Best Skills Camp or whatever

Geeze, I read some of these posts (like "I want to go faster") and see how much learning there is, not to mention skill.

I've seen some of these riding camps for women advertised on the internet. Does anyone have any recommendations? Plus, I have a Bianchi Volpe, not a real road bike but kinda close. I don't want a dedicated road bike yet, if ever, but I would like to learn to (safely) ride in a pace line, get bumped without freaking, etc.

My longest ride to date is 36 miles - I've done four about that lenght in the last 2 months.

Comments, suggestions, etc? Thanks

I learned that stuff from older riders who don't go excruciatingly fast but know the skills. I learned lots of commuting and general bike maintenance & handling skills from a Road I course from the League of American Bicyclists.

A tour would be a fun way to do it, though!

Lauren, just come on some more wheelmen rides, and you'll develop more skills! But, if you really want an excuse to travel, I have heard that the pac tour training camps run by Lon Haldeman are very good. If you want to get faster, I would also recommend putting racing slicks on your bike. Getting rid of rotational weight will make a big difference. I like schwalbe stelvios 23c wide. You can still use your tires (panaracer pasela 32s if I recall) for touring, but not for club riding.

check this out from another thread: http://www.ultracycling.com/about/mcsweeney.html