Mark B
Zen MBB Master
On Saturday, August 10th, I led a ride out to Beaumont, California to Grandma's restaurant. It's an old favorite that involves quite a bit of climbing out of our basin going east. There's noting super long and steep, but there is a lot of long and semi steep and short and steep. The climbing started right away and never stopped, all the way out. I did pretty good on my forty pound conversion bike, but got frustrated a couple times when a couple stronger riders pulled away on some of the climbs. We regrouped pretty often, so it really didn't matter except for my slightly bruised ego. I had forgotten what a tough ride it was; it never looks like much, but I think we gain something like 2500 ft in about 25 miles. I was the only one that really knew the route, so as we neared turns, I made a point to be toward the front so as to call out the turns. On one particular turn, I was with the lead pack and called out the turn, but we had a tailwind and a downhill; it did not register. I had slowed, but they did not and by the time I realized they were not going to turn back, they were a good distance away. So, I had to put the hammer down and work really hard to catch back on. By the time I did, we were quite a way out of our way, which meant turning back uphill and into a pretty stiff headwind. As we sat down to breakfast, I could feel the burn in my legs, so I knew I had done something.
After the meal, we replenished our water and headed back out. As usual, there was a pretty stiff headwind blowing west to east and we were headed right into the teeth of it. We wound our way back to the mouth of San Timoteo Canyon, which is typically a real fun downhill run on open road where you can paceline and have a lot of fun. However, the headwind can frequently wreak havoc with the fun and this would prove to be no exception. A few of us, present company included, decided to break off and go back another way that would involve more climbing, but get us more directly back to our homes. I have no idea what I ended up with for mileage, but it's generally about 50 miles. I'd be interested to know exactly how much climbing we did; this is one of those times I wish I had a computer on the conversion bike.
Today, Sunday, we did our usual Sunday morning "beginner's" ride. It's become obvious that none of these people qualify as beginners any more. They're wanting to go faster and farther; you can see it in their eyes. It's not the ride that brings them back on Sundays, but the leadership style. Our group does not leave stragglers behind, we regroup several times along the way and go no faster than what the weakest riders can manage. This whole Sunday morning begginers ride was born out of mine and a friend of mine's desire to get back into riding and hopefully, raise up some new members, teaching them how to be a good ride leader. Sort of a grass-roots movement, if you will. So, today, we announced that on Saturdays, we will be leading "group 2 rides", which is every bit of what these riders have become. We'll push them to go farther, faster and climb some hills along the way. Oh, we'll continue the Sunday ride and use that as recovery AND hopefully get some more beginners. If we beat them up good enough on Saturday, they'll be content to sit back and teach newbies on Sunday... That's the theory. They seemed not only responsive, but excited about it. Honest to goodness, this ride has really blossomed from pretty humble beginnings. It started as just my friend, his family, me and my family and a couple extras. Now, we routinely get 10-15 people out and have had as many as 25. The restaurant we go to loves us! The owner makes a point to personally greet us individually and thanks us for coming. Today, as we left the restaurant, I was thinking about this being perhaps my last "club ride" on my conversion. I'm excited to get my Silvio back, but I was just getting to the point I felt real good again about my conversion. So, I have a bit of mixed emotions about this, but I think I will survive just fine!
Mark
After the meal, we replenished our water and headed back out. As usual, there was a pretty stiff headwind blowing west to east and we were headed right into the teeth of it. We wound our way back to the mouth of San Timoteo Canyon, which is typically a real fun downhill run on open road where you can paceline and have a lot of fun. However, the headwind can frequently wreak havoc with the fun and this would prove to be no exception. A few of us, present company included, decided to break off and go back another way that would involve more climbing, but get us more directly back to our homes. I have no idea what I ended up with for mileage, but it's generally about 50 miles. I'd be interested to know exactly how much climbing we did; this is one of those times I wish I had a computer on the conversion bike.
Today, Sunday, we did our usual Sunday morning "beginner's" ride. It's become obvious that none of these people qualify as beginners any more. They're wanting to go faster and farther; you can see it in their eyes. It's not the ride that brings them back on Sundays, but the leadership style. Our group does not leave stragglers behind, we regroup several times along the way and go no faster than what the weakest riders can manage. This whole Sunday morning begginers ride was born out of mine and a friend of mine's desire to get back into riding and hopefully, raise up some new members, teaching them how to be a good ride leader. Sort of a grass-roots movement, if you will. So, today, we announced that on Saturdays, we will be leading "group 2 rides", which is every bit of what these riders have become. We'll push them to go farther, faster and climb some hills along the way. Oh, we'll continue the Sunday ride and use that as recovery AND hopefully get some more beginners. If we beat them up good enough on Saturday, they'll be content to sit back and teach newbies on Sunday... That's the theory. They seemed not only responsive, but excited about it. Honest to goodness, this ride has really blossomed from pretty humble beginnings. It started as just my friend, his family, me and my family and a couple extras. Now, we routinely get 10-15 people out and have had as many as 25. The restaurant we go to loves us! The owner makes a point to personally greet us individually and thanks us for coming. Today, as we left the restaurant, I was thinking about this being perhaps my last "club ride" on my conversion. I'm excited to get my Silvio back, but I was just getting to the point I felt real good again about my conversion. So, I have a bit of mixed emotions about this, but I think I will survive just fine!
Mark
