First Group Ride!

Last night I did my first group ride, through Fresh Bikes in Bethesda (formerly Conte's Bikes).  The ride was advertised as follows:

This is a social ride... quite the opposite of our Wednesday night HammerFest!!! This 20 mile training ride is designed for cyclists of all abilities. The idea is to have advanced riders use this as a recovery / casual ride while helping teach those with less experience how to ride in a group (drafting, pace lining, basic bike handling skills, etc).

Even though it sounded so welcome to beginners, I was still super nervous. Mr. Lady Roadie called and was told the usual average pace was around 15 mph, which I have managed to do exactly once, on a flat 13 mile ride.  I knew I'd get dropped, but Mr. Lady Roadie promised to stay with me, so after work I headed over to meet him there.  I got there first, and when I saw the fit men with bulging calves roll up on their all-carbon bikes, the nerves took over so much that I felt sick.  At this point though, I knew I'd beat up on myself for quitting out of fear, and when a few other women showed up just before the start (including one without even toe clips) I was a little reassured.   I was also glad to see the two ride leaders were women. 

The group took off, and I stuck near the back.  Immediately I noticed one of the benefits of group rides -- cars respected us, and there was absolutely safety in numbers.  A couple miles in, we warmed up and started picking up the pace, the group getting a bit strung out.  A ride leader told us someone behind us was on her first ride on a road bike (this is the woman who didn't have toe clips), and after a few miles they decided we wouldn't be waiting on her.  This was both reassuring, because at least I wasn't the worst rider out there, and a bit scary because once we dropped her, I was the one the sweeper had to hang out with.  I was worried about being a burden, so for the first 5 miles, I booked it as hard as I could, and could tell I was never going to last at that pace.  We finally lost the group for good at a light, and wouldn't see them again until they passed us in the other direction.

Around the 7 mile mark, we met back up with a ride leader who was waiting on us.  She said she'd stick with me, and asked if I knew about drafting.  I told her I understood the concept but had never done it, so she said that it can be a bit scary but if I'm up to it, I should try sticking her on wheel.  Boy did that make a difference!  I wasn't sure if I was really close enough to be correctly drafting, but we were flying at about 20 mph on a seemingly flat road.  At the time, I assumed it was at least a little bit of a downhill.  I was still working hard, but the effort seemed more sustainable when I was hanging onto her wheel.

The leader said we'd skip a neighborhood detour the rest of the group did, to catch up a little more, which was fine by me.  Then we hit the hill Mr. Lady Roadie warned me about, and I had to take it slower and let the ride leader take off -- it was just too long a hill for me to mash up.  If I'd been more focused I might've done a little better but I still had the fear I wouldn't finish the ride at all.  In my experience, fear of failure while climbing does a whole lot more damage to your performance than you think it will.  Anyway, I did make it up, albeit slowly, and we saw the rest of the group cruise by in the opposite direction.  A ride leader and a regular were waiting at an intersection, and I pulled a total noob move in awkwardly cutting across traffic to get to them -- I still don't always know how to handle myself in traffic, when it comes to maneuvers one wouldn't do in the car.  I pulled up apologizing (Mr. Lady Roadie had taken a much more sensible path in getting to them), and they told me not to worry, to just take a breather for a minute.  The ride leader said I was doing awesomely, and that drafting at 20 mph was better than she did on her first group ride, which was a great thing to hear from such a strong female cyclist.  Maybe one day my legs will look like hers -- which, for the record, looked amazing.


Then, we were off again.  We flew down the hill, around the curves, and I mimicked the ride leader's pedal positioning to give me a little more control -- pedaling on the straightaways, outside leg down on the curves.  We hit the flat section of the road from earlier and were still drafting at about 20 mph, and I realized it couldn't be slightly downhill both ways so that really was our flat speed.  The ride leader then drifted off in front of me and told me to take a pull -- and suddenly the four of us (the ride leader, the regular, Mr. Lady Roadie and myself) were doing a paceline, my first ever.  It was a ton of fun, and really made a difference in performance -- I wasn't sure that I was close enough to be effectively drafting until it was time for me to take a pull in the front and suddenly I had to work a whole lot harder to keep our pace (and despite my best efforts, I dropped us down to about 19 mph whenever I was in front).  It was awesome.

My biggest noob moment came when we stopped at a stoplight at about the 18 mile mark, and the light turned green.  I attempted to push off like normal, but my legs basically gave out on me and it took me a good 15 seconds (with a line of cars waiting behind, and my friends taking off ahead) to get myself together.  Still, I didn't mind embarrassing myself too much.  Another mile, and the ride leader and regular made sure we knew how to make it back and told us to finish the ride how we liked.  I knew my speed was about to dramatically decrease, since they were taking off without us and my legs were cramping up, so at 19 miles I checked my average speed ---- it was 16.7!  SIXTEEN POINT SEVEN.  I never knew I had it in me -- drafting makes such a difference.  I felt a little bit like I was cheating, but Dan pointed out that's undoubtably what the other riders were doing as well.  

Once they were out of sight, I really did fall apart.  I dropped my chain, which was embarrassing, and my legs were dying, and it was a pretty miserable 3 miles.  I was so relieved to turn another leafy corner and see downtown Bethesda in front of us.  We turned down Georgetown Pike and saw the ride leader waving us in.  Instead of admitting I dropped my chain and basically died a little on the bike, I told her that I ran into a friend (which was true -- I'd heard someone call my name while we were waiting at a light and saw my coworker on the sidewalk!  But, we didn't talk any longer than the light held us up.).  She welcomed us in and handed me a free craft beer, which would have won me over if all her patience with me hadn't already. 

Will I go back?  I'm not sure yet.  It was an amazing workout -- I pushed myself harder than I knew I could -- and I had a lot of fun even as I was down on myself for being so far from the fitness level of the other cyclists.  But I also worry that I held the ride leader up too much, and I don't want to try their patience, even though the ride is advertised as all abilities.  Still, what a great way to push myself and improve.  My average speed at the end was 15.7 (yes, I really did fall apart on the last few miles), but I think knowing that I can finish will be enough to get me a little faster next time, assuming we do some drafting again.  I think I'll probably try it a couple more times this season, and hopefully start off next season strong enough to keep up a little better (hello, trainer).