Club Ride Ratings

[Deanna]

Shoot! Now I need to figure out how to put speed into something like this also.

IMO avg. speed is the avg. speed your bike computer says. That way on any given route you know that you go x mph and so if the advertised ride says x++ mph then you will likely get left behind.

Maybe I should take out the distance and substitute speed???????

I think all three criteria (Difficuty, Pace & Distance) are important. Though distance could be included as part of the description and not part of the rating.

[li10up]

How about this? The hors is a tongue-in-cheek thing.

[indysteel]

li10up, what's the difference between "B (hilly)" and "C (some hills)"? Otherwise, it makes sense to me.

[RoadRaven]

LOL, li...

A hors - casual ride????

that has me wondering!

[RoadRaven]

li10up, what's the difference between "B (hilly)" and "C (some hills)"? Otherwise, it makes sense to me.

They are having this discussion on BJ at the moment... when entering your ride you can choose for a hilly course between 'hills' and 'steep'...

There is nothing there for the rolling rides... they are not flat, but they are not really hilly either... I think li's C category is probably for those rolling terrains which arent hilly, but demand more of a workout and give a lower average than a flat terrain...

[Eden]

But since everyone has to do the starts and stops your bike computer would still be a legit comparison, wouldn't it?

You'd have to be riding the same course at the same time for there to be any comparison as far as average speeds go. There are too many variables on any given ride to make it anything better a very general comparison - how many times you have to stop or slow, what the wind conditions are like, if you are alone or drafting. I think that if you talk about a persons typical speed under ideal conditions - ie. flat without significant wind then it will be easier get an idea of what group you'll fit best with without having to know anything about the route you are about to ride.

And also - generally club rides regroup on hills, so its your speed on the flats that more determines what group you want to ride with. You can be speedy on hills, but have trouble keeping up high speeds on the flats.....

[RoadRaven]

You can be speedy on hills, but have trouble keeping up high speeds on the flats.....

LOL... or you can motor it on the flat but get
d
r
o
p
p
e
d

on hills... like moi!

[li10up]

LOL, li...

A hors - casual ride????

that has me wondering!

I did say tongue-in-cheek. But in reality...that's probably all the faster they would be going up that type of climb...if that.
----------------
I'm just trying to incorporate more descriptive descriptions...wait, that doesn't make sense, does it?
----------------
All I'm trying to say is it seems to me if your bike computer says your avg. speed is 14.2 mph on any given ride (yes, give or take, and taking in different conditions, wind speed, what you ate, the color of your jersey , etc. ad nauseum) then you probably wouldn't want to go out and try an advertised ride of 16 mph on a hilly route.

I think that if you talk about a persons typical speed under ideal conditions - ie. flat without significant wind then it will be easier get an idea of what group you'll fit best with without having to know anything about the route you are about to ride.

But some days the avg. speed of the same group will be 14 and other days it will be 20, depending on the route...it doesn't make sense to me to use your avg. speed on flat ground as the indicator of what your avg. speed is. Otherwise you will always just ride the rides that fall into your flat cruising speed...which may leave you way behind or put you way ahead of the group. I'm trying to see what you're saying but I'm just not getting it.

[makbike]

Here is the rating system used by the Louisville Bicycle Club. It is pretty simple when compared to those that have been shared thus far.

Ride difficulty ratings are approximate:
#1: Family/Beginner Ride
#2: Mostly flat to rolling, up to 1/3 hills
#3: Rolling, up to 1/2 hills
#4: Rolling, mostly hills, some long, steep grades and/or long mileage
#5: Mostly long, steep hills and/or extremely long mileage.

[Crankin]

When I post my rides to be published in the AMC mag and on line, I use average speed. But as was said before, some people lie or have no conception of what that means, so i get very specific with them when they call to sign up. I do mostly rides where we screen people and I had a really bad experience with a woman on the last ride we led. One of the problems is that we get a lot of people who live in or near Boston and they are not used to hills. So even though we do social rides and regroup, we ride at a good 15-18 mph pace on the flats but we tell the people that we do slow on the hills a lot. They have no conception of what a 5% or 10% grade means. So even if I tell them "strenuous climbs of a mile," they think they can do it. None of the riding I do is flat; it's mostly rollers and some big climbs thrown in. AMC uses 10-12 av is easy/beginner, 13-16 av is intermed. and 16 plus and/or over 50 miles advanced. We are leading our "new members" ride next Sat. and we are breaking it into 2 groups, one easy and one intermediate. Last year they didn't do this and one woman was so slow she was behind the sweep! It's a show and go ride and i am worried about the weirdos that might come out...

[li10up]

Robyn, that's why I'm trying to come up with more specific ride descriptions that the club can agree with. I want to start another group ride...call it moderate or intermediate. But I really want this ride to move along at a 15/16 mph avg pace which would be about 18-20 mph on the flats. I'm just concerned that some newer riders will think it's the same as the Easy/Beginner ride that I lead and will get over their heads...or the rest of the group will have to slow their ride to accomodate the slower riders. I have no problem going whatever pace we need to go on the Easy Ride - that's what it's for...to get new riders out. But I need to ride on a regular basis with faster riders to help me improve. I just want everyone who shows up for the ride to know what to expect and to enjoy it. I've been doing it just word of mouth with my riding buddies that I know ride about my speed. But I want it to be a regular/organized ride in hopes that I'll always have someone to ride with on whatever day it happens to be scheduled.

Eden, I've been thinking about what you wrote and I think I have a better understanding of what you were saying. Too bad there isn't just a standard of what "avg. speed" means. I can do 18-20 mph on the flats, no problem, but I just can't keep up on the hills so I would never show up for a ride advertised with an avg. speed of 18...cause my "avg" would fall significantly with hills factored in.