FLCC> Tuesday night -- another awesome outing!

Thu Apr 17 13:35:45 EDT 2008

Well, we've learned that instructing by negative example is really
effective.  For example, "Don't cross the yellow line like I'm doing now"
and a ripped back pocket will let your glasses (and your pump) fly out and
it will cost $150 for new lenses.  And you are correct about Don at the
Coddington corner--he is dangerous there.  So I get as many riders as I can
between him and me, which is the only reason he is ahead of me at the top of
the hill.

Jack

  _____  

From: flcc-bounces at icycle.org [mailto:flcc-bounces at icycle.org] On Behalf Of
Christine Porter
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 5:00 PM
To: flcc at icycle.org
Subject: Re: FLCC> Tuesday night -- another awesome outing!

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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