I need help leading

[Adventure Girl]

Sometimes you're the windshield. Sometimes you're the bug.

This weekend I got to experience both halves of being a weaker or stronger rider. Saturday I rode a 50-mile charity ride with my husband (a non-rider) and a few other people. I am so proud of him for doing it and completing. He did it for me and he did great! He had never ridden 50 miles before. The pace was relatively slow and it was really flat. We expected a big headwind on the way back, but luckily it was pretty mild. I led most of the ride (trying to do my best impression of Jose Acevedo!) But it was hard for me to maintain a constant speed that the others could ride. I was constantly looking back to see if they were still hanging on. A few times I looked back and nobody was there (oops!).

Then on Sunday did a ride with a group that is quite a bit faster than I am. The ride was longer, faster and had much more climbing than my Saturday ride. I hung on for dear life! It was tough! One of their stronger riders told me to hug his back wheel and try to stay within one foot. Sometimes he was riding pretty fast and I had to really struggle to stay on but I did my best and it worked really well. (I could hear Phil Leggett and Paul Sherwen in my head saying, "Every fiber of her body is begging her to quit but she doesn't stop!") I thanked the guy profusely after the ride and he said it was no problem at all.

Anyway. What I'm looking for is some help. Does anyone have any tips and suggestions for leading? Following is pretty straight forward. You just have "hang on even when every fiber of your body is begging you to quit". But leading is tougher (for me, anyway). I tried to go a constant speed, but because it was a pretty easy ride for me, I could maintain that speed on the climbs and they couldn't. I tried for a while to maintain a constant heart rate, and even tried a constant cadence and gear. Maybe I should have asked the guy who paced me on Sunday.

Side note: My ride on Sunday really was fantastic. I faced a few fears (riding with this fast group, and riding a particular strip of highway in Monterey). And beyond that it was one of the most beautiful rides I've been on. We went on part of the "17-mile drive" (in Pebble Beach) and it was absolutely beautiful! Too bad we were going so fast I couldn’t look at the view. All I saw was the guy's back tire! Not a bad day for a non-roadie like me!

[Veronica]

Sounds to me like you did everything you could to be a good leader. The trouble with climbing is everyone has a different rate that works well for them and I don't know how well a paceline actually works when going up hill.

V.

[KkAllez]

Just remember 'practice makes perfect'. It reminds me of this hill I have to face each ride. The first time I rode it I thought I was going to die and I thought the hill was never going to end. Each time got better then this past Sunday I did the hill and was there and over before I really thought about it. Now I'm thinking to myself 'why did I think that hill was that bad' no problem, mon (as the Jamaican's so deftly put things)

As far as any technical advise all I can say, is again, "practice makes perfect". Sounds like a great ride though if Pebble Beach is in the picture.