High Steady Paceline Practice Ride
First things first. This isn't about going fast! It's about good single file riding practices that help us have safer and more enjoyable rides.
(Disclaimer #1: to be clear, we're not talking about a race paceline where people are inches apart. We're really talking about organized single file rides with decent club ride spacing between bikes. A common example is the river road from Snohomish to Everett which we ride single file due to the nature of the road. It's also frequently windy enough that it's nice to be able to rotate who is taking the pull, and do it in a consistent manner that everyone expects and understands. Then why use the term paceline? Try looking searching for best practices for rotating who is taking the pull in the wind using a different term.)
One of the things I like best about our club rides is riding next to and chatting with great people. However, there are lots of reasons we often end up in a single file formation: road conditions, traffic, or most frequently everyone's best bicycling friend - wind. As a club we have some very good habits and a few bad habits. This is a chance to practice the good habits and help each other avoid the bad ones on quiet country roads in the Skagit Valley.
Show up at 9:45 for a 10:00 pre-ride briefing. The briefing will be a group discussion (input from all on the ride!) of best habits and what we want to practice and avoid on the ride. We'll plan to roll out about 10:15 in a well spaced single file line for a pretty standard loop out to La Conner and back. Just under 30 miles and about 300' of elevation. Just right for practicing.
(Disclaimer #2: this isn't an educational program. That's why it's a group discussion about the best habits we've seen and tried and which habits we don't like. We often chat about things like this at the end of a ride. The only problem with that is that it's at the end of the ride so we can't practice what we just discussed. We're doing the usual stuff but in a in a reverse order.)
When we get to turns it may be your turn in the front, so bring a navigation plan - electronic, paper that you can read while in the front, eidetic memory ... whatever works for you. Don't worry, you don't have to take a long pull in the front. Much of what we're practicing is how to get out of the front in a way that's safer for you and everyone behind, especially when more than one person is looking to get out of being in front.
There is no bathroom at the start. The first bathroom stop is mile 11 in La Conner. It's also our coffee break for the ride.
Standard disclaimers apply. Bad weather? Check ride updates and the calendar to see if it's cancelled. E-bike? Cool. Know the club policies. Mechanical issues? Have the tools, especially flat repair tools. Food and water? Bring some.
Nominal Ride Leader: Paul Heydron, + 1 425 344 1543, paulhh.wa@gmail.com
