Forum rides

[mcshroom]

I organised my first forum ride last month (on another forum ) and it does take a bit of effort before, and during the ride. I would recommend others try it out though as it's rewarding when you get to the end.

As for being slowest, I've been there and it's not fun. I know the worry is what stops some people riding, and I won't ride a Superspeedy FNRttC for this reason, but on the forum rides I've been on (with CC Ecosse, dell, yacf) I have never been left behind and the faster riders have usually been sensible (sprinting for breakfast in Brighton apart ) not to keep blasting off into the distance.

For a group leader it is bad form to let people drop too far off the back, and definitley bad manners to set straight off when the last rider makes it to the top of the hill. I treat riding like hill walking when I was a Scout, you go at the speed of the slowest and make sure there's plenty of rest stops (it's not just that I need to keep stopping for breath honest ).

 

[coffeejo]

I'm up for organising a ride in this neck of the woods but - and I mean no offence to any of the CC guys in Somerset - the thought of being the only woman in the company of a small number of men I don't know is, well, you know...

 

[mcshroom]

I'm up for organising a ride in this neck of the woods but - and I mean no offence to any of the CC guys in Somerset - the thought of being the only woman in the company of a small number of men I don't know is, well, you know...

Spinney's not far away from you now though

 

[ColinJ]

I'm up for organising a ride in this neck of the woods but - and I mean no offence to any of the CC guys in Somerset - the thought of being the only woman in the company of a small number of men I don't know is, well, you know...

So what you need is ... for more men to turn out?

Joking apart ... I suppose you'd need to make sure that you had at least one other woman to come along before you officially announced the ride.

I would definitely feel a bit nervous if 5 or 6 women that I didn't know turned up for one of my rides and no men did!

 

[theclaud]

I'm up for organising a ride in this neck of the woods but - and I mean no offence to any of the CC guys in Somerset - the thought of being the only woman in the company of a small number of men I don't know is, well, you know...

Great? Seriously, though - there's a co-operative spirit about group rides that makes them a very unlikely environment for hassle and harassment. People look after each other. The worst you are likely to encounter is an excess of gallantry from the CTC. I am always joining groups of strange men (some as strange as @rich p) in the middle of nowhere, and have never encountered anything that gave me cause for concern. And if you organize a ride, any women who are worried about rides being dominated by men will be reassured by the fact that it is a woman organizing it. Win win.

 

[zizou]

I've have not done any cc rides so this is more of a general point than a specific one.

It can be disheartening being the slowest rider and it shows a lack of respect from a group is always pushing on and leaving someone behind or starting off again as soon as they reach the top of the hill without getting a break etc. But IMO the respect has to go both ways with slower riders thinking about the others on the ride too. Personally I would rather ride alone and make my own way than be holding up everyone constantly and expect them to curtail their enjoyment to suit mine.

For a couple of years i was involved in organising rides on a mtb website. There were complaints about rides being too short, too fast, too slow, too long, too easy, too difficult and so on which is fair enough but the complainers never bothered organising rides themselves so it got a bit annoying hearing the criticism. You would then tailor a ride that was easier or harder and try and appeal to more people...and often those that had been complaining didnt bother turning up anyway!

 

[ianrauk]

There were complaints about rides being too short, too fast, too slow, too long, too easy, too difficult and so on which is fair enough but the complainers never bothered organising rides themselves so it got a bit annoying hearing the criticism. You would then tailor a ride that was easier or harder and try and appeal to more people...and often those that had been complaining didnt bother turning up anyway!

Indeed. We seem to come across this very problem which soured the rides a little.
It just seem's you can't please all the people all the time.

 

[musa]

It's hard organising a ride but give it go and see. I did London to Guildford. And only one turned up so off we went.

On the SMRbtH I'm the slowest but credit to @ianrauk who always waits for me. I dnt know if I'm just keeping up or they stepping off the gas.

Must be me

 

[DiddlyDodds]

This year due to so many comitments i only managed to get one one ride (Fossy's Joderal Bank one) and really enjoyed it.

So now the forementioned comittments are done and dusted i look forward to getting more forum rides in.

 

[Jodee1kenobi]

Indeed. We seem to come across this very problem which soured the rides a little.
It just seem's you can't please all the people all the time.

Just a suggestion but in our club when we are organising rides we have set paces (easily kept to with cycle computers)

Easy pace avg 8mph
slow medium avg 9mph
medium avg 10mph
fast medium avg 11mph
fast avg 12mph
fast + avg 13mph
fast ++ avg 14 mph
etc........

We state the pace/distance, so everyone knows what to expect. It also means that you shouldn't get faster paced riders on slower rides and the other way round. Worth a try? It works well within our club. The avg speeds might seem low to some on here, but we (Stourbug) are a bicycle user group/social cycling club rather than racing. It just helps to have a framework to work from.

 

[ianrauk]

@Jodee1kenobi

The problem wasn't the speeds rather then we were organising rides that people thought they were being excluded from.

 

[Spinney]

I've have not done any cc rides so this is more of a general point than a specific one.

It can be disheartening being the slowest rider and it shows a lack of respect from a group is always pushing on and leaving someone behind or starting off again as soon as they reach the top of the hill without getting a break etc. But IMO the respect has to go both ways with slower riders thinking about the others on the ride too. Personally I would rather ride alone and make my own way than be holding up everyone constantly and expect them to curtail their enjoyment to suit mine.

This ^
Not just the discouragement of being at the back, but the feeling that I am holding the others up.

For a couple of years i was involved in organising rides on a mtb website. There were complaints about rides being too short, too fast, too slow, too long, too easy, too difficult and so on which is fair enough but the complainers never bothered organising rides themselves so it got a bit annoying hearing the criticism. You would then tailor a ride that was easier or harder and try and appeal to more people...and often those that had been complaining didnt bother turning up anyway!

Been there - in a walking club. But same thing - people say they want something different, so you organise it and they don't come. Then they want something different again... Will they organise something themselves? No. Lead a walk themselves. No.

 

[totallyfixed]

Club rides are easier to organise because after initially joining everyone knows exactly what to expect, not so on a forum ride, and if you live where you see club riders out and about that can give a false impression of what you might expect to see on a forum ride. I can well understand that riding with strangers [and it doesn't matter how much you have chatted with them on here] is going to be of concern if you haven't done it before, 99% of first timers will have some degree of nervousness.
I often make the route up as I go along tailoring it to suit those less strong, We are all different, some can climb, most can't but that is usually because they come from a flat area. Several people who have been on my rides in the past have come back again much stronger, so I also see forum rides as a place to improve and learn a bit. I suppose the only criteria I have is that you can average 10 mph on your own over 25 + miles, any slower and we just wouldn't make it to the tea stop and back.
Speaking of which the next Rutland forum ride is either 17th or 18th of November [waiting for a couple of oracles to tell me which] and will also be the flattest one so far. It should be up in informal rides sometime this week.

 

[Jodee1kenobi]

@Jodee1kenobi

The problem wasn't the speeds rather then we were organising rides that people thought they were being excluded from.

Ahh I see.

 

[Sandra6]

I quite like the idea of a forum ride but I'm put off by the distances and speeds that seem to be expected.
I am relatively slow -particularly uphill - and don't like to go further than 20/30 miles - due to my slowness and time taken to get home again. I can generally only escape for a few hours in a day.
I'm also put off by the weather.
And if I wake up with a headache.
And by lack of cake.
Days with a y in them??!!!
I did a test earlier, it said I was anti-social
Ride anyone??