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April 6, 2005
The only way to get faster is to do speed work
This morning I went for a very fast 23-mile ride with the two guys I met last night at the St. Paul Bike Racing Club spring party, Mike and Kevin. It was really good, but in my haste to make it to the meeting place on time, I accidently left my tire pump at my house. I had cleaned my road bike and re-lubricated it the night before and had taken the pump off the bike. So, here I was going on a ride with patch kit and tools, but no pump.
As we were leaving the parking lot by the grocery store where we met, I said kind of off-handedly, “I forgot my tire pump, so hopefully I won’t get a flat.” The ride was going great until I got a flat and they were spinning on ahead of me at a rapid pace until they were out of sight. I knew they wouldn’t leave me there, so I began to take apart my tire to fix it. I pulled out my patch kit and took the tire and tube off. Then I waited. Soon enough both of them came riding back to help out. They knew something must have been wrong because I was nowhere in sight when they looked back. Kevin pulled out a spare tube from his bag and threw it in there, then put my tire on really fast, pumped it up and put it back on my bike. It took him about 5 seconds it seemed. I still struggle with changing tires. It takes me much longer. The last time I changed my own flat, it took me 15 minutes! Kevin told me the first change I have to make for group rides is to carry a spare tube and patch the old one at home. Putting a new tube in is faster than trying to find the hole and fixing the old tube. Good idea. Now I carry a spare tube with me.
While riding with these two guys this morning I talked to Kevin quite a bit and he gave me a lot of pointers about riding. The first was about proper drafting techniques, making sure I cover the brakes with my hands in case I have to stop suddenly and watching the wheel and the shoulders of the guy in front of me so I can see when he is stopping or slowing. These two guys were riding much faster than I am used to. On average we were riding above 20mph, and at times I was riding 23 and breathing heavily, while they were riding 26 and pulling away from me. I tried really hard to maintain the 26mph pace but it was clear to me I need more work to ride with these guys. I’ll get there, but I haven’t been practicing like this. Kevin told me that the best way to increase my speed is to practice speed work. Riding fast like this will improve my race times and make me a better rider. When we were done I told Kevin I would ride with them again on Monday morning.
I was lucky to find a group like this so close to my house. I think it’s especially important to match myself up with people of higher skill/capability levels to challenge myself to go beyond what I think I can do. Practicing riding at a faster pace can only help me. This is the same concept as interval training in cycling or running. It makes us faster.
Tonight I went to the Sibley bike depot to work on bikes again. I was happy to meet Nathan and to see Dan again. I fixed one kids bike by adjusting the spokes, putting a new tube in, cleaning it up and attaching a brake. Then I helped strip down a nice looking Trek bike that had been run over and bent up by a car. We scrapped that frame and saved everything else to put on another frame. Then I worked on a mountain bike, putting on two new tires. With these two tires I tried to change them as fast as I could. I must say that practicing something at a higher velocity does make me faster at the task. Then I bought the same tires for my mountain bike and plan on changing those tires soon. After a while I think it won’t take me very long to change a tire. The last bike I worked on was a total rebuild and was taking a long time, so we didn't finish. It needed new brakes on front and new cables.
Also before I forget, Dan helped me adjust my rear derailer so it wouldn't hit the spokes when changing into the lowest gear. Now I know how to adjust that. Thanks Dan!
Now because it’s been a very long day, I’m off to bed exhausted. I’m going to take a nice easy ride into work in the morning, then run at lunch time, but not do speed work. In this case I need to make sure my injury doesn’t return. Running fast won’t help me until I build a stronger base.
Posted by carl1236 at April 6, 2005 11:52 PM | Cycle Racing