I live close to one of the world’s top indoor velodromes.  The people I ride with have become extended family.  All of them capable on the bike for sure, but extraordinary off the bike and that’s the bit that matters most to me.

Sometimes schedules don’t align and I find myself training with new people.  This can be challenging from a physical standpoint as we have some great riders around here though sadly I am not one of them.  I don’t mind getting schooled at the track.  It makes me work harder.  Okay, it bothers me.

This morning sheets of rain were falling with such intensity that riding outside would have been dangerous.  I chose track over trainer and headed out the door.  This particular session at the track featured some unfamiliar faces.  Unfamiliar faces can equate to unfamiliar riding styles.  On a track with steeply banked corners and bikes with no brakes, unfamiliar isn’t always a positive thing.

We rode around for a while as a semi-fractured group.  When riders struggle to form a group at the track it is often a sign that all is not going to work out.  The pace surged and ebbed and surged again.  This is yet another sign of trouble ahead. Cycling tracks have three painted lines that are used for racing, almost like the lanes on a motorway.  In training it doesn’t really matter so much which line you choose, but you do need to choose.  Waffling on the line you choose at the track is akin to waffling in your lane choice while driving.  This is the biggest indicator of a sketchy group.

After a few minutes of warming up I knew this crew wasn’t for me.  I moved up the track and did my own thing.  I rode a little faster until I got tired and then I rode a little slower until I could ride a little faster again.  So far so good…  While I enjoyed the solitude (and the associated safety) of my ride, the highlight was absolutely in the life lessons I gleaned from the other riders.

In no particular order:

• Yelling at your wife/ partner/ significant other to either speed up or get the “F” out of the way is never going to end in a positive exchange.  I don’t need to talk about the lessons learned on this one.  Maybe we just say his approach was not best practice.
• Same guy as above when riding with his aforementioned partner and a few of her girlfriends, drops the hammer and rides off with the intensity of an Olympic final.  Upon re-joining his group, he mentions how much faster he is relative to their girlie pace. The line between demonstrating one’s total awesomeness and standing with both feet in the complete arse zone is a line best not crossed.
• The post ride debrief with the guys and rolling out crotch chaffing as your excuse for poor performance on the bike.  I believe the learning here was that talk of any friction is best left for close friends and talk of friction involving the crotch may be one of those things to keep a secret.  An ancillary learning is that mediocrity, regardless of the reason, is not an accepted excuse.
• At the track was a stocky guy, clad in a generously undersized aerodynamic speed suit.  His bike was built to slice through the wind and it stuck to the track with a carbon disc rear wheel and five spoke front.  It was super bike.  To be fair, Mr Super Bike was a good rider.  He carried the swagger of someone that knew it. Most of his session was spent talking at the other riders, but when he did ride, he did so at pace.  Enter the teen girl who was riding at the track for the first time after passing her accreditation (like a drivers license for track riders).  Mr Super Bike shot around the girl with a point to prove.  It was impressive, albeit short lived.  The teen, with little respect for carbon, aero or ill-fitting speed suits stuck to the back of Capt Fantastic.  Rattled, he lifted the pace.  The teen on a loaner bike from the velodrome was glued to aero-man.  A lap into it and he swung up the track to let the girl through.  He dropped back down the track to tuck into the teen’s draft.  She must have thought the race was on because she unleashed a legendary acceleration.  Mr Super Bike was done.  Humility is the lesson here.  In life there is always someone faster, always someone better.  The second we forget that and become complacent is the same second we get smacked.

Lessons everywhere so long as we are ready to learn.