Trek Training Report: Ride #1: 185 riders!

Wow! On Saturday, January 30th the Trek Century Training group met near Fiesta Island for the first training ride. The group is preparing for the Gran Fondo ride on March 7 and the San Diego Century Bicycle Tour on May 22.


It's now the third year of the Trek Training Program. I remember our first Fiesta Island ride when we had 10 people. Participation has gone up year after year and this year we expected about 70 people would show up. Saturday really threw us for a loop: Over 185 people showed up! WE WERE STUNNED!

Trek has worked hard on this program to ensure participants walk away with a "WOW, that was a great ride!" experience. It's a free program and was designed by Mike Olson, the owner of the local Trek stores, to help people fall in love with cycling. He noticed over the years that people buy a bike but but then are lost on where or how to ride it. We are so fortunate in San Diego to live in a place that has bike lanes and year round perfect weather. Mike's Trek Training programs prepare participants for selected 100 mile riding events in the spring and the fall and provide an easy way to find riding partners at every level. In the spring it's the San Diego Century Bicycle Tour and in the fall it's the Tour de Poway.

Completing a 100 mile ride is an amazing experience and the training program gets everyone there step by step. 100 miles for most first time rides will take about 7 to 9 hours. That's a lot of time on the bike and thus we start out slowly and build up the mileage over time. We start with 20 miles adding 5 miles each Saturday and before you know it the weekend ride is at 90 miles. From there it's an easy jump to complete the 103 mile San Diego Century Bicycle Tour on May 22.

Everyone is welcome at the training rides, and it's never to late to jump into the program. On Saturday the riders were a mix of brand new to the Trek program all the way to the well seasoned rider. The types of bikes covered just about every type you can imagine: Road bikes, mountain bikes, cross overs, hybrids and comfort bikes were all represented. For some this was their first ride on a brand new bike. Others broke out the old 10 speed that's been hanging in the garage. It doesn't matter what you're riding. All cyclists are welcome into the Trek Century Training Program.

To manage larger groups as is the norm with Trek, we break every one into smaller groups by speed. The A group, as an example, rides at about 10 to 12 MPH on average. Our fastest group cruises at 19 to 22 MPH. We also have two middle groups, B and B plus. This is where most people tend to ride. B is 12 to 15 MPH and the B plus 15 to 19 MPH. With 185 people we broke the main grouping into smaller segments to help meet our objectives for the day, teaching group riding skills and pacelining. These become the heart and soul of long distance events and will be worked on continuously throughout the training.

We had actually planned to start the program on Saturday the 23rd, but with all the rains we decided waiting a week was a good idea. Fiesta Island still had a lot of sand in spots but everyone did well.

The first few laps on Fiesta Island are always a bit nerve racking for the first time riders who are not used to being close to another wheel. But with patience and time people catch on and soon realize why it's important. Drafting behind someone will cause you to work about 30 percent less. When riding a 100 miles sharing the work with others is a great way to enjoy the ride.

I'm proud to be a part of something like this and get a lot of enjoyment out of helping others learn about cycling. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of smiling faces come May 22 at the San Diego Century Bicycle Tour bursting with a sense of accomplishment. Come join us. I guarantee you will find a great group of people to turn the pedals with.


Notes from the editor:
A big thanks to Mike Henderson for writing this ride report right before he went in for surgery. We all have Mike in our thoughts and wish him a speedy recovery.

Want to ride with a great group that is training together? Sign up now and join the weekly rides organized by the Trek Superstore. The weekly rides, group support and expert advice are in place to train for 55 miles at the Gran Fondo on March 7 and the full century distance at the San Diego Century Bicycle Tour on May 22.




TREK BICYCLE SUPERSTORE CENTURY TRAINING SERIES SCHEDULE (note: please check the link at Trek below as the schedule has shifted a week due to the rainy weather):





For more information and resources from Trek for the training plan and group rides, click here>>.


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Enjoy the path to accomplishing your biking resolutions!

by Mike Henderson
Mike's Blog: Finding Way to Help Others
Photo: Tony Deramo