Pace Groups

The skies were clear for my first team ride - 25 miles through the rolling hills of Peninsula. The ride started a few miles from home, so I donned my arm and leg warmers, my bright yellow safety vest (after much debate on how cool I'd look) and headed out hoping I'd survive my first team ride - I hadn't been on my bike since October and I truly could be in much better shape!

The cycle team is HUGE - so much bigger than any of the run teams I've been on! I don't know the exact number, but I think there are probably 150 participants and close to 50 support staff. There are about a dozen or so coaches and each leads a group of participants on each ride. The groups are split up by experience and speed - last weekend the team did a 12-mile time trial in Portola Valley to establish pace groups, which I unfortunately missed out on. These pace groups will ride together throughout the season and at the goal event in Tahoe, promoting safety, success and a true team environment - hard to do with 150 people!

I guessed I'd be somewhere in the middle and was placed in a pace group with coach Hamid, and fellow participants Connie, Ellen, Johnny, Ken, Nicole, Brian, Alan and me. We talked about safety, voicing signals, and taking it easy for our first ride as a team, then headed out down Foothill to work on our paceline.

We had a slow start to or ride, hitting every red light on Foothill, but eventually made it through the mostly flat first half of our ride down Foothill to Junipero Serra, past Santa Cruz and onto Alameda de las Pulgas. By the time we got to Hwy 84 we were feeling strong as a team and ready to hit the rolling hills. We climbed up Hwy 84 to Mountain Home Road and onto Manzanita. I had never ridden Manzanita "backwards" to Sand Hill, and it was a lot of fun racing through the rolling hills on the small, winding, shady lane that houses multi-million dollar homes. We turned onto Sand Hill for short climb back to 280, then headed back the way we came along Junipero Serra to Foothill, and back to our starting point at Springer and Foothill.

I was very happy that my lungs didn't collapse along the way, and truth be told - I think I did really well! I feel very at home with my pace group and together we are ready for the challenges that lie ahead. Tahoe better get ready, 'cause here we come!