am I roadie?
So I'm super stoked...I hit my first Palo Alto "nooner" ride. I set out to do a normal lunch time ride. I figured I'd just head down Foothill and do one of the many variations possible when heading up into the hills west of highway 280. So I'm spinning down Foothill and it occurs to me that instead of just doing a boring old ride by myself, I might be able to catch the nooner at Page Mill Rd and Old Page Mill. So I pick up my pace as a slide my hands into the drops. I've really got to put my speed sensor back on my bike, because I was moving and it would be nice to know what my average speed is relative to my HR. Anyhow, I arrive at the ride meeting spot about 2 minutes after noon. I turn down Old Page mill rd determined to catch the group. As I pop out onto Page Mill rd, I think I can see the pack in the distance...my eyesight isn't what it used to be. I press on wards and throw in a few little sprints. I eventually catch the pack soon after they turned onto Arastradero.
I chat with a few of the folks as I near the pack and make sure that this is indeed "The noon" ride. The pack was about 40 people maybe more. Being new to riding in a pack that large I was indeed nervous, but that is the exact reason that I'm forcing myself to ride in the pack. I'd like to get to a point where riding in the pack is just second nature. I hung around the back of the pack until I got my bearings, then I start moving my way around to the middle...which is even scarier. I'm sure it was probably scary for the others in the pack when they looked down and saw my hairy winter legs, but hey at least my Ritchey-Lapierre kit made me look like a knew what i was doing, not to mention the $3000 Bianchi under my arse;-)
I can hardly even remember what roads we hit, as I was focused on not crashing and not making anyone else crash, but I know we hit some of the classic roads like, Sandhill, Portola Valley, Alpine, etc. Any how, as I became more comfortable in the middle of the pack, I would pop out the side of the pack and move myself towards the front of the pack. I wasn't familiar with the route, so I didn't actually move to pull the front of the pack. However, once I get familiar with the route, I wouldn't mind getting some experience and good workout pulling at the front of the pack.
So near the end of the ride, we made a right onto some road past the OLH turn off and suddenly on a small hill the front of the pack takes off. I can see it happening and am stuck in the middle of the pack. I give a quick look to my left and make my move. I stomp on my pedals to move up the hill as the rest of the pack disintegrates. I pass a few people on the climb, but the lead pack is no where in sight. The hill flattens and I'm full on hammering out of the saddle. A few of the guys I passed end up hoping on my wheel. Nobody ever said hey let's paceline and work together to catch the lead group, but that's kinda what happened. Although we were kinduv attacking each other in the process. This is a very interesting dynamic with strangers, the only other time I've ever done pacelining and other roadie tactics was on a group ride with friends. Needless to say making tactical moves made me feel like I was in a race....a quick glance at my HR verifys that I am indeed riding at a race pace. So, near the end of the ride on arastradero we finally saw the lead group, so I wouldn't actually say that we caught them, but we did catch up to them. My goal for the next noon ride is to stay near the front towards the end of the ride to see if I can stick with the break.
Dang...this road shit is fun! I think my next road race will be either Copperopolis or the Velo Girls Menlo Park Crit on April 15th.
I chat with a few of the folks as I near the pack and make sure that this is indeed "The noon" ride. The pack was about 40 people maybe more. Being new to riding in a pack that large I was indeed nervous, but that is the exact reason that I'm forcing myself to ride in the pack. I'd like to get to a point where riding in the pack is just second nature. I hung around the back of the pack until I got my bearings, then I start moving my way around to the middle...which is even scarier. I'm sure it was probably scary for the others in the pack when they looked down and saw my hairy winter legs, but hey at least my Ritchey-Lapierre kit made me look like a knew what i was doing, not to mention the $3000 Bianchi under my arse;-)
I can hardly even remember what roads we hit, as I was focused on not crashing and not making anyone else crash, but I know we hit some of the classic roads like, Sandhill, Portola Valley, Alpine, etc. Any how, as I became more comfortable in the middle of the pack, I would pop out the side of the pack and move myself towards the front of the pack. I wasn't familiar with the route, so I didn't actually move to pull the front of the pack. However, once I get familiar with the route, I wouldn't mind getting some experience and good workout pulling at the front of the pack.
So near the end of the ride, we made a right onto some road past the OLH turn off and suddenly on a small hill the front of the pack takes off. I can see it happening and am stuck in the middle of the pack. I give a quick look to my left and make my move. I stomp on my pedals to move up the hill as the rest of the pack disintegrates. I pass a few people on the climb, but the lead pack is no where in sight. The hill flattens and I'm full on hammering out of the saddle. A few of the guys I passed end up hoping on my wheel. Nobody ever said hey let's paceline and work together to catch the lead group, but that's kinda what happened. Although we were kinduv attacking each other in the process. This is a very interesting dynamic with strangers, the only other time I've ever done pacelining and other roadie tactics was on a group ride with friends. Needless to say making tactical moves made me feel like I was in a race....a quick glance at my HR verifys that I am indeed riding at a race pace. So, near the end of the ride on arastradero we finally saw the lead group, so I wouldn't actually say that we caught them, but we did catch up to them. My goal for the next noon ride is to stay near the front towards the end of the ride to see if I can stick with the break.
Dang...this road shit is fun! I think my next road race will be either Copperopolis or the Velo Girls Menlo Park Crit on April 15th.
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