Early Bird Training Series 1/3/2010-1/31/2010

The Early Bird Training Series was a set of short clinics followed by mentored practice criteriums. Every week, the clinic (which was about an hour long) focused on a different subject, and they built on as it went. Following the clinic, there were practice races for all categories, with the lower categories first, since it was mostly for our benefit. For the women's category 4 races, we did 40 minutes, and we were usually split into two fields that raced simultaneously - the experienced (those who'd done 10+ races) and the inexperienced. Being myself inexperienced, I always chose the latter. The course was a perfect training course, about a mile around with wide roads and nice wide turns. The road quality was quite nice, although there were Botts dots everywhere. Each week I had a nice 11 mile warmup, as I rode from Menlo Park to Fremont, across the Dumbarton Bridge. Here's a quick summary of how each week went.

#1 - 1/3/2010
The clinic the first week was a basic introduction to racing and pack skills. We were told that it's very important to stay relaxed and breathe calmly, so that when something unexpected happens, we don't freak out and overreact. Being relaxed also helps absorb bumps on the road. Also a very important lesson was to protect your front wheel, that your front wheel is your responsibility to keep safe. Predictable riding was also a key point, as sudden lateral movements can easily cause a crash, especially if someone behind you has their front wheel overlapped with your rear wheel. Don't overlap wheels was another guideline to follow. Also, ride in your drops during a crit or crowded road race, since you have better control in your drops and it also protects your bars from hooking on other people's bars.

The race was a lot of fun. We had probably 20 people in the inexperienced field, and with the wide course we weren't crowded at all. The corners were wide enough to pedal through, so the pack didn't have too much of a bungee effect. The pace was somewhat slow, and I stayed near the front as much as I could. I think I took off with about a quarter lap to go and dropped everyone for a solo win.

#2 - 1/10/2010
The next clinic was a lesson in how to take the turns. It wasn't quite a lesson in cornering, as they were teaching us the best line to take through turns that we could pedal through. The gist of it was that you should set up the turn by starting wide, then go to the inside as you go around the turn, then finish wide. By doing this, you can keep your momentum more effectively. They had us do drills on a corner with mentors standing in our way to make us take the correct line. We also practiced doing it in groups of up to six, so we could see how it was to follow other people through a turn.

The race was very similar to week one, and once again I stayed near the front most of the race. However, at point I was actually near the back and a couple people in front of me went down because there were squished between a curb and another rider, and I actually went down briefly. My bike and I were ok (so were the others), so I hopped up immediately and chased down the pack, with the help of a friendly mentor. After that I stayed up front and took off in the middle of the last lap for another win.

#3 - 1/17/2010
I think the third clinic was about filling in the gaps and moving through the field. We did a drill where we formed up a double pace line and the mentors would tell someone to let a gap open up in front of them, and then someone else would have to pass them to fill in the gap.

This week we combined the inexperienced field with the experienced since fewer people had shown up (it was threatening to rain and had been raining a little bit). The pace was maybe a little faster, but nothing too exciting happened until it started pouring down rain with 2 laps to go. At that point, I just got up front and pretty much took off with a lap to go, as I didn't trust myself or the other ladies to corner well in a pack in the pouring rain. Once again I won by a fair margin.

#5 - 1/31/2010
I skipped the fourth clinic/race due to a combination of lack of enough sleep for several nights in a row and the fact that it was 40 degrees and raining outside. They said that the fourth clinic talked about making breakaways and how to bridge a gap. The fifth clinic was partly review, and then we did a drill of a threaded paceline, where there was a line on the left and a line on the right, and the last riders in the lines would take turns passing everyone by going between the lines and then taking their turn on the front. This wasn't a situation that would happen in a real race, but it was giving us practice moving up between two riders.

The race this week was a bit bigger, since the final race of the series was a real race instead of a training race, so they actually recorded placings and it was good for upgrade points. The race was probably the fastest of the five, and more people were pushing the pace. After a group of about five of us almost made a break in the next to last lap, I found the perfect opening to gap the field for the last lap and I managed to hold everyone off until the end. A group of five or so tried to chase me down, but I still beat them.


So all in all, the Early Bird Training Series was a great experience for me. I got a lot of practice riding in a pack, learned some important skills, and figured out that I can go really fast for 500-1000 meters. I kept to that strategy for every race since I didn't know how I'd be in a field sprint. The whole experience got me super excited for bike racing, I had so much fun every week.