Last weekend had me wondering what’s in a team. And why do people join teams instead of racing rogue?
After the drama with pedal, I thought I’d stay unattached this year. I wasn’t interested in dealing with team politics when biking should just be biking. And trust me: there are a ton of politics in cycling, even on amateur bike racing teams.
I ended up joining RaceCo, a mountain biking team.
Bike riding is supposed to be fun. I was talking to a friend/teammate the other day who reminisced on one of his stupidest but most fun rides. He was actually with my husband that night. Three of them, riding along in the dark on a busy road with no head or tail lights, racing to get back to their cars as quickly and safely as they could.
He said it reminded him of being a kid again. Doing stupid shit with his friends.
Riding a bike will do that to you. Make you feel like a kid again (unless you’re me and take it too seriously).
None of us are professional racers. The vast majority of us will never become professional racers. I’ve accepted that I’m just too average to ever become a professional racer. So instead, our primary goal for racing should be for the challenge, to become stronger, to stay fit, and hell, to even have some fun.
So, what’s the point in joining a team?
When I joined pedal back in 2015, I had just discovered the world of amateur bike racing. Somehow, I never thought there were clubs and teams you could join. I guess I assumed that professional cyclists became professional some other way. Like they entered qualifying events and the team managers picked them out.
My goal at the time was to find other cyclists to ride with. I didn’t think I’d like racing. I didn’t think I was competitive. Then I did my first time trial, and I was hooked.
I was on pedal for four years, three of those years were in leadership positions. I was the women’s Road Captain for two, then Vice President for one. We always said, “pedal is family.” We hashtagged it and everything, which means it must be true, right?
And while it did mostly feel like a family, in the end, it felt like a Jerry Springer show. Trust was broken, cheap shots were taken, lies were told, and justice was never served. I’m still reeling and very much hurt by everything that led up to the point of me leaving the team.
When I left pedal, I didn’t want to go through that again. Like I said earlier, I thought I’d stay unattached in 2020. I wasn’t thrilled to join another team with their own politics. But I remembered why I joined a team in the first place: to have people to ride with.
I speak for myself when I say it’s challenging to find new friends as an adult. I’m not very social, and it’s highly unlikely I’d show up to a random ride with a bunch of strangers. That’s so not my cup of tea. And although joining a new team is pretty much showing up to a bike ride with a random group of strangers, I at least know we have one thing in common: the team we’re on.
Before joining RaceCo, I considered what I wanted out of the next team I joined:
- People to ride with
- People to race with
- A team that supports me
- A team that encourages me
- A team that’s communicative
- A team that works together
- To become a stronger rider
- That held the same values as me
People to ride with
The difference between riding rogue and being on a team is that by being on a team, you’re 98% guaranteed to have someone to ride with. This year has been screwy, so even if you were on a team, it’s unlikely you rode with most teammates per CDC recommendations.
It’s nice to shoot a group text or post in your team’s Facebook group looking for riding buddies. When you’re rogue, it’s a bit harder to find someone to ride with.
People to race with
When I was on pedal, I raced alone. I was lucky to have friendly teammates to warm-up with or to see after the race, but I never got to actually strategize with a Cat 3 womxn racer. The closest I got was being able to race with Barb at the Boulder Roubaix. Unfortunately, she suffered from a flat and wasn’t able to continue.
I wanted to find a team where I’d have someone to race with. Oddly enough, I picked a team that probably would not field any Cat 3 womxn racers but learning from the better mountain bikers superseded having someone to race with.
I was used to racing alone. Another season would not bother me. I ended up not racing at all this year because of COVID, anyway.
A team that supports me
I entered the Leadville 100 lottery in December last year. When I was accepted, I knew it’d be harder to race alone without team support. It was another reason why I joined RaceCo. Racing solo meant learning by myself the ins and outs of racing Leadville 100. I didn’t want to have to figure it out alone. I wanted to be on a team that had others racing the Leadville 100.
I knew RaceCo would be thrilled to help me. And when I told Kyle, he was stoked to hear I got in and we talked about the racing strategy. Again, COVID canceled it but I did feel supported by RaceCo, something that’s overlooked when a lot of people are trying out new teams.
A team that encourages me
This goes hand in hand with finding a team that supports me. From the members I’ve met on RaceCo, they seem super supportive. Especially the team members I’ve become close with (Jackky, Marc, and Kyle). It’s because of them I joined.
They’re also the reason why my husband joined RaceCo and not pedal (when I was on it). The RaceCo team has always been super chill, inviting, and encouraging. I want to be on a team that doesn’t make me feel bad for sucking at mountain biking. Who will encourage me to keep going. And despite my weaknesses or strengths, still invite me on rides.
A team that’s communicative
I don’t like liars. I don’t like two-faced people. I don’t like people who skirt around issues. I don’t like people who only complain about issues but never work to resolve them. And I hate when people don’t communicate.
I need communication. I can’t read minds. Too often I was supposed to read people’s minds. I want to be on a team that’s communicative. That tells members what’s going on, what they need, any unresolved issues, etc.
Too often I see teams treated like a business, chopping people out of positions without notice, without communication, and with no damn respect. It’s a team. It’s a team of individuals who have plenty of shit going on in their lives.
If you want a powerful and loyal team, don’t treat it like a business.
A team that works together
A team that works together, stays together. But really, members of a team need to not only support, encourage, and communicate with each other, but work together as well. That means working to resolve any conflicts.
It means confront issues head-on with the goal of coming to a resolution quickly and efficiently. It means not working in silos and including everyone who wants to be included. It means setting clear intentions and goals for every member of the team.
Working together means not throwing each other under the bus or placing blame on someone else. If the ship goes down, we all go down with it. No one is above the team. The team acts as one unit made up of a ton of individuals.
To become a stronger rider
I pick a team that will make me a stronger rider. I joined RaceCo to become a stronger mountain biker. As a team of mountain bikers willing to help noobs like me, I knew they’d be able to get me to the next level of mountain biking I couldn’t do on my own.
And they have. Even the incredibly strong riders on the team have offered help or showed me new techniques. With the rules around COVID, the team has still set up clinics and they’ve been immensely helpful.
A team that holds the same values as me
Finally, I need a team that holds the same values as me. I learned that that wasn’t the case with pedal. I think I wanted something different from what the team could offer me. And that’s on me, not the team.
And to find a team’s values isn’t simply asking the president (because they’re usually pretty disconnected from the rest of the racers). It’s riding with the team, hanging out with the team, and seeing how the members feel about the team. It’s hard to find that out in one group ride. It takes a while and sometimes you’ve been on the team for a while before you’ve realized.
I share these different aspects so that you, my dear reader, can come up with your own checklist as you navigate the different teams who are recruiting this time of year. There are plenty of aspects I’m sure I’ve left off. This is where you can start. Adjust as necessary.
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