy on where my front wheel was headed and getting out of the saddle to let the bike absorb the rocks and roots.  Enter the Mountain Bike.

The '99 specialized FSR XC is ancient by today's standards. 26 inch wheels, cantilever brakes. But that didn't really matter that much for Capoolong, which is relatively flat and not overly technical.  On a scale of 1 to 10 of difficulty, Capoolong is really only a 2.  While in my past life I did ride a mountain bike, fast, downhill over technical terrain, I seemed to have discovered self preservation and prefer less radical terrain than the contemporary hammer-head MTB crowd.  The full suspension Specialized was the perfect tool for this trail. With the plush ride and wider tires, I could pretty much pedal flat out and the bike did the rest. I blasted through the single track in a way that I simply couldn't have done on the CX bike. Rocks and roots were soaked up by the suspension and I discovered the harmony of flying through the woods on a single track as fast as my bike would allow.

Rewind to the train trip to Boston: when we got into Eastern Connecticut, the train was hitting 130 mph. It was quite a rush watching the countryside rip by at that speed. And the sensation of ripping single track is similar. With the trees or tall grasses closing in on you, it feels like you're going 100 miles an hour.  I looked down to see that I was really going about 20 mph.  With a mountain bike, you can relax a bit knowing that your bike will plow through ruts, rocks and branches. You can focus on your direction and pedal stroke. In short, it makes off road riding into much more of a Zen activity than a CX bike.

The trail widened out to a rail trail when I crossed Landsdown road. That is the spot where the spur railroad connected into the Lehigh Valley rail line. From that point its another 3 miles of easy riding into Clinton.  On the trail, I only heard three sounds.. the sound of the gravel under my tires, the wind rushing past my ears and the hush of crickets. When you ride 5000 miles a year on the road, it feels like a different world without car traffic.

In Clinton, I sat outside Citispot and enjoyed my coffee, while chatting with some old-timers.  We all agreed that kids today are missing out. In our own childhoods, we would be free to ride out bikes down the trail to the town to get a cold drink or something to eat. The soccer moms had not yet arrived.

Another discover I made today is that the off-road route to Clinton is much easier than the road route. My usual road road is about 14 miles and has significant climbing in it.  The off-road route however is a former rail line, so it is relatively flat, and shorter. I think I just discovered my new winter coffee ride route to Clinton, whether on a CX or MTB.

How one cyclists hurts all of us

I was stopped at the traffic light, at the junction of Rt 513 and Pittstown Road, along with several other cars waiting to turn left to head towards Clinton. Along comes a cyclist, who first rode through the red light, made a shallow right turn and then made a U-turn onto Pittstown road and started heading the direction I was about to go.

This simple seemingly innocuous act of boneheaded-ness is bad for cyclists in general. I waited at the light another 20-30 sec. and then it went green and I drove North. I came upon the lone cyclist heading up a short rise on a 2-lane road with a 45 mph speed limit.  What should I do? I thought about slowing down and yelling something to him about the fact that he should not ride through red lights.  But my guess is he understands that and just chose to ignore the light.  As a cyclist, I wouldn't crowd him, although I am sure some drivers would as "retaliation" for his stupidity or flaunting traffic laws.

The foolish thing is there are not a lot of stop lights in this part of rural NJ, and there were already cars waiting at the light, so he could easily have waited and gone on the green light.  He saved 30 seconds of waiting and hurt cyclists everywhere, as a group.

Why? Because we want respect on the roads. Respect is difficult to gain, when as a group there are individuals who don't respect the traffic laws.  When a rider runs a red light in front of a group of motorists, it instantly changes the motorists opinion of cyclists.  How can we expect cars to respect us on the road and obey traffic laws, when we ourselves flagrantly break them?  Now, the next time I am out riding on 513, I am just "one of those stupid cyclists, who has no respect for the traffic signals or roads…"

Here's a tip- if you plan to run a red light, do it when no one is looking.

The lethal combination of speed and inexperience

Think of teenage drivers…especially boys. Those of us who can remember our early days of driving probably remember the combination of lack of experience, willingness to take risks, poor judgement or generally reckless behavior.  Teen drivers are a high insurance risk due to the lack of experience, but also the tendency to speed or take chances.  While I never wrecked or totaled a car as a teen, I came close a few times, and certainly did my share of stupid behaviors on the road. Fortunately I grew out of that and started driving more predictably.

While bike racing is not driving, some of the same tendencies exist in new racers. The sport is new and exciting, you want to go fast.  And with todays Carbon frames, faster wheels, power training and online coaches, relatively inexperienced riders can go very fast.  Tools like Strava, while fun and entertaining form of social media, also engage new riders into trying to achieve power and speed.

The problem is that raw speed, without requisite skill and discipline on a bike, can lead to serious injury or even death.  Too many new riders focus on speed or power output, without learning the fundamentals of safe bike handling.  In a cat 5 road or criterium race that is a bad combination.  In that regard, Strava is a safer option, as the rider who wants to finish first can do so, alone, racing against the clock.  Riders who come into road from mountain or 'cross need to realize that road requires completely different pack skills that did not exist in their former disciplines.

Racing requires discipline and safe riding. Obviously if you are undisciplined and crash, you won't have much of a racing season. In coaching juniors, I see some of the same tendencies in juniors that you see in adult cat 5 racers. The ones who are the strongest and most competitive, with unbridled enthusiasm, are typically the ones that jump out of the pace line without warning and sprint up each rise, for a bridge or want to be the fastest down a hill.  We often had to tell these kids that the goal of the ride was not to be the fastest or the first, but to focus on their paceline skills. A successful devo ride is the one where the paceline stays together on a climb, not fragments.

A strong runner does not make a good soccer player. The potential is there, but being fast on the field is only one aspect of soccer. A developing player must do repetitive drills, and learn how to handle the ball and play in a position.  Basic safety skills, like looking over your shoulder while holding a straight line, properly taking a corner, safely accelerating and braking are all part of learning how to race.  Going through a turn alone and elbow to elbow with 50 other people are completely different.

It used to be that cat3 was considered the more dangerous category. Sure, there were crashes in 4 or 5 but those races were typically slower, the 3s race at higher speeds and in a much tighter pack. The sprints in a cat 3 race are blazing.  The problem now is you have riders with cat 3 (or in some cases cat 2) power output and speed in a beginners group.  More experienced riders know the ropes, they usually know when its safe to move into a space, and when its better for them to yield to another rider.  A good rider won't risk himself or others in the pack to go from 18th to 16th in a sprint.  If he is boxed in because the rider in front of him sat up- well that's life, he will finish and race another day.

Thinking back to some of my early training rides with a racing team in San Diego, I was 30 years old, new to the sport and certainly fast to some degree. The weekly training ride had a very fast power loop, which to some extent was all out with a sprint near the end.  One week where I was riding like a maniac at the end of the loop one of the veterans told me I needed to stop hammering so much, relax a bit, sit on a wheel and observe.  I didn't realize it, but due to my hard effort, speed and oxygen debt, I didn't take a good line on one of the curves and nearly ended up in the trees.  This is a great example of how masters in the sport can help new racers add discipline to their raw speed and make them safer riders.  Gradually, I began riding with smaller groups of cat 2/3 racers and you quickly learn the right way to ride or won't be allowed back.

Having seen some horrific crashes in cat 5, many are talking about solutions. Skills clinics are a great start, and it may even be a good idea for USA Cycling to make these a requirement before being issued a license.  New racers need to realize that they are in a learning period.  Mental errors like looking down at 30 mph, going too fast into a corner or making unsafe moves in the pack are more common. It takes time for the racing skills to become second nature.

Does Daylight Savings Time Make Sense?

Its that time of year again. Early March and we are setting our clocks ahead an hour. What is wrong with this you say? Daylight saving used to begin on the first Sunday in April and end the last Sunday in October.  It has been extended one week in the fall, which may not pose much of an issue, but it is the early start to daylight savings (basically 3 weeks earlier) that I (and others) object to.

Early March in the Northeast is still winter. Morning temperatures can be in the 20s or 30s.  The days have gotten longer since December and now we can wake to morning sunlight and warmth coming through our windows. Our bodies circadian rhythms ensure that it is easier to wake up when it is light outside.  We don't need to use as much heat (and lights) in the morning on standard time. My neighbors walk their dogs in daylight, kids are driving to high school while it is light out.  It is light out in the evening now past 6 pm- enough time to drive home while its light and maybe go for a walk outside.

By shifting back to DST too early: my neighbors are now walking their dogs in the dark, its cold and dark when we wake up, kids are driving to high school in the dark. Why? So we can have extra daylight from 6-7 pm? It is too cold outside to play golf or tennis now anyway. So there is no benefit of the extra daylight at that time.

Any energy saved in the evening is lost in the morning as more heat and light is needed on dark mornings.  No one has ever proved that DST saves energy for that matter.  DST is really pushed on us by sporting goods and other retailers who want you to go shopping after work and buy things. It really does not serve any other purposed.  The days naturally get longer in our latitudes as we move into spring and summer.

Lastly there is the nuisance of resetting all our clocks. Yes, my iPhone will do that on its own, but the clock in your car, the microwave and 10 other devices will need you to do it- twice a year. Its time to send DST to the dust bin, along with other ideas that no longer make sense.

Kingwood 2114

What will Kingwood township look like in 100 years? Will the rural way of life still be here? Or will Kingwood be just another sprawling suburban community with subdivisions, roads, traffic and stoplights every half mile?  It's no secret that Hunterdon County is growing. Just look at Raritan Township. When I first lived in Raritan Township in 2002, I could bicycle over much of the township. In ten short years many of the roads are too busy with cars and traffic to ride. Route 31 is congested most of the day, as is Route 202.  There are not only more people living here, people are driving more miles. Big box stores like Walmart have moved in and more will surely come.  Two of the three traffic circles are already past their usefulness.

But what is the real threat to rural living? The true threat is more development, the sell off of large tracts of lands and farms and build out of more homes.  It is the large farms that maintain this area's rural character and low population density.  There are many horse farms in Hunterdon, hay farms, farms growing corn and beans. There is even Leon's sod farm. Agriculture is big part of the way of life here. But what is the future of agriculture in New Jersey, with a changing climate and uncertain economy? Farms cannot operate indefinitely at a loss, extremes of weather such as drought or flooding, hotter summers may push local farms into oblivion.  Small farms have disappeared throughout much of New Jersey. I grew up near Montvale, which at one time had farmland. Now it has corporate headquarters.

Part of what can prevent the growth and sprawl is our leaders. It is critical that township and county leaders take action to maintain the rural character of Hunterdon.  Strong support for land conservation, green acres and farmland preservation will ensure that Hunterdon does not have runaway growth.  Runaway development is often driven by money and greed. I saw it firsthand in San Diego, where in the space of 10 years, thousands of acres of wild land were bulldozed. In Hunterdon a development of 20 houses is a big deal, in San Diego developments could be 3,000 homes!  The local governments were taken over by real estate developers and planners. They had huge war chests of money for their political campaigns and lawyers to fight off environmental impact studies. In some cases coastal sage habitat was bulldozed in the middle of the night, before anyone could claim there were endangered species there.  It was a corrupt process in that the local leaders owned a piece of the real estate action, made themselves and their partners wealthy but ruined the long-term quality of life in the area.

The key to Hunterdon's future is the survival of the farms and farmland. So buy locally grown produce, beef, eggs, dairy and poultry if you can. Have your kids take lessons at a horse farm, or board your horse. Tell your friends to buy hay in Hunterdon. Tell local leaders to hold the line on property taxes so farmers can afford to keep farming. Pay attention to issues that matter to farmers, because if the farms stop operating, they will be sold off, broken up into smaller lots and built out.

Ten Reasons why kids don't ride bikes anymore