I have been trying to come up with a theme for this month’s mental expedition (I was dwelling on the universal implications of the 8 foot tall Iranian seated volleyball player in the Para-Olympics) but I just can’t let go of planning for next year.

So, this installment is intended for anyone who is interested in participating in group rides for next year. Know that this is more than just riding together- what we did this summer made us improved cyclists and people, smarter and better looking while setting up all the members of the group for significantly increased levels of success at their various events they participated it. Because of what we did and learned, each rider knew their pacing, nutritional needs, tactics and skillset much better than if they had done the same “training” on their own.

If you would like to be involved in such a training program next year, read on. If you are not interested in group riding, know that another mind bending newsletter will be out soon. See you next month.

Please take a look at what is being offered by other cycling clubs so we can shape our group into exactly what you would like to have here in our community. Be aware, this is quite a rabbit hole to go down so it might take a couple of efforts. We will be having an open house/thank you/ planning session in October to hash out the details so you will have plenty of time to delve and mull between now and then.

The Santa Rosa Cycling Club and the San Luis Obispo Cycling Club have both been around since the 70’s. They have hundreds of members (and volunteer leaders), encompass several times more people than we have here in our little valley, but offer a wide range of options and days of the week for riding in a variety of towns in each county. Each club offers a larger Gran Fondo type ride at least once per year but mainly stick to smallish group rides offered each day of the week at various times and distances. We will not be jumping to this volume immediately but have a look and see what you think. Take note of SRCC bike packing trip as well- 9 days along the Oregon coast for $600.

First question- do we want to form our own cycling club or should this be run off of a business model where you pay Beespoke Cycling?

Here is a survey (you can access here) we would appreciate your feedback on — it was originally intended for the participants of this year’s event training program so the first few questions will not pertain to you if you did not participate. Know that your input will be very useful. Thank you in advance.

The following is a synopsis of what we did in the Event Prep Training (EPT) program this summer, what the participants said in their reviews and what we plan to do for next year.

What we did: A group of 30 riders was coalesced into a three month training program for a particular race, SBT GRVL on August 18, 2024. 

More specifically, Beespoke Cycling provided an opportunity for 10 people to secure entry into SBT GRVL through bypassing the lottery system. Additional names were added to the training participant list based on previous conversations and known goals, as were others who approached us because they heard about what we were doing over the course of the summer. The fewest number of people we had on a ride was four and the most was 13. The shortest ride we did was 25 miles and the longest was 100 miles. Some of the rides were supported with a sag vehicle (and an additional person who carried tools, clothing, water and foods), some of the rides were self-supported and restocked with stores and restaurants along the route.

The goal for the organizers of the program was to learn what the needs of the riders actually were rather than what they might have been perceived as, in addition to providing opportunities to acquire and practice the skills required in a race while riding as part of a group or solo. In this way, we developed techniques to teach and coordinate vastly different groups of people who had a great degree of differing abilities and needs.

The goal for the participants was to be successful in the race, however they each defined that success. Each person started from their own spot in terms of skill and knowledge, were allowed to develop their weaknesses, gain confidence and learn new aspects of cycling.

Constant communication was maintained with the participants with regards to upcoming rides and routes, adhering to the established schedule and growth plan laid out prior to the beginning of the program, while also making some necessary changes to accommodate more people (such as adding additional rides).

Learning experiences based on an overall goal of whole person development were provided. There were physical, mental, and emotional lessons taught and learned. Specific cycling skills were provided and taught to those participants who were not as comfortable in certain situations. If someone was having a hard time drafting because they were not able to steer their bike through corners well enough, causing fear, then we backed off the complexity and worked on cornering until their comfort level rose, allowing them to relax in other situations. As a result, we learned that some activities are better for a group and others on an individual level so accommodation must be made for both.

Riders were encouraged to make use of a personal coach and then coordinate use of the training rides as the perfect, group setting opportunity to apply the skills their individual coach expected them to already have or attain over the season. A gravel and road cyclist quickly learns that any cyclist is able to go faster in a group than on their own because of drafting. The lesson leaned this summer was that most cyclists who have their own coaches tend not to deviate from their prescribed training plan. As such, ride calendars/schedules must be made early enough in the season so cyclists can communicate with their coach to coordinate training plans accordingly.

General program observations: Some individuals in the group used this opportunity to gain entry into the race and did not participate in any of the three months of programming. 

Of the initial 10, 4 did not attend any sessions but were still communicated with the entire time. 1 of the 4 communicated that they did not understand that there was any obligation to participate, one lived too far away to participate and two did not communicate at all.

Of the (remaining) 6 initial participants, no one attended all 9 program sessions, which were held on either Saturday or Sunday, May - August. 1 of the 6 attended one ride, 5 attended two or more rides. Most attended 4-6 rides.

Questionnaire results:

(12) feedback forms were returned.

(10) gave highest marks for the program, and (2) rated it highly.

The most beneficial element of the program was Community (10), followed by Mental Preparation (8) and Group Training (8). Technical skills sessions and One on One sessions each had (4) votes followed by Nutritional Guidance (3).

Suggested improvements were greater participant numbers which would provide more and smaller/similar ability groups. Several responses indicated rides during the week as well, not just weekends.

Participants indicated that they would begin riding as early as April (9) and finish as late as October (7), May and June were most popular (10) but July was nearly as popular with (9), followed closely by August and September (8) each. (8) of the (12) would do rides in Basalt and Carbondale while the outlying areas were not as popular (GWS 5, Aspen 3) but that should be due to where the respondents live/work. After work (8), once a week (6) is more popular than before work (5) and twice a week (3) but this indicates that both are viable, additional options. One participant indicated that they would be interested in additional rides being on mountain bikes.

More than half of the participants were ambivalent as to whether Roaring Fork Cycling (RFC) is involved, (3) for RFC being involved and (2) for keeping the training program as is.

The majority of respondents are interested in traveling outside of the state for a bike trip (10), with most (9) voting for a spring break trip to Santa Fe March 22-30. Bishop, CA and Santa Rosa, CA each garnered (5) votes on varying dates in April.

(9) prefer email communication, (2) both email and text, (1) text.

Additional comments by respondents:

You guys were fantastic! I can’t wait until next year. 🤍

Are we still doing the weekend rides?

Thank you so much for piloting this program with us all this year and preparing us for SBT! I don't know what my future in gravel racing looks like, but I'll stay tuned for any future rides I may want to jump in on.

i had no idea what i was getting into when i started these rides with you, but i do know that i felt amazing on race day as a direct result of your guidance, aaron. i think you could certainly market this program to folks for a fee in the future, but as we saw this year, weather, other plans, and general life can get in the way of consistent participation, so i'd be hesitant to charge a flat fee for the entire summer (you're better off with "menu" type pricing i think). i'm super grateful for both of your support and am looking forward to riding again!

THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING SUMMER

I really enjoyed the season. I thought you and Misti were extremely generous with your time and the food you provided on rides was very nice. You tried to make every ride work for every rider even when there were differences in ability level. You showed me places in this valley that I never knew existed. Thank you.

I had a lot of fun making new cycling friends!
Thanks for getting us into the race. It was painful and fun and a great way for xxxx to get her first ever race!

I’m sorry I couldn’t be more involved- I really enjoyed the ride that I went on. I think you have a really good thing going, especially with the passion both of you bring to cycling and racing.

I anticipate us doing one or two big rides next season, but they will most likely be road rides. I know one that we would like to do is Ironhorse. This is difficult to prepare for because it’s so early in the spring. Will probably also do a gravel ride, but we have not decided on which one.

I think I am unique in that I have raced a lot and have a coach, but I definitely enjoyed and learned from the group ride experience even though I only did one.

The plan for next year:

2025 will be an expansion year for this program. The goal will be to meet the needs of racers and new riders alike. We will have a planning meeting in the fall of 2024 with any and all riders who are interested. One of the problems with the popularity of gravel racing is that signing up for events is tricky- there is much advance planning that needs to be done to figure out what events are desirable for each rider, when the registration opens, whether there is a lottery involved and what other logistics need to be thought through. The meeting should happen in late October. Most event registrations happen between November and January for 2025. One of the most popular early season events is the Midsouth gravel race in Oklahoma, March 13-16; registration for that opens Sept 21. Unbound gravel is June 1, with registration opening November 1-15. Leadville 100 is August 10, 2024, with registration opening December 1-15; 2025 will be similar dates.

Early season: January-April are hard months to ride a bicycle here in the Roaring Fork valley, as such we have the opportunity to travel to warmer weather to explore the terrain.

Mid-January will be an informal trip to Patagonia, AZ to find out what all the excitement is about in one of the hottest gravel destinations in America. A week of riding and road tripping will be on tap to wet the whistles of the hard core and set up future opportunities there.

First official trip will be March 22-30 (spring break in the Valley) to Santa Fe, NM. A full week of riding, early season training and exploring based on the newly released Santa Fe edition of the Gravel Adventure Field Guide. Accommodations and costs to be decided.

Second trip will be April 12-20 to Santa Rosa, CA for a week of riding and exploring culminating in an early season race, Levi’s Gran Fondo on April 19. Accommodations will be at the Astro. 

Third training camp will be in Bishop, CA, April 26- May 4. The high desert of California with access to fantastic back roads and Death Valley provide surreal scenery to find early season fitness. Accommodations tbd.

May - October: in the Valley

• Each week will feature multiple ride opportunities with shorter rides during the week and a longer ride on the weekend.

• The towns will be broken up into Up-valley (UV) and Down-valley (DV) rides with the dividing line being Willits. Any rider is welcome at any ride, as long as that ride suits their needs. An UV and DV skills session will be held on Tuesdays, with locations varying each week. An UV and DV group ride will be held on Thursdays, with locations varying each week to accommodate as many riders as possible.

• Skills sessions will include cornering, braking, singletrack, group dynamics, climbing, descending, city riding (including group behavior with regard to traffic and pedestrians), drafting, rough roads, sand pits. 

  -The goals for the skills session are to address deficiencies in riders, especially beginners, and are meant to be easy paced with questions asked and answered.

• Short rides will be broken into smaller groups (ideally 5-10 riders) as follows: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3. Groups 1a and 1b will ride the same distance but at different speeds, with 1a being faster. Groups 2a and 2b will ride the same distance, but shorter than groups 1, but at different speeds with 2a being faster. Group 3 will be the slowest group and shortest ride. There will be a ride leader for each group, an established route from a given starting point that should end the ride at the same point. Alternatively, there could be separate meeting days for different groups as the groups coalesce into working units. Distances of short rides will vary based on speed but should be kept in the two hour range. Group dynamic development is always kept in high priority

• Weekend rides will be on either Saturday or Sunday based on group desires. These rides will be separated into groups similar to short rides. There is no reason to limit the ride destination as early season is a fine time to explore outside the valley to places such as Paonia, New Castle, Gypsum, Grand Junction. Once the weather stabilizes in the RFV then rides can easily be kept within the friendly confines as the higher roads open up. Distances can vary greatly between the groups in the beginning of the season as riders begin their seasons from different points with different target dates but should start to merge closer together as we enter into June and July.

Mid-summer and fall: mini-trips

Bike packing is strongly encouraged within the group. There can be a separate, but included, focus on this as fitness develops over the summer. Planning a 3-4 day mini-trip can be available to any who want it. 2-4 day credit card trips with or without a support vehicle can also be planned. The West Elks can be circumnavigated in various ways in 2-4 days. The back road to Moab is a three day trip. The Flat Tops are another great destination. Passes such as Hagerman, Kebler, Weston, and Ohio are fine examples of “off the beaten track” but not too far away. 3 day trips in the Silverton, Durango, Steamboat, Salida areas are all possible and easy to accommodate with vehicles as well.

Races

Coordinated rider and support efforts will occur over the course of the summer as the race season develops. The main races will be planned out in advance but there are plenty of opportunities to jump in at the last minute to smaller, closer races as they arise.

Pricing Menu

Riders are invoiced on a monthly basis on one of two tiers: $60 or $100 

• $60 for 6 rides, including group skills sessions, per month 

• $100 for all planned rides and group skill sessions, per month

• Riders may add additional rides/skills sessions at $20 each

Corporate memberships are available for $250 (up to five riders) or $500 (up to 10 riders) per month 

• This gives employees of the company, or anyone they designate as “team” riders, the opportunity to attend as many monthly rides, or group skill sessions, as able. 

• Company logo will be displayed on Beespoke’s 2025 cycling kits

One on One training rides/skills sessions are $60 

Riding fuel provided by Copper Cork Cookery (pre-ordering is preferred)

• Granola Bars and Energy Sticks at $3 each

Formation of a Cycling Club

This will involve the formation of a Non-profit, 501c3, the creation of a board and independent decision making staff. This is not something a single person can do so it will take many of you getting involved. If this is the direction we want to go, then I am very open to doing my part. We see pros and cons from all ends but are not familiar enough with this type of endeavor to speak in great detail.

So, spend some time thinking about this, please fill out the survey to give us a read on where you are and what you are thinking, and plan on attending a get together in October. Thanks for reading all the way to the end!