More bums on saddles: why Britain's cycling clubs are thriving

[apollo179]

Group riding of course depend on the group, but our genteel social fgroup will average say 10-12 (it's flattish where we take them). I did a easy 30 spinning along with my mate this morning and we avaraged 15mph. We we ride together on club nights we do 22 miles at 20mph ave.
80 miles on at 12 mph riding alone sounds just peachy. Riding with others is always faster as you can share the work. Don't beat yourself up, enjoy the ride! By most peoples reckoning, 80 miles on a bike is like walking to the moon and back.

I will have to try the 20 miles in one hour - to me it sounds very difficult.
Did my 80 miles in spot on 6 hours yesterday btw and only got cramp once at about 60miles when i got off the bike to get over a gate.
I was amused in your reply to Dora when you said that you put tail end charlie on the front of the group when you restart - i know what you mean and that its out of consideration so tec can set his own pace but personally i think i would rather hide at the back rather than be stuck out on point duty as whatever anyone says about going as slow as you want when your out in front as pacesetter theres always that unspoken expectation to get a move on and it is just harder work. As i said i do appreciate the spirit but i have visions of some poor wreck busting a blood vessel to set a decent pace into a headwind.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I will have to try the 20 miles in one hour - to me it sounds very difficult.
Did my 80 miles in spot on 6 hours yesterday btw and only got cramp once at about 60miles when i got off the bike to get over a gate.
I was amused in your reply to Dora when you said that you put tail end charlie on the front of the group when you restart - i know what you mean and that its out of consideration so tec can set his own pace but personally i think i would rather hide at the back rather than be stuck out on point duty as whatever anyone says about going as slow as you want when your out in front as pacesetter theres always that unspoken expectation to get a move on and it is just harder work. As i said i do appreciate the spirit but i have visions of some poor wreck busting a blood vessel to set a decent pace into a headwind.

Well done on the 80! Glad the cramp seems to be abating, it should with practice.

Regarding 20 miles in 1 hour, that makes us the slowest in our club and we only achieve that because we can ride wheel to wheel and draft/slipstream each other to maximise our effort, we can do it now without thinking we've been riding together for so long. Any form of fairly close group riding helps in this respect.

In Dora's response, we put those falling off the rear of the group up near the front when we restart partly so they don't already start at the back, but so they get some benefit of riding ammongst others which tends to make them ride a bit quicker anyhow, and offers them a bit of wind protection to boot. OK, inevitably they will tend to slip back through the field, but then they'll often get a lot of encouragement en-route. They might fall-off the back or at least be close when we get to the next junction or re-group point where we can repeat the process.
In that way we can keep-em and their minder closer to the main group for longer. It's not perfect.
On occasions I've ridden with a tail-ender alone the whole way round, it's no probs (apart from you're no longer part of a group), but sometimes you're going so slow that it's hard to keep a twitchy road-bike upright! C'est la vie!

 

[apollo179]

Well done on the 80! Glad the cramp seems to be abating, it should with practice.

Regarding 20 miles in 1 hour, that makes us the slowest in our club and we only achieve that because we can ride wheel to wheel and draft/slipstream each other to maximise our effort, we can do it now without thinking we've been riding together for so long. Any form of fairly close group riding helps in this respect.

In Dora's response, we put those falling off the rear of the group up near the front when we restart partly so they don't already start at the back, but so they get some benefit of riding ammongst others which tends to make them ride a bit quicker anyhow, and offers them a bit of wind protection to boot. OK, inevitably they will tend to slip back through the field, but then they'll often get a lot of encouragement en-route. They might fall-off the back or at least be close when we get to the next junction or re-group point where we can repeat the process.
In that way we can keep-em and their minder closer to the main group for longer. It's not perfect.
On occasions I've ridden with a tail-ender alone the whole way round, it's no probs (apart from you're no longer part of a group), but sometimes you're going so slow that it's hard to keep a twitchy road-bike upright! C'est la vie!

Thats when you wish youd brought a tow rope , or rather thats when tec wishes youd brought a tow rope.
I tried the 20 miles in an hour today and failed miserably btw but its something to aim at. Im consoling myself that the principal problem is the bike and not my hideous physical condition.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Thats when you wish youd brought a tow rope , or rather thats when tec wishes youd brought a tow rope.
I tried the 20 miles in an hour today and failed miserably btw but its something to aim at. Im consoling myself that the principal problem is the bike and not my hideous physical condition.

Don't be disheartened, 20 miles in an hour solo is hard on a racing-bike, let alone anything else! Just enjoy your cycling

 

[albion]

I'm sure its the non club riders like myself who are more set n their ways.On Sunday I passed 3 clubs on my Hexham way route, all being different and no doubt all certainly sociable.Hadrians C C had club jerseys on so wonder if that came about on some charity ride.