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Training Ride for Newbies

Your first hammer head training ride? Training Ride 101 is in session.

Training ride groupies There are many kinds of group rides but one that is probably the most intimidating are the training rides where local racers and roadies gather to pound on each other. Nearly every city has one. Wednesday night hammer fest or Saturday morning Coffee shop ride.

The riders at these gathering are mostly racers or ex-racers or wanna-be racers. Most will have shaved legs and equipment that rival a pro-tour rider. You can find these rides through a local bike shop or asking around. Eventually, you will find THE hammer ride.

Ok, so now you found where and when. If you are an experienced rider or confident in your ability, then this is a comfortable and exciting scene. You are here to get a good ride and learn new routes. All good.

If you are not sure about yourself, then this first ride will excite more hidden senses such as fear, self confidence, balls… It may remind you of your high school groupie's days all over again. If you are not used to riding in a fast group or just bought your first real road bike last weekend, then it is Mastercard time – priceless. This will be good test of your character and a ride you won’t forget.

Here are some scenarios that can happen.

  1. Nobody will talk to you before the ride or during the ride.
  2. You will have no idea where the ride is going and will most likely get dropped and get lost.
  3. You will attempt to make a conversation with a groupie and they will ignore you like a nerd.
  4. You will find a friendly rider in the pack who will explain to you where you will get dropped and who will drop you.
Once the ride starts, social skills are not enough. You will need some bike handling skill to not be cast out of the herd or worse yet, crash the herd. Here are the musts:

Hold your line – probably the most important etiquette of riding in a pack especially with folks you don’t know. If you don’t hold your line during the ride, it’s kind of like cutting in front of a long check out line with a body odor at the same time. It is just wrong and rude. Riders will probably start yelling at you and speed up just to get rid of you. Not a good way to mingle into a new herd.

Hold your drama – As a newbie, probably best not to talk too much about yourself especially if you are trying to boast your alpha male status. A legit good rider doesn’t need to say much. More you drama yourself, less believable you become. Shut up and ride.

Don’t Crash – Probably the worst you can do is either crash or cause a crash. Be real careful if you are overlapping wheels. You may be riding behind another newbie. Nothing is ever good about crashing and when a newbie causes a crash, it’s a ground for crucifixion. May God have mercy on you because the riders will never forget.

Bring your own crap – If you get a flat or have a mechanical during a ride, don’t be surprised if nobody stops to help you. In fact, you should be surprised if anyone does stop. Roadies do have conscience but not enough to voluntarily drop from a ride and help out a newbie. Those who do drop off to help are rare breed and should be a candidate for our Hall of Fame.

Other Tips

Don't show up like this unless your name is Levi Don’t show up looking like Astana Pro-tour rider with full kit & matching bike unless your name is Levi or Chris. You will instantly attract suspicious vibes from the riders. Once everyone figures out you are not the real Levi or Chris (which will take about 2 seconds), then you just lost some points with the pack.

If you are Levi or Chris from the real deal, then you can show up in cutoff tank tops and will be the coolest cat on the ride. Your problem will be to avoid crashing from everyone trying to ride next to you all day.

Warm up. Some rides are notoriously fast at the beginning so be ready to go full gas first 5 miles. Don't be surprised if you get redlined early and find yourself alone. Sometimes, experienced riders will rev up on purpose to burn off all the newbies at the beginning to keep the ride safe. Don't take it personally, it's just part of herd mentality. Other times, someone just feels good and drills it. These things happen in races also so consider it a good practice.

Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. The roadie hammer rides are best done on a good quality road bike that you feel comfortable handling. Try not to show up on a mountain bike or crappy bike with squeaky chain. Part of fun is going fast so don’t cheat yourself.

Wear a helmet. No need to go Euro on the first ride. Some rides may actually ask you to not ride without a helmet probably because they all crashed at least once on the ride. Safety first.

Obey traffic rules No need to push the Darwin theory and risk your life on a training ride. Running red lights results in bad reflection of not only you but the whole group. Again, safety first.

Leave your IPod at home. Riding in a pack with music blasting in your ear is dangerous. Maybe just wear one ear plug or save it until you get dropped. If you are a newbie, turn it off and pay attention. Safety first again & again.

Have a good attitude. Roadies at hammer rides are full of egos and constantly trying to establish the alpha male order. Realize that competitive spirit is part of the fun and don’t take it personally if someone yells at you. Many of the wanna-be alpha kitties are so pumped up that they are not themselves during the ride.

Stick with it. If you got dropped after first left turn out of the parking lot, don’t worry. Just keep coming every week. You will soon be able to keep up longer and faster. You will meet some fantastic people and you will be in great shape before you even know it.

Newbie days won’t last long so enjoy the thrill and try not to get hurt.

Do you have a favorite first ride story you want to share? Send us your story.

Comments from Readers
Johnny GoFast 12/15/2008 10:25:36 AM
My first ride has secured my place in history. Though my first road ride was so un-noteworthy as to the fact that I have absolutely no recollection of what happened, my first adult bike ride is something altogether different. I had just moved back from Minnesota and I wanted to hook up with my buddy Griff on a Friday night. He said "we" were going for a night ride on mountain bikes. I remember wondering at the time why we couldn't head out to a bar and look for chicks instead. I mean, this is what normal people do with a perfectly good Friday night. So anyway, I "kitted" up in some grey sweats, a hooded sweatshirt, a hockey helmet, Chuck Taylor hightops and (I'm not kidding) garden gloves. I remember thinking as we rode up the hill to the start of the dirt trail in the Oakland Hills that it couldn't get much worse. I chuckle at that still to this day. About two hours later, I was a shell of a humanbeing, left whimpering like a deflowered catholic girl on the side of the trail. I knew right there that biking sucked. And though my friends still bust my chops about showing up to a ride wearing garden gloves, I stuck with it and now Griff can't wheel up on me or any of the others that were off the front that night.
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