I find this is key to checking ambitious kids so they don’t grind themselves into a hole, and endurance talent remembers to do intensity for the many crunch points of races. But it also makes rides more social and brings the whole group along.
A key feature the professor says seems to be “checking your ego”. Basically, let the hammerhead go if the ride is supposed to be something else.
In a race, someone surging and attacking a breakaway too far from the finish, is let go, and the rest rotate through at an efficient pace. An ex-pro in my first club liked to say, in a heavy Czech accent, “let heem coook.”
For sure we all like jamming, and it reliably delivers an
endorphin dose. But we can also benefit from easy days between the hard days, and knowing what to do about the surging folks to keep your zen.
This isn’t new. Peter set up the weekly routine wisely: sprint days, hill days, and others steady and not too hard on the hills. I recall Barton organizing rides to be more deliberately slow and steady. As usual, the wisdom is right in front of us.
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