Easy?

[youngoldbloke]

mjray - you've obviously an axe to grind or chip on the shoulder. 18 miles at 12mph = 90 minutes, 18 miles at 8 mph = 135 minutes. It doesn't work. Have you any helpful comments to make re the OP, other than we all go very slowly?

 

[mjr]

Not sure it's an axe, but I do get a bit annoyed by the way some clubs are blinkered to anything except high speed, claim they want to be inclusive, but insult experienced easy riders as novices or improvers or worse on the ride. They're popular with many, but they also upset many and make some think group riding is not for them.

No rider left behind can work but the club needs ways to cope with it if an 8mph rider shows up unexpectedly. Yes, that may mean some people aren't riding full gas, probably not even half gas, but if riding hard is important to you, don't offer to run easy rides and then pull their legs off or go all frustrated.

To the OP, I guess I'd say that the meaning of "easy" depends on the club and most sports clubs have an odd idea of it.

If you want to engage people more effectively, either advertise the rides as beginner's racing rides, tell them they should be able to sustain 12mph on their own for 5miles our whatever before joining and accept it won't be for everyone, or run actual easy rides, maybe in partnership with non-racing clubs.

 

[cyberknight]

The club websites i have looked at including the club i ride with clearly states the speed of the rides and contact details of ride leaders/ club secretaries so a new rider can see what to expect and can contact someone with any questions .
Yes some riders might turn up on the day but i think the onus is as much on a new rider to find out what the pace is liable to be as much as the helpful club members to point out what the pace is and to look out for them.
If the ride standard of the new prospective member is not at a pace that they can keep up with even the slowest "club " ride then maybe ...

Its the wrong sort of club for them at the moment and they should look for a more suitable group like the ctc , organised social rides etc as we know some clubs are more race orientated than others .

Come back to the group when they have reached a standard that they be part of the group , we know the no drop policy means that the group will happily wait but as much as it might frustrate them having to wait equally i have known people that have struggled feel like they are spoiling the ride even when clearly they are not .

Ask club members for help and advice , you just might find someone willing to help you out with training tips and they may know of or offer to ride with the them to help them out .

Many a time in the slower groups i have played sweeper, puller , headed the train to bring them back to the group and even pushed people up hills when they have needed help .

 

[Joshua Plumtree]

Yer. Easy is a very misleading way of advertising a club ride. The ease at which we all ride at a certain speed obviously depends on our level of fitness and ability.

If the club has enough members, much better to have a 'social group ' ride where everyone in that group is prepared to ride at the pace of the slowest rider and, more importantly, are all more than happy to do so.

Everyone else can then ride with a medium or fast group, depending on how the club is structured.