Training in Richmond and Steveston

Submitted by Stan

After climbing three local mountains in three weeks, it was time to do some hard, fast riding on the flats again.  The weather was chilly at first but warmed up, but with strong headwinds heading out to Iona (the road next to Vancouver Airport), then along River Road.


But I was riding with my regular cycling group, Le Peloton this week, who lived up to their "peloton" style of group riding - very consistent, predictable, cooperative riding, allowing for closely spaced lines of riders to help make the wind to aerodynamically flow around them.

<--Our route today, plotted on my bike's Garmin GPS, basically all over Richmond, Steveston and UBC.  Total distance, 123 km. For more details, click here.

Our route profile ... pretty flat!-->

I've mentioned before how riding in a "peloton", i.e., forming a paceline or echelon to ride as an integrated unit, can result in enormous energy savings. I found out that out pretty quickly today when we were riding along River Road in Richmond and somehow 'missed the train' when moving to the back of the line during a normal rotation. Before I knew it, I was about 10 meters behind everyone else. Not by much, deadly in a strong headwind. It was such hard work!  Worse, I really had to struggle to catch up.  Once back in the slipstream, though, it seemed as if the wind had suddenly dropped. I felt I could ride like this for hours.

Tip to riders:   The main secret to cycling in a peloton (click here for details) is to ride very, very predictably.  That means, at all costs, don't hit the brakes. That will, at the very least, unnerve riders behind you, forcing them to give up more distance between the wheels, and lose a huge energy advantage in breaking wind resistance. New and unexperienced group riders may not realize how uneven their riding really is. This takes a lot of practice. It certainly took me awhile, and a few grumbles from my incredibly patient cycling group before I finally caught on.

What I really like about the "peloton" style of riding, beyond obvious energy savings, is that it gives an opportunity to socialize. It's easy to chat together when we're riding together as a group.  So, it's a lot of fun.  If you are not used to riding in this style, let's give it a try the next time we're riding together.

On Monday (Victoria Day): our GearUp4CF Team in Vancouver is planning to climb Cypress mountain. Looking forward to it!

- Stan


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