First Club Ride 2019

Oh the weather outside is frightful...
Fear not amigos. Although it's the time of year where hopes are often dashed when all looks so good and then it snows or rains, the first ride of the year is merely two or three weeks away.

In the meantime, it's not just prudent but every rider's responsibility to ensure they are prepared. That includes making sure your first outdoor ride of the year isn't the club Saturday ride. Riders who haven't ridden outside all winter are pretty sketchy the first time back out on the road. That includes the best pros.* Road cycling crashes are almost always the result of something someone else did. We had a nasty crash in November. Sometimes these things just happen despite everyone's best efforts, but you don't want to be responsible for someone else's injuries because you didn't put a little effort into preparing. There'll be some nice days between now and the first ride. Get out for an hour. You'll get your feel back for the road and it'll give you an opportunity to sort out any gremlins with your equipment that might otherwise ruin your first ride.

*Chris Carmichael used to tell a story about Viatcheslav Ekimov (3 times Olympic cycling gold, stage winner in Tour, Vuelta, Dauphine, Paris-Nice, Tour de Suisse...). After a particularly hard winter where he had to spend a lot of time training indoors, nobody wanted to ride with him the first couple of rides as his bike was all over the place.

April 5, 2019
No club ride tomorrow. It'll be -2 and cloudy with a north wind. Things should be nice by about 1 or 2 pm. We're so close. Here's looking forward to next week.