Magic rider energy out of the blue...

Athletes performing in front of a loud, supportive crowd say they feed on the collective energy in the air and it helps inspire them to play their best.

In cycling, that airborne energy transference is also a phenomenon between riders. A peloton is a pack of shared rider energy that always bristles along faster than an individual rider. All that shared energy brings a whole lot of athletic firepower united as one big missile working through gravity and wind resistance.

I’m no pro, and I don’t race, but most of the time I like to ride as fast as possible. That’s just me wanting to get a maximum workout. No doubt about it, it’s important once in awhile to pedal at an easy pace. You can soak up the scenery and enjoy.

But on most rides, I like to work on developing a consistently strong, relatively fast pace. It’s a physical challenge. For me, the reward at the end of the ride is the exhilaration of feeling extremely fit.

I do a lot of solo riding on a relatively flat bike trail, and I’ve noticed how my energy level will ebb and flow on different rides. Some days I feel strong, with plenty of reserve energy in my legs, and I’m able to maintain a relatively fast pace.

Other days my energy level is sluggish and the legs feel heavy. Those are the toughest rides, because fighting through low energy to get a strong pace feels like swimming upstream. The low energy creeps back and starts to get the upper hand again, and soon pushes me back to slower going.

But on low energy rides, I’ve noticed something fascinating. While I’ve been accustomed to blaming low energy on a tired body, I’ve found that mental blahs can also be a big contributor to feeling physically sluggish.

Recently, I was just pedaling along on the last part of a 51-mile ride, pretty much feeling beat and resigned to my fairly slow pace. I had no inkling that there was a jolt of energy on the way that would break me completely free of my bogged down pedaling.

Oh yes, suddenly it appeared out of nowhere.

It came in the form of another rider, blowing past me.

I immediately felt a surge of energy, as an urgent message flashed from my mind to my legs:  Get on That Rider’s Wheel. Now!

My legs fired into action like engine pistons. As I accelerated, it felt like I was punching my way out of a slow motion bubble. But as I kept the hammer down, the slo-mo yoke broke, and pretty soon I was on the fast riders’ wheel, pedaling easily, flying along.

This made the last 10 miles of the ride fast, thanks to the energy boost I got from the passing rider.

The energy came from first, seeing the fast rider go by, and second, my competiveness kicking in. And BAM! I was immediately riding fast. And because I traded drafting with the rider, I could rest at a fast pace, and stay free of the dreaded solo rider slo-mo blues creeping back.

But this energy transfer works differently depending on how fast the rider is that has passed me, and how much gas I have in my tank. One time a guy passed me going super fast, and I was riding pretty fast already, I felt frisky, and thought I’d try to get on his wheel. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to keep that high pace for very long.

Well, boy was I wrong. He was an animal! We passed each other a few times, and I tried to drop him, but just couldn’t. This rider was fast and tough! I figured the only way this could be explained is that he was working off some serious stuff. Like he’d just been wrongly fired from his job or something. Holy Moses. When he passed me for the last time, I was just trying to recover from what felt like oxygen debt!

So in that case, I fed off the passing rider’s energy so much, it almost red-lined me!

And other times when I’ve tried to reel in a rider that has blown by me, I realize I just don’t have the firepower to catch up. I just don’t have it and I have to back off.

But in every case, the passing rider has given me helpful energy to feed on, a jolt that breaks me out of slow-go slogging.

So keep in mind, this is a good way to look at any rider that passes you: They’re a helpful source of surge energy from your mind to your legs. No need to get the ego involved by wanting to prove you’re faster than them. No need to get past them and do all you can to eventually drop them. Just see them as your buddies who have some welcome energy that’s there for you to harness.

You can feed off their energy, and they can feed off yours. This is a true win-win situation!

Clearly stated, useful

Here’s a great video on shift tuning. This guy clued me in on turning the barrel on the rear derailleur one and a half times counterclockwise after getting the smallest ring to shift up. That gets the right tension on the shifting cable for smooth shifting. Good stuff, check it out…

Copy that!

Until next time, strap on a helmet before every ride, and remember, once you’re on the bike, keep the rubber side down. Ride safe and have a blast.

--Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelfHis blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/