Working with New Cyclists

Last night was the first in my series of one on one coaching sessions with new cyclists who have signed up for this year's Ride for Missing Children. I have been donating this service since 2003, when I started coaching professionally, and "The Ride" and my program have evolved along the way. The Ride for Missing Children is a benefit for the Center for Missing and Exploited Children as well as a day which honors those children and their families. The Ride is a bit over 100 miles, and riders stop at schools along the way to impress safety to the children.

This is not just any bike ride, though. There are approximately 400 riders in this event, and the entire group rides in a rolling enclosure provided by several branches of local law enforcement. The average pace within this rolling enclosure is 14 mph, so it is vital that the participants in this ride become experienced enough with their equipment to ride in a double pace line and to become fit enough to ride at this average pace. There are many practice rides along the way toward the actual day, the third Friday in May.

The community where I live is fairly small, so events like this can become big in no time. Word gets out and everyone wants to be in on the action. It only takes one viewing of a parade of cyclists, lined up two by two for two miles, to spur the watcher into considering doing this event in the future. So each year our community gains many more folks dedicated to keeping children safe who just happen to become cyclists at the same time.

So for the next ten Wednesdays I get to work with those new to The Ride and new to cycling at Dick Sonne's Cycling, Fitness and Skis. Whether they bring in an old bike or purchase a new one, new riders all get a bike fitting. During the process the athlete and I talk cycling, and it is wonderful to share my sport with such new and enthusiastic folks. While on a stationary trainer we work on clipless pedal entry and exit, and talk about shifting and descending. Athletes ask questions, I answer as best I can. The goal is to instill enough knowledge so that those first rides on the road will be safer and more enjoyable, and so that by the day of The Ride each rider will be skilled enough to be able to fully appreciate the emotional roller coaster that remembering missing children truly is.

The hour goes by all too quickly and I am on to my next new rider, but not before giving one last hug and wishing the best of luck. I've made a new friend and the community and the Ride for Missing Children have a new cyclist. Win, win, I would say!