Ujamaflip
New Member
- Location
- Karlsruhe, Germany
Yesterday I went on my first group ride with some guys from my local bike shop. When I bought my bike from there earlier this year, a Koga Miyata Carbon Team Edition, I joined their mailing list and I've received a few invitations this year, but this was the first time I was both available, fit and confident enough to want to take part, so I turned up at the bike shop at 2pm as required. The LBS owner had planned a road bike ride for us through Alsace, together with Koga Miyata Cycling Team rider Martina Zwick on one of her training rides.
Despite a red hot summer this year the weather over the last few days has been dreadful. Yesterday morning it had been raining hard, but around lunch time it cleared up and fortunately it stayed dry for the whole afternoon. At the LBS we were joined by a couple of other riders and made our way to another meeting point by the Rhein. I explained to the LBS owner and leader of the ride that it was my first time riding with a group, on the way he explained the rules, hand signals and throughout the whole ride made me feel welcome and comfortable.
At the Rhein meeting point we met up with Martina and a few other riders, in all we were eight riders. We cycled on the flat for a while along a lovely new cycle lane South along the Rhein, before breaking West through some beautiful Alsatian countryside and little French villages. Through Alsace we encountered a few hills but nothing really serious. It was a beautiful route, and although I've ridden through Alsace before I've never seen this part.
We rode faster and harder than I probably would have ridden alone, averaging about 27kph (16.8mph) over the 90km route. Although drafting helped some of the time I wasn't confident enough to get really close to the other riders, but being with other riders helped motivate me to keep a good pace. I had a p*ncture about 2 hours in to the ride but the other guys pitched in and we had the tube changed in minutes, seems like my tubes were under-inflated at around 5-6bar, needing a good 8bar to resist a snakebite flat.
We finished the ride after about 3.5 hours with a trip to the local beer garden. I had a great a time and will be back with the guys next time they organize a ride.
Despite a red hot summer this year the weather over the last few days has been dreadful. Yesterday morning it had been raining hard, but around lunch time it cleared up and fortunately it stayed dry for the whole afternoon. At the LBS we were joined by a couple of other riders and made our way to another meeting point by the Rhein. I explained to the LBS owner and leader of the ride that it was my first time riding with a group, on the way he explained the rules, hand signals and throughout the whole ride made me feel welcome and comfortable.
At the Rhein meeting point we met up with Martina and a few other riders, in all we were eight riders. We cycled on the flat for a while along a lovely new cycle lane South along the Rhein, before breaking West through some beautiful Alsatian countryside and little French villages. Through Alsace we encountered a few hills but nothing really serious. It was a beautiful route, and although I've ridden through Alsace before I've never seen this part.
We rode faster and harder than I probably would have ridden alone, averaging about 27kph (16.8mph) over the 90km route. Although drafting helped some of the time I wasn't confident enough to get really close to the other riders, but being with other riders helped motivate me to keep a good pace. I had a p*ncture about 2 hours in to the ride but the other guys pitched in and we had the tube changed in minutes, seems like my tubes were under-inflated at around 5-6bar, needing a good 8bar to resist a snakebite flat.
We finished the ride after about 3.5 hours with a trip to the local beer garden. I had a great a time and will be back with the guys next time they organize a ride.