Five Days Cycling Out of Seven

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If I drove four hundred and thirty kilometres I would either be going on holidays or wasteful with petrol. To do the same thing on a bike is much better for the health of the planet and my own. The reason for this is simple. Good cardiovascular health.

Normally I would not consider riding this many times in a week. My rule was to ride twice per week, not more. If I ride more than twice per week, especially alone, I find car driver behaviour to be toxic.

Plenty of Group Rides

The reason for which I rode so much is that group rides were organised for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The first ride was a relaxed ride towards Corsier before heading back up from the lake towards the interior of the Rive Droite of the Canton of Geneva. The second ride was a short climb towards Le Coin where the first part was not too hard, but the second part was challenging. The third ride was a ride from Nyon to Geneva, to meetup with the group, and then a ride back towards La Rippe and then up towards La Barrillette but only the first three or four kilometres before the group headed to Geneva, I left them in Crassier to head back to Geneva.

Saturday the ride was a "relaxed ride" but in my experience the relaxed rides are only relaxed for people with a certain amount of time spent on a bike. Those with less experience are often pushed quite hard. Whether a ride is relaxed or hard depends on how often you ride, if you’re used to the rolling hills, and on whether your bike has tires that are well inflated and more.

On Saturday I spent the day at the back of the group, riding with the slowest person. With properly inflated tyres I expect he would have suffered much less.

You might ask "but why would you ride at the back if you’re a strong rider" and "That’s very nice of you, to stick at the back like that" and both of these are valid.

The reason is economy. The reason is endurance. The reason is the 80/20 rule, as well as the Zone 2 rule. The rule about volume, not effort.

My ride is very often not just the planned ride. Almost every ride I do from Geneva involves fourty kilometres of riding, to get to and from Geneva. This means that I have an initial ride into Geneva, the group ride, and then maybe a ride back with someone towards Mies, and then ride the rest of the way solo.

Drafting Behind People with Aero Bars

On Saturday I had an excellent experience. I saw two riders with aero bikes so I accelerated, got alongside the person in front and asked if I could draft with them. When they said yes I slowed down and then I got into their wheel and drafted from before Bellevue towards the Piscine de Colovray in Nyon before riding the last three kilometres home.

The thing about drafting is that it requires a certain level of experience, and stamina. If you lose the wheel then you have to work very hard to get back into the slipstream. When you’re in the slipstream you still need to work hard to keep up with the group.

I expected that I would be dropped at the end of Versoix but I found more stamina so I sped up and got back onto their wheels after the climb, and the rest of the route was much easier because it’s flatter, but also because it was cold, and quiet on the Route du Lac. With fewer beach goers that road was pleasant.

If I had been dropped I would have taken a different route through the fields, and I would have had to fight the wind alone.

Sunday Sweeping

Sunday I rode from Morges towards Geneva, this time along the top, rather than the lake. This is an undulating route with quite a bit of climbing and descending. It came to 1200m of climbing in a single ride.

I really liked the pace of this group. It didn’t feel fast, and the group did not explode during the climbs. We stayed as a tight group more than we do with other groups.

I felt so at ease in this group, and with this pace that I had time to take pictures, and time to appreciate the views.

One person was struggling yesterday because she had been trail running the day before. It’s for this reason that I think it is good for groups not to ride at their maximum all the time, especially in relaxed, and moderate groups.

A Different Bike

I don’t know whether it is because I was riding a different bike yesterday but most of the time I felt perfectly within my comfort zone. I suspect that it is because those in front set a pace that was easier to follow.

I was second on the first serious climb, and I made an effort to hold the person in front’s wheel to see what a difference it made. If you can put out the required watts you can keep in someone’s wheel, but you need that stamina.

From the second climb up I said that I would stay at the back. I know these climbs so psychologically they’re easier. I climb them regularly with the Nyon groups.

Conserving Energy

By staying at the back and using others to pace myself I get the kilometres in, without pushing myself to exhaustion like I would if I tried to stick to the front.

It’s a luxury to be in a group where you are not the lanterne rouge working hard to keep up with a group. I get to enjoy a bike ride without exhausting myself.

Relative Effort

On Sunday I did a massive relative effort. On saturday it was a tough relative effort but this was due to the time trial between Bellueve and Nyon, rather than the ride beforehand. On Sunday, in contrast, my relative effort was low. It is interesting, given that I did 1200m of climbing, and that’s without counting the ride to get down to Morges.

And Finally

I spent so much time on the bike last week because quite a few bike rides wwere organised. By slowing down and sweeping I got to enjoy group rides without pushing myself to my limit on every ride.

After drafting behind the people with aerobars I expected that I would be knackered for yesterday’s ride. Luckily I wasn’t. I do want to rest today, and tomorrow, before trying another group ride from Nyon Wednesday evening.