Riding On the Safe Side

There was quite a crowd for this morning's ride, and it included a number of folks who are not what I'd call "regulars." In all, I think we had at least 20 in the group, and considering the wide range of skills, it got to be just a little bit jittery in the paceline now and then. The group was kind of slow getting started today, and I ended up riding off the front for a few miles despite a very conservative pace, but eventually I heard the voices coming up from behind and dropped back down the line.

This was a pretty civilized group ride with nobody really pushing the pace and lots of riders taking pulls. I had been noticing this one rider in particular whose abrupt moves in the paceline were kind of scary, at least to me. On the way back I actually ended up spending much of my time off to the left, out of the draft, riding on the "safe side" of the bike path where, if something bad happened up front, I'd have full access to the nice soft grass on that side of the levee rather than the harsh concrete on the other. Fortunately I didn't need it, but anyway it was comforting to have the option, and besides I was able to get a little better workout without being on the front and messing up the group's consensus pace.

I watched the end of today's stage of the TDF via video stream from one of the links on the cyclingfans.com site, and even though the winning break didn't have any of the big GC contenders in it, it was still pretty interesting to watch. I think you could probably use the last 10k as a training film for new riders on what to do, or not to do, in a small group coming up to the finish of a long road race. The interesting thing was that the win went to the oldest, most experienced rider today, not the strongest one. As they say, "Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill." Well, maybe not always, but anyway....

The key moment, I think, was when Vasseur noticed that everyone ahead of him was overlapping wheels to one side, but there was room for him to attack on the other. Only the rider in the lead had any chance to catch his wheel since the sprint started so late, and that guy was the last one to see him as he flew past. A quick decision and a classic move.