Understated Club ride descriptions

http://www.deercreekchallenge.com/event_info.html
Not only should the title warn you that it's hard, and the fact that the elevation profile looks like an EKG print out, I haven't seen another ride that tells you what gearing you should have "Bike gearing for climbing - we recommend 39 on front and 28 on back, triple or compact."
They do a great job warning you, and most rides here do give you an elevation profile.
As for group rides, as a weekly group ride leader, some responsibility falls to the riders attending. Our store only has one ride a week, and we mix up the intensity, distance and climbs. Rides are posted on our blog, Facebook and the main company page in advance so people know what we're doing. While they are "no drop", and we do wait for the slower riders, there are those who really shouldnt be on certain rides yet. When it's just me and a partner with 15 people, if you cant make it and decide to go back, we cant leave our group for one person. I have friends who come and ride sometimes and I tell them "yes, you'll be fine" or like yesterday I told my buddy "hey, no shame in not coming today - we're doing some serious climbs"
We had one gal come on her hybrid, a new rider who had ridden once before with us. She enjoyed the company, but cant complete the routes yet. She gets to a certain point, cant go any more, thanks us for riding with her and goes back to her car. She learns something each ride, gets better, but knows her limits.
We aslo had a couple new ladies who told me at the shop that they were slow riders, but that they ride a lot. Yes, one of us hung back with them on the ride, but they had no problems whatsoever with the distance or climbs - they just averaged 12mph. My partner and I talk and strategize on the rides, one will lead the pack to a certain point where we can wait for the rest of the group to catch up. Works well for us, and everyone is safe and has a good time.

Jenn, that's the way DH and I lead our rides. We do 25-40 mile rides, with some climbing. They are billed as intermediate level, with an average of 13.5-15. What usually happens is that there will be a faster cluster of riders behind DH, who is leading and a group that is about 2 mph slower, that I stay behind. DH waits at the top of bigger climbs so we regroup, or at designated points.
On one ride we lead, the "slower" contingent didn't show. I got caught at a light in the beginning and was struggling to catch up (it was an early season warm up ride and I definitely was not in the shape I am in now). They waited a bit and then DH slowed the pace... quite a few of these people struggled on the one big climb and after that, we stayed at a more moderate pace... until a rest stop when DH sort of took off. I just couldn't keep up. There was a headwind, too. But, since I was the sweep, it didn't matter. Normally, there would have been a group struggling in the back, and I seem to be able to coach people through this. In the end, I got back only a couple of minutes after the group, but I missed having the range of diversity on this ride.
Our rides are more "social," and we tell people this specifically, even if the pace is brisk. And most people say they love it and that it is a change from the usual club type rides.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

Steep isn't something you can really quantify. It's different for everyone because we're all at different riding abilities. Today I did a 22 mile ride with 3300 feet of climbing. We had ten miles of climbing spread out in three separate climbs with the longest being about six miles. For someone else that could be freakishly steep. The only "steep" part was a little .7 mile jaunt through a neighborhood, with lots of little hills, some with grades of nearly 20%. Because they were so short, I didn't think of them as steep.

Not everyone rides with a unit that will tell percent of grade either. I guess steep means it was a challenging climb or descent for that person.

Veronica

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omg! Yep, that is freakish to me :eek: I live in Houston, TX and our hills are only the little bridges that go over the tiny creeks. To train for the hills in Austin, TX for the MS150 ride my hubby and I go to the soapbox track outside of town where we get a 1-sided hill, but at least it is something that actually goes up. It's all relative. Your hills are my mountains.

This isn't an understatement (or a club ride), but my favorite was Lance Armstrong's description of Metcalf Road used in the San Jose Livestrong Challenge.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It's tough. You've been warned."

Ya think? It's 2 miles at up to 14%...

I think the description that threw me off the most was for Levi's GranFondo talking about Graton Road. "It's challenging, but manageable." I should have considered whose words those were. The climb is 2 miles at up to 10%... I didn't make it. I may be ready this year.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

Steep isn't something you can really quantify. It's different for everyone because we're all at different riding abilities. Today I did a 22 mile ride with 3300 feet of climbing. We had ten miles of climbing spread out in three separate climbs with the longest being about six miles. For someone else that could be freakishly steep. The only "steep" part was a little .7 mile jaunt through a neighborhood, with lots of little hills, some with grades of nearly 20%. Because they were so short, I didn't think of them as steep.

Veronica

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This sounds like the Alps to me... or my sister's neighborhood in East Tennessee. I guess the point is that "steep" is going to change depending on a person's abilities AND the terrain they are accustomed to.

Thankfully I love challenges, so that helps me to hang in on those hills that I am slowly going up...while everyone passes me on them :o

Back to my original post on this thread, I know the ride leader who posted that description of the ride, and he has ridden all over the country. So, for him, they probably ARE ripples, bumps, and the very occasional hill...

What ride is that description for, Catrin? I couldn't find it on CIBA's ride calendar.

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Originally Posted by indysteel

What ride is that description for, Catrin? I couldn't find it on CIBA's ride calendar.

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It is part of the description for the "Labor Day Weekend Triple Grand Touring Rides" that come out of Corydon on September 4-6th. It sounds like a lot of fun, if I had my hill-climbing legs and the money for a hotel room for a few nights I would be tempted :)

However, I don't, and I am moving in October so have to save the money...

Ah, now I see it. I must have buzzed past that ride. That sounds like Warren's sense of humor.

Local LBS posts "Weekday Recovery Ride"----should have guessed when I was the only woman --hint, hint!!

Turned out to be a 26-28mph. Not sure who can "recover" at that pace??
I now refer to it as the "Roid Recovery Ride" :D

Holy cr@p... what's the pace of their tempo rides? :eek:

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Originally Posted by miamibiker

Turned out to be a 26-28mph. Not sure who can "recover" at that pace??
I now refer to it as the "Roid Recovery Ride" :D

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How far do they ride that fast? That's like pro peleton pace.

Veronica

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miamibiker

Local LBS posts "Weekday Recovery Ride"----should have guessed when I was the only woman --hint, hint!!

Turned out to be a 26-28mph. Not sure who can "recover" at that pace??
I now refer to it as the "Roid Recovery Ride" :D

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roid recovery or delusions of adequacy, (ducking and running)

I find it very helpful to preview the ride using ridewithgps, if I the route is available beforehand. Seeing the elevation profile in advance gives me a much better sense of what to expect.

Two of the clubs that post a ride schedule use rating systems: flat, minor hills, moderate hills, steep hills, long climbs or very steep for one, and FF-Fairly Flat, LH=Little Hills, MH=Medium Hills, BH=Big Hills for the other.

The biggest club around here uses Terrain Degree of Difficulty (TDD). But it's one of those things that they've been using forever, and if anyone else uses it - or if they say how it's calculated - I haven't been able to find it.

I should just ask. :rolleyes:

Our ride coodinator was this thin, gnarly, sinewy guy that regularly rode across the USA. To him there was no such thing as hills or mountains. One of my favorite ride description was something like "43 miles, X to Y, one hill".

At least he acknowledged the 28 mile mountain climb (approximately 6500') as a hill.

We all learned it was best just to know the area so if you were going from point A to B you knew it was hilly.