El Grupo Team Values
Team Spirit – Ride together, work together, help one another & succeed together.
Pride – Show pride & respect for your team, yourself & others.
Enjoyment – Bikes are work and work is fun. The bigger you smile, the faster you go.
Resilience – The ability to go with the flow because life is ever-changing.
Be Your Own Rider – Always make decisions for yourself regardless of the decisions of other riders.
Create a Safe Space – Listen to and care for your teammates.
Development – Try to be better on and off the bike today and every day.
Youth Empower Youth – Teach and empower one another.
Practice – Dedicate yourself to learning through doing.
Frequently Asked Questions for El Grupo Parents
What equipment needed to participate? Mountain bike and road bike helmet, gloves, proper cycling clothing (El Grupo helps provide these), spare tubes (we’ll provide patches, but the rider takes care of the tubes).
What should we bring to practice? Cycling gear including a helmet, spare tubes, gloves, two water bottles, and road ID.
What time should you be at clubhouse before practice? At least 15 minutes early (if possible).
What should the rider be prepared for during practice? The El Grupo coaches job is too push the rider beyond their limit. Have a good attitude to overcome new challenges. Be prepared emotionally, physically and nutritionally. (Read in handbook about nutrition and hydration.)
What is a road ID? An official or unofficial card with the rider’s name and emergency contact information that’s placed in the riders seat bag. Make sure it’s waterproof or in a ziplock bag.
Where do you ride? During the week we use a lot of the same roads and routes a lot. On the weekends we try to mix it up.
Is there a practice if it is raining? Yes, rain or shine. If it’s raining super hard, we will be inside doing a trainer workout.
Do you have different start times during summer/winter? During the summer, we move most practices to the morning, but during the school year we practice in the afternoons.
What are ending times for weekend rides? Everything is ‘ish but we do our best to get back on time. Please be patient. You can call or text a coach if need be.
What are procedures if rider gets hurt? Assess the situation and take care of the rider. A coach or rider will call the parent as soon as possible.
Is it customary to wear underpants under spandex? No.
A Few Definitions and Explanations
Fantasy Island: A mountain bike trail network on the far southeast side of town. It’s next to the Air and Space Museum.
Sweetwater: Another mountain bike trail network in the Tucson mountains.
Puke Hill: There are a couple of very steep hills around Tucson that, if you work hard enough, be you might end up vomiting.
KOM, QOM (King of the Hill/Queen of the Hill): Terms popularized by the phone app Strava which uses GPS and acts as a bike computer. It will record times that you complete things and then rank you on a ‘scoreboard’. In bike racing, these terms are used to score points and win the race by getting to the top of the hill first.
Wheel Support: Race term for the vehicles that drive behind the bikes in a race and carry extra wheels if you flat
Feed Zone: In a bike race, these are the certain areas you can receive food and/or water.
Lactate threshold: Your lactate threshold is the point when you are heavily exercising your body is producing lactate and you can handle the muscle strain without pain. But if you go over your lactate threshold, everything starts screaming at you and the muscle system can’t get rid of it.
Cadence: Speed of the pedal revolutions of your feet.
