Lots to Learn

That title pretty much sums up today's ride at unofficial camp: I have A LOT to learn. I may have been a little naive thinking that I could just jump back into road racing after a 5ish year absence, that doing two road races each year for the past two years was enough to stay in the loop. I ride road bikes a lot, right? I commuted by road bike every day for the past 5 years, I love road bikes... But nope, I'm pretty much completely out of my element.

Things I've learned at unofficial camp so far:

1) Not everyone is a mountain biker, so you gotta point out road hazards like gravel, not just ride through them like a spaz.

2) After you point that crap out you need to get your hands back on the bars so you don't ride like a spaz through the gravel or pothole.

3) You shouldn't use a tire lever to put a road tire back on the rim after replacing a tube... you're going to pinch flat the new tube (I've fixed road bike flats before I SWEAR, but of course when I need to do it before our ride and everyone is waiting I F it up).

4) You need to make sure the bike keeps moving forward when you get out of the saddle, not back. NEVER thought about this before, makes total sense!

5) You should definitely not be riding around with a cadence less than 90 all the time... I knew it, but that doesn't mean I always practice it!

6) Riding in the cold and rain is more taxing on your body so you can't run around and goof off after 2 days of riding in the rain! (You also need to be a total germaphobe and not get sick).

Yeah, it was an 'I feel like I'm doing everything wrong kind of day' where I was pretty uncomfortable feeling like I didn't belong.

But it's still ok to have some fun!

The good news is that I feel like I'm on the brink of learning a ton, of building a new skillset and really growing as a cyclist. The other good news is that the girls on the team are SUPER nice, SO accomplished and experienced, and seem pretty willing to teach me the ways. That and as much experience racing as possible, that's what I need!

In the mean time I'll be over here watching EVERYTHING everyone does, absorbing as much as possible, listening to all the advice and doing my best to make all the changes! Oh, and not running around like a spaz, adding garbage miles for the sake of a longer ride :)

And I will learn as much as I can, work as hard as I can and be a good person. And have fun!

Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to do my best!