Amateur ignorant ride organiser needs advice about participants having punctures

[Ming the Merciless]

>>Lose everything that you don’t really, really need.

>>The lighter the bike, the easier the ride and the lower the risk of parts playing up.

what the hell that second sentence means I don't know.

Means if the parts are missing from the bike then they can’t go wrong.

 

[Blue Hills]

Means if the parts are missing from the bike then they can’t go wrong.

i sense you aren't entirely serious mr ming.

Anyways, don't think I will be joining them.

Was never asked owt on my old rides with them, never had my panniers searched for excess food.

 

[Dogtrousers]

agree totally - I lead loads of rides for an London cycling campaign group -

cripes - I did a few fridays donkeys years ago under the captainship of the originator - they do seem to have gone into some lightweight dictat:
>>Lose everything that you don’t really, really need.

>>The lighter the bike, the easier the ride and the lower the risk of parts playing up.

what the hell that second sentence means I don't know.

I fear the new regime would be horrified if I turned up - bike properly prepared but carry lots of food - I do fear that some folk might bonk if they follow their advice too tightly - for of course it's not just about starvation as they rather flippantly say.

Woah there! Hold off on unfounded criticism of the "new regime", especially when you've not done a Fridays ride for years.

Those quotes are verbatim from the original advice. I recall reading exactly that, and the stuff about Aunty Mabel's fruit cake when I did my first one about 10 years ago.

SL, the founder, advised strongly against mudguards ( just his personal hobby horse/quirk) and also turning up overloaded. It was from his experience of what made a ride run smoothly and what caused holdups. He may have been right, he may have been wrong, but you can't deny that he was effective.

As to the risk of riders "bonking" that's just utter nonsense. The ride is at a conversational pace with a food stop half way where you can eat yourself stupid.

 

[ontodva]

What's the story with the rides? As in why are you doing them? It's not a loaded question, it just doesn't come across in the OP, and it's difficult to offer advice if we don't know what you're hoping to make happen. In a general way I'd echo what @Ian H and @Dogtrousers say above, and add that what makes Fridays rides and some others work is firstly the narrative, and secondly the blend of innocence and experience.

This is a good question. I want to ride with others on routes I like. I am finding the best way to do that is by organising the rides. I am in London and a Cycling UK member. I have joined some one star rides with local affiliated groups but there are too few of those. The rides I organise are in London, around 30 km, largely avoid roads and hills, and are for riding at slow to medium pace, enjoying the scenery. They start late in the morning (on a weekend) because I want to encourage people to turn up. The posts don't have much prohibitive wording - no personal disclaimer (no comments on liability issues please, it's off-topic), no must carry these, must do that except come to the right place at the right time. I list the minimum equipment needed to fix a puncture and say it would help if you carried it. If the ground might snakebite road tyres I mention it and advise sufficient tyre pressure. No prohibitions on riders. Turnouts have been in the range 4 - 10 people and I am comfortable with those numbers. Some of the riders might have come on my earlier rides and some will be new. None need be experienced or members of a club.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

i sense you aren't entirely serious mr ming.

Anyways, don't think I will be joining them.

Was never asked owt on my old rides with them, never had my panniers searched for excess food.

I wasn’t. Basically a well maintained bike is less likely to go wrong. If anything I’d say lighter specified bikes are less reliable.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Which if you’ve gone that far you may as well rough the tube up and patch it, Lezyne and Park Tool self adhesive ones are very good and are just as quick as unraveling a new tube.

Exactly. The longest part of fixing the puncture is often finding the hole if it’s a small one. Once it’s found the patching bit is as quick as pulling another tube out.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Anyways, don't think I will be joining them.

Was never asked owt on my old rides with them, never had my panniers searched for excess food.

Well that's your decision and your loss.

Exactly the same advice was given on your old rides with them if you'd been listening to SL. If anything the new version is a bit toned down.

 

[Blue Hills]

Woah there! Hold off on unfounded criticism of the "new regime", especially when you've not done a Fridays ride for years.

Those quotes are verbatim from the original advice. I recall reading exactly that, and the stuff about Aunty Mabel's fruit cake when I did my first one about 10 years ago.

SL, the founder, advised strongly against mudguards ( just his personal hobby horse/quirk) and also turning up overloaded. It was from his experience of what made a ride run smoothly and what caused holdups. He may have been right, he may have been wrong, but you can't deny that he was effective.

As to the risk of riders "bonking" that's just utter nonsense. The ride is at a conversational pace with a food stop half way where you can eat yourself stupid.

was only going on what you posted, with a certain implied awe yourself mr dogtrousers.
and I remain intrigued by the apparently lower risk of lightweight bikes playing up.
>>The lighter the bike ..... the lower the risk of parts playing up.

On the main theme, when I lead all those rides I never checked the motley bikes that folk turned up with - wouldn't have dreamt of it - none of my fellow leaders ever did as far as I know.
Glad the OP has cleared up that liability is a non issue.

 

[Blue Hills]

I wasn’t. Basically a well maintained bike is less likely to go wrong. If anything I’d say lighter specified bikes are less reliable.

My experience too from folks I fairly often come across by the roadside.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Main mechanical I’ve seen on the Fridays rides I’ve done is punctures. Often the same culprit / victim each time. It’s rare for anything else to happen. The number of riders obviously increasing the chance of something.

I have seen lightweight, stuff in pockets, to two pannier setups.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Exactly. The longest part of fixing the puncture is often finding the hole if it’s a small one. Once it’s found the patching bit is as quick as pulling another tube out.

I never patch tubes at the roadside. Not for any reason - just out of habit because that's what I've always done. I don't necessarily recommend it to others - I'm not really interested in what they do. But it makes me think, if I did repair at the roadside, I'd lose my ritual of patching tubes at home in the evenings. I'd miss that. I'd probably have to resort to poking holes in tubes in order to fix them.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I never patch tubes at the roadside. Not for any reason - just out of habit because that's what I've always done. I don't necessarily recommend it to others - I'm not really interested in what they do. But it makes me think, if I did repair at the roadside, I'd lose my ritual of patching tubes at home in the evenings. I'd miss that. I'd probably have to resort to poking holes in tubes in order to fix them.

It is only since I started audax in 2010 that I’ve carried a spare tube. Before that for nigh on 40 years always patch. I still patch unless it’s tipping it down (and there is no nearby shelter) or it’s a night and I can’t find the hole. I think there’s a perception that patching is slow or difficult. It can be if you can’t find the hole or it’s in an awkward place like near a seam. But in vast majority of cases it’s quick and easy.

The mistake most make with patching is not to let the rubber solution cure. So the solvent is still present when they press the patch on. Leading to a poor temporary and ineffective fix.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Main mechanical I’ve seen on the Fridays rides I’ve done is punctures. Often the same culprit / victim each time. It’s rare for anything else to happen. The number of riders obviously increasing the chance of something.

I've seen quite a few problems, but none requiring abandonment. Broken cables of various kinds, broken spokes, a freewheel problem that was somehow magically bodged by the TECs, one time a guy turned up on a terrible junk heap that required lots of help from others to keep it going - I wasn't directly involved so I don't recall the details. A DI2 that went into some kind of "safe mode" but was eventually coaxed back to life by switching it off and switching it on again (or something like that). I remember a 'bent in bits in the square in Faversham - no idea what the problem was but they made it to Whitstable. Oh yeah and my mudguard stays coming loose and needing to be bodged with duck tape. That did not go un-noticed by the Simon Mudguardsbane.

And punctures. Lots of punctures.

 

[dodgy]

Reading this thread is like watching the fun being sucked out of cycling.

 

[Blue Hills]

Under what circumstances should I consider calling the ride off en route and leaving the riders to their own initiatives? I think that would depend on the number in the group and if any are potentially vulnerable.

Probably fairly unlikely you would have to abandon an entire ride.

I have the idea that your rides are designed to attract a mixed bag of folk - that might mean that some struggle with the distance - I/we always gently encouraged such people along, but after a point you may find that someone holds back the entire group who you might be keen to get to a lunchstop or back to down before nightfall. I usually found that folks would volunteer to leave under such circumstances so I always made sure that they were fine to get to a railway station, or accompanied them there. With other folks, though rarely, you might have to gently hint - only ever a problem once with a very peculiar passive aggressive soul who seemed to delight in freewheeling when she could clearly pedal. Luckily the north downs came to our collective help and she eventually bailed or she would probably have been found a couple of months later in a shallow grave. Very much the exception of course.

You may not have any problems with your tyres OP but with regard to punctures I would check that you are OK getting tough tyres on in case someone needs any help. But let the puncture victim try to sort themselves first. Some modern combinations of rim and tyre and can be a real pig/reduce folk to tears/be near impossible. I carry a couple of long laces to help with this.

Oh, in addition to suggesting folk check their tyres for debris before the ride, suggest that they check the sidewalls - should have done this myself (!) on a ride I once lead from London to Brighton - tyre blew not too far from mr dogtrousers, luckily I was able to borrow the bike of one of my charges and pedal home and back with a spare tyre.