jonathanb715

Hey, Everyone,

The Team in Training (TnT) Spring season is kicking off at the end of January, and they'll be doing some awesome rides. I've had the pleasure of riding with coaches from each of the 3 Bay Area teams, and they're all great - they'll get you in better shape, and definitely in shape to do your chosen ride. For anyone who did the Mt. D/Morgan Territory ride back in November, Mike, who rode with us, will be the co-head coach of the Death Ride team. The other teams will be preparing for America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (aka Tahoe) and Seattle to Portland.

This is a great chance to get in better shape and ride with a great group of folks while raising money for a great cause!

JB

edit: Think a link would be helpful? www.teamintraining.org

johnny99

Please work on your road skills training in addition to your endurance training. Whenever I see those TNT jerseys on the road, I always give them a wide berth. Some of those folks are scary - wobbling all over the road, blowing through stop signs, stopping in a bunch in the middle of the road, etc. They are better than Critical Mass, but much worse than most bike clubs.

jonathanb715

I'll admit that some TnT teams are not trained well, but if you haven't ridden with a Bay Area team, you really should give it a try. During the Tucson ride, it wasn't the Bay Area TnT folks who had trouble with pacelining - it was all the people that jumped on and then wouldn't go to the front and help out, but also wouldn't make room for the person rotating off the front to get back in. Pretty tough to have a smoothly rotating paceline when there are a bunch of people who are right on the wheel of the last team member, won't let you back in, but won't go to the front either.

The coaches for the Bay Area teams are very experienced and very good. A lot of the people who sign up for TnT are new to cycling and/or group rides, but the coaches get them up to speed very quickly on what's required and how to ride safely. TnT, IMHO, is a good thing for cycling - it brings in people who are new to the sport, shows them how to get in shape and how to ride safely.

JB

PS - have we ridden together? I'm not at all sure you have any basis to talk about my bike handling skills!

johnny99

Sorry, I wasn't intending to single you out. I thought you were speaking for TNT and my observation is about their members' riding skills in general. They can be downright dangerous on public roads, to themselves and to others.

jonathanb715

My experience is different - the coaches really worked hard during the seasons I participated in to teach riders how to ride safely. My experience with TnT is overwhelmingly positive, maybe because the Death Ride doesn't get the new riders. But even for Tucson, which does get new riders, the coaches were firm about what safe riding is, and they pulled people aside during rides if they saw someone doing something unsafe (such as running a stop sign, or riding two abreast when there wasn't room). I'll admit that the TnT riders at Tucson from other parts of the country didn't seem to get quite as much coaching in this regard - but they certainly were no worse than the hordes (Tucson gets almost 10,000 participants) of inexperienced riders there. They just are easier to pick out because of the jerseys.

Usually what I hear on rides is that the TnT folks are easy to pick out because they are overly cautious about traffic, won't roll certain stop signs or traffic signals when it's safe to do so, and point out or call out every car and every pebble when riding in a paceline - a result of the coaches taking the approach that it is better to be safe than sorry with newer riders. That's kind of different than what you were describing. In any case, I think we'll just have to disagree on this one.

JB

parity

TNT has lots of teams not just the bike team but you'll also see the triathlon team on the road too. The SF bay area TNT bike teams I think do a good job on pace lining and bike skills in general. I think the triathlon teams don't do much in the way of bike skills. And chapters in other parts of the country I don't think are as good as the teams in the bay area from what I have seen and heard. Also TNT will take anyone and train them to complete a century, so I don't think they are any more dangerous then other people who start road biking. I've done TNT once, but I really don't like the fund raising so I probably won't do it again. But I think its a good way to get started.

ericm979

I think that TnT groups get a bad rap because they're made up mostly of newbies. Any other group of riders that green would also stick out as, well, new riders who don't know how to ride very well yet. That's understandable and it's not TnT's fault.

It's good that someone is out there teaching this stuff. I do wish that they'd point instead of yelling for every obstacle though. Pointing indicates where the obstacle is, which is more important than what it is. But I'm guessing that the yelling is because not everyone is comfortable riding one-handed.

The way I look at it, its the duty of experienced riders to spot the newbies and make allowances for their inexperience.

johnny99

Another common complaint is that TNT brings private support cars on organized century rides. These private cars clog the roads when moving. When they stop, they often use the shoulder that cyclists were expecting to use, forcing the cyclists to merge out into traffic. These cars may not violate traffic laws, but they do create a safety hazard. Many century rides now explicitly ban private support cars because of safety issues.

knatchwa

Certainly it is a great charity. I have had more then a few in my family who have dealt with cancer and am glad they lived through it. I cannot speak on experience as sad to say I have not seen many in my area. Possibly because Monterey County is not to well known. Seems to be a good program, but if that is the case certainly more training is in order. After all you want to be seen as vehicles then act like them.

It is clear what can be interpretted, in this life and living circumstance.

Ride On 2007 to 2008 and more.