The most difficult part of being a rookie rider is knowing how to train. Each team is required to have a coach, but this coach isn't required to have any expertise. Our coach is a personal friend and past rider, but it's a double-edged sword that his team placed dead last; he's not like other team coaches who run cross-field to yell riders on at each turn with time updates. But his laid-back demeanor and inconvenient schedule doesn't allow him to watch us at the track. We've resorted to mooching off Alpha Epsilon Pi's coach in the pit next door, begging the Army Girls team for any insider info and exhausting the e-mail inbox of Matt Ewing, Little 500 race director.
What we've learned works for us-and we'll see how well it really does work on race day-is riding long and far off the track and short and fast on the track. This may sound like common sense, but it's intimidatingly impossible to keep with the pack when riding on the track. Even at our freshest (after just a short warm-up), it's difficult to pull with the pack after two laps. Conventional wisdom would lead anyone to figure we'll be blown off the track at Turn 1, but I've been repeatedly surprised by how little other team riders attempt to keep with the pack. It always seems to be the same people: all Riders Council girls, Teter and other past powerhouses. We sneak peaks at the training habits of teams like Kappa Alpha Theta and mimic them. Today we focused on riding two fast laps, sprinting the third and then exchanging. Our initial strategy was to build up our legs and fast! But as our training comes to a close, I guess we're pushing our lungs. **We all had to quit smoking before committing to ride.
While other teams get to take the week off and prepare for the real deal Friday, we're agreeing with our coach that Team TAU isn't necessarily in a position to take it easy. As a journalist, I know most of your best leads come from knowledge sources and if anyone has suggestions for sweet routes for outdoor rides or last minute ways to push our abilities, pass 'em this way. Team TAU gets by with a little help from our friends.
