FLCC> Tuesday night -- another awesome outing!

Wed Apr 16 16:59:44 EDT 2008

I learned that if someone tries to wedge in on your right, to push them 
into the ditch, to frequently cross the double yellow, & to avoid 
certain people at the Coddington stop sign (Don); if a back pocket is 
falling off it will not reliably hold a pump & forget about holding your 
line when trying to get to the front (Jack); that Ruth should ride with 
the Bs; and that having ridden over thousands of miles makes you a very 
steady person to draft home on (Daniel) when I've put more juice than I 
really have into diamond racing.

More seriously, I had a chance to put into guided practice some things 
I've read about, like only going into standing with your pedal near the 
top to minimize your drop in speed for the person on your wheel, various 
hand signals for road dangers, always be ready to sprint, consider 
strengths and weaknesses of your group and time breakaways accordingly; 
if you brush shoulders with a neighbor lean into each other gently and 
then slowly split. And heard much that's new - like if you are going to 
collide with a car, try to hit the side of it rather than let it hit the 
side of you (something I've never wanted to think through...); if you 
cross your wheel with the person in front of you, turn very lightly into 
the wheel for support rather than away from it (since you'll crash that 
way) and if you are the front person try to hold your power level steady 
until the crosser recovers. If I was supposed to learn anything else, 
I'll need additional tutoring next week....

And there will be no pushing into ditches (and hopefully no riding into 
them) in the family mini-rides this Sunday - meeting at 10:00am, on 
Mitchell Street next to the French Lavender flower shop at the East Hill 
Rec Way.

C

Donal Fitterer wrote:
>
> The parking lot was full last night with many new and seasoned riders 
> eager to get on the road. Daniel K took on the leadership role in 
> Glenn's absence. We had a quick set of announcements and I stated that 
> my group was heading to B-dale for some yellow diamond sprints and I 
> wanted the same group that I had last week. Daniel seconded my emotion.
>
> As Sara was begging for Hollenbeck  volunteers I noticed that my front 
> brake cable was slipping. I asked Aqua Man (aka Nick R) for an allen 
> key and instantly busted the binder bolt! No front brakes for me!
>
> I moved off to the side with my arm in the air to gather my group and 
> was immediately surrounded by a bunch of guy racer types in full kits 
> asking where I was going again and what I was planning. Stan "the Man" 
> and Jim "Lips" Metzger came to my rescue and took off with the 
> testosterone fueled group towards our flat race venue.
>
>  
>
> Ruth, Christine, Beth, Aileen, Daniel and I clustered up and waited 
> for riders ahead of us to exit the lot. A young man named Dominique 
> was a new enough newbie to gain access to our exclusive club. We 
> headed out Pine Tree and I had to soft pedal to keep from catching 
> Stan and Jim's group. Once on Rt 79   we started a double pace line. 
> Again, we had to slow down because the other group was dawdling. This 
> was probably caused by the fact that Stan hasn't been on his bike for 
> 2 years.
>
>  
>
> We stopped near the sand pits just before our normal starting place 
> and reviewed what we had learned last week. We then discussed the art 
> of sprinting (in which I readily admit I am not very successful). I 
> leave a summary of the lesson plan to Christine as homework. 
> Hopefully, she will present what she heard to the list which should be 
> fodder for interesting discussions.
>
>  
>
> Our plan was to have a group of 3 or 4 riders (with Dan in one group 
> and me in another) pace line in front of the sprinter group. When a 
> yellow diamond was spied either I or Daniel would lead out the 
> sprinters who would then decide when they wanted to come around the 
> lead out man. This worked fairly well in the beginning. I had Aileen, 
> Christine and Beth in my group. Christine was top dog at the 
> beginning. Aileen and Chris had one awesome sprint trading the lead 3 
> time before Christine took the win by inches. Beth was uncatchable 
> once we hit the flats on Coddington. Cracker Jacks Rueckheim joined us 
> just as we got up to Coddington.
>
>  
>
> Daniel will have to fill in what went on with his group. I do know 
> that Ruth spanked Mr Jack when they faced off one on one.
>
>  
>
> Before we went on to Coddington we stopped and discussed how to take 
> the corner. The short answer is not to race the corner and allow the 
> group to come around safely before sprinting off. Again, it would be 
> great if one of the listeners shared what they heard.
>
>  
>
> Everyone was pretty toasted by the end of the ride especially since I 
> had them climb up the 11% grade on Burns Rd.
>
>  
>
> A good time once again!
>
>  
>
> Cheers,
>
>  
>
> Don
>
>  
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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>   

-- 
-------
Christine Porter

http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
cp226 at cornell.edu
1-607-272-7330

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