The art of the group ride is a complicated and unfathamoable process of riding in a bunch with like-minded cyclists, teetering on the edge of competition with 'town-line sprints', hilltop climbs as well as a social aspect to riding, all much akin to a pack of wolves out on the hunt. In countries where cycling has a strong following, it is easy, nay necessary, to be part of a pack. Within the pack one becomes part of a group, a whole stronger than the individual parts. Cycling-tips in Oz has a piece here on the whole group-think concept in cycling (and what happens when you leave the pack).
Obviously within the pack there will be a pecking order, determined in a most animalistic and in some ways almost democratic fashion, by the strongest rider that can demand the respect of the other riders. There is a combination of age and ability at work here, so it pays to be a fit 40-something rider if you aspire to that spot. There will be a climb along the route, or a sprint line, and every time riders will give it their all to beat the others. This "top-dog" type of arrangement lends heavily from, you guessed it, wolf-packs.
So, in theory the idea of the training ride is, actually to be a wolf in lycra clothing and.. train. But to train to do what?! Therein lies the rub. With competing wolf-packs, these will inevitably encroach on each other's territories and there will be a fight. No barred teeth and bites, but probing attacks and sprints. The weaker group is forced to yield the road and make space for the stronger pack in future. Training is akin to competing, just in an unstructured way. The wolf-pack learns to work together as a whole. Individual strengths and weaknesses are known within the group, and the strongest sprinter in the group will lead out when another group approaches..
And even if you don't encounter another wolf-pack, don't be fooled by your team-mates who proclaim "It's only a recovery ride" as sure enough there will be a slight rise in the road, or a nice straight stretch, or a prominent sign along the road, and then all bets are off. Your only possibility of surviving in these situations is to attack first! In fact, the phrase 'recovery ride' actually means let's go slow until one of us feels strong enough to put a knife in the other.
In Mozambique, where riders can be counted basically on my appendages (I won't say which), we don't really have enough of them to form more than one or two packs. Therofore the competition turns inwards, and when there is little prey around, tendencies turn cannibalistic. It is no accident that cycling's greatest hero, Eddy Merckx, was in fact called "The Cannibal". He would eat other riders for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and offer a few scraps to his own pack on occasion, once he'd feasted to his limit. Cycling is as close a sport to our animalistic forefathers hunting mammoth that it's a surprise cycling is even allowed these days! Even the peloton chasing down the lone breakaway artist conjure up scenes of wolves running down their prey..
So, back to Mozambique. What to do on a training ride, which quickly turns into a battle for survival.
Do you
a) try to become the leader of the pack
b) hang on for dear life, show minimal submission but also a deserving place in the pack's pecking order
c) leave the pack to create your own pack?
This is all very complicated, because to add to this confusion you have races (which take on the more common thread of what some might actually call a training ride) which need to be won. Races like training rides? Training like races?! Sounds all very complicated and confused. Not so. Once you get on a racing bike, it's to race. The only reason you don't race is if you're preparing to race. You race when you train, you race when you race. And above all, you train to race when you're on your own. That is unless you're a flower-power child with delusions of one-world and peace among all men (and women.. especially women. It's nice to be at peace with them).. But even that can change in the blink of an eye.
So what am I trying to say with this piece on training that is turning out to be a jumble of clichês and desktop psycology? Well, that there is no such thing as a "training" ride. All rides are done to prove a point, and if you actually do need to train, then do it away from the prying eyes of your competitors, and even further away from your "pack-mates" who you must pummel into submission at the next group ride. But remember, it's just a recovery ride.. :-)
Wolfpack image from
A-Team vs. Wolfpack – You Make the Call… | Mudflatsmudflats.wordpress.com -
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