Your ride today....

[ColinJ]

Ah, well maybe I could then, but only on flattish roads.

 

[8mph]

A quick ride up the stone track to Greater Mis Tor

Yesterday's ride, first time exploring Woodbury Common

 

[HLaB]

It was actually last night and I forgot to post. My local cycling club Tuesday night rides have restarted with the clock change. Its a bit of a push for me to get back from work in time so I wasn't going to bother but the grey and colder forecast changed during the day and it had become sunny and warm so I made the effort.

I kept it stable though as it was supposed to be an active recovery week for me and we had a new member last night who I didn't want to get put off.

 

[blackrat]

Really, 21 MPH? Good grief, ebikes?

 

[VinSumRox]

Managed to just miss the afternoon rain, but not the headwind on the return. St Boswells out to Norham then back via Ford and Kelso. 104km and 1060m of up.

 

[PeteXXX]

Nice sunny circuit of the town on the British Eagle today.

Nice & quite on the cycle paths for most of the ride with only about a mile on road.
I had some mudguards to pick up on the way round hence the choice of bike as this one has a rack fitted.

15 miles & feeling quite sweaty by the time I got back!
☀️

 

[HLaB]

View attachment 804030

Really, 21 MPH? Good grief, ebikes?

Flat roads and a chaingang (when you're not on the front you're only spendin 75% of the power you need for that speed. The average for our group round the course was 22.5mph and the fast group 25mph.

 

[HLaB]

I managed to get today off to join a few mates on a social ride down to the Old Forge in Cranford. Nice and warm in the sun but chilly in the shade. The roads were the same contrast, like carpets in places and like Beruit (massive frequent potholes) in other places. I had overdressed expecting a social pace and thankfully I got it right. A year ago that pace would have been unbearable and my hands from lack of blood flow would have been too sore and numb. So it was nice being able to go a social pace without too much discomfort.

The old Forge had a specially designed helmet shelf.

Which was ideal as it left space for this:

There was a cake too (rather nice 😋) but I forgot to take a photo, sorry!

After the Old Forge we stopped at the Cuckoo in Awalton for a few jars.
When we emerged at the back of 4pm traffic was a logger jam already and the only thing moving was bikes. Some numpty kept on swerving into the cycle lane but I just went around his right side.

 

[blackrat]

I have to ask another question: So many of these 'yrt' feature meals, some full courses, is it usual to include meal stops on rides?
I ask this solely because I eat on the run, so to speak, and do not take the time to sit and eat.
I ride solo- there is no one else riding in my neck of the woods - and consider eating a necessity rather than a pleasure (although I would probably ride faster if I eat more) .
Even when Audaxing we limit our off bike times and stand to eat whatever we bring. I was just wondering if the rides are mostly about cycling to an eatery, or an excuse to get out of the house to spend time with the mates.

 

[Oldhippy]

I ride just for the sheer fun of it. I go on day adventures, stop make coffee and a sandwich perhaps. Its my my transport and adventure machine.

 

[HLaB]

I have to ask another question: So many of these 'yrt' feature meals, some full courses, is it usual to include meal stops on rides?
I ask this solely because I eat on the run, so to speak, and do not take the time to sit and eat. I ride solo- there is no one else riding in my neck of the woods - and consider eating a necessity rather than a pleasure. Even when Audaxing we limit our off bike times and stand to eat whatever we bring. I was just wondering if the rides are mostly about cycling to an eatery, or an excuse to get out of the house to spend time with the mates.

Its your choice, myself I tend not to stop on solo rides, but sometimes do, and some group rides never stop but other group rides like to socialise at a cafe and I just 'go with the flow' some just have a coffee and cake, others like to have lunch. There's no real rules to it.

 

[blackrat]

Flat roads and a chaingang (when you're not on the front you're only spendin 75% of the power you need for that speed. The average for our group round the course was 22.5mph and the fast group 25mph.

Just for interest. From Bicycling.com:

Everyone knows drafting saves energy. That’s why cyclists ride in pacelines, so everyone can go faster while doing less total work.

Now, researchers have discovered that the benefits of pack riding may be even greater than you thought: You can nearly double your energy savings by riding in the belly of a pack—effectively reducing your aerodynamic drag up to a staggering 96 percent, according to a new study published in the Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. That’s a far greater energy savings than anyone previously believed (but Tour de France riders could probably tell you!).

Scientists have long believed that riders in a pack experienced the same aerodynamic drag reduction benefits as riders in a paceline, where riders in the back can enjoy drag reductions of 50 to 70 percent compared to the rider in the front, or what they would face riding alone. But based off reports from pro riders that you barely have to pedal in the heart of the peloton, a group of scientists had a notion that the aerodynamic energy savings in the pack were much higher. So they put a simulated pack of 121 riders through a complex series of four wind-tunnel campaigns, including a nearly three billion calculation points, to test their hypothesis.

Courtesy of Bert Blocken, Eindhoven University of Technology and KU Leuven
A simulation of 121 cyclists showed that riders in the belly of the pack had a significantly lower aerodynamic drag, researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, KU Leuven, Belgium, ANSYS, and Cray found.
They were right. According to their calculations, the riders in the middle of the pack were so protected from the wind that they faced just 10 percent of the air resistance of the riders on the pointy end of the pack. Those in the sweet spot of the mid-rear section had to overcome a mere 4 percent of aerodynamic drag.

Considering that when you’re hammering down the road at 30 miles per hour on your lonesome, 90 percent of your power is going into overcoming air resistance, that’s a heck of a lot of free speed!
Of course, this scenario assumes you’re motoring down a straight, wide (and presumably closed) road, where all the group aerodynamic benefits are in full effect, which is something most of us non-pros don’t have the luxury of experiencing. And there are inherent risks to riding in a tight bunch, as anyone who’s ever watched the peloton topple like dominoes from a touch of wheels knows.

But if you find yourself running out of gas during a Gran Fondo, it’s good to know you can get to the finish doing a fraction of the work by just getting yourself in a group.

 

[albion]

I find it far from relaxing whilst wheel sucking. Slow is good.