It was a cold and windy morning that greeted us today for our skills session at Stromlo Forest Park crit circuit. As the ominous clouds loomed and intermittently gave us a sprinkling, we staved off the chill by concentrating on our tasks at hand - bike handling and bunch riding skills.
The lovely Simon D was our coach, and led us in a whole lot of useful and slightly challenging exercises, including the proper way to start off a bunch ride or race (no looking down at pedals, make sure to squish up shoulder to shoulder at the start line!!) and slalom/figure of eight courses.
We then started practicing pacelining, with the less confident of us starting off with single pacelines before moving to doubles after a little while. I found it quite surprising how quickly I got more comfortable with riding close to others, and was even able to eventually put my hand on Rhiannon, my riding partner's shoulder with only a few wobbles!
We finished off with a great couple or so laps round the circuit in one bigger bunch, and it was fantastic to see how much more confident and smooth we were riding as a bunch. Before and after photos to come - thanks Paddy!
Thanks so much Simon for your expert guidance, and cheers to all the ladies who came today - it was fab to ride and learn with you all :)
P.S - I'm doing this crazy ride tomorrow called 100 Miles of Nowhere: http://www.fatcyclist.com/2011/04/10/register-now-for-the-4th-annual-100-miles-of-nowhere/
So, it's 160 mindless kms up and down Dairy Flat Road near Fyshwick for me tomorrow. If you feel like swinging by at any stage and riding with me for a bit, donating $$ (money raised to go to Eden Monaro Cancer Support Group) or just hangin' (probably not for too long - cold and windy tomorrow too!) and keeping me sane, that would be really cool!
See you all soon,
Linda H.
Great post Linda!!
ReplyDeleteBut 160kms tomorrow? AWESOME!?!!?!!...I knew you had the mad glint of a roadie in your eye.
Are you doing the 160km with anyone? If not I recommend (since according to FatCyclist's Blog you can do the kms anywhere) you come out with us on the PROD. You'll easily get 100km doing the Sutton loop and Lake George as a tack on...
Thanks for the post Linda!
ReplyDeleteToday was great wasnt it!? I was so bummed to have to leave early... but dont think "riding my bike" is a good excuse for being late to work.
Good luck with your kms tomorrow - be sure to let us know how you go.
See you for the next ride : )
Hey Rach,
ReplyDeleteYeah I would love to do the PROD instead - would be so much more interesting than endless loops of Dairy Flat Rd, but I've arranged to meet up with various people there who might ride with me for some of it or provide general support.
And Maja - it is a pity that you couldn't stay till the end, but it was great you got to be there for most of it. Hope work was alright!
Hope you all have fun tomorrow!