swak

Im in a coaching class, and am a competitve cyclist.
Bikes are really what i know.

..But for my class i have to teach a divided portion of the class something in particular, a particular skill (can be anything).
And im most likely going to relate this to cycling.

The main thing that i can think of is how to climb effectively and efficiently.

Any ideas on skills i can teach the class?

Jinker

Cadence drills / sprints
Tempo riding / time trialing
Intervals simulating the efforts holding on in a crit

adamrice 

How to interact safely with motor-vehicle traffic.
How to ride in a paceline.

carpediemracing 

How to ride in a group safely. This is the main thing that keep riders from partaking in a whole world of riding (i.e. group riding). Even in racing it's a huge issue (Masters, Women, new racers up to and including Cat 3 typically).

Climbing has some basic techniques you can go over in a class or two. Dramatically improving climbing is not related to technique and would take a long time to accomplish.

cdr

skol

how to change a flat - fix a broken chain - adjust brakes etc - bike fit etc.

nitropowered

bump training.

Go out to a field, have everyone wear regular shoes. Practice bumping w/o falling. probably the most worthwhile skills practice. It will help newbs overcome the fear of pack riding

swak

Group riding seems pretty easy, and a pretty dominant suggestion.
I said climbing because ill likely be having the class go on the in gym training (stationary) bikes.
And with climbing I can go over stuff like body position, gear selection, cadence, etc..

Still open to more suggestions.. Keep em coming, I appreciate the help, BF.

urbanknight

Will the class have bikes to ride? If so...
https://www.active.com/cycling/Articl...that-Skill.htm

If not, you need a little more creativity. You could teach paceline rotations by lining up standing people and moving them around.

flaco

That would be fun to watch. You could use a huge fan for realism.

skol

on stationary bikes the climbing class sounds like a good idea then - maybe with some one footed work for technique

swak

Man, that would be awesome actually.
But unfortunately the only thing i have is a basketball court (gym), and stationary bikes in another room that i can use.

I think for bike specific work the stationary bikes will be the most useful, i can go over the basics of bike fit, etc.
And the pedal stroke.

Any other ideas BF?

RT

Is a Newb and a loner when it comes to cycling. Is slightly afraid of a group ride. Wants to go on one soon, but does not yet have a road bike with drops (but a good bullhorn road bike nonetheless). If the Riding In A Group 101 class were local, I'd attend.

swak

As good as doing a plan on how to ride in a group sounds, after quite a bit of thought..
I cant for the life of me think of how id incorporate that into a physical and interactive class.

I could talk to the class til their ears fell off about cycling, thats not what i want.

urbanknight

Oh, you have stationary bikes? How about intervals?

swak

Urbanknight, ahaha yeah - sorry for the confusion.

And to clear things up this is a 2nd year uni. Level class.. Just to show where I'm sitting a little bit.

But the intervals sounds good too!
Class will love me after drilling them through intervals.. Ahahahaha.

DMF 

A simple one that will pay dividends out on the road is how to stand. 95% of the spinners I see - including the instructors - bob up and down like corks in a pond, wasting energy. (One of the instructors frequently talks about how to move when standing, meanwhile doing it wrong.)

Related to that is the "frozen stand" where the body is held fixed and only the legs move. Not very useful on the road, but killer in a class.

logdrum

I'd like to go to a class on how to strip out of regular clothes into cycling clothes fast. I am really bad at this, specially in the winter. It takes me more than 10 minutes And that does not include me looking for the cycling clothes. It get's worse when you forgot to put your HRM and you already have your baclava on.

Nachoman

Agreed. Very practical skill. And besides overcoming basic fear of riding in a peloton, it also teaches people not to overreact when shoulders and elbows collide.

mollusk

Some serious suggestions to help noobs be welcome on serious group rides:

How to look behind without drifting in the direction you swivel your head.

How to retrieve a water bottle, drink, and put back without swerving and maintaining cadence.

How to point out obstacles on the road to cyclists behind you.

How to rise from a seated position to "out of the saddle" position without shoving your bike backwards into the rider behind you.

How to ride in a rotating paceline. (See the "yell at you" thread for advanced lesson ideas.)

More advanced topics:

The "Howto" of snot rockets.

Half-wheeling for "fun".

How to "gap" riders off the back.