Cinderella Training with Fremont Freewheelers?

[ace]

Hi all,

I'm a relatively new cyclist, been at it semi-diligently for about 9 months. I ride a hybrid, probably moving to a road bike early next year. Anyway, I'm planning on riding the Cinderella in March, which will be my first metric century, the furthest I've ridden. I rode with the beginner's group of my local bike club (go Oakland Yellowjackets!) this past summer, and while the longest ride was only abotu 50 miles, I was told by club members that several of the rides I did were much harder than the Cinderella (I say this only because it made me feel like I didn't really need to train for the Cinderella, even though it's further than I've ridden before).

Anyway, I'm thinking about doing the training series with the Fremont Freewheelers, and I'm wondering if anyone has done it, and if it was fun/useful/educational. Any input would be appreciated. I love group rides, so I think it would be fun for me, but I'd be interested in hearing about any personal experiences you've had.

Cheers,
Amy

[mariposa]

Hi,

I didn't do this training, but heard the following...

It was fun, with a lot of comaraderie,

It was slow in pace, sometimes frustratingly so, because the group has to wait up for the slowest cyclist (but take this with a grain of salt as the person making that comment is a fast cyclist),

It is inexpensive, so why not?

[ace]

Thanks! Well, I'm not very fast, so that'd be fine. My understanding is that they divide you by speed groups after the first ride (9-10 mph, 11-12, etc.), although I think the fastest group is 14-15. I'm hoping I at least make the advance beginners!

[melissam]

Ace,

I did the Fremont Freewheelers Training Series back in 2004. It was great! Our leaders were fantastic -- they kept our group together and safe, and taught us skills like pacelining. Our group had great camraderie too.

I'm not sure if they've changed the way they run the series, but when I did it, the groups were divided by how fast you thought you would be comfortable riding. If you were wrong (you were either too fast or too slow) and wanted to switch groups, you were encouraged to do so within the first few rides.

If you enjoy group rides, I think you'll really enjoy the Fremont Freewheelers' Training Series.

-- Melissa

[Trek420]

Also the Lunachix may have a Cinderella specific series too.

more info about the ride here

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=10326

[sulis]

Not trying to hijack your thread but where can I get specifics about the Cinderella ride - when, where, how much, course info? I had so much fun at Little Red last year it might be fun to take a trip to Cinderella.

[melissam]

Not trying to hijack your thread but where can I get specifics about the Cinderella ride - when, where, how much, course info? I had so much fun at Little Red last year it might be fun to take a trip to Cinderella.

Here's a link to the info for Cinderella 2007:
http://www.valleyspokesmen.org/cinder.php

[velogirl]

Velo Girls will also have a *free* 10-week Cinderella training program led by Team Velo Girls members. Stay tuned for more information here -- http://www.velogirls.com/calendar.php

[Trek420]

whoo hoo!

[roguedog]

melissam- did you think the fremont training program prepared you adequately for the ride? was it well organized?

velogirl - what's the curriculum of the velogirl program going to be? any insight?

sorry.. looks like i have to be choosing here..and i as thinking of doing the actc academy but looks like these all fall in the same time period.. darn.. hate choosing.

[ace]

Now I must ask....what's the actc academy?

[melissam]

melissam- did you think the fremont training program prepared you adequately for the ride?

Yes and no.

Yes: each training series ride was progressively longer, and they helped with things like pacelining, climbing techniques, negotiating roads with traffic, etc.

No: the training series only rode on Saturdays. I think if that was my only riding to train for the Cinderella, I wouldn't have been physically prepared. Sure, I could have "gutted it out," but I would have been tired and cranky at the end of the ride, and sore the next day. As it was, I rode on Sundays and a couple of times during the week on a stationary bike at the gym, so I was adequately prepared for the ride.



was it well organized?

Yes and no. (Someone's indecisive today.) ;)

Yes: The whole group was organized for giving a safety spiel at the beginning of most rides; they had a bike rodeo on the first day, where they looked at the condition of your bike, made sure your helmet was adjusted properly, etc.

My particular group had excellent leaders, so it was a well-oiled machine.

No: I've heard that some of the leaders in the other groups weren't that great, so if you were in one of those groups, it probably didn't seem very organized.

-- Melissa

[melissam]

Now I must ask....what's the actc academy?

Paging Jobob or Snapdragen!!! :D

Ace, in the meantime, here's a link:
http://www.actc.org/clubinfo/academy.html

-- Melissa

[jobob]

The article in this thread describes it pretty well.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=3026&highlight=actc+academy

[snapdragen]

roguedog - as much as I am an advocate for the actc academy, it's not a good choice for Cinderalla training (if that's what you're looking for). I'd go with the Velogirls or Fremont Freewheelers for Cindy specific training. Also, some of us in ACTC did Cindy training rides in San Jose, but I don't know if we will be doing it again this year.

[roguedog]

Thanks Snap. Nah I wasn't thinking for Cindy training but it's just that it seems to overlap with the Cindy training so now I've gotta choose. I sent email to Karin Crosby to see when the 1st session starts so we'll see.

Tks for the insight tho :)

[jobob]

Last I heard, I think the next ACTC academy is starting around the end of February, so if you did the academy you wouldn't be up to the longer rides (40+ miles) by the time of the Cinderella.

So like snap said, you'd be better off doing one of the cinderella-specific training ride series which start earlier in the year, if that's what you're after.