We’d a very enjoyable spin this evening, with some of the coaching lessons being successfully applied for the first time. There were 10 riders out, covering 59km @ an average of 29.5kph.

The most important lesson applied was a reduced pace for the opening few kilometers. Instead of the usual ‘greyhounds out of the traps’ approach (and heart beating like a jackhammer), there was a more sedate 27-28kph start to the spin. It enabled muscles to rev up naturally, and avoided shoving riders nearly into the red early in the spin. As the spin progressed the pace picked up naturally, and we achieved a respectable average of 29.5kph almost at our ease. That reasonably paced start, which had been emphasized by the coach, helped ensure a very comfortable spin, without significantly impacting on the average speed.

Another aspect of the spin was a greater ‘smoothness’, without any impact on pace. The rolling over was more regular and frequent, ensuring nobody was up front for too long. Also there was less overall injection of pace during the rollover, making for a less ‘raggedy’ technique.

Lastly, and this is a first this year, but the group departed town as the one group, rather than separate little groups. This was partly achieved by one brave rider playing traffic cop on the departure from the car park!

What’s striking is that there was no rocket science in any of these techniques. They were all known and practised by the club over the years. Unfortunately, it seems the club lost a lot of good habits, replacing them with bad habits, but we seem to be on the way to relearning them (personal opinion there.)