stay straight

While on a recent drive to Hay on Wye I happened upon a local triathlon - well the bike leg at least – on the roads near Brecon.

Passing cyclist after cyclist reminded me of the days when I used to compete as a road cyclist.  But one thing really struck me about every cyclist I saw: they couldn’t ride in a straight line.  Not one of them.  So I found myself pondering the reason for this and I could only think that somehow triathletes (well, the ones I saw at least) were a different breed to pure cyclists.

When I first took an interest in cycling (when everything was in black and white) I joined a local cycling club and from then on was brought up on a diet of group rides.  Training rides on a Saturday and then a more leisurely club run on a Sunday.

What these group rides taught me was road craft.  The ability to ride fast in a large group of cyclists packed closely together.  The ability to do things like put on or take off extra clothing without even slowing down.  The ability to eat and drink while on the move.  An awareness of my surroundings and the consequences of doing something stupid. 

But most of all, it ingrained in me an innate ability to ride in an unfaltering arrow straight line.  And to transfer what I’d learned to racing on the roads either on my own in a time trial or in a large road race bunch.

So as I was forced to swerve to avoid yet another rider pulling into the middle of the road with no warning, I could only conclude that the riders I came across had had no indoctrination into road craft presumably because they were brought up riding on their own and not in the large groups I grew up with.

I don’t mean to come across as smug, but in a day and age when our roads are crammed full of vehicles all trying to get somewhere too quickly, I’m firstly glad that I no longer ride a bike, but also that if I did I would at least be as safe as I possibly could be. 

Cycling remains a fantastic form of exercise but only if you don’t get knocked down in the process.