Riding with roadies is a lot different from riding with tri-geeks, especially the roadies that have road racing experience. Their bike handling skills amaze me. I've learned more riding with roadies than I ever could training solo.

Your right this past ride was with a race team. Just been a while since I rode with guys of this caliber and it seems as though they were out for a hard ride.

Last year I trained with only one group, a few Cat IV and V's and some tri guys for the most part. I was usually the strongest, but pretty even for a few of us. This year I started a job in a town with a large group of roadies and train with them once a week with this new group and my "old" group the rest of the time. I've usually managed to be one of the 5 or 6 guys in the large roadie group that manages to get away from the others (me and a few Cat II's and a Cat III now and then). It is just killer and balls to the wall when the attacks happen with the large road group. The results from hammering with the Cat II guys (granted I have increased bike mileage also)? I now have managed to break the 26mph barrier in a rolling TT with no actual structured training other then the weekly hammerfest(OK, it is only 12 miles but I'm sure if I ever found flat 40K I'd be pretty close). When I ride with my old normal group of cat 5's and tri-guys it is like running with my 10 year old son. Well, not quite that bad, but pretty close. Night and Day.

... your right about riding with roadies... it can be a humbling experience. However, I doubt all but a few in the group that I sometime ride with could hang with me during a half or full IM bike. They seem to be TT oriented. As for distances and endurance... they aren't that good (generally speaking). And trust me, I am NOT that fast... I just happen to be like that rabbit in the battery commercial - I keep going and going and going...


And, BTW, I don't thing any of them took take off in a full run after the bike ride.


FWIW Joe Moya