Sunday, March 26, 2006, I planned to go out for my first roadie ride. Yes, I have ridden with roadies before, but as a triathlete that was usually training for Ironman or at least a half IM. That usually meant sticking within my plan and not worrying about what they were doing. This was to be my first ride as a member of the North Branch Cycling Club. North Branch is a “cycling club” only because the USAC rules don’t allow you to call yourself a “team” unless you have a pro team. North Branch is a racing club though. They don’t have social rides at 15-17 MPH for occasional riders. I have to say I was somewhat nervous. The guys I would be riding with were CAT4’s and had already logged some serious miles outside. As for me, my training has been only on the trainer and nothing longer than about two hours. The whole situation was less than ideal. I was up too late the night before. I started feeling sick Saturday evening with a sore throat. I couldn’t sleep and the only reason I can think of is stress at work. When I did wake up on Sunday morning, I had a pounding headache and the sore throat was worse. I wanted to call it off; however, I knew deep down that was just an excuse due to the fact that I was nervous riding with a new group. Would I get dropped? Could I handle the accelerations? Do I have the correct clothing for the weather? When I left my house at 7:30 am, it was a brisk 27 degrees outside, but sunny. It was cold just to get into my car and another reason for me to back out. Somehow though, I found myself loading everything I needed into the car, including every piece of winter gear I own, and leaving for Skip’s house.
Skip is the President of the North Branch Cycling Club. He is a good President. He is constantly on the phone coordinating club rides. It is a small club of around 30 members and they are very spread out throughout Chicago and the Chicagoland area. Thus, getting people to ride together is hard to coordinate, but there is no doubt that Skip puts forth the effort. When I showed up to Skip’s house, I was the first one there. I knew that three of us would be riding. Usually Skip, Steve and I get together at Steve’s house for Sunday morning trainer rides. Steve is a CAT3 and a good one at that. He comes from a hockey background, but embraces all endurance sports. Some weekends he is cycling, others he is playing in hockey tournament, while in others he might be cross country ski racing. Steve also has a great sense of humor, so you have to be constantly on your toes otherwise you will miss something hilarious. Skip came out to greet me and told me that a couple of others would be joining us. They included Darin, Jes, and Neal (or is it Neil?). Darin is the one that introduced me to this group of guys and I have ridden with Darin on other occasions. Knowing he was coming made me a bit more nervous. I don’t think there ever was a single ride with Darin where I wasn’t dropped. Jes, a California native, also races all the time and is a long time member of the club. Neal also is a long time club member. I had only met Neal once. All I knew is that he had logged in some miles with these guys already. Jes and Neal were the next to arrive. Darin rolled up on his bike, getting in a 10-mile warm up from his house to Skip’s. Steve drove up, and we were all there.
Neal was great in helping me figure out which of the many pieces of clothing I should actually wear. After all, the temperature had now sky rocketed to about 32 degrees. With Neal’s help, I figured on the bottom I would go with base layer and bib tights, two pairs of socks and neoprene booties. On the top I went with a base layer, fleece mid layer, light weight jersey on top of that and a vest. The vest was a North Branch Cycling vest. Each member, except Steve, wore an outer layer of the North Branch uniform on top. I was thinking of a mask, but Neal made the great suggestion of using an ear warmer over the neck and it was the best advice I got all day as it was perfect for blocking the wind, but not bundling up the heat. The guys were labeling this ride as an easy, base-building ride. I took that for what it was worth as I have seen what roadies consider an “easy” ride before. With that, they all clipped in and off we went. Although I didn’t wear my HRM strap, I know my heart rate was already elevated from nerves. As we rolled out I evaluated what I wanted to do in this ride. First and foremost, was not embarrassing myself. Second, was to conserve energy and practice drafting. Third was not to get dropped on the accelerations. The other riders were all aware of my nerves at this point. Thus, at the beginning of the ride, they were keeping their eye on me. We were riding side-by-side and I made sure I was in the draft. Skip, Darin and Steve did most of the pulling all day long and I was happy to let them do so. I wasn’t really paying attention to wattage at any given point. I just wanted to be aware of what was going on around me. Every five minutes or so, somebody would ask me how I was doing. At the time I was doing just fine. I made sure to be aware of the people around me and make sure I was using proper riding etiquette. We rode in different directions, until l eventually we hit a road were we were forced to ride single file. I ended up in the back. That is a dangerous place for me as mentally it is easier for me to let up. Luckily, the pacing was moderate and we just cruised along. The idea was to ride to Bull Valley. Bull Valley is a small town in McHenry County which is Northwest of Chicago by about 50 miles. It is known to cyclists for its hills and many triathletes and cyclists alike head there when they want to do something more challenging than the flats.
We arrived at Bull Valley and hit the hills. I knew where I was at this point as I had ridden this area with Jeff Hovorka quite often in preparation for IM Moo 2003. We headed around a turn and I knew one of the major downhills was coming. I am not a descender by nature, thus I knew I wouldn’t even try to keep up. At this point, Skip exploded off the front as he wanted to see how fast he could go. Steve, almost like a bored hunter, waited for Skip to get about 100 yard lead and off he went to catch him. Darin, although not trying to catch anyone, accelerated and then coasted. Neal, Jes and I all kind of coasted down the hill. On the other side of the downhill, you hit an uphill that is pretty steep and ended at another intersection. We regrouped there for a break and discussed speeds. Skip and Steve both were over 50 MPH on the hill. Darin coasted to 49. Meanwhile, Jes, Neal and I were all around 42 MPH. It was decided that we should do it again, but this meant climbing back up the hills we had just come down. I was all for it. So, five of us went out to do it again. Climbing back up was painful, but not impossible. I would equate it to a bunch of sections on the Horribly Hilly course. Once again, we all separated on the descent and regrouped to head back home. At this point, I check my average watts for the ride. To my surprise, they were quite low at 155 watts. That definitely gave me some confidence as I knew I could be holding 180-190 watts for a three-hour ride if needed. With that said, we were heading home and the pace picked up quickly. I looked down at my PowerTap and it was reading about 300 watts and I was in the draft. I knew at that wattage, I probably had five, maybe 10 minutes before I fell off the back. Neal had already fallen off and I was making sure I kept the wheel in front of me. Luckily, the hammering only lasted for about 5-7 minutes as somebody needed a gas station break to refill on hydration and take a bathroom break. At this point we were about two hours into the ride. In the last 5-7 minutes, my average watts went up by seven watts. Mathematically that mean we were really moving. So, as we rolled out of the gas station, I thought the ride back would be pretty hard. The ride back turned out to be a little easier than I anticipated. The only tough time was when Steve road off the front while I was sitting in the 3/4 position, next to Darin. Jes then came rocketing out from behind me to try to catch him. I looked over at Darin and asked if he thought I should try to catch them. He said yes. I thought that meant he would be coming with me, so I went after Jes. I saw Jes catch Steve. I was put it in the 53-12 and was grinding for about two minutes before I caught on.. Steve must have eased up to let us catch him at that point. At the point I caught Jes, he eased up and I started to talk to him, which was a mistake as Steve did not ease up and before I knew it, he was ahead. Jes dropped back and I knew there was no way I was catching Steve without a wheel.
The rest of the ride home was uneventful until the very end. To get to Skips house you have to climb a short, but steep hill. Skip attacked it, I tried to follow, but my legs just didn’t have any explosive power left. I am sure that is due to the fact I have only been riding for short periods of time on the trainer and once I start logging outdoor miles, I will have that snap at the end. We rolled up to Skip’s house and I had met my three goals. First, I didn’t embarrass myself. Second, I conserved energy by drafting and was able to practice drafting. Third, I didn’t get dropped. I have yet to download the data, so I will have to see how the whole ride shows up in cyclingpeaks. For the rest of the day I remained sick. The only time I felt better was being out in the fresh air on my bike with new friends. I am still suffering from a sore throat and congenstion today.