[John Rogers]

I was thinking back to my bicycle racing days and some of the things we did to practice riding in a pack of racers, some experienced some raw rookies and other things to help us go fast. Here are several of the exercises:
- On grass, very soft if possible, two riders ride beside each other in a circle with the outer rider getting closer and closer to the inner rider until they both lean towards each other touching shoulders. Keep the circle the same size and don't fall down!
- Practice falling down while on the grass in various ways. This way when starting to crash from some one hitting you or falling right in front, you'll know how to land.
- Practice riding with no hands on the handle bars and eating a banana or something similar. Just lie in the big Tour.
- Practice stopping and balancing the bike both alone and next to people.
- Practice stopping and putting right OR left foot down.
- Practice pedaling with one foot, both right and left to work on getting 360 degree strength to the pedals. Start slow then work up to 180 or so RPMs.

We used to practice these and some others I can't think of right now at the San Diego Velodrome on Friday nights before and after our race sessions which helped immensely.