by JayneToyne » Mon Nov 24, 2003 3:06 pm
It was the wettest weekend this year and only 7 people (including myself) turned out for the club run.
So thankfully everyone joined in with the coaching session down at Leigh.
It was not made easy by the poor visibility or road surface but everyone stuck at it. (except for Marek with a mechanical prob)
Starting with a warm up through and off for 2 laps, supposedly easy pace. It can be hard to get people who are wet and potentially cold to keep the pace slow enough to work on their group riding skills with precision rather than speed. It takes some real self-discipline to go against what you would naturally want to do.
Next up was some group work using a baton. I think a few were sceptical at first but once we started, doubts started to vanish and the group really worked well together. The speed picked up, the communication started to develop through the group, the change over was faster and smoother, and I hope everyone got something out of it.
After that just to warm everyone back up there was a short sprint ladder with everyone in single file taking a turn to sprint from the back to the front of the small group.
The aim of this other than to warm the riders up is to make them think ahead, use communication as a way of judging where they are in relation to the line of riders etc. The skills this can develop are again, more bike handling precision as well as learning to judge how much power is needed to get themselves into a particular position without having to over compensate on the brakes causing a hazard and without creating huge gaps in the group.
A good point was raised by a couple of guys on Saturday when I asked for feedback.
Both commented saying that they thought that this was good for those just starting riding but weren't all together sure that they needed to be doing this at this time of year as their main training regime is currently base training.
The only analogy I could think of at the time was to think of a car, one that?s been tuned and modified to go faster, but the handling hasn?t been improved. What?s the point in having a faster car if it wont handle properly or cant go round corners?
The idea of working on skills at this time of year is, apart from breaking the sometimes boring routine of long slow miles is to start honing skills you will need next year if you are racing and all the time if you are a regular non-racer type. Its a great time to do this sort of coaching as there?s little else to get in the way. Once the season is underway everyone is too busy training hard, riding hard, out enjoying themselves, racing, showing off their prowess on the club run etc.
If you develop your bike handling and group skills along side of your fitness/power training then it's much easier to put everything into practice when it's needed.
With the right kind of training programme and coaching...
You will be constantly thinking, planning ahead, communicating with the group around you
You won?t hesitate to pedal off the top of a hill and nail it down hill as well as up hill.
You wont hesitate to hand your mate a bottle of water or a food bar when he/she needs it during a club run, race or 4-up time trial while travelling at 30mph in a through and off.
You wont wobble round corners and get overtaken by the rest of the club run.
You won?t land in potholes or hit road kill because everyone else in the group is shouting out as well as signalling what's coming ahead.
If there's a crash in front of you, you won?t bail off, you will try to jump it first.
You won't think twice about jumping/sprinting to the front of a group of riders, slotting in seamlessly and leading a breakaway group....
It?s all about Confidence.
and all this leads to... a much more enjoyable and fulfilling time out on the bike.
----------------------------
I thangyouverymuch.
The next club coaching session will be: 6th December.