Should you drive alone or in a group?
Progress involves going out of one's comfort zone from time to time. For this, we must sometimes accept the confrontation with stronger than oneself, or on the contrary be found alone with oneself. Let's see under what circumstances it is better to ride alone or in a group.
Driving in a group is often the easy way. Find friends to share an outing, it's a good motivation even if the weather is not very engaging to get out the bike. Even if they are not buddies elsewhere. Around the Racecourse Longchamp, many cyclists do not know each other. And yet they tend to regroup in a pack, sometimes to get to know each other, but especially to enjoy the wheelhouse which precedes them. Because taking advantage of the wake of one or more cyclists riding in front of you, it is easy to save between 20 and 30% of energy to advance at the same speed. Several cyclists who ride together and who take turns each at the top of the group to face the resistance of the air are going faster and further only a cyclist. Obviously, if some disrupters decide to only take advantage of the wake of their fellow travelers, it can create discord in the group. In the race, it's a game, a tactic like any other, in order to shoot down his best cards at the end. In training, at best it is frowned upon, or at worst completely counterproductive for those who decide to protect themselves from the wind all the way out. Group riding can also to be dangerous on the road. In the wheels, you are often less vigilant, and the obstacles on the road are numerous, which you do not see until the last moment when you roll behind other cyclists. A group of regulars uses codes, the former warn those who follow, and it takes a experience before joining a group.
Individualized progress
Roll alone, it's less funnybut at least you can leave at the time you want. You can warm up at your own pace, choose to change courses at the last moment, and let your thoughts wander. It is necessary a good dose of motivation to get started, especially in case of bad weather, but some tools allow you to keep your mind busy. A meter for example, with all kinds of useful indications such as speed, heart rate, pedaling frequency or power, can quickly define aims. To drive alone is to be free to drive where and how you want it. But it is also able to follow the letter a training program. Because thanks to these tools, you can refer to precise data, and thus work on your weak points, or your strengths. This type of output, alone but linked to data displayed on a screen, is also in contradiction with the notion of freedom of rhythm or of course. Following a plan is to give you constraints, often more severe than those you accept from a group. But at least are you sure not to bother anyone if you decide to climb a coastline at full speed, or on the contrary to wander on the road. To ride alone is also more secure. You can keep your right and do not take up too much space on the road, while anticipating all obstacles.
Another purpose
A priori therefore, riding alone is more interesting from the point of view of progression. You only face the wind, the ribs, the distance, and you can follow precisely the heart rate monitor, in the stress zones or in the rest zones. But we do not just train to improve statistics. Except perhaps for beginners who need to follow a slow and steady progression, or who need to lose weight. For others, the purpose of cycling as a sport is also at one time or another the confrontation with other cyclists, in competition, on a cyclosportive, or between friends. And this confrontation, you have to get used to it. Because apart from the fact that riding in a group you enjoy the wheels, the effort to provide is always different from the one you provide alone. Taking advantage of the aspiration, you save between 20 and 30% energyas we saw above. When it comes time to take the lead in the group, you lose the shelter and you find yourself suddenly facing the wind, at a higher speed than you would adopt solo. With the traveling companions who follow closely. The difference in intensity is high and sudden. It is uncomfortable and it causes a pronounced shortness of breath and hurts the legs. It is the same thing in a group that accelerates, climbs a hill, or rolls with the wind sideways. You move from a comfortable position to shelter from the wind to a big difference in intensity. You have to hang on, and it's particularly painful to bear if you always ride at your own pace. But it's also exactly what happens in competition, or on a cyclosportive if you want to hang the good peloton at the top of a hill, in order to then benefit from suction on the flat, to roll easily and faster only if you were alone. These successive accelerations, these violent jolts that are suffered because it's the movement of the group that dictates its law, are also part of the training when one wishes to be efficient. Not only because they push you in your entrenchments, and they force you to surpass you for a few moments, but also becausethey are part of the bike.
alternating
How to compose then with the outings in group or alone if you wish to progress? It's simple, you have to do both. Moreover, do not we say that cycling is an individual sport that is practiced in teams? While privileging all the samesolo outings, Winter, in a recovery period, or for beginners. This is ideal for building land, learning how to manage and calibrate effort, gradually increase intensities, and ride safely. By rolling often alone, you are also more consistent in the effortyou can ride longer at an intermediate speed, and relatively economical. It is common to say that those who drive solo all the time are "diesel" cyclists, while those who drive only in groups are "draggers". You have to introduce the group outputs for start making rhythm, train yourself to pace changesbut also to placement and the tactical aspect. Ideally, the Sunday club outings are interesting, but on the condition of driving alone on weekdays. Doing these outings, which often start too slowly and often end up too fast, is unproductive and severely limits progression. To realize the impact of group or solo outings, nothing better than a heart rate monitor or a power sensor. Because the main thing to remember, and which determines the choice of its outputs, is that you must be an actor and not a spectator of your practice, whether you want to progress or maintain a good level.
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