Too may acronyms? St. Paul Bike Racing Club Beginners Racing Program.

Tonight was the first night of the BRP. I wasn't feeling well when I left work today but by about 5:15pm I was feeling okay. Since I signed up for this program I figured I better head over there. The class is held in Ft. Snelling and we met in the first parking lot. They split the group in to two smaller groups, red and blue. I am pretty sure it was split by skill level, blue were more accomplished riders and red, not as much. I was placed in the red group. I was fine with that.

We talked through a few things about pace lines, tire sweeping, etc. Then came some rain. We made our way over to a shelter and hung out there talking about some of the concepts until the rain stopped. Then we did some riding, single file at first at about 12-14 mph. A nice easy pace. Both of the leaders did a great job controlling the group and answering questions.

There were no major crashes but there was a guy at the end who came into the parking lot a little too fast and his brakes were still wet. I didn't see him go down but his jersey and stuff looked okay. It looks like he might of blew his front tire and then went down. Either way a little ice might help.

If you are thinking about racing road bikes or just want to learn to ride in groups try the BRP next year. So far totally worth it.

-pete

Labels: bike, racing, spbrc