Club ride average speeds, could i keep up ?

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iluvmybike

Über Member
[QUOTE="Ming the Merciless, post: 6289123, member: 17213"

Definitely a market for club rides of 50-60 miles at 12-13 mph.
[/QUOTE]
Have to agree with you there. I wouldn't expect any club to offer rides of that length at speeds under 10mph! It would be a very long day
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

Veteran
First club ride of the season today, nice weather and fortunately i've managed to keep some reasonable fitness during the winter so kept up much better than last year. Think it was an easy pace as it was first day back, even if a couple of the riders were clearly super experienced.

Found on the climbs i could keep pace and even ride on the front at times, the main challenge were the sprint reps, wow they nearly killed me ! and impressive to see just how fast some of the riders can repeatedly achieve (after about 5-6 my legs died).

Looking forward to some more groups rides and some continued improvements:okay:
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

Veteran
Well the weather has been shocking since Easter so i've missed a few club rides and a couple of those i did were wet. Last evening was at least dry even if a bit cold. It's amazing how the group mix changes the riding style and speeds:ohmy:. Seems it doesn't take much for the decent riders to stretch their legs and for me to take the auto-bus on the longer climbs and whilst i've certainly improved i simply can't follow their ave 350w for 2km @ 8%, missing about 50w or carrying 10kgs too much for that:laugh:

But guess what i wasn't the last up any of the climbs yesterday:okay: and not too far behind in the end.

Roll on some decent weather and summer evenings:sun:
 

LeetleGreyCells

Un rouleur infatigable
I missed this thread so have just worked my way through all 12 pages. I definitely feel very lucky being a member of my club after reading about the experiences of some on here.

I'm a member of a larger club with 200+ members which gives us the opportunity to offer quite a bit. Our youngest member is 4, I believe, and our oldest... no idea, but I know of one chap who is 70 who rides rings around the rest of us.

There are various rides in the week and on the weekend. The Sunday rides are varied in terms of distance and speed with riding speed strictly adhered to (unless you're on the black ride, but then those riders are fast and race each other - that's up to them). Our Green / Social ride is for everyone - beginners and seasoned riders. Our ex-pro joined it the other week when I was leading and was happily chatting away and riding at the same pace as everyone else - his choice to join the green ride, he could have joined any of the others, he knew what to expect and he was happy. The week before I was also leading and we had a new rider who seriously struggled, but we got them round - we were half an hour later than expected and no one cared. The rider completed the ride with a big smile of their face - mission accomplished! I've participated in green rides and not lead, and it works exactly the same - riding at the pace of the slowest rider. As I mentioned, the green rides are for any rider and they are attended by everyone - sometimes riders fancy a different pace, simply want to chat or enjoy the scenery. Every week we have a mix of new riders and experienced - everyone knows the rules and, more importantly, respects them. It makes for very happy rides / club / club members. It would only take one person to try and spoil it, but we have plenty of members who not afraid to tell them what to do - again, probably an advantage of being a larger club.

We also do family rides as part of our Go Ride section of the club. Kids and parents will come on traffic-free rides (we're really quite lucky where we are based being next to the Trans Pennine Trail and a number of other bridleways). We have so many at times that we've had to split into different groups based upon ability.

Not all clubs are self-involved or dismissive. We tell people we are inclusive because we mean it, and not just as a box ticking exercise.

Personally, I couldn't sleep at night thinking I'd a) put someone off cycling by my actions; b) abandoned a rider; c) been dismissive of someone. I'm just not wired that way.
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
Well the weather has been shocking since Easter so i've missed a few club rides and a couple of those i did were wet. Last evening was at least dry even if a bit cold. It's amazing how the group mix changes the riding style and speeds:ohmy:. Seems it doesn't take much for the decent riders to stretch their legs and for me to take the auto-bus on the longer climbs and whilst i've certainly improved i simply can't follow their ave 350w for 2km @ 8%, missing about 50w or carrying 10kgs too much for that:laugh:

But guess what i wasn't the last up any of the climbs yesterday:okay: and not too far behind in the end.

Roll on some decent weather and summer evenings:sun:
350W for about 6 minutes is pretty serious stuff. There are very few riders around here (I also live in a very hilly area) who could do that
 
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Ridgeway

Ridgeway

Veteran
350W for about 6 minutes is pretty serious stuff. There are very few riders around here (I also live in a very hilly area) who could do that

That's most of the group that i ride with each week, most are pretty serious guys and the standard here seems quite high, +4.5 w/kg isn't uncommon with the group.

Still it gives me an incentive to chase :ohmy:
 
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