Weekday Rides?

[Catrin]

I finally joined my shop ride tonight and had a great 17 miles - there were over 200 riders and 5 different groups of differing speeds and distances - I was in the "fun and fitness" group - which is the shortest and we spread out across the route. It was fun though the wind was a bi*ch on the way back! My neck did fine, even in the wind, so I think it is good to go!

Oh yes, even with the wind my final average speed was 13.46 - and I do think this is a personal best outside of the very protected park that I ride in so often With my very upright riding position, I would like to eventually get it up to 14.5 but I don't think it is realistic to get it much higher than that, though we will see.

Tomorrow I plan to test my riding commute route and be downtown in time to watch the festivities before the start of the Indianapolis 500 Mini-Marathon, but that will be something for the weekend rides thread.

Red - glad you didn't melt

[redrhodie]

I finally joined my shop ride tonight and had a great 17 miles - there were over 200 riders and 5 different groups of differing speeds and distances - I was in the "fun and fitness" group - which is the shortest and we spread out across the route. It was fun though the wind was a bi*ch on the way back! My neck did fine, even in the wind, so I think it is good to go!

Wow, that's a huge group. Was there some reason for that, or is it always that big?

[Catrin]

Wow, that's a huge group. Was there some reason for that, or is it always that big?

The Thursday rides are always that large, sometimes larger. My LBS got a mention at the end of 2011 in Bicycling for having the largest shop rides in the country (that they knew of). It does help that one can be on country roads pretty quickly after leaving the parking lot.

There are also Tuesday night rides - but that is a true training ride for the fast boys and girls. I understand that is also a large group but not as large. I really like the Thursday night groups are truly split - there are training groups for the racers, slower paced groups for those who want to learn how to ride in close groups, then there is my group - it is a true no-drop group but of course we get quite spread out unlike the faster groups.

[redrhodie]

I guess I need to stop complaining about my huge groups of 30.

[Catrin]

I guess I need to stop complaining about my huge groups of 30.

I don't know if it was the normal size for my group, but we started with about 25 of us in my group. I was able to hang with no problems until I was stuck at an intersection, was solo after that point. There were 5 groups in total. I had fun and will return, this is a good way to mix it up and get used to riding around others.

[indysteel]

Glad you had fun, Catrin. The route Nebo uses for its training rides remains one of my favorites. The last time I did a Thursday night ride there--in September of 2008--the group was much smaller than that. I can't even picture 200 riders congregating in Nebo's lot. That would be a big turnout even for a weekend CIBA ride. Is it chaotic? Is there a place to park?

[Catrin]

Glad you had fun, Catrin. The route Nebo uses for its training rides remains one of my favorites. The last time I did a Thursday night ride there--in September of 2008--the group was much smaller than that. I can't even picture 200 riders congregating in Nebo's lot. That would be a big turnout even for a weekend CIBA ride. Is it chaotic? Is there a place to park?

Everyone has to park in the empty lots on the north side of 106th as those businesses are closed by that time. It would certainly be chaotic if most of the riders didn't return every week. I think everyone is so accustomed to "their" group that everyone sort of congregates in their own group in Nebo's lot in the order in which the groups head out so it was really quite organized. They have a couple of minutes lag between groups.

Looking back at my last post - I only was dropped by the faster members of our group after I got stuck at that intersection. The slower members of our group (and the leader/sweeper) were behind me somewhere and I never saw them after we crossed 116th. I did wind up riding with another woman who was close to my speed and we missed a turn (the marker needs refreshing). I've ridden a LOT of miles in that area over the last two years though so once I realized we missed it I was able to lead her back - she was following me to begin with. It really helped knowing the area well enough to realize there wasn't a turn for a couple of miles so I knew we had missed a turn.